MY GOSPEL SONG AWARD WAS COMPENSATION – O.J

Michael Oware Sakyi popularly known in showbiz as OJ has said the Gospel Song of the Year award presented to him at the recently held Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, was just to appease him.

OJ disclosed to Flex newspaper that he deserved more than what was given him. “I think this a public knowledge. Who doesn’t know I was supposed to have won the Songwriter of the Year award? I thank God that at least I did not fight for myself after the award eluded me. 

To be honest with you, I take solace in the fact that, a lot of people including some members on the VGMA board and the media at large have noticed the fact that the songwriter award should have come to me,” he said.

“Those who really know me know that I am an honest person and very principled. I don’t let my selfish interests steal my conscience. 

When one deserves something, I don’t fight for it. I make sure I say it as it is to set the record straight. Even in the first week the nomination list came out, I granted a lot of interviews to the media where I stated the fact that, categories like the Gospel Artiste of the year should be given to Sonnie Badu and also consecutive times even had always claimed my song stated why the Gospel Album of the year award should be given to Joyce Blessing all because, I believed they meet the standards,” he added.

He also believed that even if for nothing at all, a category like the Songwriter of the Year should have been given to him. “I believed in the song I wrote and many music pundits have said the same thing. The likes of Okyeame Kwame who has won that category two ’Ma Ye Se Mopen’ deserved the Songwriter of the year award including Rex Omar,” he lamented.

OJ says what hurts him most for not winning the songwriter award is the fact that, his strength lies in his song writing skills so denying him of that and giving him any other award, seemed compensatory and nothing else.

“I use this as an opportunity to thank my fans and loved ones who have always stood behind me all this while. I am grateful for their loyalty. I want to assure them that I am still OJ and nothing can discourage me or affect my music writing skills. I have a lot of deep songs that can beat the imagination of Ghanaians and I shall release them as and when God gives me the direction,” OJ concluded

WE DON’T PAY INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS TO PERFORM AT VGMA, CHARTER HOUSE

Organizers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, Charter House has denied reports that they pay huge amount of money to foreign artists to perform at the main event of the annual Ghana Music Awards.

According to the Director of Productions at Charter House, Nii Ayitey Hammond, all the international artists including P-square, D’banj, Wizkid, Iyanya, Davido, Awilo and others who have performed at the main event of Ghana Music Awards are not paid for their services. 

He disclosed to Bra Chef on Radio Univers that “if they are coming to perform at the awards night, they don’t charge us and we don’t pay them. All we do is, we ensure that we take care of their flight, their accommodations, their per diem and give them their honorarium because they understand that it is an awards night”.

He continued that international artists are paid commercial fees when they are hired for other concerts in Ghana aside music awards.

He however stated that Ghanaian acts are paid commercial fees due them for their services at any of Ghana Music Awards events.

“Every Ghanaian act you see perform on any of the being it the nominees jam, the industry awards and the final events are paid”
“Obviously they will charge and us and we will negotiate so when we come into an agreement, then we put the money through” Nii Ayitey Hammond added.

The question remains, do you believe this? Let’s know you thoughts on this.

I HAVE PROMISED MYSELF & GOD I AM NOT GOING TO BE POOR

“I overhead they paid artistes from Nigeria 40,000 and 45,000 dollars but when I asked for 70,000 cedis, organizers refused because I told them I don’t really need an award from them because I don’t trust them, so I was really surprised they gave me all those awards.

“They refused to pay me because they wanted to take me cheap like they take other Ghanaian artistes for cheap that is why I didn’t go for the awards.”

“ As for me Shatta Wale, I have promised myself and God that I am not going to be poor in this music industry and I m going to make sure I bring a change because I want artiste to be respected ,So artiste who perform for free should stop because its killing the industry.”

Quotes from an interview he granted HITZ FM.

CHARTERHOUSE COULD NOT PAY ME – DJ BLACK

After four years of having played as the official DJ at Vodfone Ghana Music Awards night, DJ Black was missing on the stage this year, because, organizers of the award – Charterhouse, could not meet his professional charge.

The official DJ who played for this year’s VGMA night was JD Mic Smith. Though a top-drawer DJ, many patrons who attended the event as well as critics alike have expressed disappointment at his performance regarding his poor selection of songs and timing.

Speaking to Razz Newspaper, DJ Black said; “they contacted me but they could not meet my fee. That is the main reason why I did not play on the night.” As to how much he charged, he did not state it.

In his opinion on how DJ Mic Smith fared on the night, Mr. Tuntum told Razz Newspaper he was on air as DJ on Joy 99.7 Fm, so he could not listen or monitor the VGMA event which was broadcasted live both on GhOne and GTV.

He admitted that there is absolutely no bad blood between him and Charterhouse. DJ Black started his DJ career in 1993 in School. He later joined Prime Cut in 1995 and worked alongside veteran Ghanaian DJs like Azigiza Jnr, DJ Magic Sam, DJ Rab, DJ Kakra, among other.

In 1997, DJ Black moved on to manage Dope Rhyme Studios in Nima, giving rise to his clench on Hiphop music in Ghana. He became the DJ for the streets as he made mixtapes and spinned for Hiplifers like VIP, Bukbak, Obrafuor, etc and being in the forefront of people who strengthened the movement Hiplife.

DJ Black started radio in 1997 at Radio Universe. He holds a BA in Mass Communication from Ghana Institute of Journalism and University of Ghana. He as well has diploma in Public Administration.

