Ghana Film Awards: Profane song attracts criticism

Brew Riverson And Pascaline Edwards Are Best Actors

The 3rd Ghana Film Awards ceremony on Friday night was characterised by a number of problems, the worse of which was a profane song performed by Borax, a young local hip-life artiste.

It was not a surprise therefore when Nana Yaa Owusu-Prempeh of Tin-Ifa Computers, a major sponsor of the awards, openly criticised the song as containing inappropriate lyrics and admonished the artiste to change them.

Nana Yaa said amidst popular audience approval that, "the lyrics in the song is not good for our children." Borax was one of four musicians invited to perform at the function. The other four musicians were Stella Dugan, Acheeba and Adane Best, with Western Diamonds servings as the main band. Borax performed his music with sound track and therefore had the liberty to move among the audience appealing for people to join him sing his profane song "Aseeho", meaning "down there", which he perpetually indicated to the audience by pointing to his genitals.

Apparently he thought the Ghanaian public were in love with his song, but to his surprise everyone he went to with the microphone refused to join in the verbal profanity galore, except for his lady partner and a 12-year-old boy with him on stage.

Alhaji Sidiku Buari, President of Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) told the GNA in an interview that Borax was a talented musician but the song he performed was not good for the occasion.

He intimated that initially the organisers of the Awards had approached the MUSIGA to arrange for musicians to perform at the function, but they later changed their mind and chose their own musicians.

"We gave them A. B. Crenstil and Paapa Yankson but later they told us they did not want them, only for them to go and pick this boy to perform this profane song," he said.

Alhaji Buari said the film awards ceremony, though not a music programme, audience at such functions deserved better than profane songs, adding that the organisers should have known better. He said MUSIGA was concerned about such showings of their members and it expects that it would be in the interest of the nation to consult the union for specific national functions.

On the other hand, performers such as Acheeba, Stella Dugan and Adane Best did justice to the respect they command on the music scene with beautiful tunes, except that Adane's performance was nearly marred with poor instrumentation by the Western Diamonds. Noyam, a dance group, co-directed by Francis Nii Yartey, virtually stole the show with excepts from a unique piece of rhythms, harmonies and movements entitled "Elements".

Amidst frequent intermittent applauds, the dancers, as it were, moved uniformly and energetically to various African rhythms and harmonies combined by Francis Nii Yartey.

Meanwhile the awards night lost a very significant feature due to what the MCs Godwin Ayequaye said was a technical hitch.

Excepts of nominated films, which usually showed on a large screen before the winner is finally announced, could not be done at all, although the overhead screens were present.

Poor sound, which was named as the major problem facing the local film industry, was an equally a major problem at the awards night. Sound levels kept fluctuating through out the night.

Some of the dignitaries invited to present certain awards did not show up and critics who spoke to the GNA wondered why the MCs had to call their names live on GTV even though they were not sure those dignitaries were present.

Even some of those who were there to present the awards, had to wait for minutes before the trophy and certificate reached them as the nicely dressed ladies charged with the duty of bringing the trophies and certificates from back stage, were often absent minded.

Mr. Atukwei Okai, Secretary-General of Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) told the GNA that "if there were any signals of improvement in the standards of film making in Ghana, the nature of tonight's programme is a manifestation of that signal."

He said clearly, the night left much to be desired, adding that it was high time the vehicle of film was not only considered important to national development, but also supported by stakeholders to succeed.

The 3rd Ghana Film Awards was the first to be organised by an independent private organisation, Summit Productions, for the entire film industry in Ghana since its inception three years ago by GAMA Films Company and TV3 Network Limited.

The first two were solely sponsored by GFC and TV3, but this third one attracted million of cedis in sponsorship from private organisations and at least one foreign mission, the French Embassy, the major sponsor.

Brew Riverson And Pascaline Edwards Are Best Actors

Brew Riverson Jnr and Pascaline Edwards have been adjudged best actor and actress of the year 2001. The two received their awards at the 3rd Ghana Film Awards ceremony held on Friday night in Accra. The Ghanaian film production, “A Call at Midnight” was selected as the Best Film for the year 2001. The event which was to recognize the efforts of various personalities and organizations in the local film industry also witnessed two film directors, Samuel Nai and Veronica Quarshie jointly receiving the Best Film Director award.

The 3rd Ghana Film Awards ceremony is the first to be organised by an independent private organisation, Summit Productions, for the entire film industry in Ghana since its inception three years ago by GAMA Films Company and TV3 Network Limited. The event attracted millions of cedis in sponsorship from private organisations and at least one foreign mission, the French Embassy, the major sponsor.