DJ Black to host Ghana music awards ceremony

Weeks after announcing the list of nominees for the 2016 edition, Charterhouse, organiser of the annual ceremony has announced the choice of anchors for the event. According to the public relations arm of Charterhouse, three figures from the entertainment industry are now confirmed as hosts. They are the actor Chris Attoh, radio/television personality Naa Ashorkor and the revered DJ Black. Attoh has hosted the event in the past, while Ashorkor, also an actress, is a fresh selection. Both Ashorkor and Attoh have worked together in the Ghanaian movie industry.

DJ Black, who has dominated the Ghana DJ Awards, will once again be in charge of the music mix on the turntables, a role he has performed for about five years.

The announcement, made about a fortnight before the VGMAs, comes as a departure from earlier editions of the event, where hosts are revealed on the very night of the award ceremony.

Another surprise is the possibility of an appearance by hiplife rapper Sarkodie, who has shown a reluctance regarding the award ceremony since reports of a disagreement with Charterhouse emerged months ago. It was alleged that the rapper and the award committee had a problem involving performance fee. Even if he received several nominations, Sarkodie was silent about the awards. Sarkodie has now broken the silence, as he tweeted to his followers: “#VGMAs. We repping. We celebrate Gh music. A night for Gh Music Acts.” He topped it off with a smiley. It is not clear if he will be performing at the event, however.

The VGMAs have come under fire in recent times, owing to a problem with reggae star Shatta Wale and a perceived problem with classification that saw a rising artist living and recording in Ghana, excluded from the awards because he is of Nigerian descent. In the face of widespread criticism of Ghana's music awards, the reggae artist Knii Lante wrote an open letter. Read an account of the problems of Ghana's music award shows here.