That Ghana should have a dynamic, well recognized and well organized Gospel Music Awards comparable to Ghana Music Awards or even Dove Awards in the states, is long overdue.
Indeed the advent of the Ghana Gospel Music Awards in 2003, organized by Sammy Okine and his wife?s S and S Media was a refreshing relief for gospel musicians, the Christian community and the gospel music loving public as a whole because Ghanaian gospel music is really a force to recon with on the Ghana music scene and even among Ghanaians abroad.
To say that gospel music is big in Ghana is an understatement. Gospel music is mega in this country. Some may argue that Hip-life music (a fusion of hip-hop and highlife) is now reigning on the Ghanaian music scene. But watch TV and you would see that there are more gospel music videos than there are hip-life and other music videos.
The only reason hip-life enjoys that much popularity and patronage is because the Ghanaian society, even though about 68.8 per cent Christian (Source: Ghana Population and Housing Census, 2000), seem to be more secular in their taste for music, because most of the church going folk buy and dance to all other forms of music and attend secular music concerts. But the non-Christians hardly buy gospel music, even though they do no have a problem listening to them.
Take a careful look at concert attendance in this country. The same people who fill the churches on Sundays and attend big church conferences are the same people who fill the secular music concert venues. On the contrary they refuse to attend gospel music concerts and other cross-church function, except the functions is being organized by their mother church and by their pastors and prophets.
The maiden edition of Ceval Gospel Awards and Music Concert organized by Rev. Cephas Heywood Amartey?s Ceval Consult has come and gone. As one would expect, attendance was far below expectation. But that is notr surprising because as I said, history has shown that the Ghanaian Christian community (churches and pastors in particular), are more focused on building their separate kingdoms (the-my-church-syndrome) instead of building the kingdom of God.
As if by design, every Christian program organized in this country supposed to be a meeting point for all Christians is poorly attended. But go to the individual church conventions of saints, destiny summits, integrity conferences, miracle wave conferences, fire conferences and what-have-you and you would see numbers upon numbers of Christians, not unbelievers.
Ceval Gospel Award was designed to reward excellence in gospel music and gospel media performance. This is something worth and even more than worthy of the support of all churches and Christians organizations. And don?t tell me the churches have other more important commitments. They all make extensive use of local gospel music, gospel musicians and gospel media. Why could?t pastors compel their members to buy tickets and be at the awards night, the same way they compel them to register for in-house conferences, seminars and what-have-you. It?s a shame.
When J-Z came to Ghana tickets were sold for one million cedis and over per ticket and Christians paid and went to see him rap some nonsense. You know why, because a secular organization has taken it upon itself to pump heathen riches into it, promote and market that rubbish and guess what, our congregants, whom our pastors hold to their chest so much and refuse, by default, to allow to go to other Christian programs for fear of losing them to other churches, bought into the J-Z promotion thing and they paid millions to see J-Z. God have mercy.
Can?t the pastors do a better marketing and promotional job? After all they do that every Sunday, at weekly meeting days and at conferences and summits here and around the world, marketing and promoting the gospel of Jesus The Christ through their powerful preaching and people buy into it and get saved.
Besides, lots of pastors are known for their skill and prowess in marketing church projects and products for people to buy at very high prices during church fund-raising ceremonies. Some pastors are even more prolific when they market their own books and preaching tapes as well as books and tapes for their friend pastors. Why can?t we do the same for things that unite us as Christians? I ask.
I remember a very renown gospel music group in this country did a concert sometime in 2003 and they took tickets to one of the big churches in Accra, where the pastor had claimed several time in his pulpit that he was in love with this group and even wanted them to be members of his church.
When the pastor had the opportunity to sell tickets for the group?s concert (30,000 cedis per ticket) he told his congregation ?if you have 30,000 cedis you can go but make sure you don?t use your offering for today on the tickets.? Wow! Was it worth giving the ticket to that pastor to promote, even though he claimed to be in love with this group?
Gospel music and gospel musicians are not exclusive to one church no matter which church one gospel musician may belong to. We all use the music of Ghanaian gospel musicians for praise, worship and as song ministrations in our churches every Sunday, on other meetings days and during our mega conferences, summits and conventions. Is that not enough sign that even if nothing unites us, as some pastors sometime make it look, at least gospel music does because we all use the same songs despite which church the writers and singers of the songs belong to. Shouldn?t that tell us that we need to do something as churches to support gospel music and gospel musicians?
Imagine how our conventions, summits, conferences and church services would be like without gospel music. Pastors do invite gospel musicians who do not belong to their churches to their meetings and services every time but when it comes to supporting gospel music and the musicians that is when they remember to look selfishly inward. In fact even some gospel musicians do not enjoy much support from their own churches. Sad isn?t it.
Rather, I have reliable information of how some pastors have in the past tried and continue to try to suppress some gospel musicians from progressing. It is so sad I would rather spare you the details.
Some pastors make it look as if ministry is all about preaching so the church must support the pastor?s ministry and not the gospel musicians? ministry. Those pastors have lots of lessons to learn from the T. D. Jakes, Joyce Meyers, Creflo Dollars, Randy Morrisons, Matthew Ashimolowos, Eddy Longs and the others whose flamboyance they try to replicate in the churches and in their personal lives. Those people invest into gospel music and musicians big time and that is why they are able to produce such quality music which become world class hits. They recognize gospel music and gospel musicians as of equal importance in terms of ministry with the pastor.
