A regular commerce-driven company organises the Ghana Music Awards. It was a master stroke of business genius for them to create the event which attracts more suspense, intrigue and excitement than almost any other in Ghana. I don’t think many events have been more crazily followed in Ghana in the past 10 years than the Ghana Music Awards, apart from the General Elections, the Africa Cup of Nations 2008 and Barack Obama’s pit stop in Accra.
In its time, I’ve seen the Ghana Music Awards criticised by musicians almost every year. Now, criticism itself is not a bad thing, is it? But if so many are so variously angered, dismayed or repulsed by nominations and awards at the event, why is it still so inexorably popular? Cannot the musicians and their associations set up their own glitzy-ritzy awards event? And since they will be the organisers and the eligible at the same time, the popularity of their programme will mean a necessary waning of the star quality of the Ghana Music Awards.
You can support the Ghana Music Awards and make it better, or you can cull its clout by setting up a ‘self-awarding’ musicians’ event. Whatever you do, do not accept nominations every year and turn around to criticise if the “Most Popular Song of the Year”, by your estimation, is no more popular than cricket in Ghana.
lol...Ghana! How transparent is it? Does anyone know the criteria for determining any award in Gh?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why other country musicians are nominated? I hear there are a number of Nigerian nominees.
ReplyDeleteAre the GMAs here again?! The one and only time I attended was back in 2004 courtesy of a free ticket. The highlight of the show for me was a performance by the South African icon Brenda Fassie who had coloured my childhood and teens with her unforgettable hits. The Ghanaian audience were lukewarm as usual. Sadly, Brenda Fassie died a few months later. Haven't really paid attention to the GMAs since..
ReplyDelete@ Kwame M-B: So-called gurus in the industry are invited to constitute the committee which manages the nomination and, I think, selection, process.
ReplyDelete@ Myne: Some Nigerians were nominated. I do not know how many, but certainly not many.They are nominated because Naija music is big with Ghanaian youth now.
@ Abena Serwaa: I am respondig after the event. The audience was quite reactive this time. I saw bits of it on tv.