Analysis: Ghana Music Awards 2007

Well, well, well! Another musical year has just ended and boy am I glad the efforts of the men and women who have entertained us for the past year have been rewarded? But, hey, it’s pretty amazing that a year’s gone by already yet songs like “Heavy” and “I want to see you my father” are still fresh on my mind as though they started rocking the airwaves just yesterday.

I’m sure you might be fed up with reading stories about this year’s edition of the Ghana Music Awards (GMA) and trust me I’m not going to recap the entire episode again. What I’m trying to do is just look at the highs and lows of the show plus some comments about the awards.

So let’s start with the show itself. I guess this year’s awards programme surely is an improvement over the previous ones, especially in terms of the prizes (like millions of cedis worth of talk-time from Areeba). I also think the props on stage were just apt for the “jubilee year”, don’t you think? I must also give thumbs up to Chris and his co-hostess (or is it co-host?) Pam. They did a good job on the red carpet but boy I could see TIRED boldly written on their foreheads after Chris interviewed the “Rat Pac” (that’s Kwame Faakye and Eddie Blay Jnr).

Now down to what I consider the big flaws of the night.

Those of you GMA faithfuls, who watched the show live from the comfort of your sofas, plastic chairs or wherever you sat, might have noticed that sound management for the program was very poor. First case -- did anyone hear Kojo Oppong Nkrumah ask for the envelope bearing the name of the winner of the Gospel Song of the Year?

Take two? Throughout the show it appeared as though a microphone had been planted in the audience and it was so clear whenever emcee Kwame Sefa Kaye said something which attracted a response from the crowd. The jeers from a particular voice (female) and other members of the crowd was even louder than when Nana King mounted the stage to present the award for the African artiste of the year which went to D’Banj. They were booing the poor man.

But hey I really want to ask, did the organizers do any sound check at all before the program? I could even hear calls for camera shots intermittently -- on live TV!

Now let’s talk about performances on the night. If I recall properly, Philippa Baafi was not among the list of artistes advertised to perform, right? So how did she end up on stage? Or is it true what I heard was going on backstage? …. That there was near anarchy and that most of the artistes were called asked to perform impromptu?

Let’s just say even if Philippa was included in the ads, her performance left a rather sour taste in many mouths -- or was it only mine? She was literally shouting and not singing the song. That was not the only problem. Her microphone was also louder than the instruments which were supposed to blend with her vocals to give us a complete package we could dance to. No wonder people were not moved by Philippa’s efforts.

My favourite songbirds, Irene and Jane also failed to impress me on that night. Apart from their voices overshadowing the backing instruments, they came out with a song I’ve never heard before. I was later told it was written for them by Kwasi Pee. But I thought the essence of performing at concerts was to make people dance or sing along to your song? Even if the ultimate aim is to promote one’s album, I still think the lovely ladies could have done better. Probably they could have sang the song they recorded with Wutah, you know … shake your body if you’re ready for this… or even “Hit it up” which is currently enjoying some good airplay on TV. (Hey you’ve gotta check out that video).

I think in as much as we want to bring back live band music, artistes also need to do some extra work. It’s not just a matter of waking up and jumping on stage to sing assuming that the band can play your song. Else you’ll end up singing in say key C while the band’s playing in D minor. I think Ofori Amponsah’s performance on the night was very lousy (no offense here though) and he should take a cue from Hugh Masekela. Now that is what I call a classic act -- all the instruments were well-tuned and the band played and sang in key.

Now my trouble with the awards is this. How can you pair a song like Ofori Amponsah’s “Emmanuella” with Kofi B’s “Akua Ataa”? Don’t get me wrong here. It’s not as if one is inferior to the other. No. On the contrary it’s about qualification. Both songs are great hits but, you see, Kofi B was wrongly placed. I think he should have been fielded next year instead.

According to the criteria for selection, songs that were released before the 31st of October 2006 were only those that qualified for the awards. My point here is that, Ofori Amponsah had an unfair advantage over Kofi B. While Ofori’s album was released in the early part of 2006, Kofi B’s was released much later. I remember speaking with Kofi B at JOY FM’s ‘Nite With the Stars 2006’ which was held on 11th November 2006 and he told me he was still working on his album which came out in December – I guess? So where then lies the justification in pairing the two when one has an undue advantage over the other? If for instance Obour who’s album was unofficially launched at JOY FM’s ‘Nite with the Stars’, (a month or two earlier than Kofi B), did not get nominated, why was Kofi B taken through such torture then?

Hiplife song and artiste awards went to the Executioner himself, Obrafour. No qualms about this chap sweeping these awards but why put Obrafour in the Hiplife category when his “Heavy” track is a highlife piece?

I appreciate the fact that the organizers of the GMA are trying to broaden their horizon by including our brothers and sisters from other parts of the continent but I don’t quiet get the criteria used to select the nominees.

Here’s what I mean. For instance, this year there was an award for African Artiste of the Year and it went to D’Banj of Nigeria. Frankly, till the awards night I did not know who D’Banj was neither had I heard any of his songs before. Then out of the blue he comes and sweeps the award from a group like BLU 3 who at least performed at the GMA last year and at least have enjoyed some amount of air-time on our local TV networks. Well after the awards, I did ask a few friends about this D’Banj guy and I was told he’s been making the waves on MTV Base. So I just want to know -- is the African artiste award based on MTV ratings and air-time or on air-time on our local TV and/or radio networks?

All said and done, let me use this platform to congratulate all the award winners, particularly King Ayisoba and his producer, Panji as well as Batman Samini. And oh Charter House, more lead to the pencils used on your drawing boards, but please next year, let’s try not to make the same mistakes again.

By Yaw Dennis