The 2016 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards had the likes of Rex Omar (Paapa), Knii Lante (Beautiful Virgo), Kofi Kinaata (Susuka), MzVee, Richie & Efya (Abofra), Obrafour ( Nkontompo) and Stonebwoy (Go Higher) hoping to win the award for Songwriter of the Year. At the end of the event, the award went to Highgrade’s Kofi Kinaata. Rex omar

It’s quite certain that the other artistes in the country had the hope of winning but Highlife artiste, Rex Omar has revealed to Flex newspaper in an exclusive interview that because of the fact that the VGMAs is an awards scheme based on popularity, he knew he wouldn’t the award.

“I didn’t go there expecting anything, because I’ve been in this game long enough to understand how our system works,” he noted.

Rex Omar further indicated that he is very happy for Kofi Kinaata for winning the Songwriter of the Year award. When asked what makes an artiste a good songwriter, Rex Omar noted that Ghanaians judge good songs and as such as good song writers are mostly known by their lyrical content but in the real world, good songs and good song writers are determined by the music composition, the lyrics, and also the arrangement of a song .

According to him, song writing is a form of art on its own and one needs to first of all, learn how to play one of the key musical instruments as it helps with an artiste’s chord structures and progression. “Then you need to know something about poetry or at least make the effort to read, observe the world around you and read as often as possible. Listening to all genres of music if possible is also very important,” Rex Omar added.

He declined to comment on whether there were any flaws so far as the VGMAs was concerned but maintained that he would have been happier if a highlife artiste had won the award for Artiste of the Year.

He again noted that did not happen since the VGMAs is an award based on popularity which is determined by a society that finds it difficult to accept themselves and their own culture. When further asked if he believes EL winning the Artiste of the Year award ahead of Bisa Kdei was unfair, Rex Omar declined to comment.