Leave Artiste of the Year solely to public voting – Ashis to TGMA organisers

Artiste manager and entertainment pundit, Nana Poku Ashis has emphasized the importance of involving the public in the selection process for the Artiste of the Year award at the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMAs).

According to him, the public is better equipped to determine the winner of this prestigious award, as they have a deeper understanding of the popularity and impact of songs and artistes.

The category definition for the Artiste of the Year clearly states that the winner should be the artiste(s) with the highest audience appeal and popularity, as adjudged by the Academy, Board, and the General Public. However, the pundit believes that the academy and board members are disconnected from the grassroots and lack a comprehensive understanding of an artiste’s influence and relevance, making them unsuitable for deciding on the award.

In an interview with Graphic Showbiz on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, Ashis argued that the AOTY category should solely be determined by the public. He strongly believes that for the award to be truly fair, the academy and board should be excluded from the voting process, as it is a populist award.

Nana Opoku went on to highlight the Song of the Year category, stating that the public is the best judge of which song was the biggest hit in the year under review. However, technicalities often come into play during the selection process, which can overshadow the rightful winner. He therefore suggested that the public should have the authority to vote for the overall artiste and the most popular song of the year.

“The Artiste of the Year should be left to the public. I strongly think if they want to be very fair, they should pull out the academy, pull out the board from voting, because it’s a populist award.

“Same with the Song of the Year, we all know, it is the public that actually know which particular song was the biggest hit in the year under review. But then when the technicalities come to add up to it, it takes it from who was actually supposed to win. Once they say it’s a populist award, they should leave that overall artiste and most popular song of the year to the public to vote,” he said.

The artiste manager further called for periodic changes to the board and academy membership to bring in fresh perspectives and ensure contemporary relevance in the awards. He noted that some members have served for too long and have become disconnected from current trends, which can potentially cloud their judgment.

“I think they should change people on the board from time to time. Some of these people have been there for too long, and they’ve written the same notes over and over again. It’s not refreshing. It’s about time they bring in new people with new ideas.

“The young generation is different. See, some of our old people do not understand what is going on now with the younger generation and the trends of music they are doing. So if you keep the same people on the board for too long, you’ll be frustrating most of new crop of artistes and the kind of productions they bring out,” he added.