It is my wish that, the intent of this short write-up will not be misconstrued like the several other articles of mine which have been over the years. The annual Ghana Music Awards which is now sponsored by telecom giant, Vodafone is in it 14th year.
It’s appropriate to say that, the VGMA is the most controversial award scheme in the history of Ghana. It is very difficult for people like me to absolutely believe in in deciding winners of such award schemes via voting. Regardless, the yearly awards must go on.
Ghanaians love their music, whether good or bad, we appreciate all the recent ‘nonsense’ called music forced down our throats every now and then. From my lens, I can see that certain deserving artistes would not not grab any nominations this year.
Why? If the organizers have already listed certain artistes they think released songs that “enjoyed massive airplay” and have gone ahead to say that these artiste “had the general public singing along to these songs”. It’s a source of worry to me and perhaps several others because it’s obvious which artistes will make the nominations (preferred by the organizers), even though nominations have just been opened.
In a press release, the organizers threw out the sentence; the “likes of R2Bees, the 4X4s, the Eazzys, the VIPs, the Kwaw Kesses, the Stay Jays, the ELs, the Lousikas, the D-Blacks, the Keches, the Herty Borngreats and even the so called other ‘talented musicians….have had songs this year which “enjoyed massive airplay” and “had the general public singing along to these songs”
Ghanaians knows the definition of ‘popularity’ which is in this case is a must for any musician to get a nomination. It’s not the work of the organizers to tell Ghanaians which song was popular and which song was not.
My question is; so what happens should any of the artistes mentioned fail to secure a nomination because the VGMA Academy thinks so? Then the needless controversy to sell the awards start…right?
We all have to develop the ‘wait’ and ‘see’ approach. But I hope I’m proved wrong this time around.
The Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) 2013 nominations have been opened and collation of entries has started in earnest.
According to the organizers, the month of January is being dedicated to the collection and collation of entries and research has already started. Record Labels, producers and artistes are therefore being invited to submit their entries to Charterhouse for entry into this year’s VGMA.