FLIPPANT CHARTER HOUSE WILL KILL GHANA MUSIC INDUSTRY- KOFI B

High-life musician who stays true to the rudiments of the genre, Kofi Boakye Yiadom, known in showbiz as Kofi B, has descended heavily on Charter House, organizers of the annual Ghana Music Awards, describing them as full of dishonesty.

Zionfelix.com has spoken to some artistes who are not happy about this year’s nominees for Ghana Music Awards.

According to Kofi B, Charter House has for the past years exhibited unfairness and incompetence. He said they as an organization has lost direction and credibility in organizing awards for musicians in Ghana. The ‘Akua Attaa’ hitmaker stated clearly in an interview with Ashh Entertainment Zone that, he doesn’t need any award from Charter House.

When asked by the host of the show, Nana Amoako as to why the "Bantama Kwasi Boakye’’ song was not nominated by the VGMA board, Kofi B disclosed that per the laid down procedures of Charter House, his song was late to fall in the Hi-life category.

“They have a time period within which they select their songs from and to them mine does not fall within so I guess they will nominate it next year”

“But I don’t need them in any way because of their dishonesty, hypocrisy and unfair treatment towards some of us. Some of us don’t work for awards, we are doing music just to promote our culture and entertain our fans, that’s all," he added.

Kofi B who was pathetic about the modus operandi of Charter House revealed that the VGMA board since they started the awards has never nominated him and for that matter he thinks they are bias and incompetent.

"When I released ‘Koforidua flowers’ and ‘Akua Attaa’, the songs were hit all over, but did Charter House nominate them?’’ He questioned.

"When you look at the kind of music they have nominated for the awards is very sad; songs like Tonga and others, are they good music than mine ? I mean Charter House is a flippant entity, they are confused and if we don’t take care they will kill our industry."

DARE ME TO SPEAK ENGLISH — BISA KDEI

Until late last year when hiplife artiste, Bisa Kdei, spoke in English on Joselyn Dumas’s The One Show programme on Viasat 1, many people, especially those who had heard him speak impeccable Twi, assumed that he could not speak English.

The musician said he faced a lot of embarrassment during media interviews at the time his Azonto Ghost song became popular. In almost all the places he was invited to, Bisa Kdei told Showbiz, from English-speaking radio stations to television stations, he was welcomed in the Twi language.

“It was funny, however, how English-language radio stations quickly changed the language to Twi just to make me feel comfortable because they thought I couldn’t speak English. ”Presenters from YFM, Citi FM and Joy FM, who interviewed me would regularly start their interviews in Twi before I told them I preferred to speak in English”, he said.

“I have received a lot of bad comments on my Facebook page from my fans telling me to educate myself in English. But I knew that was because no one had heard me speak English in an interview”. Bisa explained to Showbiz at his Shortcut Studio located in Santa Maria, Accra.

According to Bisa, after he uploaded some videos of interviews he had done in English on his Twitter and Facebook pages, many of his fans and friends began sending him positive messages with many of them congratulating him for being fluent in both English and Twi.

“I decided to prove to all those doubting my capability that I am not an illiterate. For Christ sake, I am a graduate of Accra Technical Training College. The fact that I never spoke English in an interview or replied comments asking me to speak English did not mean I am an illiterate”. Bisa stated.

Bisa whose real name is Ronald Kweku Dei Appiah, started his music career as a rapper in a group called BISA (Boys In Serious Action). He later decided to embark on a solo project when he found out he could do better in singing.

Movie producer Afra Marley who spotted the talent in Bisa introduced him to his other colleague and that was how Bisa’s success story began.

Bisa has done soundtracks for movie producers such as A.A Productions, Paul Gee, Miracle Films and Pat Thomas. However, it was the movie, Azonto Ghost, that brought him into the limelight.

Asked how he comes by the lyrics of the songs he does for movie production houses, Bisa revealed that he first takes a look at the movies and then puts the lyrics together.

After his Azonto Ghost song became a massive hit, the 27 year old musician released hit singles, Metanfo, Over, Madanfo and Love Letter before finally releasing his maiden Thanksgiving album that has 16 songs on it.

According to Bisa, he stands for good music. “Some musicians do music for the fun of it, but I always try to tell a story that people can relate to. Ever since I began playing music about eight years ago, I have told touching stories of everyday life through my music,” Bisa said.

