VGMA 2019: Song of the Year & Artiste of the Year announcement postponed

IN an unprecedented move, organisers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA), Charterhouse have deferred the announcement of the Artiste of the Year and Vodafone Song of the Year award to a later date.

The Artiste of the Year is the topmost award at the VGMA followed by the Song of the Year and is usually announced with a lot of fanfare but everything changed this year after the fight between supporters of fierce rivals Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale.

With three categories left to be announced including Artiste of the Decade, hosts for the night, Kwami Sefa Kayi and Berla Mundi took to the stage for a final time to announce that in light of what happened, they would only announce the Artiste of the Decade.

Kwami Sefa Kayi said the other two awards would be announced a press conference later. This clearly was a disappointment to those in the audience but considering how tempers had flared earlier the organisers perhaps took a prudent decision.

The brawl occurred when Stonebwoy went on stage to receive his award for Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year and Shatta Wale and his team tried to get up on stage.

They were prevented by Stonebwoy's team which led to a free for all fight and even saw Stonebwoy wield a gun on the stage. This also delayed the programme, which had been going okay for some minutes to ensure calm was restored.

Although full details are yet to emerge, some say Shatta Wale wanted to congratulate Stonebwoy for the award while some say he wanted to go on stage to protest his rival's win.

The Artiste of the Decade award for VGMA 2019 went to Sarkodie.