We are caught up in an era where gloating over awards seem the ultimate in validating ones artistry. The situation aids an increasingly ill appreciation of real talent because winning hinges on an artiste’ financial strength; in short, lots of talents will never get to be the stars they should be.

The element of financial & strategic investments is one of the main reasons artistic works emanating from the savanna may never receive mainstream recognition unless when given a special category like “Best Song From The Savannah”. This undoubtedly has a negative impact in the global success of artistes based in these areas who obviously cannot join the extravagant marketing modules of today’s business world.

Away from the complicated issue of funding and marketing, one can allude comfortably, that the actions and inactions of the powers that be in the four savanna regions also account for the slow strides we’ve made towards fitting into mainstream music in Ghana. Indeed several other reasons can be attributed to this, however a careful retrospection will reveal how much we contribute to our lurking behind when truly there is no one or anything to ambush in the hope of gaining dominance.

We seem to have adopted a self entitlement posture and in the process stalled hard work with regards to creating a sound, good enough, or unique enough to make us major contenders in the showbiz and entertainment industry. This is evident in the numerous award schemes that have sprung up in especially the 3 main savanna regions. We fail to realize that in the grandeur of schemes, we must satisfy all the criteria to be recognized. There is absolutely nothing wrong with setting up schemes to appreciate artistes but are we truly rewarding excellence or simply trying to encourage mediocrity? Are we trying to be a part of the bigger whole or trying to further alienate ourselves from mainstream showbiz in Ghana?

With about 7 different showbiz oriented award schemes, the battle for credibility is truly enormous. · Upper East Music Awards · Harmattan Music Awards · Northern Entertainment Awards · Northern Music Awards · Northern Ghana Music Awards · Upper West Music Awards · Radio Progress Upper West music Awards

In building a budding entertainment industry, the bigger picture should influence all the decisions made towards being seen and recognized as a significant part of the industry, but we are confronted with a certain degree of dementia as entrepreneurs whose focus is quick cash and fame, and not necessarily the development of the industry continue to exploit the arts; milking them dry to the bone. Art and showbiz is an industry that requires excellence and meeting certain standards; in attempting to redefine the standards, one is expected to bring superior standards to the table, but can that be said about the criteria used in the award schemes that adorn the savanna?

Awards serve as morale boosters! Awards can help elevate the ratings of an artiste! Awards can set yardsticks for the winner and many others! Awards sometimes bring a lot of financial gain!

The current trend associated with artistry in the savanna is extremely worrying to some of us, whilst we see the opportunities available for entrepreneurs to start a scheme that will present chances for creative people to be recognized for the hard work put into churning out beautiful paintings, soul healing music, amazing clothing designs and all the great innovations that abound in the savanna world of art, the good enshrined in such schemes is being pushed to the background and the element of ownership is giving rise to an alarming number of award schemes in the savanna of Ghana. This continues to have a damning effect whilst creating several mediocre attributes of success including;

Local champion syndrome, everybody is King. · Self declared stars/celebrities urging a warped attitude towards people & fans · No will to sacrifice or put in an investment. · Baseless Loyalty (Loyal to what? area codes…lol) · Crowning of mediocrity in all aspects of this multi faceted industry. · Unguided trend following. · Lack of ingenuity. (Your native language is not enough). · Damning rivalry. · Lack of cooperation. (Everyone who doesn’t say Yes is a hater) · Career killing Mafia’s.

The 4 regions that make up the savanna of Ghana have a lot of similarities, this suggests that the creation of an award scheme in the area should be for all and not just a region or what I term “family and friends”. The situation where entrepreneurs come up with schemes on regional basis is definitely not laudable; since we are further dividing the small market available to us. All schemes Ideally should seek to reach a wider audience and a bigger patronage but this appears not be the case.

The argument of many might be the fact that a lot of the music does not get to cross-regions but then can we truly say an effort has been made to ensure our music travel beyond our regions, and would having more than one scheme in a region increase the fortunes of recipients in other regions?

We may be doing all the above because we feel marginalized, but I beg to differ. It is the self-entitlement that has clouded our minds; and to respond to this we resort to solutions that need more mental input which can easily be done by broader consultations and keeping the art true, authentic, whilst presenting Ghana ingenuous music of impeccable quality, capable of taking us onto international stages with cheers coming from the fact that we brought in something different, refreshing and breath taking.

In part two of this article I will look at some of the issues affecting the growth of showbiz in the savanna whilst suggesting solutions.