Can Ghana DJ Awards get it right this time?
The organisers of the annual Ghana DJ Awards, Merqury Republic Events, last Friday held a ceremony to launch the awards and officially announce the nominees for this year’s event.
As usual, the event was attended and beautified by industry personalities as well as some DJs.
The categories to be awarded this year as announced by music video director, Nana Asihene, Highlife legend, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, radio presenter, Kwame B of Kasapa FM and Ibrahim Brako of Hit FM respectively, Women in Performing Arts, musician Jay Ghartey, DJ Azonto and Daddy Ahuma Bosco, Chairman of the awards, included Best Campus DJ of the Year, Best International Ghanaian DJ, Best Night Club DJ Of The Year, Best Female DJ, Best Male Radio DJ, Best International Non Ghanaian DJ, Best Hi-Life DJ and Best Gospel DJ.
The rest are Best Female Radio DJ Of The Year, Best Music Promoter of the Year, Reggae/Dancehall DJ, Best Hiplife DJ Of The Year, Best Pub DJ Award, DJ Discovery, Best Event DJ, Artiste DJ Of The Year, Scratch DJ of the Year, Best DJ Of The Year, Best Video Jockey Of The Year, Best Club MC Of The Year and Mixtape DJ of the Year.
According to Wikipedia, “a disc jockey (abbreviated DJ, D.J. or deejay) is a person who plays recorded music for an audience, either a radio audience if the mix is broadcast or the audience in a venue such as a bar or nightclub.
In venues such as a club event or rave, this is an audience of dancers.
Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later compact discs.
Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter which medium is used (e.g. vinyl, CDs, MP3 players)”.
Though one doesn’t necessarily have to go to school to become a Disc Jockey (DJ) in Ghana, I believe there should be formal training for people who may be interested. Yes, anybody can be a DJ but it takes a lot to be a good DJ.
Anybody can be behind the console and dish out songs to an audience but being a good DJ means the person may have acquired a great knowledge in all forms of music genre, about musicians and basically all the rudiments of the game.
It is not clear or known how much DJs are paid in Ghana per show but usually in the western world, they are paid on hourly basis.
According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the average hourly wage of radio announcers was $19.43 [about GH¢80] in 2008. Self-employed deejays, on the other hand, can take anything from $25 [GH¢100] to a $100 [GH¢400] an hour.
DJs play a major role in the music and entertainment industry and in 2012, the journey to awarding excellence began by Merqury Quaye, a DJ, music lover, renowned MC and radio show host.
The scheme was created to celebrate and appreciate the talents of Disc Jockeys who promote the Ghanaian culture through music as well as play music skillfully to entertain music lovers in Ghana and other parts of the world.
The awards is designed to foster the development of the Ghana music industry by rewarding and celebrating Radio, Mobile and Club Disc Jockeys who have excelled in their field of endeavour.
Since 2012, the awards scheme has faced many challenges every edition, however, it is purported to be growing steadily and this year marks its 5th year.
Owing to the argument that some awards in Ghana are not being organised by indigenous Ghanaians but by ‘foreigners’, I wish to state that, the Ghana DJ Awards which has been in existence for the past five years has been solely organised by Ghanaians and rightly so, it has had its own share of the numerous challenges that fraught any awards scheme.
This point is actually to drive home that, there will always be challenges whether a ‘foreigner’ or an indigenous Ghanaian is behind a particular awards scheme.
Five years may not be enough to judge the Ghana DJ Awards but five years is enough for the organisers to have put in place some measures not to repeat some of the mistakes that they have made in the previous editions.
If the event to launch and officially make public the nominees for this year’s edition is anything to go by then certainly, there is more to be done in the organisation of the awards.
You do not ask people to leave their various offices and homes to come to the venue at 6pm but rather end up starting few minutes after 10pm.
The inability to start events on time has been one of the greatest challenges of Ghanaian event organisers but for an awards show which has been bastardised constantly and perhaps, not in the good books of many industry personnel, especially the people that the awards is meant for, it’s always appropriate to do things in the right manner and give the critics less to talk about.
Unlike the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards where a musician is nominated for a particular song, during the announcement of the categories at the Ghana DJ Awards, a category like the Best Event DJ did not have the shows or the events some of the DJs in the category played to qualify them in the category.
It happened in some other categories as well and the people who announced those categories made it known that, there wasn’t anything allotted to their names.
The Awards Jury led by its Chairman, Daddy Bosco, is competent for the job, a reason why I think it was an oversight.
However, the mistake could have been avoided if the jury had been diligent. With the nominations, DJs from other regions are at a disadvantage as the Accra based DJs are dominating the list.
True, the action and the focus is on Accra but like it’s done in the Radio and Television Personality Awards where there is a separate category to represent some of the regions, Merqury and his team can adopt similar approach for the other regions so they won’t be left out.
Regardless of my disappointment with the launch, I congratulate the nominees and wish all of them good luck on April 10, 2016 to know which of them walks home with an award and for which category.
I hope the organisers get it right this time around.
anangfio@gmail.com or tweet @anangfio