A communications lecturer at the Academic City University College, Michael Yamoah, has said that the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) is partly to blame for the lull in Ghana’s highlife music.
Asked if he supported Gyedu-Blay Ambolley’s claim that the scheme was responsible for the woes of the genre, he answered in the affirmative.
Yamoah, a former Secretary of the Arts and Tourism Writers Association of Ghana (ATWAG) told Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Twitter Spaces programme, ‘Joy Entertainment Unpacked’ that it is insincere for anyone to absolve VGMA of the blame.
“If you are an industry person and you don’t agree that the foremost music awards scheme we have in the country is part of the problem, then I don’t think you are being sincere to yourself. Yes, they are part of the problem but they are also part of the solution. They have the power to help resolve this,” he said.
Mic Yamoah suggested that by way of agenda-setting, the VGMA should introduce novel ways of putting the spotlight on highlife.
He mentioned that with the revival of the albums culture, the VGMA could consider bringing back the Highlife Album of the Year category, among others.
He said the scheme should open up the highlife song category to encompass Ghanaian songs that have streaks of highlife and not only those that bear indigenous features of the music form.
“Per all the contributions that have come in especially from under Rex, these [songs nominated in VGMA’s Afrobeats and AfroPop categories] are all highlife. You see elements of highlife deep down in there,” Mic added.
He suggested that the VGMA should stand their ground and object agitations from the public and artistes when nominating songs for this category.
“Once they find highlife elements, they are going a call it highlife,” he stated.
Although Mic Yamoah sides with Ambolley’s claim that the VGMA must take blame for the dwindling fortunes of highlife, the music legend departs in the conception of highlife. In his interview with Graphic Showbiz, he condemned the VGMA for adulterating the genre with other forms of music.
“It is unfortunate that people think when you sing in Twi or Fante over a Dancehall or Reggae beats it automatically makes it Highlife music. That is not true but it has become the norm over the years because these are the kinds of music VGMA rewards.”
“Today, if anyone wants to have an idea of what Ghana represents in terms of music, I bet the person will not count any Highlife artiste since all the perceived big acts currently are not doing Highlife.”
“We have buried our own and pursuing Dancehall music and the likes and interestingly, the VGMA has been promoting the agenda by rewarding such artistes with the topmost prizes,” he said.
The issue of highlife losing its relevance has become topical as a lot of Ghanaian artistes have joined the Afrobeats bandwagon.
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