Ghana Music Awards 2011 Categories Out

After the successful completion of the Brainstorming and Categorisation Committee meeting held at the British Council Hall on Friday, January 2011, the Planning Committee for the 2011 edition of the Ghana Music Awards has released a list of categories for the awards.

The Planning Committee’s main responsibility was to complete categorization of the Public Categories like the Song Categories, the Artistes Categories and the Album Categories which are mainly based on popularity. During the brainstorming sessions, several recommendations and suggestions were made including the introduction of the Best Performer of the Year, Best Ghanaian Artistes in the Diaspora and the Engineer of the Year.

Personalities who attended the brainstorming sessions included, Panji Anoff, Nana Kwaku Osei (Nacy), Appietus, Ahmed Banda (Bandex), Akuba Quarmine of GTV, K.K. Kabobo, David Kyei (Kaywa), Fiifi Folson, Ernest Kwesi Ennin, Dj Mensa and Nana Kwame O Sarpong among many others.

Below is the detailed list of categories for the 2011 edition of the awards:

Public Category

Artiste(s) of the Year

Hiplife/Hip Hop Artiste(s) of the Year

Highlife Artiste(s) of the Year

Gospel Artiste(s) of the Year

Discovery of the Year

Best Collaboration of the year

African Artiste(s) of the Year

Hiplife Song of the Year

Highlife song of the Year

Most Popular Song of the Year

Afro-Pop Song of the Year

Hip Hop Song of the Year

Gospel Song of the year

Reggae Song of the Year

Best Rapper of the year


The Industry categories are:

Album of the Year

Best Male vocal performance (Solo/Group)

Female vocal performance (Solo/Group)

Best Music Video of the Year

Songwriter of the Year

Record Label of the Year

Producer of the Year

Traditional Artiste(s) of the Year

Record of the Year

Instrumentalist of the Year

MUSIGA Merit of the Year

Meanwhile a special call is being sent out for entries into the Music for Development sponsored by the World Bank.



Story by Ernest Dela Aglanu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

10 THINGS THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN IN 2011

Lots of things have already happened this year. Genevieve has finally admitted to dating The Koko Master, Agya Koo has been warned about his Mallam Issah movie and the movie has been withdrawn from the market (to my immense delight), and Cheryl Cole (I don’t know if people will allow me to use that surname when they’ve separated, but come to think of it, it doesn’t sound right in my ears any longer but it also happens to be her original surname so no harm done) is finally feeling the heat of being the scorn of British people after her X Factor howler.



Cheryl Cole

But this is just the beginning of a new year with only one month gone and so I made a list of 10 things that shouldn’t happen this year in no order.

• Ambulay shouldn’t be allowed to feature on Sway’s track again. The Shepherds’ Pie track was horrible.
• Daddy Lumba shouldn’t be allowed to organize a performance again. What he did in Kumasi was a dent on his stellar musical career and that pains me.
• Someone please tell Bradez not to organize pool parties again unless they know the group of people they are inviting. You simply can’t expect the adult group who are free to parade their girlfriends around to party with High school kids who are only learning how to raise their swag. Totally unacceptable.
• Tiger Woods can’t be allowed to attend a bachelor’s party without his wife around to supervise his every move. That guy has got hormones and lots of it.
• Sandra Bullock shouldn’t make any movies this year. The kind of money she is making is not good for a lady. If you don’t believe me ask Oprah.
• Whoever directs Agya Koo’s movies should be banned. He is the worst director the world has ever seen.
• My brother Michael should be allowed to do any kind of rap. Wanna know why? He SUCKS.
• Nobody should allow Majid Michel to go to Hollywood. His poor sense of fashion is contagious.
• The Delay program shouldn’t be hosted by Delosir Frimpong Manso again. She lost the right to that program when she interviewed Obaa Yaa who claims to love Baby Jet.
• Nobody should allow Zion on a musical stage. He will rock your world.

Dr CRYME YES SIRRRRR

The music industry is witnessing the birth of many genres in our local music. Talk of the likes of Hip Crunk, Hip Cunt, Sebekoa and the new Twi Pop. The Twi Pop genre is said to be a combination of natural hardcore hip hop and urban high life and it is currently being promoted by two of our hotshots in music, fastest rapper Sarkodie and the local Eminem D Cryme who also happens to be its inventor.