He is the host DJ for almost all major shows in Ghana including the Ghana Music Awards. DJ Black won the 2013 Best Ghanaian DJ, Best radio DJ. He can be described as the hottest DJ in Ghana at the moment.
Razz

XCLUSIV FOTOS: MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON STAGE AT VGMA... KWABENA KWABENA GRABS DANCER'S BOOBS

Aside the glitz and glamour on the red carpet at the just ended 15th Ghana Music Awards, there were some unforgettable magic moments on stage.

Award presenters, award winners, performers, the MCs and others who kept the show going on the night were very important part of the awards night.

From a splendid opening performance by Castro De Destroyer, Guru’s “Boys Abre” performance, Elikem’s proposal, John Dumelo prank, Sarkodie’s world class stage presence, Bokom Banku and Ayitey Powers’ appearance, Okomfour Kwadee and Daasebre Dwamena’s surprise appearances, Davido’s energetic show, Iyanya’s average performance, OJ’s refreshing antics on stage, Kwabena Kwabena grabbing his dancer’s breast among other great moments on stage.

Peacefmonline.com brings you pictorial details of what happened on stage.

DON’T TOUCH THE HERITAGE FUND – OKYEAME KWAME

Musician and entrepreneur, Kwame Nsia-Appau popularly known as Okyeame Kwame, has waded into the national discussion on the Ghana Heritage Fund.

In an interview with citifmonline, he said the solution to Ghana’s current economic problem is for Ghanaians to ‘strap our boots tight’ and ‘kick out what is causing the problem'.

“I am not an economist, but I know the Cedi is dancing to this tune because we import toothpicks and noodles. We import everything, we import cars, we import planes, we import everything but there are things that we know how to do here in Ghana like make clothes, shoes, watch straps; we know how to weave baskets, we know how to farm cassava and we import $540 million worth of rice into Ghana.

When I say ‘kick them out,’ what I mean is we need to try as much as possible to reduce expenditure on importation. We need to create demand for locally made products, hence boost the Ghanaian economy. I don’t think it is rocket science.”

According to Okyeame, the Ghana Heritage Fund is meant for the future generation and should not be spent on the mistakes we are making in managing the current economy.

“The problem with Ghana is with lifestyle. We spend more money to learn how to speak English, wear suits and eat rice. If we tried as much as possible to eat kontomire and purchase more local stuff, we would be helping the economy.

If we change our lifestyles slightly, this economy will export to other parts of the world. Taking money to support a lifestyle that takes your money away is not the best to do. We must change or adjust our lifestyles so that we can only import things that we need to import and if it happens like that from my layman’s point of view, I don’t think we would go into funds we have saved for our great grandchildren.”

The Ghana Heritage Fund was established by law to provide an endowment to support development for future generations when the petroleum reserves for the nation gets depleted.

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has suggested that government must consider using the oil revenue reserved for future generations in the Heritage Fund to solve Ghana’s problems now.

Asiedu Nketia’s suggestion has received support from a section of the public, some bodies and Minister of State in-charge of Finance and Allied Institutions, Fiifi Kwetey – and has received stiff opposition from a section of the public, the minority in parliament and Sydney Casely-Hayford, A Financial Analyst.

FIPAG WARNS ITS MEMBERS TO STAY AWAY FROM GHANA MOVIE AWARDS

The Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) has ordered its members across the country to stay away from the Ghana Movie Awards or face the wrath of the association.

FIPAG President, Asare Hackman, told NEWS-ONE on Wednesday that his Association unanimously arrived at the decision at a recent meeting in Kumasi and would again be meeting in a fortnight’s time to decide what punishment would be meted out to members who would flout the directive.

“FIPAG is not boycotting the Ghana Movie Awards; we are disassociating ourselves from it. In the past, we endorsed it but now we would be organizing our own awards and we have asked our members not to submit works for the Ghana Movie Awards,” Asare Hackman told NEWS-ONE.

He, however, could not tell what laws of Ghana FIPAG would be using to punish its members who submit works for the Ghana Movie Awards, knowing very well that freedom of association is a constitutional right.

The FIPAG president could also not give a direct answer as to whether or not the awards his association intended to organize would be exclusively for members or open to non-members.

When NEWS-ONE called the Chief Executive of the Ghana Movie Awards, Fred Nuamah, over the matter, he expressed surprise that FIPAG would ask its members not to submit their works simply because they wanted to organize a similar one.

“Take this from me, I am organizing this award scheme in the interest of the movie industry and creative sector in general but not for my personal pleasure or glory so if FIPAG or any other group of persons wants to organize a similar award, I should be happy about it.

“The more awards we have in the industry, the better it would be for us all. I don’t believe in monopoly. I believe in healthy competition, I believe in variety and it means if one actor does not win an award here, he may win an award there or somewhere else so this is all good. Let’s wish them well,” Mr. Nuamah told NEWS-ONE.

Editor’s Note: As to whether Ghanaian actors and actresses, who are the direct beneficiaries of the Ghana Movie Awards, would applaud FIPAG’s decision remains uncertain. It is disappointing that FIPAG would set aside all the challenges facing the movie industry and focus on organizing awards. Challenges of too many movies released on the market at a time, challenges of piracy, challenges of television stations airing newly produced movies, challenges of moving from VDC to DVD, challenges of office location and logistics to run the Association and several other challenges. Asare Hackman seems to be losing focus.