Joe Mettle Archives - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always https://citifmonline.com/tag/joe-mettle/ Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz Thu, 15 Feb 2018 10:51:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.0.8 https://citifmonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-CITI-973-FM-32x32.jpg Joe Mettle Archives - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always https://citifmonline.com/tag/joe-mettle/ 32 32 My parents took me to shrines when I was young – Joe Mettle https://citifmonline.com/2018/02/parents-took-shrines-young-joe-mettle/ Thu, 15 Feb 2018 10:51:35 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=401490 Ghanaian gospel artiste Joseph Oscar Mettle has revealed how sickness landed him at shrines when he was a child. According to the ‘Bo Noo Ni’ singer, his parents had to take him to several shrines to cure him of a sickness which nearly took his life when he was very young. “They took me to […]

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Ghanaian gospel artiste Joseph Oscar Mettle has revealed how sickness landed him at shrines when he was a child.

According to the ‘Bo Noo Ni’ singer, his parents had to take him to several shrines to cure him of a sickness which nearly took his life when he was very young.

“They took me to the shrines to get a cure for my sickness but I was not cured. They cut portions on my cheeks and put in some herbs. After the first cut on one side of my cheeks, I wasn’t healed so the priest had to cut the other side,” he said in an interview with Celebrity Ride with Zionfelix.

Joe however stated that he got his healing from the ‘Christian God’ after the attempts by the traditional priests to cure him proved futile. He said after age 4 he has not been seriously sick again.

He explained that the cuts are the reason for the marks on his cheeks; they are not tribal marks.

Joe Mettle won the Artiste of the Year award over Medikal, Stonebwoy, MzVee, Sarkodie and E.L. in the 2017 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

Joe Mettle, a former lead singer of the Soul Winners gospel music group, has since he went solo produced mega hits like ‘Akokyem Nyame,’ ‘Medo Wo,’ ‘Ayeyi Nnwom,’ ‘Jehovah Praise,’ ‘Onwanwani,’ and the current hit song ‘Bo Noo Ni.’

He’s won awards like Best Male Vocalist, Best Song writer, Best Video at 2012 Gospel Industry Awards; Alternative Song of the Year at 2012 Bass Awards; Best Male Artiste at 2016 RIGA Awards in South Africa, Best Vocal Performance at the 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards and has also earned multiple nominations in both local and international award schemes.

By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Joe Mettle challenges MUSIGA’s Top 20 Songs for 2017 https://citifmonline.com/2018/01/joe-mettle-challenges-musigas-top-20-songs-2017/ Thu, 18 Jan 2018 07:38:15 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=392643 The 2017 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards’ Artiste of the Year, Joe Mettle has expressed doubt about the authenticity of the list of 20 songs that had much radio airplay in 2017. The list which excludes gospel songs has raised controversies on the back of explanations that gospel songs did not have enough radio airplay in […]

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The 2017 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards’ Artiste of the Year, Joe Mettle has expressed doubt about the authenticity of the list of 20 songs that had much radio airplay in 2017.

The list which excludes gospel songs has raised controversies on the back of explanations that gospel songs did not have enough radio airplay in 2017.

According to gospel musician Joe Mettle who spoke in an interview on Accra-based Happy FM, “without research, one can tell gospel songs are played constantly on air.”

He challenged the list which was compiled by Qisimah Insight, saying he did not believe the research was well done.

“Until we are shown the bases of the research, the top 20 most played songs is just their opinion and that cannot be challenged,” Joe noted.

While some arts and entertainment critics have said the list should have included at least a gospel song, others also hold the opinion that gospel music did not fare well in 2017.

Joe Mettle, whose ‘Bo Noo Ni’ has been described as one of the top gospel songs in Ghana at the moment, released the ‘God of Miracle’ album.

Some have asserted that he is likely to win the VGMA Artiste of the Year award again this year.

By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Joe Mettle tops Apple Music Charts https://citifmonline.com/2017/09/joe-mettle-tops-apple-music-charts/ Wed, 13 Sep 2017 13:20:41 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=353162 Ghanaian gospel maestro, Joe Mettle, is number one on Apple Music Charts with his latest single ‘Bo Noo Ni’ which features Luigi Maclean. The chart also has ‘Show You Off’ by Wurld, ‘Link’ by Jim Joseph and ‘Highest’ by Sarkodie and in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions respectively. ‘Bo Noo Ni’ is also trending […]

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Ghanaian gospel maestro, Joe Mettle, is number one on Apple Music Charts with his latest single ‘Bo Noo Ni’ which features Luigi Maclean.

