Wiyaala’s outburst: George Quaye jumps to Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo’s defense

Radio personality George Quaye is of the view that Wiyaala and her manager, John Sherren’s approach towards a submission Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo made on GhanaWeb TV’s entertainment review show Bloggers’ Forum is unfair.

John Sherren, Sunday, said he was confused over the conduct of Mr. Asamoah-Baidoo towards his artiste, juxtaposing a superb article the journalist wrote about his artiste to his comment on Bloggers’ Forum.

“Hey guys! What's wrong with Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo? He says on Ghanaweb TV that Wiyaala does not count in the Ghana music industry? And then he writes this! I'm confused lol!,” Sherren’s post read.

In reaction, George Quaye stated that: “John Sherren, I think both you and Wiyaala got it all wrong on this one. I have watched the video over and again trying to decipher exactly how, when and where Arnold Asamoah-Baioo insinuated, intimated or evening suggested that Wiyaala didn’t count. They spoke about the state of female artistes and their impact in the industry. From the discussion, I would say that Arnold actually placed Wiyaala high above everyone else. And did he lie?

“Is Wiyaala not doing Ghana and Africa proud internationally? Which other female act can come anywhere close to Wiyaala when it comes international influence, relevance and appeal? I was sad when I saw the video from the lioness. I honestly believe you all got Arnold totally wrong. This is one Dude who’s never spoken ill of Wiyaala and I doubt he ever will. This is really unfortunate Boss. But is fine, we still love her and will always love her. There’s nothing wrong with Arnold. He’s doing what he’s always done. Pushing #thelionessofafrica to the very top!”

Background

On the Bloggers’ Forum show hosted by Abrantepa, the panelists discussed whether or not music producer JMJ’s assertion that the female music scene is virtually dead after the exit of Kaakie, Ebony and a few others is factual.

The renowned music producer had been quoted to have said that “During the time of Kaakie I am sure you guys saw how active she was with her A-game and changing the scene so quickly. Same was MzVee and Ebony (of blessed memory) when they hopped on too – these 3 females directed all the traffic to their corner and gave us hits back to back nonstop.

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

Although 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.



Wiyaala’s fury

A day after the show was published, Wiyaala recorded a video of herself launching scathing attack on Mr. Asamoah-Baidoo.

“This message is going to industry players especially those who do the blogging criticising or whatever. JMJ, Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo and all your whatever, if I don’t really count in this industry and I have never been counted as part of this industry, then don’t discuss me when you’re talking about showbiz in Ghana,” she fumed.

Wiyaala continued: “You can’t always mention my name and turn around and say ‘shouts to Wiyaala but she doesn’t count because she and manager are just concentrating abroad doing international stuff…”