Last year, he was nominated in the category of Best Hiplife Song at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards and also had four nominations at the MTN 4syte Music Video Awards in the categories of Best Storyline Video, Best Hiplife Video, Best Hiphlife Video and Best Discovery Video.

Currently Bisa Kdei has six nominations in the upcoming Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. He was born on March 19, 1986, and hails from Larteh, in the Eastern Region.

BULLDOG BLASTS VGMA BOARD: YOU DID A LAZY JOB

Bull Dog, artiste manager and chief executive of Bull Haus Entertainment says it is strange, curious and unpardonable for the nomination board of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) to continue repeating petty basic mistakes for 15 years in a row.

He has lashed out at both the board and organizers of the award, Charter House, for putting out what he described as “the worst nomination list ever in the history of the Ghana Music Awards.”

Bull Dog spoke to NEWS-ONE: “For an industry person and from where I sit, I think they did a lousy job. There are some petty mistakes that for about 15 years of doing this very thing year after year, you shouldn’t be making.”

“It is a human institution, but then, when the mistakes are too petty, some of us will talk about it. If they had done worse jobs in the past, they could have done a better job because as we move forward we need to learn. In the past, research was one of the most difficult things to do but these days there is the internet. You can go on there and check some of these things or speak to experts who know these things. Today, the research instruments or organs are plenty,” he added.

According to Bull Dog, the some of the artistes under the New Artiste of the Year category clearly did not deserve to be there. One was Joey B who made his first appearance in D-Black’s ‘Vera’ in 2012 and released his ‘Strawberry Ginger’ single in the same year.

Charter House defined the New Artiste of the Year as “the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most promising and talented new artiste(s). The award goes to the artiste(s) who made the most impact with his/her first release (Single/Album) during the year under review.”

But Bull Dog argued: “What happened to Mzvee, Episode and AK Songstress? These are the people who dropped songs in the year under review. Not Kumi Guitar, an old artiste who has songs released years past but only changed his name to make it seem he is new. What the committee now is saying to cover up their lies is that midway into the competition they redefined the criteria for New Artiste of the Year. If you have redefined that category, why won’t you put the redefinition out there for the people to work with?”

He continued: “A category like Reggae and Dancehall that they have boxed together it is not fair. For the past 14 months, it has been Reggae and Dancehall that has been ruling this country so if they say they couldn’t find any Reggae song then I think they didn’t do their job well. BASS Awards, a whole awards scheme dedicated to reggae and dancehall saw a lot of entries in their scheme. So are they saying they couldn’t have researched more to even give that genre of music an opportunity to be able to be part of a Ghana? VGMAs is sometimes considered the biggest award scheme of all so if they can’t even do due diligence and find out what is trending when it comes to Reggae and Dancehall, it’s funny.”

Bulldog happens to be one of the many industry players who have registered their disapproval about some of the songs and artistes who found their way onto the nomination list.

Wutah PeeVee, Stonebwoy and Gasmilla have also made public their concerns regarding the awards while many others are grumbling but do not want to go public.

VGMA 2014: MATTERS ARISING

Nominees for the 2014 edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) have been made public. Some of the nominees are not happy with the list that is out because they were not placed in categories in which they had so much faith they could win. Others also feel they ought to have been in more categories than they found themselves.

Others too were also excited with their nominations regardless of where they were placed. This is normal and very much expected. In any case, there are musicians and songs that were left out. I will go to that shortly. Now, let’s get some education first.

The annual Vodafone Ghana Music Awards can be likened to the FIFA World Cup which is a tournament every footballer wants to take part in. It is considered as a big platform for big players, and any player who is not able to be part of the party is left disappointed.

In Ghana, the VGMA is the biggest event in the Ghanaian music calendar that every musician looks up to. At present, the awards have become the yardstick for measuring the country’s standards in music. There are still musicians who do not agree with the ways the nominations are done. For such people when nominations are announced and they are overlooked, they get angry and start throwing tantrums at the organisers.

Musicians are careful with their lyrics, and so anything that goes against the rules and regulation of the awards will debar a song from contention in the year under review. Every category in the awards list has a category definition and stringent rules and regulations that ensure that songs with bad lyrics do not get nominated for awards.

