The Happy Man Bitters – Upper East Music Awards (HMB-UEMA) stands as one of the credible award schemes in the Northern part of Ghana and the lead in the appreciation of excellence in the Upper East Region.
On 15th October, at 2pm inside Tap Hotel in the heart of the region (Bolgatanga), the organizers of the scheme One Love Entertainment supported by Happyman Bitters, launched the 2023 edition of the awards and announced nominees for the various categories.
Northpraise wishes to express their dissatisfaction in the nominees for the “Gospel Song of The Year” Category. Kundivi Mahama, Pandy and Samuel Agongo had their songs nominated for this very category and this is our upset. We write to enlighten the board/committee that did the scrutiny (If there was any) that it might curb future occurrences.
As the leading promoter of Northern Ghana Gospel Music, our fraternity is not very well represented by the songs nominated for the Gospel Song of The Year Category. What do you deduce from the word “GOSPEL”? Though a lot of definition can be given to this word, it’s should be compromised. Gospel music exceed words, it’s a lifestyle and not even a brand. We are not raising pillars of judgment but we seek that, a gospel song to be nominated should come from a holistic (complete) gospel artiste. As far as the scheme will want to award excellence, it should be done with the most appropriate approach. This incident isn’t the first happening but a replication of what happened in 2019 when Starbwoy Sarauta emerged winner of this same category. There are a lot of gospel artiste in the Upper East Region who came up with Top-notch songs in 2023. Some of those could’ve been shortlisted. Gospel songs are expected to bring messages with positive reception and effect. So an Artiste whose song is nominated for such a category shouldn’t be heard in another song which depicts profanity or immortality. We insure an apology if none of the renowned gospel artistes filed but that notwithstanding, we appeal to the board to carefully align with our submission to balance the secular and the gospel music fraternity.