Dr. Cryme

Kwasi Darlinton Adjekum, who is known by the stage name Dr. Cryme, is an integral member of the Tema Clan and currently presents 4 Syte TV’s Top Videos on E TV. He was officially exposed by E Jam records this year on the 5^th of June at the Bacardis in Tema. In as much as the club was hot and some of the performances were amateurish, it was quite an interesting turn up. It is a sign of his growing influence that the likes of Reggie, Sarkodie, D Black and DaSquad Boys feature on the invited guests list.

D Cryme has released several hit singles which are enjoying massive airplay in Ghana and abroad. He is credited with “Me Ne Woa”; “Shake For Me” GH version and my personal favourite “Kill Me Shy”. You have no idea what I went through to get that track but I gotta say that it was worth it. He has also featured on several hit tracks like “lol on the dancefloor” by D Black, “su e” which also features Sarkodie and “come wine” by Tema stars.

Being an Oseikrom boy I wonder why I like this guy so much. I guess my knack for quality work supersedes my pride in being a Siano and that is saying something. Anyways, if what we are seeing is just the beginning of the career of Kwesu Darlinton then I really don’t need to be told what to expect in years to come. How I wish I could be granted an interview with him for the sake of this blog. But either way, whatever he would have said YOU DON’T NEED TO BE TOLD Y’ALL and its YES SIRRRRRRRRRR. HEEE HAAAAA

CASTRO FT. YVONNE NELSON

November has been an interesting month, giving us so many programs and events. We’ve witnessed the 4syte TV Music Video Awards, MTN Africa Music Video Awards, Ghana’s Most Beautiful and the likes. Okyeame Kwame’s “OK Your Zone” even started at the end of November. Things happened and a lot were said but I will like to highlight on two things that I found interesting last month in our music and movie industry.

Ø  Yvonne Nelson Banned – Now Yvonne Nelson is one of my favorite actors (out of just 4) and so I was very sad when the news came out that she was going to be punished for allegedly shouting at and insulting the production crew she was working with including Abdul Salam Mumuni, the producer of Venus Films, and could face a ban. As a matter of fact it was Mr. Mumuni who lodged the complaint and accused her of disrespect and misconduct. There are reports that Yvonne has called Mr. Mumuni to apologise and has also submitted a formal apology in the company of fellow actors and her manager.

Pretty but apparantly nasty Yvonne Nelson

Currently, the final verdict is that Yvonne is not banned from making movies but any movie that she stars in will not be allowed to be marketed either in Ghana or Nigeria. Yvonne has been frozen out of the movie industry and even considering how the wind is blowing, she might not even be nominated for the upcoming movie awards. I will be sad if I don’t see her pretty face for a year. If you want to know what I think about the whole thing then I will say that she deserves it. She’s good on set and talented but that doesn’t give her the right to be rude to the very people who made her. You simply can’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Ø  Castro’s Hit Not From Gyan – This Christmas promises to be an exciting one and many Ghanaians already have their playlists made and one song that will surely be on everyone’s list is African Girls by Castro ft. Asamoah Gyan. The song has been an instant hit since its release around august and many people has attributed the success of the album to Ghana’s no. 1 striker Asamoah Gyan’s appearance on the track. This even made Castro comment that the song is selling only because of its quality. “Asamoah Gyan is a star. Castro is a star but I think what is keeping this song going is the quality of the song”. Now I think that statement is either half-true or half-false, either way is fine by me. Yes, this song is a good piece of work but we can’t dispute the fact that Gyan’s presence also contributed to its meteoric rise.

I personally didn’t like his part that much, because he kept repeating his name, but it seems that is the part that most listeners are always waiting for. The song in itself is a masterpiece of Castro and it represents everything he stands for in terms of music. This song is a replica of the Toffee track that illuminated him in the music scene. The track totally grabs your attention and keeps you on your feet for the entirety of the track irrespective of the number of times it is played. This track has so many attributes that will keep it p there for a long time or at least until Easter. Who cares if it is because of Asamoah anyway? All we want to hear is Castro again ooooo featuring Baby Jet Baby Jet. Lloolll


Baby Jet



Ø  Obaa Yaa in Love – Now this was ridiculous right from the beginning but it seems our national striker has to do with a wife that he hasn’t planned for. Obaa Yaa has professed her love for Baby Jet and has gone as far as to claim that she might take her own life if her love is not reciprocated by the striker. Obaa Yaa claims to be mesmerized by his haircut, skin tone and dance moves. She relayed all this information to Deloris Frimpong Manso when she appeared on her entertainment show DELAY. In as much as all this appears funny to the general public including Baby Jet himself, I seriously think that he should make haste  to marry her other than that those of us who fancy some small popularity would, llllooooollll. Sorry, just got carried away. This freedom of speech is facilitating a bulk feeding of bullshit to the general public. Anyway, I think the public can do with some laughs before petrol prices are increased next year and for your information Baby Jet has pleaded with Obaa Yaa not to commit suicide ( amidst fits of laughter) on another program on the UK. We certainly don’t want blood on anybody’s hands so we all send a humble note of caution to Obaa Yaa not to kill herself. llloooooolllll

WAYNE AND CHRIS ; CONTRASTING FATES?