The Vodafone Ghana Music Awards has three specifics that go to determine who gets nominated, who gets ignored or disqualified and of course which song is not going to be considered for review because of one reason or the other. Let's briefly look at the three matters.

Good songs

The first of the three is, good songs. There are facts and opinions. What this means is that, in as much as listeners of music have their preferences, it ought to be noted that, a good song is a good song no matter the listeners’ preference.

Who determines or what constitute what a good song is? Going by the rules set aside for the awards, a good song should not be interlaced with vulgar language. The lyrics and the composition of such a song must be on point. The lyrics must be appealing, sensible and devoid of insults and personality attacks.

In addition, while a good song can contain ‘adult language’, it should be used tastefully, maturely and masterfully. Kwabena Kwabena’s Adult Music featuring Samini comes to mind. Even though it has adult content in it, this was done in good taste. Now, before I go to the two other points, don’t think that every good song gets nominated automatically, no. The name of the game is ‘popularity’.

Good and popular songs

There are good songs that are extremely popular. Songs in this category contain all that has been discussed above. In addition to being popular, it should be a song that was released in the year under review.

The song should have generated the most excitement during the year. If your song is pegged in this category, you are certain of multiple nominations and confident of going home with an award on the awards night.

Does a certain song, ‘Dancehall King’ from Shatta Wale come into the picture? I bet, it does! The song grabbed multiple nominations because the Board believed it is a good song and extremely popular.

Lyrically bad but popular songs

The last list of songs are those with very bad lyrics but which are extremely popular than those in the first two categories. A basic category definition of the awards is that a song or an artiste should be adjudged the most popular song released in the year under review and must have generated the most excitement during the year.

Or the artiste behind the song must have the highest audience appeal and popularity and must have released a hit single/album during the year under review. Per the definition, songs in this category merit nominations.

But regardless of the popularity of these songs, it’s difficult for the VGMA Board to nominate such songs because they are at variance with the set rules of the awards.

Now you will understand why songs such as Linda by then Batman, Ajeei by R2Bees, Give Me Blow by Asem and the rest were axed from the awards?

According to s section of the media, Kwabena Kwabena’s Adult Music and Joey B’s Tonga should have been axed from the nominations citing vulgarity of the lyrics, but the Board thought otherwise.

Having had insight on the three specifics for the awards, this is how an artiste can get nominated in the prestigious awards; your song must be as good and make sense like Nas’s, I Can and be extremely popular as Akyeame’s Mesan Aba.

But, it doesn’t end there. After a musician has managed to grab a nomination, there is one obstacle that must be crossed to improve ones chance of winning and that is to win votes from the Board, Academy and the general public. The votes from the general public can be manipulated legally to favour a particular musician, provided the musician in question has the financial power.

As a matter of fact, I’m shocked as to know that the musicians below didn’t make it in the nominations.

‘Woara’ by Okyeame Kwame

This song by Okyeame Kwame featuring Raquel was one of the biggest songs of 2013. Before the nominations were made public, many people had pegged Woara for a number of categories forgetting that the song was on Sika, an album for which the artiste had picked the ‘Songwriter of the Year Award. Per the rules, the song didn’t qualify but it was one of the biggest tunes last year. I guess the people forgot about the rules because the song was such a great hit.

‘Illuminati’ by Sarkodie

Without qualms, Sarkodie will pick the album of the year. But why wasn’t Illuminati nominated? This is confusing, because Illuminati was one of the biggest Hip hop songs of the year. There is no justification for excluding this track and unless there is a tangible reason from the Board, I suspect foul play.

‘Enter The Net’ and ‘Everybody like my thing’ – Shatta Wale

The current rules guiding the awards has not been reviewed, which means two songs from the same artiste cannot be nominated.

I win – Cwesi Oteng

Cwesi Oteng’s I Win was not strong enough in the year under review, but it certainly merits a nomination in the ‘Gospel Song of the Year’.

Questions are also being asked why Kofi Kinaata and Wiyaala didn’t make the list? Why do some categories have ten nominees while other categories suffer to get even five, not to talk of three? Should the Board put a cap on some categories and allow other categories to swell up? Well, that will be a topic for another time.

