Update: Click Here For The REAL Winners
All the winners of this year’s edition of the Ghana Music Awards would be announced today April 14.
Like we have always done over the years, GhanaCelebrities.Com reviews, do analysis of each nominated songs plus categories before the awards are announced. Also we pick our winners for each category.
Mind you, whatever we say is our opinion; it’s not necessarily the views of the organizers; Charter House and sponsors Vodafone.
When the nominees for this year’s awards were unveiled, the hullabaloo that surrounded the nominations was enough to confirm that, the controversies which has been part of the awards since its inception thirteen years ago is far from ending.
Many people thought the fact that Vodafone has taken over from MTN as major sponsors will mean, effecting the needed changes to minimize the ‘needless’ controversies. The various Committees of the previous awards were also changed to Board and Academy.
I must say that, the controversies can’t be controlled when songs get disqualified because the awards’ Board and Academy consider the lyrics in such songs as offensive, violent and sexually explicit whiles other songs get the pass mark for whatever reasons.
The year under review was the year that, the word ‘azonto’ was made popular and introduced into the music industry. The word has already been there but in the year under review, it was given a star status as it was on the lips of every soul in Ghana.
Now let’s get to the predictions. History would be made today at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre, venue for the prestigious Ghana Music Awards which is in its 13th edition.
Before Hip Life trio, VIP made history last year by winning the coveted ‘Artiste of the Year’; many had said that, no artiste can win it twice.
Methinks VIP’s triumph would be short-lived as three previous winners look set to equal their win.
Before I get started with my predictions, here is a recap of the Industry Awards winners. Okyeame Kwame’s ‘Faithful’ was the biggest winner on the night. He won the ‘Songwriter of the Year’ and the ‘Producer of the Year’ which went to Appietus for producing the beat. Kwame also won the ‘Music For Development’ with his Hepatits B campaign.
Male and Female Vocal Artiste went to Kesse for ‘Oh Yes’ and Efya for featuring on Sarkodie’s ‘I’m In Love With You’. ‘Fefeefe’ by Gifty Osei picked the Gospel Album of the Year.
Kaywa picked the ‘Sound Engineer of the Year’ whiles, Guy One, Pat Thomas and Diana Hopeson picked the ‘Traditional Artiste of the Year’, ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ and ‘MUSIGA Merit Award’ respectively.
Now let’s get to serious business.
Artiste(s) of the Year
Becca
Okyeame Kwame
SARKODIE***
Efya
R2Bees
4×4
Kwaw Kesse
I think this year’s Artiste of the Year category is not strong enough. Whereas ‘not strong enough’ means that, though the names there are big artistes in Ghana, only two artistes in there did enough in the year under review to deserve to be in there; Sarkodie, 4×4 to a large extent Efya.
Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2012
Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2012: Okyeame Kwame Grabs Two Awards At Industry Awards
MTN brand ambassador and previous winner of the biggest award in Ghana ‘Artiste of the Year’ in 2009, Okyeame Kwame yesterday won two awards at the Industry Awards night of the 13th Ghana Music Awards held at the lobby of the Accra International Conference Centre.
Okyeame Kwame who until yesterday came out that he actually topped the nomination list for 2012 grabbed the ‘Music For Development’ with his Hepatitis B free screening campaign which has seen him screen people in various regional capitals.
He also beat the likes of D-Cryme, M3nsa, Manifest/Efya, Sarkodie/Efya, Becca and Trigmatic/Becca to pick the ‘Songwriter of the Year’ award with his ‘Faithful’ track featuring Bertha.
Appietus, the producer of ‘Faithful’ was also awarded the ‘Producer of the Year’.
This means that, Okyeame Kwame and ‘Faithful’ did not only topped the nominations for 2012 but they also lead in the awards department ahead of the main awards on Saturday April 14 at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre.
R2Bees Still Venting Over ‘Ajeeei’ Disqualification From Ghana Music Awards!
Before this year’s nominations of the Ghana Music Awards were unveiled, many expected R2Bees’ smash hit ‘Ajeeei’ featuring Sarkodie and Nana Boroo to grab many nominations. Nonetheless, the track which has made waves since its release was axed from the list.
The awards’ Board disqualified the song because after voting, they came to a consensus that the song contains sexually explicit lyrics and violence. According to the same Board which is made up of industry professionals, several songs which contain sexually suggestive lyrics were not axed because they were not explicit.
However, R2Bees as artistes have been nominated in the awards. They were nominated in the ‘Group of the Year’, ‘Hiplife/HipHop Artiste of the Year’ as well as the biggest prize of the night ‘Artiste of the Year’ categories.
Many have said that if their song has been disqualified why then are they in the awards. Charter House, the organisers also argued that, even though the song has been axed from the awards, they [R2Bees] as artistes have been very vibrant in the year under review.
Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2012: The General Public To Determine Who Wins The ‘Most Popular Song’ Of The Year!
The 2012 edition of the prestigious Ghana Music Awards Festival was launched yesterday at the GHOne Studios in Accra. The festival which is the biggest event on the Ghana entertainment calendar aims at recognizing and celebrating the hard work and dedication of the various players in the Ghanaian music industry.
With new sponsors Vodafone on board, the awards is now known as Vodafone Ghana Music Awards and VGMAs for short. The entire and various committees of the awards were dissolved with new members brought on to review the entire process and the organization of the awards.
A Technical Review made up Musicians, Music Producers, Music Directors, Sound Engineers, DJs and Journalists reviewed the entire scheme resulting in few changes for the betterment of the awards.
The general public for the first time will have the opportunity to choose who wins the ‘Most Popular Song’ of the year category. Previously the public contributes only 30% of in that category.
The Selection Committee has been replaced with Vodafone Music Awards [VGMA] Academy with Vodafone Music Awards [VGMA] Board replacing the Planning Committee. Members of both bodies will have 30% each in the decision of winners for the awards in the Public Voting Categories and 50% in the Industry Voting Categories.
The VGMA Board will have 100% stake for the 3 Honorary Categories. The re-introduce categories include ‘Gospel Album of the Year’, ‘Group of the Year’ and ‘Sound Engineer of the Year’. The ‘Music Producer of the Year’, ‘Music Video of the Year’ and ‘Sound Engineer of the Year’ would be decided by the VGMA Board and their own peers with each carrying 50%.
Azonto Categories For Vodafone Ghana Music Awards [VGMAs]? What Do You Think?
The first edition of the Ghana Music Awards with the new sponsors Vodafone is set to be launched tomorrow Thursday January 12 at the Studios of GHOne. One major setback that has bedevilled the awards since its inception many years ago has been the usual controversies in respect to the categorizations. However, with the new … Read more