So I read in the news last week that immediately after being released from prison, Lil ‘Carter” Wayne is back in the studio and plans to come out with a new release in about a week’s time. His manager, Cortez Bryant, commented on Rolling Stone that “we’re trying to put it out, like tomorrow. We got a crazy song, If not tomorrow, definitely next week”. He also commented on his progress so far “Wayne picked up right where he left off with a 15 hour recording session on nonstop work”. While all this is great news for the fans of the Grammy Awards winner and Best selling rapper, it kind of reminds me of a certain Chris Brown.

DWAYNE CARTER

Chris Brown assaulted his then sweetheart, Rihanna, when she found a text message on his phone from another girl. Chris escaped jail after pleading guilty to assault but was ordered to serve 5 years on probation, 5 months community services and attend a 2-week domestic violence course. I guess we can all say that he was saved by his squeaky clean records back then. But the point is Chris Brown released the album ‘Transformers’ after these hard times in his life. I guess he thought all was well. Well he got all wrong because, just like Cheryl Cole, Rihanna is a sweetheart of the whole nation and the media (for her extravagant life) and after the incident he became public enemy no. 1 just like Ashley Cole. It was therefore not a surprise when his new album hit a personal record low even after apologizing to Rihanna and the whole nation via video recording and placing it on You Tube.

CHRIS BROWN

 Young Dwayne Carter on the other hand was convicted for loading a 40-calibre semi-automatic gun on his tour bus and use of marijuana. He was jailed for a year after pleading guilty but could be released in eight months with good behavior. Weezy’s case, instead of diminishing his star status, has only boosted his profile. He has laid low all this while and has indeed showed good behavior but he is back with a bang such that the mere release of information that he is to come out with an album is causing media frenzy. His fate couldn’t have been any opposite to that of Chris Brown. Both broke the law but only Chris offended the state, both are young but Wayne is a rapper in US and I guess the sucker punch for Chris is the fact that there is a girl involved in his case. American laws protect girls and guns than in any other country so you should understand.

Well Lil Wayne has promised us a new release within the next week and I’m sure we will like it cuz we still love him even with guns and drugs.

AND THE WINNERS ARE NOT GHANAIANS

So the channel ‘O’ Music Videos Awards came off last Thursday (4^th of November) at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg and the most exciting aspect of it (at least for Ghanaians) was that no Ghanaian artist picked up an award despite being represented by five (5) of them in six (6) nominations. Kwaku-T and D-Black’s “Breath” was nominated twice for the “Best African Video 2010” and the “Best Hip Hop Video 2010”, an overall feat only bettered by K’Naan, of the waving flag fame. South Africa gathered a whooping 7 awards on the night, including the most coveted “Most Gifted Award” of the year by Teargas, followed closely by Niger with four (4) awards. The night witnessed performances from D-Black and Kwaku-T, Teargas, Liquideep and Sasha.

The absence of Ghanaian winners troubled me a lot considering the fact that Ghana music has witnessed a great upheaval in the last couple of years with great artist to boast of, talk about Samini, R 2 Bees and the like which kind of makes it hard to believe that only Sarkodie from GH was nominated for the MAM awards but more about that later. We can honestly say that our music videos haven’t been the best in terms of quality, story lines and editing, I mean we can’t expect R 2 Bees’ “Kiss your hand” to win anything because its awful. And what was Wan de Coal doing in the clip? Was he conducting the music or was the arm movement some karate chops in the air? Sorry, that is not what we’ve been talking about. Got carried away a bit because that music was a fine musical art and a big hit and likewise that is what the clip should be, a MASSIVE HIT. Anyway, as far as I am concerned, the top 3 best clips that have been produced in this country are 4X4’s “Gonja Barracks”, Nana Boroo’s “Aha ye de” and Scientific’s “I like you girl”. We’ve had our work cut out for us and we need to put in a lot of effort and resources to raise our game and compete with the world. Famous People has been doing some good works of late with the “Aha ye de” and Sarkodie’s “Borga” clips showing us what they can do.