OKRAKU MANTEY MUST RESIGN – SOCRATES

Controversial filmmaker Socrates Sarfo has asked music producer Mark Okraku Mantey to, as a matter of principle and on moral grounds, resign his position as a member of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards Board.

Socrates said Mark’s continued stay on the VGMA Board put him in a conflict of interest position in the face of the massive public uproar that has greeted the decision of the Board to nominate Kuma Guitar, Mark’s artiste, under the New Artiste category.

Socrates has also asked Mark to redraw a nomination of Kumi Guitar from the 2014 edition of the VGMA for the sake of principles and fairness.

Kumi Guitar’s nomination for New Artiste of the Year has heavily been criticized since nominations were made public.

Critics said he did not qualify as a New Artiste of the Year based on the definition of that category.

They argued that he was not a new artiste because the first version of his song, ‘Break Into Two,’ was released some years ago and was then produced by Sugar Tone.

Also, they raised issues about conflict of interest on the part of Mark Okraku Mantey who doubled as a member of VGMA Board and CEO of Slip Music, under which Kumi is signed.

According to Socrates, he would be disappointed in Mark if he did not ensure that the right thing was done.

“I am advising Mark Okraku Mantey to step down as a member of VGMA Board and also redraw his artiste’s nomination based on his standards and principles. Mark has so far shown himself as a principled man. I don’t think the issues are doing any justice to him. He is my brother and I respect him for his principles. As a principled man as he is, he should just let it go,” Socrates told NEWS-ONE on Friday.

“When Mr. Hackman was elected president of the Film Producers Association of Ghana and he picked me as his personal PRO, it wasn’t illegal. However, some members were not happy about that idea. A lot of people spoke against it. Mark was one respectful person who called me and advised me to step down against the wish of Mr. Hackman. It was a painful experience but I stepped down.”

“Today, Mark finds himself in a similar situation. He has an artiste who has confirmed to have released his song about four years ago under Suger Tone. What is such an old artiste doing in a category supposed to be for new artistes? I am sure Mark is a principled man and he should do the honourable thing. Based on his principles, he should also resign from the VGMA Board because it will be a conflict of interest. You are on the board and you also have an artiste, whose works are submitted for consideration,” he added.

However, Mark has denied the conflict of interest allegation and has maintained that his position on the VGMA Board did not influence the nomination of Kumi Guitar.

REGGIE ROCKSTONE WEEPS FOR CREATIVE ARTS INDUSTRY

Grandpapa and pioneer of popular music genre Hip life, Reggie Rockstone has described the creative arts industry, especially the music scene as the biggest oversight over the years despite the impact it has had on the development of the country.

Reggie Rockstone made this known in an interview with NY DJ on Kapital Radio during a discussion on the relevance of Ghanaian music to the development of Ghana.

In a submission, Reggie Rockstone asserted it was pathetic the country could not boast of a music industry but rather a music scene after 57 years of independence.

Asked the difference between the two, he explained an industry involved the right structures that made sure artists gained the right revenues and royalties from their sweat so that the government could also make enough money in developing the nation.

He however referred the lack of an industry to what he termed “childism”; an attitude that makes the elderly look down on the youth and never want to listen to them.

“The music scene has been a sort of employment for many Ghanaian youth, but this attitude of childism which prevents a child from making inputs or contributions during adult conversations has left our needs being overlooked. We can’t even express ourselves to the authorities”.

He advised authorities to pay heed to the cry of Ghanaian youth, to better make informed decisions and not only see the relevance of the musician during political seasons.

ONE ON ONE WITH VAN VICKER

Ghanaian actor Van Vicker in a recent interview with Nigerian Tribune’s Joan Bajojo Omionawele, talked at length about his life as an actor, his marital journey with his wife Adjoa. He also took his time to address an insult he got from Nollywood actress Genevieve Nnaji and his rumoured affair with Chika Ike.

Interview Excerpt:

You are known for your lover boy roles. Where did you get your good looks from?

I don’t know. I can’t really say if it was my mum or my dad. I would say it was a blend of both of them, because if my mum had been married to someone else or my dad had been married to someone else, the result would probably have been different.

We all know how intense the sun in Ghana is, yet you have remained fair in complexion. Do you have any beauty regimen?

