When the Multimedia Group through its daughter brand, Adom Fm introduced ADOM PRAIZ eight years ago, the whole gospel music industry was elated by the common benefits this platform was going to exude. Gospel artists, industry players, media personalities got involved and it became the talk of town.
ADOM PRAIZ with no atom of doubt has contributed greatly to the growth of Gospel music in Ghana. It has seen to the economic growth of the music industry as a whole due to its high budget production scale. Over the years the show has been headlined by heavy weight gospel music artists mainly from the United States. These include: Kirk Franklin, Cece Winans, Israel Houghton, Hezekiah Walker and Brooklyn Tabernacle choir with the latter being the 2016 headliner.
The event has year on been beautifully produced. Unfortunately, 2017 doesn’t look good from what I have personally seen so far. To start with, I will like to address the event poster/flier. How on earth did Adom FM come up with such a design?
It is as though the design was created by a primary school student trying his/her hands on some homework assigned by a drawing teacher. I want to strongly believe that this year’s artwork didn’t go through the quality assurance office of the multimedia group before its circulation. If it did, I call upon Kwesi Twum, group CEO of the multimedia group to review the employment of the staff in that department. The design lacks basic graphic design principles e.g.: element positioning, color harmonization, font choice amongst others. A look at the flier sends strong signals to my brain causing a migraine!!!
Secondly, in a press release by the organisers of the concert, the headline artists for this year’s event is PREYE and STEVE, Again, another gross disrespect to our local artists. I don’t have any issue with our Nigerian colleagues, I’m a strong advocate for intra-trade of Gospel music on the African continent specifically in the sub-region and these platforms can help to do so.
My problem is very simple, PREYE and STEVE are not fit to headline such a landmark gospel event in Ghana. My understanding of a headline artist is an artist who has over the years chalked remarkable success in his/her art/ministry, celebrated by the masses across the nations and has enough works in the public. Are the 2017 headline artists for ADOM PRAISE relevant in the global gospel music industry than JOE METTLE Is?
The answer is a big NO!!!! Both headline artists have very few known songs and haven’t chalked a quarter of the success our current Ghanaian Artist of the Year( Joe mettle) has. Why have the organisers pushed Ghana’s current artist of the year into some corner with his name written in some dark and contrasting colors? This is gross disrespect to the Ghana Music Industry and challenges the relevance of the GHANA MUSIC AWARDS. If an artist of the year is unable to headline an event in his own country, then I’m afraid!!!! I suggest that MUSIGHA and the Ghana music awards scheme, look into these matters.
Thirdly, the sudden release of news items concerning 2017 ADOM PRAIZ seems to me as though the project manager woke up one morning and remembered that the event hasn’t occurred this year- like a father forgetting his son’s birthday a day before. It seems Adom Fm is losing grip on ADOM PRAISE and it’s threatening to the music industry.
Such haphazard planning should not be encouraged in this industry. I call on all well meaning Ghanaians and all music stakeholders in this country to speak against the headlining acts for ADOM PRAIZ 2017. The headlining artist should be Ghana’s Artist of the Year JOE METTLE and no one else!!! I’m speaking to the very ethics of this industry and I hope I’m heard positively. Let’s celebrate our own Ghana!!!
By: Nick Solomon