So going back to the Channel “O” awards, here is a list of the Ghanaian nominations and a full compilation of the award winners.

GHANAIAN NOMINATION

Kwaku-T and D-Black- *Best Africa Video 2010 for “Breath”

                                  *Best Hip-Hop Video 2010 for “Breath”

Samini             - Best Dancehall Video for “Sweet Mistake”

Becca              - Best West African Video for “Fire”

J-Town            - Best West African Video for “Guns and Roses”

AWARD WINNERS

Most Gifted Video of the Year -   Party 101 by Teargas (South Africa)

Most Gifted Female -   If You Want Me by Mo’Cheddah (Nigeria)

Most Gifted Male -   Juju by Black Coffee (South Africa)

Most Gifted Newcomer -   Calling by L-Tid (South Africa)

Most Gifted Duo -   E No Easy by P-Square (Nigeria)

Most Gifted Afro Pop -   Fall In Love by D’Banj (Nigeria)

Most Gifted Hip Hop Video -   Ako Mi Ti Poju by Naeto C (Nigeria)

Most Gifted Ragga Dancehall Video -   Champion (Remix) by General Pype (Nigeria)

Most Gifted Dance Video - Fairytail by Liquideep (South Africa)

Most Gifted Kwaito Video - Umlilo by Big Nuz (South Africa)

Most Gifted R&B  - Addicted by Urban Reign (South Africa)

Most Gifted Southern Video - Sekele by South African Pro (South Africa)

Most Gifted West Video - Implications by 2 Face (Nigeria)

Most Gifted East Video  - Everybody Dance by Obita (Uganda)

Special Recognition Award - K’Naan (Somalia)

Ghana Movie And Kumasi Movie

It caused a lot of uproar in Kumasi when siano's were labelled as 'kokoo ase nkurasefo)' compared to the capital of the country (Accra). Quite unfortunately, it happens in our movie industry too. If Charter House were to open an online movie shop i strongly believe that there will be a section that shows like

SELECT YOUR PREFERENCE
* Ghana Movie :
 Stars : Majid Michel, Nadia Buari, Yvonne Nelson, Van Vicker, John Dumelo, Jackie Appiah
  Sample Movies : Seduction, Checkmate, 4 Play, The Game, Hot Fork
  Description: This group of movies boast of the best story lines in the country, classic themes, great sense of style and fashion( well with the exception of Majid) and filmed in luxurious neighborhoods and houses.

* Kumasi Movie:
 Stars : Agya Koo
  Sample Movies : Agya Koo Bank Manager, Efie Beyie, Aligantus
  Description : If its comedy its Kumasi ( know what i mean?)
What is your preference?
Its your eyes its your choice

I took the liberty of watching Music Music on TV3 last 3 weeks and saw Mzbel performing and i must admit that i was the most disappointed person on earth as at that time.I was in S.H.S 3 (S.S.S. back then) when Mzbel came out with her hit song Yopoo ft. Castro. That track caused stirs on the airwaves and when the clip of her other track 16 Years came out she was tipped for the top of the female hip lyf artist chart in GH. All that now seems like a dream such that not only can she NOT write her own songs ( going for remixes) but her old seductive charm and hot girls stage performance has lost its hold on Ghanaian s too. I think i can now say with enough confidence that Mzbel is losing steam and gradually shifting to the Abrewa Nana part of Ghana music ( which she occupies alone). She seems to have already been succeeded by the Wengeze lady (Eazzy) at the helm. We watch and pray that this one lasts longer.

The Ghana Music industry is booming at the moment, i must say. With the likes of Sarkodie, BRA Kwame, Richie Rich, Asem, Kwaw Kese and the others doing what they do best the roof really is on FIRE. One contributing factor is the various dimensions in our music is going. From Hip Lyf to Hip Crunck to Hip Cont ( hahaha) to Dancehall. With Sarkodie and Sway rapping in a haste to give us sweet funky music and Kwaw Kese singing madly about madmen, Scientific is giving us what most of us watch foreign clips for ' HIP POP'. I was listening to his track 'Better life tomorrow' ft. Irene and all i could say was WOW. If Ghanaian s wants to listen to local Hip Pop tracks then this is it.This guy is good and his style is simply a class act. He is giving GH our own brand of Hip Pop and i think he ROCKS.