I do get sun-burnt sometimes, not only in Ghana, in Nigeria as well; it depends on the location of the movie I am shooting. But I drink a lot of water and I eat in bits. That’s it.

We have heard so many rumours about you? How do you feel when you hear rumours about yourself?

Many times, I don’t bother about it, because I know it’s one of those things. Sometimes if I can counter or debunk them through my social networks, I do; but people will continue to say such stuff anyway.

How do you handle being a father, husband and an actor?

I don’t think it’s such a big deal. I lead a normal life; I just go about (performing) those roles. When I’m at home, I am at home; and when I am at work, I don’t joke with it. I do things that a normal dad would do. It’s the same with you. I don’t know if you are married, but any person who is married, works and has kids would go home after work and cater for the family. And that’s the same thing I do; there’s nothing extra-crazy about it. When I’m at home, I play with my kids when I’m supposed to.

But when you have to leave home for days and go on set, how do you make up for those times you are away?

Well, usually, when I get back, I try to spend a lot more time with them. We go to the beach or the pool, watch movies, or take a long drive; or we stay at home and play games. I try to make up for so many things.

Who are your best Nigerian actors and actresses?

(Laughs) You are not going to put me on the spot with that. I have enjoyed working with all my colleagues.

There was a time Genevieve said you weren’t a good actor. How did you react to that?

I read the article but I wasn’t bothered about it because that was her opinion, and she is entitled to it. I never responded to it, and I don’t think I will. Nevertheless, I don’t have any ill feelings towards her. Now, whether her opinion has changed or is still the same, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me, because I know I am a fantastic actor and I am doing what I am doing with passion. I am enjoying it and I am making the best I can of it. Having said that, if I am given a job to do and she is involved, I would do the job. I won’t say because she said this, I won’t do the job.

But if you have the urge to confront her, won’t you?

If I meet her at a function or on a movie shoot, I’ll ask her; but I won’t do it through the media. Some of these things people write in the papers or on the blogs are not even true; it’s possible they twisted her words. They do it to me all the time, so it’s possible they did that to her. But when I meet her personally, I will ask her if she did say that. And if she did, the conversation will continue, as to why she said it and how she said it.

You have an accent. What is your background like?

Well, I am a mixture of Dutch, Liberian and Ghanaian.

What was growing up like?

I grew up with two women in my life – my mum and my sister; and we always moved from place to place. I lost my dad when I was six, so I did not really have a father around. My mother taught me how to be strong, do the right thing and made sure I became a good breed – unlike what many people say about light-skinned guys…

What do people say about light-skinned guys

You know what they say; I don’t need to tell you.

I don’t know what they say. I’m also light-skinned, so tell me.

Okay, let me not say light-skinned, but the ‘half castes’. People usually say they are bad boys.

And you are not a bad boy?

No, I am not.

You got married quite young. How do you overcome temptations from your close female friends and colleagues?

Well, I mentioned earlier it’s my mindset: keep it professional. I try to be as professional as possible, and you know sometimes, you have to be in a romantic scene with an actress and still keep it professional because that is the beauty of the job. You can actually be romantic and get the viewers to understand that you are actually in love with a particular lady but at the same time, when they say ‘Cut!’ you don’t have any feelings for her.

Have you ever got attracted to any actress you have been on set with?

I don’t think so. The only one I have ever read about was when they said that I broke up Chika Ike’s marriage. I don’t see how that makes sense; but they said I helped to break her marriage.

What about your female fans? How often do they disturb you?

What do you mean by ‘disturb’?

How often do you get calls, mails and tweets from your female fans?

I wouldn’t call it disturbance; they are people who enjoy my work and want to get to know me personally. Yes, I do get calls often, but I try to adjust. I can’t keep up with all of them, so sometimes I just ignore while sometimes, I try to answer their questions and enquiries.

How does your wife handle your female fans?

She is very cool with them. She understands the nature of my job and she is totally in support of what I do. She has the same mind that I have – which is to keep it professional.

Do you have any weakness?

I find it difficult to get angry, even with respect to acting. It is quite difficult for me to get angry while acting because naturally, it takes a lot to get me angry. And when I have to get angry in a movie, it drains me. But in the past three years, I have been able to work on that