Leave Artiste of the Year solely to public voting – Ashis to TGMA organisers
ARTISTE manager and entertainment pundit, Nana Poku Ashis, has urged organisers of Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMAs) to entrust the public with the sole responsibility of selecting Artiste of the Year.
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To Ashis, the public is better positioned to determine the winner of the scheme’s ultimate award, as they are more in tune with the popularity and impact of songs and their artistes.
The category definition for the Artiste of the Year states that: “Artiste of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the Artiste(s) with the highest audience appeal and popularity. The Artiste(s) must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.”
Speaking to Graphic Showbiz on Tuesday, June 4,2024, Ashis argued that the academy and board members are detached from the grassroots and lack a thorough understanding of an artiste's influence and relevance, making them unfit to decide on the award.
“The Artiste of the Year should be left to the public. I strongly think if they want to be very fair, they should pull out the academy, pull out the board from voting, because it's a populist award.
“Same with the Song of the Year, we all know, it is the public that actually know which particular song was the biggest hit in the year under review. But then when the technicalities come to add up to it, it takes it from who was actually supposed to win. Once they say it's a populist award, they should leave that overall artiste and most popular song of the year to the public to vote.” (Related article Did King break Promise?)
He similarly called for periodic changes to the board and academy membership to infuse fresh perspectives and contemporary relevance into the awards.
He posited that some members have served for too long and are out of touch with current trends, which can cloud their judgment.
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“I think they should change people on the board from time to time. Some of these people have been there for too long, and they've written the same notes over and over again. It's not refreshing. It's about time they bring in new people with new ideas.
“The young generation is different. See, some of our old people do not understand what is going on now with the younger generation and the trends of music they are doing. So if you keep the same people on the board for too long, you'll be frustrating most of new crop of artistes and the kind of productions they bring out.