The chart also has ‘Show You Off’ by Wurld, ‘Link’ by Jim Joseph and ‘Highest’ by Sarkodie and in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions respectively.

‘Bo Noo Ni’ is also trending at number 8 on YouTube just a day after its release onto the music market.

At the number 5 position in the Top Album category on Apple Music is Joe’s previous album ‘The Encounter’ which was released in 2015.

The new song, “Bo Noo Ni” is a blend of English and Ga languages and tells God’s greatness to humankind and his ability to rescue the perishing.

The song which is jointly produced by Joe Mettle and the LoveGift was mixed by Outluk Records and mastered in Nashville, U.S.A at Tone and Mastering.

It was recorded live at the Accra International Conference Centre in June 2017, during Joe Mettle’s live album DVD recording.

Joe Mettle who made history at the 2017 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards by being the first Gospel Artiste to have won Artiste of the Year in the award scheme is gradually winning greater spurs in his music career.

He recently headlined UK’s maiden GospelFest organised by ABN Radio and was also honored in the UK with the Artiste of Excellence Award, West Africa by the African Gospel Music and Media Awards.

Watch ‘Bo Noo Ni’ in the link below:

By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonlinne.com

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Joe Mettle honours veteran gospel singer Yaw Sarpong  https://citifmonline.com/2017/06/joe-mettle-honours-veteran-gospel-singer-yaw-sarpong/ Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:56:36 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=331988 VGMA Artiste of the Year, Joe Mettle has honoured veteran gospel singer Yaw Sarpong who has been in the ministry for the past 40 years. “It is important to respect and honour those who have gone ahead of you. When you honour them, God will honour you. You attract the anointing and grace that you […]

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VGMA Artiste of the Year, Joe Mettle has honoured veteran gospel singer Yaw Sarpong who has been in the ministry for the past 40 years.

“It is important to respect and honour those who have gone ahead of you. When you honour them, God will honour you. You attract the anointing and grace that you value,” said Joe Mettle when he stood in front of a huge crowd that showed up for his Praiz Reloaded 2017 concert at the Accra International Conference Centre last Sunday.

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Joe Mettle used the concert to honour Yaw Sarpong in a special way.

Yaw Saprong put up a spirited performance at the concert when he sang his hit track “Wo haw ne sen.”

Yaw Sarpong’s performance with Tiwaa impressed patrons of the event who asked for more.

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A live painting was done on stage by Patrick William Dodoo while Yaw Sarpong sang and was auctioned immediately by Joe Mettle.

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The painting was bought for GHc5,000 meant for Yaw Sarpong.

Joe Mettle also paid rich and glowing tributes to his mentor of blessed memory, Danny Nettey.

Joe Mettle’s Praiz Reloaded live DVD recording was unprecedented.

The event which recorded a large turnout also featured Ohemaa Mercy, Ntokozo Mbambo from South Africa, Akesse Brempong and Luigi Maclean.

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Notable faces spotted at the concert included Vodafone CEO, Yolanda Cuba, Agnes Emefa Essah, Director of Marketing, Vodafone, as well as some senior management team members.

Also spotted at the event was SP Kofi Sarpong, Ceccy Twum, Cwesi Oteng, Naa Mercy and many others.

Credit: Joe Mettle Ministries

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Joe Mettle, Todd Dulaney minister at Harvest Praise 2017 [Photos] https://citifmonline.com/2017/04/joe-mettel-todd-dulaney-minister-at-harvest-praise-2017-photos/ Sun, 16 Apr 2017 06:00:18 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=310983 The Accra international Conference Centre was on Good Friday home to scenes of glorious ministration from the Harvest Gospel Choir, American gospel artiste Todd Dulaney, and Ghana’s 2017 Vodafone Music Artiste of the year, Joe Mettle. The annual event, themed the victory edition in 2017, was spirit-filled with a colourful atmosphere to mark the Easter season and rally the […]

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The Accra international Conference Centre was on Good Friday home to scenes of glorious ministration from the Harvest Gospel Choir, American gospel artiste Todd Dulaney, and Ghana’s 2017 Vodafone Music Artiste of the year, Joe Mettle.

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The annual event, themed the victory edition in 2017, was spirit-filled with a colourful atmosphere to mark the Easter season and rally the nation behind the cross.

