When the Ghana Music Awards(GMA) started in 2000, the biggest award on the night was SONG OF THE YEAR and in the first edition “Aben Wo ha” by Daddy Lumba won it with Lumba also winning ARTISTE OF THE YEAR(AOTY)
Then in 2001, Tom and Jerry by Kojo Antwi on the Akuaba album also won the Song of the year with Kojo Antwi winning AOTY
In 2002, Medo(chic yi) by Lord Kenya won the biggest award on the night SONG OF THE YEAR and the rap heavyweight champion also won AOTY
Then something significant happened in 2003
In 2003, Kojo Antwi released the Densu album which had Mmirika that was very popular. Also Kontihene had come onto the scene with Aketesia which was a sing along song that enjoyed massive airplay across Ghana
Aketesia was a Hiplife song and during the GMA, it competed with Buk Bak’s Kluu Blofo for Hiplife Song of the year alongside Okomfour Kwadee’s Abro ne Bayie. Kluu Blofo won Hiplife Song of the year
In the biggest award on the night, SONG OF THE YEAR, the nominees were
Kluu Blofo – Buk Bak
Mmirika – Kojo Antwi
Aketesia – Kontihene
Abro ne Bayie – Okomfour Kwadee
Because of events on the night which included Kojo Antwi winning ARTISTE OF THE YEAR, everybody expected Mmirika to win but to the utter dismay of Ghanaians, Kontihene won the biggest award in 2003, SONG OF THE YEAR with Aketesia
Ghanaians questioned organizers Charterhaus(CH) how Aketesia lost a smaller category of Hiplife Song to Kluu Blofo but won the biggest award competing with the same song
It was like Michael Essien winning the FIFA footballer of the year and Charles Taylor winning the BEST Ghanaian footballer that same year
Charterhaus was thus forced for the 1st time in the history of the awards to publish the results in the Graphic Showbiz
Kontihene had 24.50% and Mmirika 24.30% if my memory is right
Charterhaus explained that voting was by cutting out a piece of the Graphic Showbiz with the nominees and choosing your winners and mailing them. So since SONG OF THE YEAR was the biggest award, somebody could vote for only that category and won’t vote for other categories like HIPLIFE
Their explanation basically was, not all the people who voted in one category like SONG OF THE YEAR voted in other categories. So that could be the reason Kluu Blofo won Hiplife Song of the year and lose out on the biggest award to Aketesia, even though it won over the latter in the Hiplife category
One thing that must be noted is, ARTISTE OF THE YEAR wasn’t the biggest award on the night but before 2003 edition, all ARTISTE OF THE YEAR winners had also won SONG OF THE YEAR
However Kojo Antwi won AOTY in 2003 even though AKETESIA by Kontihene won SONG OF THE YEAR
Then came 2004, where Charterhaus changed the name of the biggest award on the night from SONG OF THE YEAR to MOST POPULAR SONG OF THE YEAR
People said this was because they felt Aketesia was popular among lots of Ghanaian so changing it would reflect the voting pattern. Charterhaus never confirmed this
So in 2004 Ahomka Wo Mu by VIP won whilst they won AOTY too
2005 Konkontibaa by Obour and he also won AOTY
2006 Otoolege by Ofori Amponsah and he won AOTY
Then 2007, another brouhaha arose
The biggest artistes in 2007 were Kwaku Gyasi, Ofori Amponsah and Samini and on the night had won so many awards
So when Samini won AOTY, Ghanaians thought the biggest award MOST POPULAR SONG OF THE YEAR will be Odo by Samini, Onyame Aseda by Kwaku Gyasi or Odwo by Ofori Amponsah
Asem aba
The winner for the Ghana Music Awards 2007 MOST POPULAR SONG OF THE YEAR(biggest award on the night) is “I want to sue you my father” by King Ayisoba
Debates raged on among the public and in the media and that was when that phrase “Did you vote?” became a part of the Ghana Music Awards
Then came another scandal that rocked the awards in 2008 that had the gospel musicians threatening to boycott the awards
The criteria for the GMA included that songs were to be released from October to November of the next year. Eg October 2007 – November 2008
So Charterhaus at start of the year had not put out any communique on changes
2008 was election year in Ghana and the late President Atta Mills had used a song by an SHS teacher Lenny Akpadie as his campaign song and even a rendition had been done using his name. The song was Most High God by Lenny Akpadie and it was the most popular song in Ghana in 2008
It was an open secret this was the first time a gospel song was going to win the biggest award at the Ghana Music Awards for MOST POPULAR SONG OF THE YEAR
Then thunder struck, Kwaw Kese after fighting Charterhaus in 2007 for not giving him some awards he thought he deserved, worked hard
He was the most sought after artiste in Ghana in 2008 and arguably the best artiste that year. Nobody came close to Kwaw Kese.
