Ghanaians truly have a humiliation kink, and every year, it gets validated on Ghana Music’s biggest night. For 25 years, Charter House has built an integral institution out of the Ghana Music Awards. While the awards scheme has always raised some concerns, there seem to have been growing problems in recent years.
Over the weekend, the latest offering of the TGMAs was held with King Promise earning the most coveted award as “Artiste of the Year”. There were other big winners on the night like Kweku Smoke, Stonebwoy, Team Eternity Ghana, and Beeztrap KOTM, who emerged as the “Best New Artiste of the Year”. While there is very little concern over who won what, there were other aspects of the show that robbed us of some joy that this writer feels need to be addressed.
On the one hand is the show’s production. As someone who has experienced the show in person, I can confirm that the experience is different. However, an award show like TGMA is not limited to only those who attend in person. I watched this year’s edition from two fronts. One was on stream via TV3’s Twitter livestream and later on TV during a watch party. As honestly as I can be, the experience was not the best for several reasons. It is not surprising that a lot more people shared their dissatisfaction online during the event.
For an event of such magnitude and with years of experience under their belt, I am surprised things are the way they are. I also do not remember it being this way when I was younger, or perhaps I just did not pay enough attention to notice. As if the bad timing of events was not enough, viewers were treated to bad sequencing/transition of events. It was also not the best outing for someone who is one of the country’s best comedians. While his intentions of trying to lighten the mood were in good faith, some of the jokes left a rather bitter taste in the mouths of people who consumed those jokes. It is high time organizers looked at how to manage time outside these segments, which often drag on. I am of the opinion that an award show should not go beyond 3 hours at most.
Another concern was production issues like lighting, sound, backstage coordination, and camera handling. As someone who was watching from home, I noticed some errors at various points of the show. I could hear production communications among the backstage crew; there were moments when the camera kept shaking, and other moments when the lighting was very poor. The camera would pan to the audience, and it would feel like Gotham in there. You could barely make out who was being shown on the screen.. The same can be said for the stage during some performances.
As far as performances go, it would be difficult to blame organizers for how bad some performances were. Bar the Gospel artists, Stonebwoy gave one of the best performances of the night, dare I say the best. He made everything look flawless, and it is a testament to his rich artistry. I would not be surprised if Stone’s performance was produced and coordinated with the assistance of his team.
It begs the question of whether artists even showed up for rehearsals. As bad as the lighting was, some of the artists were just not helping themselves. They were out of frame, missing camera shots and angles. Looking at how people like Stonebwoy and young Kojo Blak played to the camera, it is worrying that others did not show out well. This is not the fault of the organizers but rather the artists themselves. As an artist, your performance should be important to you, especially on a big stage like that, and if you even have to invest your resources to produce an excellent performance, you should.
Other issues like sound cuts may be laid at the feet of unforeseen circumstances, but it happened a few other times, which was very worrying. As large as the stage was, there were times when some artists were lost in the pool of dancers on the stage. Some performances were more carried by the props and other things happening on the stage, as against the artists’ manning and driving the performance. Which, once again, Stonebwoy did very well. He was one of the few people who used every tool to his advantage while maintaining his spot as the main focus of the performance.
One beautiful thing that went under the radar several times was the carousel images/videos that were being shown on the giant middle screen on stage. Because of the position of the cameras and how crowded some of the performances were, one could barely see what was being displayed. With other visible screens at their disposal, one would ask why use only the middle screen?
While the organizers had their work cut out for them, one other issue that needs addressing is the absence of artists from our award shows. For people who are being celebrated, it is disrespectful to the scheme/organisers and your fans who have spent their time voting and rooting for you to not show up at these events, especially when you are in the city and country. It is one thing if you do not show up because you were not nominated, but if you were nominated but did not show up when you could, or you were nominated, won an award, but did not show up for it, then you bow your head in shame.
Over the years, we have seen a lot of artists being absent from the TGMA, and it seems to get worse with every award show. The show is now mostly populated by fans, content creators, influencers, and other members of the public rather than the very people the award celebrates. Again, I will take the opportunity to applaud artists like Stonebwoy and Efya, who have consistently attended the award show. Artists like these understand how important it is to show up for the institutions that hold up our music industry. Artists who keep away from these events should be ashamed of themselves. It is disrespectful to the institution and, most importantly, your fans and consumers who spend their time, money, and resources to support and push your music. The TGMA may have its problems, but being absent is not the solution. Ghanaian artists should do better.
Like every institution, problems are bound to arise, but an institution like the TGMA will be held to a high standard with the many years of experience it has under its belt. If the show is positioned to cater to audiences in the auditorium and those at home, then it should be reflective of the day. The auditorium is not large enough to house everyone, and it is unimaginable that Charter House cannot produce a show that can be great both in person and on screen. While there are backslashes, we remain optimistic about seeing better shows in subsequent years. We also congratulate all the winners on the night. We look forward to seeing all the work artists will put in and what the next award season has for us.
Written by Nana Kojo Mula.
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