VGMAs will sacrifice good songs - Stonebwoy

In the ongoing debate about whether or not the Reggae and Dancehall genres deserve to be placed under one category for the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs), Dancehall artiste Stonebowy says that by merging the genres, a lot of good songs are going to be sacrificed.

Charter House, organizers of the VGMA, had earlier stated that the Dancehall genre had still not gained solid grounds in Ghana, hence the merger with Reggae in one category.

But the ‘Pull Up’ hit maker thinks that “it is going to be difficult because maybe a Dancehall song did very well and a Reggae song did very well, so in that case who is going to get the award?”

“So that is where we are going to sacrifice one for the other. But in anything that gains proper grounds there is always a sacrifice so let this be done,” Stonebwoy stated.

Artistes’ works in both the Reggae and Dancehall genres under the calendar year – January 1 to December 31 2013 – were screened and placed under the same category for this year’s music event which is slated for May 3 at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).

Calls by artistes and patrons of both genres to separate Dancehall from Reggae for this year’s event seemed to have fallen on rocks.

“In certain instances, Reggae is the mother of Dancehall. So if we can’t separate Dancehall from Reggae to form different categories then I believe it is a perfect merge. There is nothing I’m going to say here that will change the Reggae and Dancehall category for this year but I believe that for Ghana, they are waiting for Dancehall to really get some more whatever they are expecting to their criteria to make sure that they put it as a separate category. I can’t be vexed about this but be patient and reason with them if they are merging them up together,” he added.

Meanwhile, it appears this year, songs on the Reggae and Dancehall song of the year are all from the Dancehall genre, meaning calls by various Dancehall artistes and patrons for a separate category is gradually proving a point.