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About Harvest Praise

Harvest Praise is the evangelistic tool of the Harvest International Ministries. For 18years, the Harvest International Ministries has through Harvest Praise won over hundreds of souls across the length and breadth of the nation, and used the platform to also project local and international talents in the arts industry.

Its pioneering role is significantly “foot-printed” in gospel music event management in Ghana, as many of such programs continue to borrow ideas, concepts and even derivatives of its name – Harvest Praise.

Moses OK, Tagoe Sisters, Diana Hamilton, Danny Nettey, Andrae Crouch, Kurt Carr, Bob Fitts, Vinesong, Darwin Hobbs and a host of many prolific artistes have graced the Harvest Praise stage.

Harvest Praise 2017 was organised in partnership with Unibank and powered by Citi 97.3 FM.

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Why Joe Mettle won Artiste of the Year at VGMA 2017 [Article] https://citifmonline.com/2017/04/why-joe-mettle-won-artiste-of-the-year-at-vgma-2017-article/ Mon, 10 Apr 2017 07:16:50 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=309384 History was made at the recently held Vodafone Ghana Music Awards when, for the first time in eighteen (18) years, a gospel artiste won the ultimate award in the VGMA. Prior to his win, I had earlier outlined reasons gospel artistes had not won the award before and why they may never win that award. […]

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History was made at the recently held Vodafone Ghana Music Awards when, for the first time in eighteen (18) years, a gospel artiste won the ultimate award in the VGMA.

Prior to his win, I had earlier outlined reasons gospel artistes had not won the award before and why they may never win that award. In my article dubbed ‘Why Gospel Artistes May Never Win VGMA Artiste of the Year,’ I pointed out apathy, poor management, weak branding, Christian doctrinal constrictions, Board bias among others as factors to this phenomenon.

However, on the night of the event, a lot of people had the shock of their lives when Joe Mettle was announced winner of the overall Artiste of the Year in VGMA 2017. This is not the first time a gospel artiste has won the Artiste of the Year award but it is the first time ‘they’ are winning the ultimate award. Until 2008, the highest award was the Most Popular Song of the Year. The very year a gospel artiste won Most Popular Song award, the most prestigious award was changed to Artiste of the Year – that was the year Kwaw Kesse won it. But for that change, Pastor Lenny Akpade, who won the Most Popular Song of the Year with ‘Most High God’ in 2008, would have been the ultimate winner in that year.

Already, some people have started raising eyebrows as to why Joe Mettle should win the award at the expense of artistes like Sarkodie and Stonebwoy while those on his side are celebrating.

In the first place, every artiste that gets nominated in the awards is a potential winner of any category they find themselves in and Joe Mettle wasn’t an exception but I am sure Joe Mettle was one of the ‘least expected’ to have won the award. So what did the magic (or should I say miracle)? What broke the jinx?

Public Outcry: In the past, people from the gospel music fraternity and their followers had registered their displeasure at why after all their hit songs and hard work, they were not able to win the ultimate award at the VGMA.

After this year’s nominations were released, the same argument of why gospel musicians didn’t win Artiste of the Year came up through write ups like what I did, and radio discussions. People started to empathise with gospel music and Joe Mettle for that matter (the only nominee in that category for this year).

Quest for Change: Some people were fed up with the same secular artistes winning the ultimate slot and simply wanted change. Their quest was not that they believed the gospel artiste had done better than the secular counterparts in the year under review. They wanted change from the norm. They just wanted a gospel artiste to win it this time and that may have reflected in their ‘support’ for Joe Mettle.

Snowball Effect on JM Campaign: How the campaign for Joe Mettle to win Artiste of the Year award caught on with people within a short period was amazing. Especially, few weeks to the awards, social media was littered with fierce campaign for him.

In fact, Joe Mettle had earlier on told citifmonline.com in an exclusive interview that he did not personally know some of the people who out of their volition rooted for him in the campaign.

“By God’s grace I have had people, some of whom I don’t even know, campaign for votes for me. We have done our best. It’s left with the Academy and Board to decide but I am 100% hopeful of winning,” he told Citi Showbiz.

People who had earlier on shown support for some secular artistes reared their heads in the ‘last minute’ for Joe Mettle. This was a clear indication of the quest to make a strong historical statement this year.

