Borngreat gets defense from VGMAs organizers

The reigning Gospel Artiste of the Year, Herty Borngreat, has come under severe verbal attack for saying she would not submit her works for the 2014 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) nomination process.

Herty, speaking on Peace FM’s Entertainment Review, over the weekend, explained that her current studies abroad would not give her the needed time to submit her works to the VGMA board and follow up by moving round the country to rally votes for them if they are nominated.

This explanation has not gone down well with a section of entertainment pundits who think she is running away from the 2014 VGMA for fear of losing out.

George Quaye, host of The Pundits on GhOne Television, has however sprung to the defence of the multi-award-winning Herty, saying she should be taken for her word and excused to focus on her studies. According to George, Herty is not afraid of the VGMAs because she worked very hard in the year under review and has works that fully qualify for nomination.

“In the year under review (2013), Herty did very well. She released a whole album and songs from that album are still getting good rotation on radio. She did a concert at Alisa and it was a packed auditorium. She did not have a bad year at all. We all have different preparation levels and she is saying that because of her studies, she does not have enough time on hand to move round to campaign for votes.

“Fortunately, she has not said she should not be nominated all she is saying is that she would not be as active as the previous years. Let us give her the benefit of the doubt. If the VGMA Board thinks Herty deserves to be nominated and they go ahead and nominate her and she still does not move out to rally support for that nomination, then it is left to her but for now, I think she should be excused,” George explained.

George is a Senior Events Producer/Director and Head of Media, Brands and Communication for Charter House. He continued: “Some people do not know Herty Borngreat well enough. This is the Herty Borngreat that beat an artiste as hot as EL to win Discovery of the Year. This is the artiste that beat a song as popular as Kwabena-kwabena and Asem’s song, ‘Bye Bye’ to win Best Collaboration of the Year.

Then she also won Gospel Song of the Year. My point is that Herty Borngreat is not afraid that if she gets nominated she won’t win or something. I don’t think that is the point at all. Because over the years, she has a proven track record. I think people like her should not be underrated at all.”

In 2013, Herty released her third successful album, ‘Mystery’, which received heavy rotation on radio, TV and online. In the same year, she also put up several performances and launched the maiden edition of her gospel musical concert dubbed “Be My Guest”.

It was a mega live gospel concert that attracted several hundreds of people and performances from veteran gospel musicians Mary Ghansah, Nobel Nketia and Tagoe Sisters.

She has carved a niche for herself as one of Ghana’s enterprising gospel musicians and won the hearts of many music fans in Ghana with her soul-touching music and stagecraft.