Whether you play ‘Atia’ or not beatings await you – A. B. Crentsil recounts his Bolga story

Veteran contemporary Ghanaian vocalist and guitarist, Alfred Benjamin Crentsil, known by stage name A. B. Crentsil has recounted his ordeal in the hands of residents of the Upper East Region over his infamous hit song ‘Atia’

He revealed on the Best Entertainment Show on Accra-based Okay Fm hosted by Halifax Ansah-Addo that he had to scale a wall to save himself from severe beatings by angry residents of Bolgatanga during a tour.

According to him, his musical instruments were not spared by the agitated residents of the Upper East Regional capital of Bolgatanga who saw the ‘Atia’ hit as very demeaning which portrayed them as drunkards.

That popular highlife tune by A.B. Crentsil indisputably an all-time hit many pundits revealed, made fun of the brothers from the north who had travelled south of the country to seek greener pastures.

Narrating the circumstances in which he found himself in Bolgatanga Catering Rest House he said, “We use to visit Bolga for shows and we used to play at Catering Rest House. I am used to Northerners and their lifestyle. You know that the songs of A.B Crentsil songs are always characterized by controversies. We went for a performance in Bolgatanga at the time I had just released the “Atia” song and there was a misunderstanding here and there.

When we got to the venue we set up and were ready for the show and took a rest waiting for the time to begin. It was a time we attached a concert group to the band so we could enter the rural areas. The place was packed to capacity and we performed different types of music including highlife, Funky and Raggae. It was during highlife I was expected to mount the stage. When it got to my turn I performed several tracks and made them understand that I would be done with my performance and the concert group will take over.

A young man mounted the stage and demanded to know why I wanted to end my performance because I had not performed ‘Atia’. Unknown to me they wanted to perform ‘Atia’ so they could beat me but when I tried to convince them, they disagreed. He told me in the face that whether I play Atia or not beatings await me. Looking at the scene, there was no escape route so I passed by the wall as though I was going to urinate and jumped over to escaped beatings,” he revealed.

Source: mynewsgh.com