Critiques on Gospel Artistes: The snowball effect may also have come about by a sudden wake-up call on the gospel artiste through serious critiques on them, their brand and craft. For example, my article on why the gospel artiste may never win Artiste of the Year at VGMA stated some shortfalls of the gospel artistes and these may have goaded them to prove to the world that “yes we can,” hence the verve and zest in the whole Joe Mettle campaign.

VGMA Board under ‘Pressure’: I stated in my previous article that the VGMA Board was biased [my conviction] against gospel as regards their membership composition and inclinations. I had observed that most of the Board members were not gospel inclined. They don’t really follow gospel so when it comes to rooting for gospel music, it becomes difficult for them to win. Owing to these ranting and revelations from us, they may have decided to prove people wrong on that assertion. The Board may just have decided to come to a consensus of breaking that conception. Don’t forget that the Board has 30% stake in determining who wins the category so it is a big deal if the Board members (either collectively or individually) give you their votes.

Salving the George Quaye Effect: It will be recalled that PRO of Charter House, the organisers of the awards who had for the past few years been speaking for the scheme had made an allegation on live TV that gospel musicians were inclined towards offering bribe for award in VGMA than the secular ones.

This allegation brought problems between the organisers and gospel artistes to the extent that some gospel artistes like OJ had to pull out his nominations. Some even threatened to return all plaques of awards they had won at VGMA if George Quaye did not provide proof to his allegation. Grapevine information reaching citifmonline.com indicates that the organisers even had to call some of the aggrieved gospel musicians to trash out the matter.

In that wise, Joe Mettle’s win could possibly have been an award to recompense the gospel fraternity for that seemingly dent that was created by George Quaye on their ‘holy’ reputation. In fact, Mettle’s win could be a truce by the Board (or in essence the organisers) to make peace with these gospel musicians.

Please note that the above reasons are not absolutes. These are possible reasons that may have accounted for Joe Mettle’s win. That notwithstanding, Joe Mettle did quite a good job (even though some secular artiste did better) in the year under review and may have had a lot of people from the General Public, Academy and Board vote for him.

The above mentioned variables may have earned him favour among the three compartments of the VGMA voting system. Granted the parameters translated into votes and that these votes were ahead of Joe Mettle’s contenders, no analysis with category definitions will work in this wise. After nominations, category definitions no longer matter. It’s all about votes!

I congratulate Joe Mettle and Christiandom but my advice to the gospel artistes still stands:  they should work on their promotional strategies. If the kind of last minute hype that was given Joe Mettle was given to him in 2016, he would be a bigger brand than he is now.

At this time, Joe Mettle needs to capitalise on this award and deepen his brand. He should not just revel in the fact that he has made history. He should make this history spawn new history making blessings.

By: Kwame Dadzie ([email protected])

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All award winners at 2017 VGMAs https://citifmonline.com/2017/04/all-award-winners-at-2017-vgmas/ Sun, 09 Apr 2017 08:20:17 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=309219 The 2017 edition of the annual Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) ended on a high-note with gospel artiste, Joe Mettle setting a record of being the first non-secular artiste to win the most coveted “Artiste of the Year” award. He beat competition from five (5) other contenders in that category including the reigning Artiste of […]

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The 2017 edition of the annual Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) ended on a high-note with gospel artiste, Joe Mettle setting a record of being the first non-secular artiste to win the most coveted “Artiste of the Year” award.

He beat competition from five (5) other contenders in that category including the reigning Artiste of the Year, EL to win the award.

Joe Mettle won two other awards; Male Vocalist of the year and Gospel artiste of the year.

Kofi Kinaata also took home three (3) different awards. Music producer and singer, Nacee also won two awards.

Manifest, Stonebwoy and VVIP also took home two awards each in various categories.

Hiplife sensation, Medikal, who earned the most nomination in this year’s award, failed to win any award at the event.

