Exploring the Influence of Political Campaign Songs on Voting Behaviour of Electorates in Ghana During 2008, 2012 and 2016 General Elections

Abstract

In recent times, Musicians of all genres both old and contemporary have come to brace this idea of composing campaign songs for political parties and candidates during election seasons. The likes of Nat Brew (AKA Amandzeba), Daddy Lumba, Kwabena Kwabena, Lucky Mensah, Shatta Wale, Mzbel, A Plus, Bukum Banku and Diana Asamoah, have all participated in composing songs for candidates of their choice or otherwise, their songs have been used in the process. Many who do not have identifiable tracks/songs have been seen performing for one political party’s’ or the other on their campaign platforms and the number has been increasing over the period till today. Undoubtedly, political science literature shows how strong the tool of symbolism is for political process towards election. Analysing the musical interpretations of Nina Simone songs found that it served a symbolic purpose because it spoke to the hundreds of thousands of African American men and women fighting for their rights during the 1960s. This study posits that there seems to be the use of campaign music as part of systematic attempts to encourage voters to perceive their candidate as worthy of a vote. Findings revealed that this is done, rather than focusing on developing substantive positions campaign strategy, music is invoked as a peripheral persuasive tactic to help facilitate diverse strategic objectives associated with political campaigns. It however, concludes that from a psychological perspective, the question remains whether or not such songs exert some influence to make an individual behave in a certain way. It recommends that a political campaign song influence a voter to vote for a particular candidate and so it should be deployed as an arena not only for celebrities to make huge sums of fortunes from politicians but also, for endorsing songs for them to win elections.