{"id":66101,"date":"2023-05-11T23:24:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T23:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T23:24:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T23:24:50","slug":"vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/","title":{"rendered":"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"299\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"86052986.295\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wiyaala<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- A generated by theme --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- end A --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- A generated by theme --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- end A --> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Ghanaian Afro-pop singer-songwriter,\u00a0Wiyaala, has voiced her concerns about the annual\u00a0Vodafone Ghana  Awards\u00a0(VGMAs) organized by\u00a0Charterhouse, stating that the prestigious event primarily recognizes and promotes musicians based in Accra.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wiyaala who was a guest on The North Podcast with Prince Hamdan Banang disclosed that the VGMAs have established criteria for selecting nominees that she believes disqualify her, consequently leading her to cease submitting nominations.<\/p>\n<p>Wiyaala, 36, revealed that one of the key criteria for nomination is massive airplay on radio stations in Accra, \u00a0a requirement that proves unattainable for her due to her choice of language.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018Feeling Free\u2019 singer sings in her native language Sissala and Waala dialects and English, often combining all three languages within her songs<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span class=\"s5\"><span class=\"bumpedFont15\">In my heart, I believe\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"s6\"><span class=\"bumpedFont15\">VGMA\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"s5\"><span class=\"bumpedFont15\">is trying to get all of us involved. But let\u2019s not tickle and make and make a fool of ourselves,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wiyaala expressed candidly. \u201cI<span class=\"s5\"><span class=\"bumpedFont15\">t\u2019s very obvious and glaring what\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"s6\"><span class=\"bumpedFont15\">VGMA\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"s5\"><span class=\"bumpedFont15\">is all about. You have to be in Accra and your songs have to be popular in Accra. There are songs that were never popular in the North, but they made it, and the criteria keep changing. It\u2019s their rules and regulations if you cannot follow them, you shouldn\u2019t enter,\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Wiyaala who resides in her hometown in the Upper West region emphasized the lack of deliberate efforts to showcase artists from other regions whose songs may not be widely known due to language barriers.<\/p>\n<p>This oversight contradicts the VGMA\u2019s proclaimed purpose of honouring musicians from across Ghana, as it heavily concentrates on specific groups in certain regions of the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can be as popular as any artist in the Northern region, but since the program is Accra-based and most of the radio stations are Accra-based, it\u2019s only natural that they predominantly feature songs from Accra. Most DJs do not comprehend our songs, and many people are unwilling to understand them,\u201d Wiyaala explained.<\/p>\n<p>The singer-songwriter has however in the past won awards at the\u00a0VGMA\u00a0including Songwriter of The Year and Best Female Vocal Performance.<\/p>\n<p>Charterhouse and the\u00a0Vodafone Ghana  Awards\u00a0as of this report were yet to address these concerns and it remains to be seen if it will take steps towards ensuring fair representation for artists from all regions of the country.<\/p>\n<p><!-- relpost-thumb-wrapper --><!-- close relpost-thumb-wrapper --><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded\" id=\"like-post-wrapper-186753398-5599-645d484657fb9\" data-src=\"https:\/\/widgets.wp.com\/likes\/#blog_id=186753398&amp;post_id=5599&amp;origin=www.onemuzikgh.com&amp;obj_id=186753398-5599-645d484657fb9\" data-name=\"like-post-frame-186753398-5599-645d484657fb9\" data-title=\"Like or Reblog\">\n<h3 class=\"sd-title\">Like this:<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"button\"><span>Like<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"loading\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sd-text-color\"\/><\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-1\" style=\"margin: 8px 0; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"banner\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1683847490_605_onemuzikgh_whatsapp.jpg\" alt=\"Banner Image\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1683847490_34_onemuzikgh_whatsapp.jpg\"  class=\" jetpack-lazy-image\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" data-lazy-fallback=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1683847490_605_onemuzikgh_whatsapp.jpg\" alt=\"Banner Image\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- AI CONTENT END 2 --><\/p>\n<p> <!-- A generated by theme --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- end A --> <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wiyaala Ghanaian Afro-pop singer-songwriter,\u00a0Wiyaala, has voiced her concerns about the annual\u00a0Vodafone Ghana Awards\u00a0(VGMAs) organized by\u00a0Charterhouse, stating that the prestigious event primarily recognizes and promotes musicians based in Accra. Wiyaala who was a guest on The North Podcast with Prince Hamdan Banang disclosed that the VGMAs have established criteria for selecting nominees that she believes disqualify [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wiyaala Ghanaian Afro-pop singer-songwriter,\u00a0Wiyaala, has voiced her concerns about the annual\u00a0Vodafone Ghana Awards\u00a0(VGMAs) organized by\u00a0Charterhouse, stating that the prestigious event primarily recognizes and promotes musicians based in Accra. Wiyaala who was a guest on The North Podcast with Prince Hamdan Banang disclosed that the VGMAs have established criteria for selecting nominees that she believes disqualify [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-11T23:24:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/\",\"name\":\"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-11T23:24:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-11T23:24:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":299},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"Wiyaala Ghanaian Afro-pop singer-songwriter,\u00a0Wiyaala, has voiced her concerns about the annual\u00a0Vodafone Ghana Awards\u00a0(VGMAs) organized by\u00a0Charterhouse, stating that the prestigious event primarily recognizes and promotes musicians based in Accra. Wiyaala who was a guest on The North Podcast with Prince Hamdan Banang disclosed that the VGMAs have established criteria for selecting nominees that she believes disqualify [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2023-05-11T23:24:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":299,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/","name":"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-11T23:24:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-11T23:24:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/86052986.295.jpg","width":300,"height":299},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/11\/vgma-is-all-about-awarding-accra-based-artistes-wiyaala\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes \u2013 Wiyaala"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}