Tamale fans claim their VGMA party
What was billed as the biggest and most memorable showbiz event to rock Tamale in recent times, the VGMA Nominees Jam, came off last weekend and indeed lived up to its billing as the biggest and most memorable show ... for both right and wrong reasons.
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Two totally unexpected and unrelated events — heavy downpour on Saturday night and police-crowd action on Sunday night conspired to deny Tamale music fans their share of VGMA fun but the event survived.
The survival of the VGMA Nominees Jam in Tamale was made possible by three main factors. First was the high expectation of the fans. The youth demonstrated an eagerness to welcome the show in their city and what warm welcome they gave it!
The second factor was the prestigious nature of the event itself – the nominees party of what is arguably the biggest entertainment package on Ghana’s showbiz calendar. And third, of course, was the calibre of the artistes who jammed the stage.
On Saturday night, just as gospel sensation Joyce Blessing had sang her final note, a rainstorm broke and effectively brought the party to a close. But the night started well with Tamale-based local artistes including ELC, Attacker and SKY. They were followed by “Unsung” artistes Cabum, Eno, MzVee, Episode, AK Songstress and Strongman.
As if they knew what decision organisers, Charterhouse, would take, the exceptionally huge audience who ran off in the rain, returned the following day for a double-do. No rainstorm was going to deny them of a great party.
As reported by peacefmonline, “On Sunday evening music fans gathered again in their thousands to continue from where they left off. The night saw memorable performances from carefully selected artistes. Edem brought energy and precision on stage. Castro proved why he is still relevant and strong both in the studio and on stage after 15 years of doing music.
“Fast rising dancehall crooner Stonebowy showed how fast he has matured from an underdog to becoming a great live band performer. His splendid performance attracted loud cheer from the crowd.
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“Samini as always gave the crown just the right dose of his brand of music. He communicated with his fans intermittently and surely got them to wave their handkerchiefs. He also gave a feel of authentic Fante Rap with live band by the new High Grade Family act Kofi Kinaata.
“Sarkodie who is undoubtedly the most popular artiste in Tamale presently, raised the excitement further when he mounted the stage. The crowd rapped along every single song Sarkodie dropped as though they rehearsed with him. Sarkodie himself was touched by the genuine love his fans showed him.
“It was at this stage that the inexplicable happened. Policemen on duty began using pepper spray and batons to forcefully push the crowd bask away from the stage. Sarkodie pleaded with the police several times to stop and allow his fans to enjoy the show but that clearly fell on deaf ears.
“The police went on pushing the crowd back until the crowd could take it no more and some retaliated by throwing of stones, sticks, chairs, shoes and anything they could their hands on.”