By Nurudeen Salifu
HE is a Tamale-based musician whose soothing voice has endeared him to many music lovers in the north and other parts of the country since the early 2000s when he and another artiste, Flex, composed and sang Fe Ma No and N-yura.
Today, Kawastone, formerly of Blackstone fame, has chosen to go beyond just singing to entertain to using music to build bridges and unite people who have been separated by ethnic conflicts.
To realise this goal, Kawastone, whose real name is Mohammed Abdul-Rashid, has put together a Peace Project, which would take him and several other popular Northern musicians to at least 10 towns in the three northern regions to sing for peace.
They would perform before an audience dominated by young people, particularly those in second-cycle schools. Each event would involve music and talk: while the musicians dish out exciting songs, there would be intermittent breaks to allow resource persons to deliver peace messages to the youth.
Some of the musicians billed to join the tour include reggae star Sherif Ghale, Abu Sadiq, Ahmed Adam, King Ayisoba, Rafious Amiyo, KKC, Mama Rams, Abada and Deensi.
Speaking to Showbiz on the planned peace project, Kawawastone said the main goal is to bring the youth of the various towns to the same platform, irrespective of their ethnic, political and religious differences, to socialise and reinforce friendships.
“The youth are the future and if we are able to get them to appreciate each other and bury their differences, we would find the peace and harmony that we’re looking for,” he stated.
Kawastone has already produced a peace song for his peace campaign. It is called Di Nan To Mali (The conflict can still be resolved.) The chorus is in Dagbani, Twi and Pidgin English.
Kawastone is, however, worried that the peace project could suffer a huge setback if enough financial support is not mobilised to fund it. The young artiste is therefore appealing to corporate bodies, non-governmental organisations, philanthropic institutions, individuals and other development partners interested in promoting peace in the country to reach out and support his course.
“I am not doing this for my own sake, but to save the youth. They need to be given the opportunity to realise their dreams to enable them help their families out of deprivation.
“If the conflicts continue, these youth would not realise these goals and would probably end up like their elders: fighting for resources that can not guarantee them better lives,” he pointed out.
Kawastone’s music career began in 1997 when he featured on songs by other musicians. It was, however, in 2000 that he came into the limelight after he and Flex (real name Kamal Aryee Mudasiru) formed Blackstone and released an eight-track album which enjoyed considerable airplay throughout the country with Fe Ma No as the title track.
Kawastone, who also works as a presenter with the Tamale-based radio station, Fiila FM, later went solo when Flex left the shores of the country. In 2005, he released a single Ma Ni (Me).
A year later, Kawastone served his fans another sweetly-packaged dose of good music when he launched his Tamaha (Hope) album with songs like Tamaha and Waa waa becoming the toast of fans. Tamaha still enjoys considerable airplay.
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