Exit the old and worn out and Enter the new, glitzified and drippingly glamorous! The VGMAs this year was pushed up a superb notch to establish to all that it was being handled by very different hands this year (MTN to Vodafone).
Funnyface displaying his 'Blackberry' shoeCapturing the mood of the excitement and curiosity of who was going to show, what they were going to show up in and who was hoping to win what, a Red Carpet show hosted by Confidence and KOD brought to the viewers what they were craving for without having to spend GH c100 or GH c200 on a seat! Confidence, looking elegant as usual in a blue gown, and KOD sporting one of his own designs from his label, 1957, caught the stars as they filtered past: Joseline Dumas, 4x4, Stay J, Bertha, Bulldog, from Bullhaus entertainment, Ohemaa Mercy, Gifty Osei, EL, Appietus and many more.
Sharing their views on their expectations for the night, Confidence and KOD were also looking out for fashion statements and did they find many! Stay J shared his love for nature with his companion dressed as a butterfly, Joseline Dumas looked breathtakingly hot and elegant in a cocktail dress of African material and organza, 4x4 looked superb and smart in identical black and white suits, white jackets with a black lapel to match the black trousers, Bulldog was sporting a 1957 white Kaftan…the night was a bonfire celebration of not only foreign designers but also the rich creativity and innovation of our Ghanaian designers. Frankly, I preferred the latter in more cases than one!
The official band for the night was the Patch Bay Band with DJ Black on the side doing his thing with a fervent frenzy. You can imagine the audience’s response. The night was commenced with a gospel performance to the philosophy, “In all things, give thanks to God almighty” and award-winning Cwesi Oteng saw to just that. A mad collaboration with the Patch Bay Band, Cwesi Oteng rocked his audience to their feet in praise. Then a surprise performance with Lord Kenya pushed the tempo notches higher. The legendary Ben Brako soon followed with some rich highlife that kept people on their dancing feet. The energetic Gifty Osei was an example of when electricity meets Gospel singer. Her incredible dancing moves and very good azonto electrified her audience and had them moved to spiritual heights.
The stage was awesome with the inclusion of the Vodafone Walk of Fame which led the stage directly to the VVIP section housing all the nominees and their entourage. To grace this stage as MC was Chris Attoh who looked like the striking model icon as usual in a three piece suit, complete with an inner vest. He made a few more changes during the night into a 1957 white and red Kaftan outfit, a dark blue suit with a matching slim blue tie and silk handkerchief peeking neatly from his top pocket. Three Letters: H-O-T.
A very funny vignette of staged backstage happenings intro-ed Chris, seemingly close to death, revived and remembering he had to run all the way to the venue to host the VGMAs 2012. It was crazily hilarious to see Chris running through Accra in only boxers, stealing and conniving his way into getting clothes and EL’s phone, only to meet a very loud but bribable Funnyface at the entrance. Funnyface was co-MC, handling the ‘VGMA TV’ segment where he would interact with the winners of the awards. The night produced side-ripping laughter from funnyface’s interviews with the likes of Kwao Kesse and Blak Rasta.
Performances of the night were in a wider sense, the same old mundane routine: Come up on stage, DJ Black plays your hit song, your shout over hit, throw in some azonto and ask the audience to clap their hands or whatever it is that makes them feel as though there is some response. Kaki did wonderfully though, dressed in a short red and yellow jumpsuit with frills to make it look like a skirt, with matching red hair. First of all, her marked name as the one Ghanaian female reggae and dancehall had the girls up on their feet and cheering way before she came up on stage. Secondly, her winding thighs and hips, combined with the dancehall made many a man’s mouth water. Cabo Snoop’s performance of his one hit song with Ghanaians saw him dancing like mad on stage. Dressed in very bright colours like orange and yellow, his legs looked strangely enough like spaghetti steeped in food colour. Efya and Sarkodie’s performance was made just a little more innovative, by getting Awal of Talented Kids Fame and another girl of the same age to impersonate them at the beginning of the song. The mike for the girl was really messing up so it took away the shine from little Efya’s performance, but Awal carried the show, spitting his own rhymes in a very Sarkodie-like way. Soon the real duo came up on stage, Efya looking very African and elegant in a gown with patterned frills in a heart-shaped tube and a swishing trail of African print – a Duaba Serwah item. Efya and Sarkodie were their usual selves and moved the audience but they did not make best performance of the night.