We woke up one day and CH said for the 2008 awards moving on, the biggest award was changing from MOST POPULAR SONG OF THE YEAR to ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
The Gospel music fraternity led by George Forrest(RIP) threatened to boycott the awards because they felt they had been shortchanged and that meant Charterhaus didn’t respect them
How come the organizers changed this only when a gospel song was poised to win the biggest award on the night?
Also a day before the main event, during the industry awards, Mad Time Entertainment by Kwaw Kese won “Record label of the year” and that infuriated the Gospel fraternity because they felt producing just one album shouldn’t have won Mad Time that award when others had produced more albums with huge public appeal and generated enough sales
The awards came on in 2008 and truly Most High God by Lenny Akpadie won MOST POPULAR SONG OF THE YEAR but the biggest award on the night went to ARTISTE OF THE YEAR Kwaw Kese
The gospel musicians rescinded their decision to boycott and some went for their awards but others didn’t
And since 2008, the biggest award on the night at the Ghana Music Awards has been ARTIST OF THE YEAR with Okyeame Kwame, VIP, Sarkodie, R2Bees, Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, Joe Mettle(Gospel artiste) and Ebony(female winning it posthumously) all winning it
Then the biggest controversy in 2019
In 2019, Ghana’s biggest acts included self acclaimed Dancehall King Shatta Wale and his rival in the Dancehall genre Stonebwoy
So the stage was set for who will truly be declared Dancehall Artiste of the year and the hype around that was bigger than who will win AOTY
The event started and Shatta Wale won his first award Highlife Song of the year with My level
His song Gringo also won Dancehall song of the year
Then the moment of truth came, the Ghana Music Awards Dancehall Artiste of the year goes to Stonebwoy
He goes on stage, receiving his award and there’s commotion on the stage. Shatta Wale and his gang had gone onto the stage and a fight ensued with Stonebwoy pulling a gun
When tempers were calmed, the awards continued but organizers said nobody will be awarded SONG OF THE YEAR and ARTISTE OF THE YEAR because the 2 had won those awards but because of their behavior, they will not be given the awards and later banned indefinitely
Shatta Wale after the event said he was going on the stage to congratulate his brother Stonebwoy who rather thought because of the enmity between them, his colleague was coming to hurt him
Ghanaian authorities have since been prosecuting the 2 in court
The 2 even before the case in court is finished, have patched up their differences and are now the best of friends with their fan base no longer fighting both online and at public events
Then comes 2020 for the awards to be held in April and the deadly coronavirus struck
So the awards is still on hold with Ghanaians waiting for organizers to tell us their next move but until then Ebony who won the AOY posthumously is still the reigning artiste of the year
Ironically her name was Ebony Reigns and Ghanaians still believe Ebony Reigns
The Awards was held in 2020 even when the deadly corona virus was still causing havoc with loss of human lives and many outdoor and indoor showbiz activities brought to a halt.
Kuami Eugene of LYNX ENTERTAINMENT won the most coveted AOTY with huge competition from Sarkodie
The second Gospel Artiste to win the biggest award at the Ghana Music Awards was Diana Hamilton in 2021 in a year many thought Kidi did enough to win the AOTY and was even trolled heavily on social media because he lost out to the “Adom” hitmaker
Diana Hamilton had huge endorsement from the Church of Pentecost where she worships
In 2022, Lynx Entertainment had another Artiste winning AOTY when Kidi was crowned as ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
The year is 2023 and the VGMAS is happening on 6th May 2023 and the anticipation is massive among Ghanaian music lovers
The competition for AOTY is tight with fan favorite Black Sherif expected to edge it over “Landlord” Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, King Promise, Joe Mettle, Camidoh, Kidi and only female Piesie Esther
But there might be another Kidi and Diana Hamilton situation because the Church of Pentecost has entered the conversation and rooting for Piesie Esther who is a member and we all know what that means
Let’s enjoy Ghanaian music on this special night and may the best win
God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong
Londona
Energy
God knows best
