Fast-rising Ghanaian artiste, Felix Quaye, popularly known as King Maaga, has urged Charterhouse, the organisers of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards(TGMA’S) to include regional representatives on the board of the award scheme.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic, the “Let It Go” hitmaker said the lack of representation from other regions within the board, limits the decision-making process and results in a bias towards artists based in Accra. He noted that artists from other regions have to produce songs that appeal to the audience in Accra, in order to gain recognition from the scheme.
“It’s like until your song is popular in Accra, you can’t qualify to be part of Ghana Music Awards. But I tell you the truth, artistes are doing very well in other regions and are more popular in these regions than many artistes who get nominated or win awards. All these credible artistes are going unnoticed because they aren’t based in Accra,” he said.
He also argued that certain artistes in different parts of Ghana have achieved remarkable musical feats that even the Accra-based acts have not attained, yet they are constantly recognised by the award scheme.
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“Artistes such as Maccasio and Fancy Gadam are filling stadiums in the North. Let me ask this question, how many of the artistes based in Accra can even fill half of the stadium there yet we celebrate them as the best in the year under review?”, he quizzed.
Addressing King Maaga’s concern, Robert Klah, Public Relations Officer of Charterhouse affirmed that, the TGMA board did not have specific representatives from other regions, since it was made up of music authorities.
“The board is not regionally represented because it is made up of experts but the Academy is regionally based. We have representatives from all the regions who are part of the voting process,” he stated.
King Maaga also called for a partnership between the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) and regional awards schemes to establish platforms that would unearth talented artistes across the various regions in Ghana.
“I was nominated for the Unsung category in 2022, which gave me the opportunity to perform on prominent stages. However, I believe TGMA can improve unearthing more talents by partnering with regional music awards to identify talented artistes in each region.”
According to him, “While talent is essential, it’s not enough in today’s competitive industry without solid platforms like the TGMA.”
