What stopped your artiste from organizing her own shows? – Sadiq pokes Wiyaala’s manager

Sadiq Abdulai Abu, an entertainment critic who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of 3Music Networks has criticized John Sherren, manager of musician Wiyaala for taking a swipe at organisers of AfroNation and Afrochela.

John Sherren while throwing his weight behind his artiste in the fight against some industry players who they say have constantly been attacking the Wiyaala brand expressed disappointment in organisers of the aforementioned events for not inviting his artiste to perform.

Responding to Sadiq’s Facebook defense post for colleague analysts, Sherren said, “Thank you for saying you cannot disrespect her brand. But I think you (and your peers) should do more to promote her brand as a genuine world class contender. It was disgraceful that Ruddy Kwakye and his colleagues did not invite Wiyaala to be part of Year of Return Concerts. You said it yourself “No Challenger! Wiyaala is Ghana’s Best Live Performer”. And in that, you clearly spoke the truth.”

But Sadiq retorted that Wiyaala could have organized her events just like her peers did instead of expecting to be booked for last year’s events. He posited that Sherren’s decision to somewhat smear the reputation of Ruddy Kwakye and other organisers of events was unhealthy.

“Your shot at Ruddy Kwakye in particular and his “colleagues” begins to make this whole thing looks like a pitching. You can make your case without having to set specific people up for attacks particularly. Ruddy Kwakye was only in charge of Afronation Ghana a global pan-African event that featured talents from Across Africa and the world,” Sadiq argued.

He continued: “Aside from Afronation Ghana, there was Afrochella, Rapperholic, Detty Rave, Promise Land and a whole lot of concerts. A chunk of these concerts were organised by the artistes themselves. So nothing really stopped any act whatsoever from organising or commissioning their own concerts within this time. Wiyaala could have done same.”



Background

On Saturday, Wiyaala recorded a video of herself launching scathing attack on JMJ and Asamoah-Baidoo for comments they made on Bryt TV and GhanaWeb TV’s Bloggers’ Forum respectively.

JMJ was reported to have said the female music scene has lost its vibrancy after the exit of Kaakie, MzVee and Ebony.

“We can hardly see any female in that same light as them. Shouts to Wiyaala who is doing well out there, she could be an exception but the rest are still not there yet for me,” a quote attributed to him read.

Although Mr. Asamoah-Baidoo acknowledged the success chalked by Wiyaala in the music industry, he mentioned that JMJ’s comparison of Wiyaala’s progress with other Ghanaian female artistes is weak because she focuses on the international market.

The astute entertainment critic argued that the likes of Wendy Shay, Sista Afia, Cina Soul, Adina have performed tremendously hence JMJ’s argument is flawed.

“In Ghana, Wiyalaa is not out there and you and I know that for some years, she and her handlers decided that we are leaving this space for you people. Our target is the international market where we get to perform at festivals. So I’m confused about JMJ’s shout outs to Wiyaala,” he told host Abrantepa.

“You’re shouting out Wiyaala who is not even paying attention to what is transpiring in our setting. Her focus is out there and you’re also telling us that the scene within our space is down… So the correlation is weak,” he added.