Ghana Music Week Festival takes off

Topics to be discussed include Artist and Brand Endorsements,  African Women Rock, Music and Money and Succeeding as an African Musician.

The GMW Festival, which will end on  March 8, is the official meeting ground for those leading and shaping the country’s music industry; bringing together and encouraging participation of artistes, stakeholders, the media, policy makers and music users.

The key activities of this year’s celebration include an invite-only Club Beer Ghana Music Honours  Night which comes off at the National Theatre on Friday, March 6. It includes this year’s Opening Ceremony.

In all, 17 individuals and organisations will be honoured  in the following categories: Traditional Music Honour, Music Tutor Honour, Music Industry Development Honour, Music Promoter Honour, Music Band Honour, Producer/Sound Engineer Honour, Reggae/Dancehall Honour, Highlife Honour and Gospel Honour.

Others are: Hiplife Honour, International Act, President’s Choice Honour, Instrumentalist Honour, African Artiste Honour and Musicians’ Honour.

Three new categories introduced this year comprise Masses Choice- Artiste of the Year, Masses Choice- Song of the Year and Most Promising Act.

The Festival’s flagship concert, the MTN GH All-Star Live concert comes off on Saturday, March 7 at the Accra Sports Stadium at 7pm. It features for the first time ever, three of Ghana’s all-time biggest music legends on one stage: Amakye Dede, Daddy Lumba and Kojo Antwi.

Also on stage will be Samini, Nigeria’s Pato Ranking, Guru, MzVee, Jupitar, Episode, Obaapa Christy Noble Nketsiah among others.

“Our key goal is to create the industry’s biggest platform to bring together and encourage participation of key industry players; and to recognise, promote and underscore the importance and value of Ghanaian music forms”, say Verus Nartey, a member of the Planning Committee.

Sponsored by MTN, the 2015 Ghana Music Week is organised by the Musicians Union of Ghana, Fantasy Entertainment and Showbiz Africa; with support from Club Beer, GCB Bank, Kasapreko Alomo Bitters, Vita Milk, Sensodyne Toothpaste, Alisa Hotel, Viasat1 TV, TV3, and other partners.