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| Kwao Kesse receiving his award for Hip Hop song of the year |
HHP from SA, sent his audience on a hardcore rap and hiphop journey. This guy is awesome! However, the Ghanaian audience was not soaking him as much as they needed to but he did his thing, danced well to entertain his audience and got his first round of applause when he tried to do the azonto. The Nigerian onslaught of Byron, Ice Prince, Jessie J, and Gh favorite, MI was wicked! Sitting in your GH c100 or GH c200 seat would be wasted because everyone was standing on their chairs to get a closer look.
Then a back to back performance by BukBak, 4x4, Guru was all that the crowd needed to put the cherry on top. Bukbak spiced their act with the inclusion of dancers. Guru brought up a little girl and boy, driving in a tiny car to add some creativity to his act. Boy, were they adorable! His hot, flexible, azonto PHD-holding dancers, at the end of the performance, overshadowed Guru – but hey, that was the point right?
The final performances of the night took the crown; Edem, simply with his charisma and power to move crowds to hail him and Kwao Kesse, with his ‘Abodam!’Edem singing his hit “Over Again” is the one current Ewe rapper to make the larger non-Ewe population sing in Ewe though they did not understand a thing!
Kwao Kesse, who drove into the conference centre in zoomlion car (You can imagine the riot!), appeared onstage with a Zoomlion uniform and a wheelbarrow filled with champagne all “for the Poppin’, for the, for the Poppin’!” Rapping his hit song, similarly dressed men popped bottles and gave them out to crowds or poured them out in calabashes for their pleasure! It got the Vodafone walk of Fame, pretty wet, but hey, blame it on the alcohol! EL’s “Ogbuu mo na” was the last performance of the night, with Papa Nii of Taxi Driver fame intro-ing the song as it was done in the video.
A few skepticisms were raised about the award-winners of certain awards, for instance, the New artiste of the year award which went to Stay J, of a couple of hit azonto tracks, when EL, producer, rapper, singer and multi-genred musician(not just the azonto phase) was on that list. Seriously! Album of the year was given to 4x4’s Waist and Power as opposed to Sarkodie’s Rapperholic! Below are the list of winners:
Gospel song of the year:
Presenter: Ohemaa Mercy
Winner: Selina Boateng
Reggae Song of the year:
Presenters: Adjetey Annang, Lydia Forson
Winner: Blakk Rasta
Hilife Song of the year:
Presenter: Mrs. Muntari, KKD
Winner: I go pay (Quabena Maphia)
Afro-pop Song of the year:
Presenters: Miss Ghana UK, Miss Malaika 2012
Winner: U sey wetin (Zigi)
Hiphop song of the year:
Presenters: Joseph agbeko, Eazzy
Winner: Poppin’ (Kwao Kesse)
Hiplife song of the year:
Presenter: Christelle (eTV)
Winner: Kill Me Shy (Dr. Cryme)
Highlife artiste of the year:
Presenter: Princess Calaba
Winner: Kwabena Kwabena
Hiplife artiste of the year
Presenter: Appietus
Winner: Kwao Kesse
Gospel artiste of the year:
Presenter: No Tribe
Winner: Gifty Osei
African artiste of the year:
Presenter: Chief Dele Mamudu
Winner: Ice Prince
Best Music Video of the year:
Presenter: Ama K.
Winner: Becca
Best Rapper of the year:
Presenter: Naa Ashorkor, Black Boy
Winner: Sarkodie
Best collaboration:
Presenter: Samini
Winner: Okyeame Kwame and Bertha
Record of the year:
Presenter: Ina Patti
Winner: Abena (Kwabena Kwabena)
New Artiste of the year:
Presenters: Jay Foley, Jeremy
Winner: Stay J
Album of the year:
Presenter: Juliet Ibrahim
Winner: Waist and Power (4x4)
Vodafone Song of the year (Most Popular song of the year):
Presenter: Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone
Winner: U go kill me (Sarkodie)
Artiste of the year:
Presenter: Obour and CEO of Charterhouse
Winner: Sarkodie
It seems most appropriate to end with Okyeame Kwame’s fervent wish that his award for best collaboration be dedicated to the whole of Ghana in the hope of collaboration during this election year.
One loud “Whoop!” for GH music!
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