Ghana Music Awards Has Lost ‘Colour’

Finally, finally, finally, the dust has settled on yet another musical year. Ghana Music Awards 2010 has crowned Sarkodie “Obedeponbede” as the Artiste of the year on a colourless night at the Dome, Accra International Conference Centre, last Saturday, April 10, 2010.

Undoubtedly, the biggest entertainment event in Ghana ended successfully without any “wow” factor.

The night started with a rather early turn out. As early as 5:30pm, the gate was choked with anxious people who were ready to buy tickets at any cost, because of an artificial shortage of tickets prior to the show.

The gate was officially opened at about 8:20pm and one had to pass through three different check points before gaining entry into the over 4,500 capacity venue. A yellow carpet session to welcome the stars, nominees, and VIP’s hosted by KOD set the ball rolling.

Abrantie ‘serious’ Amakye Dede gave the night a good start with Okyeame Kwame, who didn’t really add anything much to anything.

Generally, performances on the night were among the worst in the eleven years history of Ghana Music Awards. Creative stage craft and real showmanship were totally missing on stage, except for Efya Awindor who stole the whole show with her outstanding live performance. Even though she is still new and the audience was not familiar with her songs, she had everybody in the auditorium appreciation her vocal abilities and musical talent as she indeed left a lasting impression on the minds of anybody who watched her on stage.

4x4 only came on stage to show off their shiny suits. Nana Boroo of ‘Ahayede’ fame and his dancers, performed as if they never prepared to perform. Ruff and Smooth’s appearance on stage with the three ‘Cargo’ fat ladies, was absolutely unnecessary. It had no link with any of their songs whatsoever.

Eazzy did what everybody was expecting her to do on stage, there was nothing extra-ordinary about her act. The only unique thing about Ohemaa Mercy’s performance was her camouflage (military) costume. Becca only repeated her performance at Akosua@20 concert on the night.

Jozi from South Africa were the worst performers, as a lot of people in the audience were seen yawning whiles the duo were on stage. VIP did the same old thing, nothing different.

Ghanaian UK -based singer Donae'o appeared on stage as though he was called from bed to perform. He barely sang, merely miming into the microphone and just moved up and down on stage. Apart from the fact that he had a very popular song “Party hard”, Donae'o had nothing else to offer.

Obrafour and Guru tried hard to improvise their “Kasiebo” video on stage but it looked quit shabby. Sarkodie, Wande Coal and R2Bees only mimed their popular songs.

Sound quality on the night was not the best. It kept fluctuating with a very irritating homing, due to an unexpected power trip. Security was very poor as several celebrities including some nominees, were seriously heckled and physically assaulted before they were allowed to gain entry.

The security detail, who were brought from Togo and other neighboring countries, rather caused insecurity at the venue. Security dogs were let loose on some patrons who had purchased tickets for the show.

Some even went home bloodied, with injuries. Sitting arrangement on the night like that of last year was also appalling. Several people came in with VIP tickets and yet there were no seats reserved for them; but for once, credit to the organizers, they were able to place all nominees and award presenters, at an appropriate place in front of the stage.

Fashion on the night was a lot more decent than previous years, but as usual, the gentlemen were better dressed than the ladies. It was an entertainment show all right, but clad with a huge fashion statement as silver suits dominated the night.

In a nutshell, Ghana Music Awards 2010 just whittled away as another passing social event...with nothing spectacular.

In effect, there was nothing new to watch, just gross repetition. The organizers did what they could to put up a good show, but certain last- minute lapses ruined their hard work.

Though there were a few questionable award winners out of the 25 categories, quite a number of deserving musicians were rightfully rewarded on the night.