Can Ghana Music Awards be bought - Part 1

As the Ghana Music Awards 2010 draws closer, the nation’s anticipation has increased with regards to the artists who are going to be the night’s big winners.

Although the awards are meant to celebrate excellence within the Ghanaian music industry, some things just don’t seem as accurate as they ought to be. Case in point- how can artist win ‘Most Popular Song of the Year,’ but yet fail to win for ‘Hiplife Song of the Year’? Perhaps there are two separate groups that select the nominees for these two categories. With inaccuracies such as these surrounding the awards, now is the time for the GMAs committee to reconsider the continue usage of Charter House as the organisers of the event. Following ten years of organisation, surely each year should bring an addition of progress. However, these inaccuracies threaten to overshadow the true purpose of the GMAs- celebrating the success of Ghanaian musicians.

The GMAs has long been portrayed as an awards show strictly catered for Accra based music artists, popular within the Hiplife genre.  Although the Hiplife genre is a Ghanaian creation, one must determine whether it truly represents Ghana. Surely Charter House can create a category that will be able to effectively represent the various regions in Ghana, and give everybody an equal chance; something along the lines of ‘Best Act from the Greater Accra Region’.

Questions have been raised about specific artists getting preferential treatment from the members of the GMAs selection committee; some of these questions have perhaps been influenced by Kwaw Kese’s outburst. However, a Charter House Public Relations Executive was quick to douse the flames of rage from Kwaw’s outburst.

The PR Executive explained that the selection committee from two years ago which enabled him to win ‘Artiste of the Year’ are the same committee being used for this year’s awards. Henceforth, a failure to be nominated within a particular category this year is ultimately as a result of the actions of an artiste, rather than any discrimination on the part of the committee members.

Although the PR Executive appears to have justified the actions of the selection committee, it still remains a mystery as to why no Ghanaian artist has been a consecutive GMAs winner; it seems like each year equals new winners. Watch out for part 2 of this write up.

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