See the full list of winners below:

Artiste of the year – Joe Mettle

Gospel song of the year – Yewo Nyame a yewo adze (Nacee Ft. Ernest Opoku) 

Highlife song of the year – Sweetie Pie (Kofi Kinaata)

Reggae/Dancehall song – People Dey (Stonebwoy)

Highlife song of the year – Kofi Kinaata

Hiplife song of the year – Go Low (Flowking Stone)

Afro-pop song of the year – Kaabuame (EL)

Hip-hop song of the year – God MC (Manifest)

Gospel artiste of the year – Joe Mettle

Reggae/Dancehall artiste of the year – Stonebwoy

Hiplife/hip hop artiste of the year – Sarkodie

Songwriter of the year – Kofi Kinaata

Best collaboration of the year – Alhaji (VVIP)

Female vocalist of the year – Adina (Too Late)

Male vocalist of the year – Joe Mettle

Best group of the year – VVIP

Best music video of the year – Okyeame Kwame

Best rapper of the year – Manifest

African artiste of the year – Runtown

Best new artiste of the year – Fancy Gaddam

Record of the year – Adina

Most popular song of the year – Christie (Dobble)

Album of the year – Nacee

Traditional artiste – Sammy Ahmed

Best instrumentalist – Philip Acquah

Lifetime achievement award – Paapa Yankson

Vodafone Unsung category – Kwame Eugene

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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VGMAs: Joe Mettle makes history, named ‘Artiste of the Year’ https://citifmonline.com/2017/04/vgmas-joe-mettle-makes-history-named-artiste-of-the-year/ Sun, 09 Apr 2017 03:12:37 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=309191 Gospel artiste, Joe Mettle has emerged ‘Artiste of the Year’ at the 2017 edition of the annual Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs). He is the first gospel artiste to win the award since the inception of the VGMAs in 2000. Joe Mettle was nominated alongside Medikal, Stonebwoy, MzVee, Sarkodie and reigning Artiste of the Year, […]

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Gospel artiste, Joe Mettle has emerged ‘Artiste of the Year’ at the 2017 edition of the annual Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs).

He is the first gospel artiste to win the award since the inception of the VGMAs in 2000.

Joe Mettle was nominated alongside Medikal, Stonebwoy, MzVee, Sarkodie and reigning Artiste of the Year, E.L, but managed to beat all 5 contenders to make history at the event.

The ‘Onwanwani’ hitmaker, had earlier told citifmonline.com that he was hopeful he would win the award.

In the interview, he said, a lot of people have shown love and support to him by soliciting votes for him and judging from that, his hard work and the grace of God, he was confident he would win.

“By God’s grace I have had people, some of whom I don’t even know, campaign for votes for me. We have done our best. It’s left with the Academy and Board to decide but I am 100% hopeful of winning,” he said in the interview.

Joe Mettle on the night also won the Gospel artiste of the year award and Male vocalist of the year award.

Joe Mettle, a former lead singer of the Soul Winners gospel music group, has since he went solo produced mega hits like ‘Medo Wo,’ ‘Ayeyi Nnwom,’ ‘Jehovah Praise,’ the current banger ‘Onwanwani,’ among others.

He’s in the past won awards like Best Male Vocalist, Best Songwriter, Best Video at 2012 Gospel Industry Awards; Alternative Song of the Year at 2012 Bass Awards; Best Male Artiste at 2016 RIGA Awards in South Africa, Best Vocal Performance at the 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards and has also earned multiple nominations in both local and international award schemes.

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Joe Mettle hopeful of winning VGMA Artiste of the Year https://citifmonline.com/2017/04/joe-mettle-hopeful-of-winning-vgma-artiste-of-the-year/ Sat, 08 Apr 2017 11:19:53 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=309027 Gospel maestro, Joseph Oscar Mettle aka Joe Mettle, who has been nominated in this year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, has told citifmonline.com that he is hopeful of winning the Artiste of the Year award tomorrow. According to the ‘Onwanwani’ hits maker, a lot of people have shown love and support to him by soliciting votes […]

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Gospel maestro, Joseph Oscar Mettle aka Joe Mettle, who has been nominated in this year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, has told citifmonline.com that he is hopeful of winning the Artiste of the Year award tomorrow.

According to the ‘Onwanwani’ hits maker, a lot of people have shown love and support to him by soliciting votes for him and judging from that, his hard work and the grace of God, he is strongly optimistic of picking the award tomorrow.

“By God’s grace I have had people, some of whom I don’t even know, campaign for votes for me. We have done our best. It’s left with the Academy and Board to decide but I am 100% hopeful of winning,” he said.

Asked which of the nominees in the Artiste o the Year category poses a stiffer competition to him, he said: “I believe once you are nominated, you stand a chance of winning so any of them a potential winner,” he told Citi Showbiz.

Not long ago, Joe Mettle was reported to have said in an interview that gospel musicians don’t do win the Artiste of the Year at the VGMA because they see campaigning of awards as materialistic.