Joyce Meyer once said ?the same way my ministry is to the entire body of Christ and not just to my church, so are the gospel musicians? ministry to the entire body and not just to one church. So I have a responsibility to support them to go as far as I go with my ministry and even beyond.?
But what do we see in Ghana, pastors get invited to preach in other churches and they travel around the world all the time but almost always accuse their musicians of being rebellious if they (the latter) go and play in another church or travel around to do ministry. I know this for a fact because I have experienced it and I know more people than I can count who have experienced same.
This self-seeking and my-kingdom-building kind of attitude from pastors, among others, was one of the major reasons S and S?s Ghana Gospel Music Awards just fizzled out after two rounds of awards. I blame the pastors because ?leadership is cause and everything else is effect? (Professor Steve Adei). If the pastors show their commitment to FINANCIALLY SUPPORTING gospel music and Gospel Music Awards, their members would automatically show interest.
How great would it be to know that Ceval Consult for instance can confidently boast of regular support from Churches and Christian led organizations as permanent sponsors of the awards night just like Embassy, Areeba, Tigo, Pepsi, Guinness, Coca-Cola and other corporate organizations remain permanent sponsors of all kinds secular activities on annual and some on daily basis?
Take Ceval Gospel Awards for instance, the venue was Royalhouse Chapel International (Ahenfie). It was a good gesture for the church to have given its auditorium for the program. But I spoke with some leading members of the church choir on the awards night and they were not even aware of the program. Moreover all kinds of church meetings went on, on the church premises during the awards night. Meanwhile pastors are able to suspend some regular church meetings for other in-house and even sometimes their own personal purposes. But they can?t do it for something that brings the kingdom of God together. Are we building our church or God?s church?
As for members of other churches, they did not even show up, except a few who either had complementary tickets or were directly or indirectly involved with gospel music, like myself.
Maybe Ceval Consult could also have done a better job with the promotions because I did not see much adverts on TV. The reasons are obvious ? funding. Before anyone criticizes Ceval, let me tell you the way I see it.
I think by far, Ceval Gospel Awards was better than the S and S Ghana Gospel Music Awards. The reasons are simple. Although Ceval Gospel Awards adopted a few things from Ghana Gospel Music Award, with Ceval, the prizes, which came with the awards, were presented to the winners there and then, right in front of everybody. As we say in Ghana ?no be say go come?.
Most of the award winners of S and S Ghana Gospel Music Awards only had their plaques and were promised some extra prizes like insurance policies and other things, which never came. Till date award winners from both the 2003 and 2004 Ghana Gospel Music Awards have not received some of the items they were promised. When some of them asked they got very rude answers from the organizers. As for the chief organizer, Sammy Okine, it was alleged that he and his wife left the country almost immediately after the first awards night to London to enjoy the booty from the mega success of the award night. No wonder the second one was a flop.
But I do have some problems with Ceval Gospel Awards though. As the name states; CEVAL GOSPEL AWARDS and not Ceval Gospel Music Awards. That suggests to me that in determining who won which award, the consideration went beyond gospel music.
In the non-competitive categories, Jayne Araba Buckman-Owoo of Graphic Showbiz was adjudged Best Gospel reporter of the year; that is not too bad, even though Nii Adokwei Moffat, a veteran at that, could have been a better choice. Jayne is a friend and she is such a prolific reviewer of new gospel music albums, groups and what-have-you. But before Jayne, there was Nii Adokwei Moffat of the same paper. Since the award was not limited to a particular year?s performance (at least that was not clearly stated), I thought Nii Adokwei deserved it better than Jayne.
Secondly I had a major, major problem with ChannelR being adjudged the Best Gospel Station. Except of course the basis for determining that award was which station played more local gospel music. But if it?s about the Gospel, then I think Sunny FM deserved the award better. My reason is simple, though Sunny FM does not play much of local gospel music, in terms of the promotion of the gospel itself, program content, professionalism, impact on lives and all, they are far, far ahead of ChannelR.
On the contrary ChannelR gives their platform to lots of quark, self-seeking, half baked prophets who accord themselves all kinds of flattery titles but have no message for the souls of men. Empty barrels making very loud noise and yet teaching nothing. Jesus first of all taught the word, healed the sick and worked miracles. Those prophets only create fear in their audience to warrant the need for them to invite people to their churches and take their money to pray for them. How many times haven?t we been shamed as Christians because of some false ??prophelying? by some ChannelR preachers?
ChannelR take money from any non-entity who claim to have powers to see people?s problems through the radio and guess what, lots of them get it woefully wrong and fingers are pointed at the entire Christian community. Yet ChannelR continues to give their platform to these same false prophets. That non-sense doesn?t happen on Sunny FM. How could ChannelR be the best GOSPEL STATION? I beg to differ.
I am inclined to believe what someone alleged to me that Rev. Cephas Heywood Amartey has a personal score with Sunny FM and that was why he ruled Sunny FM out completely. I don?t know how true that is, but since that category was non-competitive anything and anybody could have influenced decisions for whatever reasons.
But I must say that Ceval Consult deserves our congratulations. I personally look forward to the next CEVAL GOSPEL AWARDS and this time I expect the categories to be more than just 19 because there is more in the Ghanaian Gospel industry that deserve to be rewarded.
I would like to close with a suggestion that we get a few senior people into the awards committee because my information is that almost all the committee members were themselves gospel musicians and media people who could have won awards or at least perform at the function if they were not had not been on the committee. Long live Gospel Music in Ghana, Long live Ceval Gospel Awards. Kudos to Ceval Consult. God bless us all. END.
