VGMA has collapsed Ghana’s highlife music — Gyedu Blay Ambolley

Ghanaian highlife legend Gyedu Blay Ambolley has accused the organizers of Ghana’s premier music awards event, the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA), of causing the indigenous genre’s demise.

According to him, the scheme evolved over time to mislead foreigners about music representation in Ghana.

“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 told Graphic.com.gh in an interview.

He further stated that the media in Ghana has been a major collaborator to the trend.

“The media cannot be absolved from what is happening to highlife music now. They don’t do their own research to ask critical questions.

“For instance, if an artiste plays Reggae beats and sings Twi or Fante, we call it highlife music which is totally wrong because highlife has its own beats.

“Also, the members on the Selection Committee of VGMA are also guilty because they don’t make the right selection. So if critics say Highlife music is dying, it means some people are not doing their homework well,” he added.

On March 18, 2023, the organizers of the VGMA, Charterhouse, announced a list of nominees for this year’s event, which is scheduled to take place later in the year.

Highlife Artiste of the Year contenders include Kofi Kinaata, Akwaboah, Adina, and Kuami Eugene.

In response to the list, the highlife legend told Graphic Showbiz, “I’m not surprised the Highlife category has only four artistes because the young believe that doing other music genres will earn them more recognition and awards.” As a result, our artists are shifting to other music genres, which isn’t helping the positive cause of Highlife music,” he said.

Source; Dklassgh.Com