Since the nominees for this year’s Ghana Music Awards Festival were released at the plush Labadi Beach Hotel on March 3, comments about the nominations and the festival in general have come from some stakeholders in the entertainment industry, music producers and artistes. Some are airing their disappointments (I am also disappointed though but will come to that later), some are ecstatic about nominations of their favourite artistes and for some, they are happy that the Music Festival is here again.
How time flies! The Ghana Music Awards is in its tenth season and I particularly remember the first edition in 1999 (which I term it as the ‘Aben Wo Ha’ year) where veteran musician Daddy Lumba won the major accolade on the night. I know it has been hectic since its inception for the organizers, Charter House, not forgetting the criticisms they receive at the end of every edition and the boycotts of some of the artistes and their producers. With these notwithstanding, Charter House has been able to stand its grounds and organized this event for a decade, and these days it is now a whole festival. Big ups Charter House!
However, mistakes noted in every year’s edition are rarely rectified the subsequent year and with this year being an anniversary edition, Charter House needs to get their acts right. Anchoring of the main awards night has been a problem with the Ghana Music Awards over the last year or two. Kwame Sefa Kayi who has always done tremendously well whenever he presents the show was substituted for no particular reason (rumours were that people are fed up with him hosting year after year). We have all seen how the show has been since Kwame left and last year’s presentation is the worst ever in the history of the awards.
I do not know whoever advised Charter House to pair multiple award winner, Samini, and Doreen Andoh. That person did a great disservice to the awards with that recommendation. Samini is a good performer—that I cannot take away from him—but as an MC for a big event like the Ghana Music Awards is a big ‘joke’. DJ Black who was supposed to be the DJ on the night ended up emceeing the show as Doreen and Samini goofed performance after performance. The least said about it, the better and I hope Charter House has learnt their lessons this time round (We have many nice, young and eloquent presenters in Ghana for Christ’s sake).
For major award shows like this all over the world, performances on the night are one of the prime determinants if the show will be a success or a flop. Sound quality has been a problem with this event for some time now (I vividly remember Obrafour and Tinny’s unsuccessful performance in 2004 due to mic problems) and the magnitude of this year’s event should prompt the organizers to get it right this time.
Since it is the major award ceremony that rewards excellence in the music industry each year, it is expected to feature on the night artistes from different genres doing extremely well to thrill the audience. Citing this year’s Grammy’s as a good example, the organizers paired four of the major artistes in hip hop today (Jay –Z, Kanye West, T.I and Lil Wayne) to perform the award winning song “Swagga like Us”. Such kind of mind blowing duets and exceptional performances is expected from musicians who will get the privilege to perform. Talking about artistes who will be performing on the night, it has now become a norm for Charter House to bring one international artiste to grace our Music Festival. It is a laudable idea but all musicians who have so far come have are no more at their apex. If the organizers cannot bring an artiste who is currently in ‘hot’ to this year’s event, I kindly suggest that they scrap that idea and use the huge money they will have to pay those artistes to entice our local artistes to give out their best on the night. I believe in the Ghanaian and our artistes can do it!
Furthermore, one thing I have observed about these international artistes flown down to perform is that, they are always given an award one way or the other. Should that always be the case? I don’t think so and besides what’s the merit of the awards we give them?
Another significant observation I have made about GMA @ 10 is that in the nominations, one cannot point out a particular artiste who will dominate the night has as been the case in previous years. Every artiste stands a chance of taking something home but I strongly have a problem with the ‘Artiste of the Year’ category. My problem is why Tinny is not in that category. We have been made to understand that an artiste gets into that category based on his stage performances and the number of shows he or she has attended in a year. So if this is the criteria, why is Tinny omitted? I am waiting for someone to tell me who has graced more shows than “Aletse Kankpe” over the past year. People might argue he did not have a clear cut album last year but he was on every ‘big’ show in Ghana. Not to take anything away from the nominees though, but I sincerely think Tinny should have come in the ‘Artiste of the Year’ category ahead of Sidney, Philipa Baafi and Christiana Love.
