The Other Side of the Sixth Ghana Music Awards

Accra, May 13 GNA - Once again, the curtain has drawn on another Music Awards carrying with it lost hopes and pleasant surprises. The question that one might ask is whether it would be spared the usual criticisms that characterise such events.

It is believed that after five years of organizing such spectacular and thrilling events, Charter House would have learnt their lessons.


As an event associated or organized by a human institution, there are bound to be problems no matter how hard they tried. It is only natural that in such events and programmes, there can only be one winner, even in situation where there is a tie, "lots may be cast to see the winner" which would obviously exalt one person. With admirable stage lighting, excellent stage work immersed in wafting smoke from the sides, one for once would think one was watching the prestigious Grammy Awards.


For once, one could say that Ghanaian Artistes have come of age. The stage performance that graced the occasion was superb as they set the standard for their counterparts from other countries. The Nigeria idol, 2Face Idibia and a group from La Cote d'Ivoire called "Dj eriksson le zoulou" paid their dues.


The audience, glued to their seats, snapped their fingers and swung their waists, in appreciation and thanks to the stunning performance of Hi-life musician Rex Omar, as he performed some songs on his latest Album titled: "Ajala like di-dadaing", which also won him the best contemporary highlife song of the year.

When Josh Laryea picked the mike, he commanded death to die, by the throbbing of the atumapan, saying "Migboo", "I will not die, but live on to fulfil what the Lord has ordained for me".


One of the promising stars in the Ghanaian hiplife galaxy, 'Castro', with his hit song "Toffee" turned the whole house into a dance hall but his moments ticked faster than everyone could imagine. At least for the first time in the history of the Awards, the expectation of the pundits in the music industry has been met. The wrangling had been few.


A cross-section of the audience just guessed right. They had earlier opined that the race for the Awards was between Bice Osei Kufuor (Obuor) and Rasta haired Batman.


So when the moment came for them to climb the stage for glory, the deafening applause from the audience told the whole story. What they wished for had come true as they praised the award winners for the night and country.

There was no heckling. No cat calls. Only approving lips of the audience sang the praise of the award winners. At least, they were a well-behaved audience for the night. They cooperated well with the Masters of Ceremony.


Before the show started, fans had put their necks on the block for Batman, Obuor and Esther Smith, predicting that they would sweep most of the Awards.


At the end of the night, Obuor swept five Awards including the topmost award-"the most popular song of the year". He was the Hiplife Artiste of the year, spun the Hiplife Album of the year, assumed the Artiste of the year and sang the hiplife song of the year.


But he had other ideas on stage. He emerged from the top of the roof of the stage as he sang 'Minwu Biow'. His dancers perched on stage doing their own thing on the dance floor. Such choreography can only be packaged by a deserving 'artiste of the year'.

Gbenga Adeyinka I, the Nigerian Comedian lifted the house when they were ebbing with his rib-splitting jokes. He also doubled as one of the M.Cs for the night and drew rapturous applause.


But the punctuality of the Ghanaian would always be his doom. The event, which was billed to start at 2000 hours, began at about to 2200.


Another worrying thing at the Conference centre was the attempt by certain persons to jump onto high price areas after they had bought low price tickets.


For instance, many patrons who had bought the "upper deck" ticket had attempted to abandon their second floor destination for places reserved for VIPs.

The normal sized ushers at the event had a hell of time as the train of the nominees had their seats scrambled for. Security men did their best to make sure that people with genuine ticket and not gatecrashers were allowed in the auditorium. Some Journalists were also refused entry because they did not have the proper accreditation. Their Identity Cards proved worthless when they needed it most.


Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson, the Mayor of Accra, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Deputy Minister of Information; Mr Asamoah Boateng, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Modernization of the Capital City had a non-political fun as The World Bank Country Director, Mr Mark Karlson, nodded the night away and for once forgetting about thoughts of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and loans.


Assistant Commissioner of Police Kofi Boachie's love for music and dance saw him in the auditorium, but not in identification for criminals and traffic offenders.


Not many awards night can attract quite the number and scope of heads of institutions as Ghana Music Awards. Enthusiastic fans had braved the night and waited in serpentine queues around the huge pillars of the Accra International Conference Centre. They are looking forward to a Ghana Music Award with a deeper International character that would bring people from other West African countries to feast on the Ghanaian musical stage.