Veteran Highlife artiste, Rex Omar has stated that he has urged his children to follow his footsteps to become an artiste.
He said his decision stems from the experiences he had during his prime as a musician stressing that the system has neglected artistes to be unable to thrive on the international market.
Rex Omar made the comment during an interview on 3FM Sunrise on Thursday, June 20.
“The system has neglected the industry so much so that you can only get to a certain level, for you to cross and become a mainstream artiste you realised that there’s no support system,” he said.
When asked by host Johnnie Hughes whether he will he advise any of his offsprings to pursue a career in music, he responded in affirmative, “Never. That’s why none of my children is into music.”
He continued: “I convinced them, I didn’t impose it on them. I told them the truth for them to believe that if you play around with music, music will disappoint you.”
The musician now turned politician noted that his father who was a better musician than himself, adviced him to only chose music as a hobby and not a career.
According to him, his father’s reason was that musicians are not revered in Ghana and are relegated to the background.
Desperate and passionate to do music, Rex Omar stated that he went ahead to pursue a career in music but now regrets as “his father was right.”
“I believe that my father was right that is why when I got to forty years, I decided to put music to the second burner and go into business and then also the administrative side of the music business.
“I am very disappointed and I will tell you one of the reasons why I got very disappointed.
“I believe that if there are ten people God has granted the gift of music, I’m one of them, I have not been able to come up with even ten percent of what has come up in me,
He recounted a horrific experience in his career back in the days which left him down-spirited and probably caused his exit from the music scene.
Rex Omar recalled how he was dejected by Ghana’s embassies in some countries while he was on tour with other international artistes who received support from their embassies.
He said after the first tour, he got an opportunity for a second tour which also faced a similar fate and later received a minimal support from the Ministry of Tourism months after he had returned from the tour.