The biggest names in the Ghanaian music industry and music loving Ghanaians will all be there on the 4th of April. Charter House says it is ready for this big event and so are Ghanaians. Good luck to all the nominees and perfection should be the vital word for Charter House this time. Hope you get it right this time.
How time flies! The Ghana Music Awards is in its tenth season and I particularly remember the first edition in 1999 (which I term it as the ‘Aben Wo Ha’ year) where veteran musician Daddy Lumba won the major accolade on the night. I know it has been hectic since its inception for the organizers, Charter House, not forgetting the criticisms they receive at the end of every edition and the boycotts of some of the artistes and their producers. With these notwithstanding, Charter House has been able to stand its grounds and organized this event for a decade, and these days it is now a whole festival. Big ups Charter House!
However, mistakes noted in every year’s edition are rarely rectified the subsequent year and with this year being an anniversary edition, Charter House needs to get their acts right. Anchoring of the main awards night has been a problem with the Ghana Music Awards over the last year or two. Kwame Sefa Kayi who has always done tremendously well whenever he presents the show was substituted for no particular reason (rumours were that people are fed up with him hosting year after year). We have all seen how the show has been since Kwame left and last year’s presentation is the worst ever in the history of the awards.
I do not know whoever advised Charter House to pair multiple award winner, Samini, and Doreen Andoh. That person did a great disservice to the awards with that recommendation. Samini is a good performer—that I cannot take away from him—but as an MC for a big event like the Ghana Music Awards is a big ‘joke’. DJ Black who was supposed to be the DJ on the night ended up emceeing the show as Doreen and Samini goofed performance after performance. The least said about it, the better and I hope Charter House has learnt their lessons this time round (We have many nice, young and eloquent presenters in Ghana for Christ’s sake).
For major award shows like this all over the world, performances on the night are one of the prime determinants if the show will be a success or a flop. Sound quality has been a problem with this event for some time now (I vividly remember Obrafour and Tinny’s unsuccessful performance in 2004 due to mic problems) and the magnitude of this year’s event should prompt the organizers to get it right this time.
Since it is the major award ceremony that rewards excellence in the music industry each year, it is expected to feature on the night artistes from different genres doing extremely well to thrill the audience. Citing this year’s Grammy’s as a good example, the organizers paired four of the major artistes in hip hop today (Jay –Z, Kanye West, T.I and Lil Wayne) to perform the award winning song “Swagga like Us”. Such kind of mind blowing duets and exceptional performances is expected from musicians who will get the privilege to perform. Talking about artistes who will be performing on the night, it has now become a norm for Charter House to bring one international artiste to grace our Music Festival. It is a laudable idea but all musicians who have so far come have are no more at their apex. If the organizers cannot bring an artiste who is currently in ‘hot’ to this year’s event, I kindly suggest that they scrap that idea and use the huge money they will have to pay those artistes to entice our local artistes to give out their best on the night. I believe in the Ghanaian and our artistes can do it!
Furthermore, one thing I have observed about these international artistes flown down to perform is that, they are always given an award one way or the other. Should that always be the case? I don’t think so and besides what’s the merit of the awards we give them?
Another significant observation I have made about GMA @ 10 is that in the nominations, one cannot point out a particular artiste who will dominate the night has as been the case in previous years. Every artiste stands a chance of taking something home but I strongly have a problem with the ‘Artiste of the Year’ category. My problem is why Tinny is not in that category. We have been made to understand that an artiste gets into that category based on his stage performances and the number of shows he or she has attended in a year. So if this is the criteria, why is Tinny omitted? I am waiting for someone to tell me who has graced more shows than “Aletse Kankpe” over the past year. People might argue he did not have a clear cut album last year but he was on every ‘big’ show in Ghana. Not to take anything away from the nominees though, but I sincerely think Tinny should have come in the ‘Artiste of the Year’ category ahead of Sidney, Philipa Baafi and Christiana Love.
The biggest names in the Ghanaian music industry and music loving Ghanaians will all be there on the 4th of April. Charter House says it is ready for this big event and so are Ghanaians. Good luck to all the nominees and perfection should be the vital word for Charter House this time. Hope you get it right this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment