The Vodafone Ghana Music Awards ultimate category, Artiste of the Year award, used to be won by the most deserving artiste in the land, so much so that controversy rarely followed it.
But for the past two or three years, controversy has followed the winner of the ultimate award, with this year’s winner Joe Mettle facing even more controversy that E.L last year.
Mettle made history with his win – becoming the first gospel act to win the top award in Ghana music – but there are nevertheless many who cannot fathom how he managed to win. The controversy has become something of a proxy war for religion and secularism as Mettle’s supporters cast it as a win from God and his detractors are cast as being against Christianity.
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Nevertheless, few compelling arguments have been laid out by either side, until now. Writer Nii Annerquaye Abbey, in a blog post detailing the problems with the VGMA’s, has tackled the controversy over Mettle’s win, and pinpointed why in his view the ‘Onwanwani’ singer does not deserve the award.
Read his post below….
Joe Mettle, Kinaata, Charterhouse dishonesty
No Gospel artiste has ever come close to winning the coveted award. I don’t recollect and I don’t know if you do. So in the run up to the VGMAs, the agenda was for a Gospel artiste to take home that award, no talk about merit or whatsoever. Just that it’s time for a Gosple (sic) musician.
Joe Mettle is a fine talent. No argument, hands down. But does he deserve the award, no. Even Charterhouse per their own criteria should not have nominated him in the first place
The Artiste of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the Artiste(s) with the highest audience appeal and popularity. The Artiste(s) must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.
For Joe to have made the artiste of the year in the first place meant that he should have released a hit single or album. He did do any. He was absent in the gospel song of the year category, the genre of music that he does. He didn’t make most popular song of the year too. Neither was he nominated in the album of the year category as well. So on what basis did he make the list?
If it was about mass appeal then Kinaata, who picked three awards on the night, probably deserved to be in the artiste of the year category. His audience appeal is several yards ahead of the whole bunch of artistes that made the list.
And for Joe Mettle fans, it’s fair to say congratulations but never make this a religious thing or whatever you seem to make it thinking that the rest of us are some bunch of demons of a sort needing redemption. Just rejoice in it. The VGMAs thrive on controversy and Joe Mettle award is one right there.
At the conference center early this morning when he was named the winner, the characteristic euphoria that greets the top winners was notably absent and the auditorium was almost empty by the time Joe found his voice to make a speech. Tells us that Joe has more to do to carry on his evangelism.