This comes on the back of discussions on why no gospel musician has won the ultimate award at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards since its inception. A myriad of factors have been adduced as reasons to the situation, paramount among which are apathy, poor management, lacklustre branding, VGMA board bias, and Christian doctrinal constrictions.

Joe Mettle has been nominated in the Artiste of the Year category together with Medikal, Stonebwoy, MzVee, Sarkodie and E.L.

Joe Mettle, a former lead singer of the Soul Winners gospel music group, has since he went solo produced mega hits like ‘Akokyem Nyame,’ ‘Medo Wo,’ ‘Ayeyi Nnwom,’ ‘Jehovah Praise,’ the current banger ‘Onwanwani,’ among others.

He’s won awards like Best Male Vocalist, Best Song writer, Best Video at 2012 Gospel Industry Awards; Alternative Song of the Year at 2012 Bass Awards; Best Male Artiste at 2016 RIGA Awards in South Africa, Best Vocal Performance at the 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards and has also earned multiple nominations in both local and international award schemes.

The 2017 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards comes off tomorrow, 8th April, 2017 at the Accra International Conference Centre.

By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Why a Gospel musician may never win VGMA Artiste of the Year award [Article] https://citifmonline.com/2017/03/why-a-gospel-musician-may-never-win-vgma-artiste-of-the-year-award-article/ Fri, 31 Mar 2017 06:20:54 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=306617 Since the inception of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards eighteen (18) years ago, no Gospel musician has won the ultimate award before; and this has been the bane of Gospel musicians and their fans. The closest they have ever come to winning the prize, is to get nominated and, as usual, there is one Gospel […]

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Since the inception of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards eighteen (18) years ago, no Gospel musician has won the ultimate award before; and this has been the bane of Gospel musicians and their fans.

The closest they have ever come to winning the prize, is to get nominated and, as usual, there is one Gospel artiste nominated in this year’s Artiste of the Year category for the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards – Joe Mettle.

This year, I have seen fans and supporters of Joe Mettle do some serious campaigning for him to win the category in which he has been nominated alongside EL, Sarkodie, Medikal, Stonebwoy and MzVee. It appears that the supporters are bent on breaking the jinx this year, but there is a problem; There is much more to winning any award, than ‘last minute’ vote begging.

Before I touch on the crux of this subject, I invite you to read an excerpt of an article which I wrote in 2016, about why Ghanaian Gospel musicians can’t rub shoulders with their secular counterparts. It is titled ‘The Ghanaian Gospel Artiste is Confused.’

“…I was analysing on my entertainment show Arts and People on Vision FM the [apparent] gulf between Gospel musicians and their secular counterparts when it comes to image branding, promotional strategies and ambassadorial deals.

So I called celebrated musician and recording engineer Nacee, the leader of the No Tribe Gospel music group. One thing he told me that still remains fresh in my mind is that Gospel music is a ministry and that Gospel musicians cannot and should not do everything that the secular artistes do. He told me that they were not in competition with the secular artistes. To an extent, he had a point – yes but to what extent is going to be the fulcrum of my subject.

For so many years, the Ghanaian Gospel musician has been compared to the secular musician on various pedestals; from their dressing, to music videos, lyrical content, management efficiency, promotional strategies, among other factors.

Ghanaian Gospel music lovers and their critics have bashed Gospel musicians for always standing by flowers and cars and using prosaic concepts for their music videos. You listen to radio and television entertainment discussion programmes and our Gospel musicians are always being criticised.

Even today, these same Ghanaians mock some of our Gospel musicians for displaying a fashion sense that is below par. They would say they lack swag and do not make Gospel music appealing. Again, the Ghanaian Gospel musician has been lashed for not employing the right people to manage him or her. Most of the time, it is their husbands or wives that have either been their managers and/ or producers. Most of these husbands and wives, however, have little or no knowledge of music and artiste management.

A corollary of this has been weak promotional links. They lack the right avenues to promote their brands. They lack internet, and for that matter, social media presence. They also lack knowledge of how to market their songs and brands online. It is all about recording their songs, releasing few copies of CDs and getting a few ‘God bless you’ gigs to play at some rural Churches; after all they say it is a ministry.

Because of this, the Gospel musicians usually don’t get to enjoy some of the opportunities that the secular people do. There have been times when some Gospel musicians have complained that their secular counterparts had been paid better and had been given better treatment at shows, which they both performed at. A case in point is one that Gifty Osei made during the first Ghana Music Week, where she thought the Gospel acts were not treated fairly.

