Dee Aja
The original performer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) theme song for the 2016 elections Onaapo, Dee Aja, has expressed utmost shock and total disbelieve at the decision by organizers of UK Ghana Music Awards, to give the Most Popular Song Award, to Barima Sydney, instead of him and the songwriter, Nacee.
In an exclusive interview with ghanadat.com, Aja said it was unfortunate for Nacee and him to work to make the song that popular for Sydney from nowhere to take their intellectual property (original Onaaapo song) and get rewarded for it.
“Monkey dey work bamboo dey chop kind of thing has happened and I’m not surprised this has happened,” disappointed Aja said sadly.
The singer has received the news that Sydney’s rendition has been awarded in faraway United Kingdom (UK), with contempt, calling the action “disrespectful” on the part of the organizers.
Disappointed Dee Aja said “And I think it was disrespectful to Nacee and I from the organizers” questioning “why the one who wrote or composed the song, will lose it to someone who did just a remix…bogus.”
With the award going to Sydney, Aja said even though he was not invited, he was happy he was not in the UK for the show last Saturday since that would amount to the waste of [his] time.
He said, he was kept in the dark about the ceremony from the very beginning, otherwise, he would have implored his fans to vote for his song but it’s all good because that would even bring him more pain.
“So I was happy I was not in the UK for whatever,” he noted.
Asked if he was contacted or invited to the programme which was held last weekend, Aja responded in the negative adding “Well the truth is, Nacee made it clear to all Ghanaians that the song is his, which is true so the organizers called him rather than me who sang and did all the videos, which I think is the right thing so I think all the questions should rather go to him”.
Dee Aja also expressed disappointment in his team led by Nacee for allowing the [disrespect] to happen.
He lamented: “I have been used and thrown to shame by my team. I have nothing to say than to leave everything in the hands of God. It is sad, but God knows best.”
When told the information was that there were a lot of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in that country hence the final outcome, he responded “maybe” but added that “I think voting would have come from my fans [too], if I had put it on my wall and asked them to vote. That would have added a little vote to the votes”.
He could not tell if Nacee was invited but was not the least happy with the awards going to the “Scent no oo” hitmaker. “If yes, I am disappointed in the organizers for making him come only to be disgraced. Even if he was not there, I still do not agree that Sydney winning over Nacee, period!”
It is normal for most political parties in Ghana to have campaign songs during elections but the official political campaign song for the NDC was arguably the most popular song last year.
The song was titled “Onaapo” in the Ga language which means “you won’t even get.”
The Jama version of “Onaapo” was uploaded on YouTube on November 13, 2016, and as at last year, it had 170,019 views.
There was also the NPP version of the song by Barima Sidney titled “Time Aso” and not Onaapo.
