I would like to congratulate Empire Entertainment for consistently holding the Ghana Meets Naija concert for the past eight years.
Putting together a concert is no joke; the more reason we must encourage people who set out to embark on such ventures for the betterment of the entertainment industry.
Ghana Meets Naija is aimed at fostering a good business relationship between musicians in Ghana and Nigeria, which give music fans performances from both countries.
Even though the motive of the concert is not to see ‘who is who’, it has also been a veritable battle field for musicians from both countries to prove their mettle.
This year’s, as usual, came with suspense as music enthusiasts yearned to see their artistes perform and most importantly, which of the two countries would outshine the other.
Artistes from Ghana officially billed to perform were Kidi, Stonebwoy, King Promise, Fancy Gadam, Kuami Eugene and Yaa Pono.
Wizkid, Mayorkun, Mr Eazi and Dice Ailes were billed from Nigeria.
The programme took place at the Fantasy Dome in Accra on Saturday, 9th June 2018.
Timing
The concert which was advertised to start at 8:00pm began around 10:00pm.
As of 8:00pm, there were still very long queues of patrons entering the 18,000 capacity Fantasy Dome.
I was not happy about the late start, but I was not surprised because time consciousness in Ghana has been a traditional nemesis.
If you ask me, the show was dragged too much. It ended around 4:30 am on Sunday. This was because of the many ‘unbilled’ acts who performed before the main acts, and the protracted DJ interludes.
According to my sources, most of these ‘unbilled’ acts needed the platform to market their brands so they had to beg the organizers to be put on.
Security
The security men at the entrance were so rude to patrons in the discharge of their duties.
I don’t know where they came from, but some of them spoke in Nigerian accent.
I remember a few years ago, Charter House, organisers of Ghana Music Awards did same by employing people from Nigeria and other foreign countries as security personnel.
It took constant criticisms in the media before they changed.
This is not a xenophobic attack, I am just against their unprofessional attitude, not their ‘nationality.’
Attendance
I was overwhelmed by the attendance. The auditorium was full to capacity. It takes real hard work to fill such a big auditorium.
Stage
The organizers put up an amazing stage.
Performances
Nana Yaa opened the show with the national anthems of Ghana and Nigeria, and dovetailed it into her own songs. As usual, she was spot on with her vocal prowess which has always been her strength.
Inasmuch as I enjoyed some of the performances, I was generally appalled by most of the performances.
I have always had a problem with how most of our artistes (Ghana & Nigeria) execute their craft on stage. In fact, there is a big difference between singing in a recording booth and singing/performing on stage.
I get worried when I see successful musicians with good songs mount stages and sing off-key or rap off-beat.
I don’t know what went wrong, but Kuami Eugene was terrible on the night. When he mounted the stage at first, I had a feeling he would do well until he proved me wrong; he derailed from the key.
Unfortunately, the band could not save him. They kept playing while he kept singing out of key.
At least any good band can easily hop into key anytime a singer deviates from an original key. He could also not save himself by stopping the band and starting again.
Another big disappointment on the night was King Promise. His entry was superb. I loved the brass band he entered with, but they stayed too long – and that made the intro boring at a point.
In fact, King Promise confirmed to my conception of him that he is not a good singer on stage. With almost all the shows I have watched him perform, he has always gone off-key.
He would be jumping unnecessarily on stage, then within a short time, he’s tired. When fatigue sets in, he goes completely off key.
People love him beyond his song writing prowess, so any time he gets on stage and focuses too much on hopping around than his voice, I get worried.
Stonebwoy wasn’t that bad at all, but he did not meet my expectation. His performance was ordinary. As the biggest Ghanaian act, I expected an extraordinary performance from him.
Patapaa’s actually surprised a lot of people, his act was well planned and delivered. He entertained the audience and engaged the crowd for as long he lasted on stage.
Coming on stage clad in an attire usually worn by priests of spiritual churches, he was introduced by a young girl who was dressed in traditional cloth.
Fancy Gadam is also one of the Ghanaian acts who did well at the concert. As usual, his beautiful dance moves brought life to her act.
And Shatta Wale’s cameo appearance during Wizkid’s performance was off the chain!
Shatta, who was not billed to perform, got on stage when Wizkid introduced him as a surprise act.
“Bring down the light Ghana, I have my brother with me tonight. Make some noise for the dancehall king,” he cut into his performance and introduced Shatta Wale.
Shatta Wale, made entry with the song, ‘Freedom.’ He paused and acknowledged that Wizkid was his brother and they were both superstars.
He then followed up with ‘Gringo’ which got the audience singing along and jamming.
Perhaps it was the controversy surrounding his supposed beef with Wizkid and the uncertainty of his performance at the programme that contributed to the excitement of the audience.
In fact, before Wizkid got on stage, most people looked tired. Some started going out of the auditorium. I started dozing off. Then the Starboy got on stage.
He performed hits after hits and the audience were on their feet, singing along throughout the performance. His delivery and demeanour on stage proved he had really mastered the craft.
There were also performances from Kidi, Mayorkun, Ponobiom, Dice Ailes, Tic, Sista Afia, Kumi Guitar, Obibini, among others.
From my observation, our artistes need to perfect their stagecraft.
It is about time they got educated on what makes a good performer. Performing on stage is supposed to be a well-planned activity harnessed over time. It is a craft that every musician must hone.
Not every musician is cut for jumping or dancing on stage. Not every artiste has that. Some are mere crooners. They can stand, sit or just crawl on stage while singing, but will still get responses from the audience.
However in our part of the world, most artistes think a good performer is one who is agile on stage.
My top 5 performers on the night were: Wizkid, Patapaa, Stonebwoy, Fancy Gadam and Mr. Eazi.
Long DJ interludes
The duration of songs played by the DJs was more than the entire duration of all songs performed by the artistes.
Even when patrons were anxiously waiting for the next act, DJs were busily playing music. There may be tangible explanations to that, but it got irritating at a point.
Poor Sound
The sound quality was very poor. One needed to strain to hear a thing.
Apart from that, the sound echoed so much that what the artistes were singing did not sync with the band. I am sure it is an acoustic problem that can be fixed.
Recommendations
It is about time Ghana Meets Naija went to Nigeria. I am not talking about the UK – I mean Nigeria.
This is a suggestion I have proffered so many times.
Nigerians have benefited greatly from this initiative than Ghanaian artistes because it helps promote their artistes here. Most of their acts became popular here through Ghana Meets Naija.
My wish has always been that Empire Entertainment partners with another event group in Nigeria to hold the same show there.
A least this will give our artistes some exposure in Nigeria and have a niche in their market too.
I also suggest that to break monotony, the organisers should consider doing a gospel version of the show.
Over the years, the gospel fraternity has been neglected in programmes like this. Meanwhile, they also have a huge market.
Once again, kudos to the organisers. We look forward to seeing a better show in 2019.