Corporate institutions sign secular artistes and other celebrities as their brand ambassadors and you hardly see a Gospel act, in this respect. Secular musicians get nominated in international award schemes and you usually see a Gospel act nominated if it is primarily a Gospel awards scheme. This happens because the Ghanaian Gospel musician wants to be seen as a mere evangelist; well at least the people want them to.

Sadly, these same fans of the Gospel musicians who even wish that he or she would play shows for free, because the Bible is free and their music talent was given freely by God, criticise them, saying that they are not making great strides.

In fact, the Ghanaian Gospel music lover, enthusiast, pundit and analyst have confused our Gospel musicians.
Firstly, the new generation of Gospel musicians who have learnt from the criticism against their older folks, have decided to do things differently. Some are waxing very fashionable and again the typical Ghanaian is complaining. So what should they do now? Gifty Osei customised her car and people were insulting her. What kind of behaviour is that? Yet we want them to be at par with their secular colleagues.

Number two – the same people who had said gospel music videos were raw and unattractive are describing the new and improved ones of modern times as worldly. We say they are not visible on social media; so a few of them have started making themselves visible. Some have adopted some strategies used by their secular friends, and again we say “Gospel musicians should not do that.” So what should a Gospel musician do?

I remember some years ago, some people were encouraging Gospel – secular collaborations. A few people like Lady Prempeh and Herty Borngreat started. Even though their songs were accepted, there were people who thought ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ had no relationship. But they were the same people who had suggested that a bit of rap could make Gospel music more appealing to the youth.

I know there are extremities in life and I know such situations when I see them. The Ghanaian Gospel artiste is in a quandary of what to do, lest they are mauled by the general public. In fact, this is killing creativity and the promotion of the Gospel music genre…”

The article above is a reflection of how the average Ghanaian sees the Gospel artiste. Recently, Gospel musician Joe Mettle was quoted to have said that Gospel musicians don’t canvass votes for awards, because they see it as materialistic. Even though this was his opinion, it is a view widely held by the Ghanaian populace.

The notion that Gospel musicians are ‘holy’ and must not worry themselves of certain ‘worldly’ acts is the reason they can never have certain opportunities in the music industry. So you see why Gospel musicians can’t win Artiste of the Year at the VGMAs? You see why Joe Mettle can’t beat Sarkodie, EL, Stonebwoy, Mzvee, Medikal to win the slot?

The category definition of VGMA Artiste of the Year states that: “Artiste of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the Artiste(s) with the highest audience appeal and popularity. The Artiste(s) must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.”

This definition has three basic components: audience appeal, popularity and hit single/album. There are a lot of things that secular musicians do to pass these requirements that most Gospel musicians do not do. For example, we have very few Gospel musicians who would organise their own concerts. Most of them are only interested in ‘shabo.’ It is not wrong to perform in Churches because that is what your ministry entails, but you must also be easily identified with something, so why don’t you create a formidable brand and that makes your popularity solid! That is a major platform, upon which to measure your audience appeal.

There are a lot of Gospel musicians who have very low presence and interactivity on social media. Some Gospel musicians have smash hit songs but nobody knows them. Their image visibility ebbs low.

Unlike the secular world where an artiste can create stunts to stay relevant in the system, Gospel music is quite restrictive. Last year, hell nearly broke loose on Brother Sammy when he was alleged to have feigned an accident, for publicity. While secular artistes are ‘dissing’ each other to court attention, the only stunt the Gospel artiste can pull is perhaps to say “Jesus is coming tomorrow.”

Lastly, since the Board has a 30% stake in determining who wins what, we can’t rule them out in the equation. My research has revealed that a majority of the members on the VGMA Board are not Gospel lovers. In fact, most of them are not even fans of Gospel music. There is therefore a justification to their proclivity for rooting for a secular song at the expense of Gospel songs and their artistes (in this wise).

These, among a blizzard of factors have contributed to the imbalance in the brand visibility between Gospel and secular artistes, hence the slimmer chance for a Gospel artiste to win Artiste of the Year at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

This, however, does not mean Gospel musicians are not good. It rather means that the Gospel musicians find themselves in a secularised environment where anything done the secular way sells faster. It is either to conform or to play second fiddle to secularism.

By: Kwame Dadzie – [email protected]

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