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A night of nostalgia and surprises: Highlights of the 2023 VGMA

Source: Nasiba Yakubu  
  7 May 2023 7:04am
Ofori Amponsah performs at the 2023 VGMA
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The 2023 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) was a mix of emotions for many. 

Excitement, nostalgia, surprises and other emotions were displayed at the Grand Arena, on Saturday, as artists took to the stage to either perform or take home an award or both.

To start off the show this year, talented Gospel musicians, Celestine Donkor, Ceccy Twum, MOG Music and Ohemaa Mercy joined Piesie Esther for a soulful rendition of her hit song Waye Me Yie - which also meant no midnight praise and worship.

From leading the audience and viewers into a night of good music and unexpected surprises, Piesie Esther was the first artiste to grab an award on the night - Gospel Song of the Year award with ‘Waye Me Yie’ and later the Gospel Artiste of the Year.

Meanwhile, although she was tipped to win the Artiste of the Year award, she lost it to Black Sherif and the Songwriter of the Year award to Perez Muzik.

In 2022, Black Sherif, showed, up on stage riding his pragya to perform Second Sermon, this year he ascended from above - levitating in the sky while singing Sad Boys Don’t Fold.

As VGMA stayed with its tradition of mostly live music, Black Sherif was widely praised for his performance which included songs like Oh Paradise and Kwaku The Traveller.

Perhaps the biggest winner on the night, Black Sherif won the overall Artiste of the Year award but the one award he truly believed he deserved and on many occasions talked about winning was taken by another act - King Promise.

King Promise, after going home empty-handed from VGMA events years prior, won the Album of the Year award with his sophomore LP '5 Star'.

Many Ghanaians on social media were taken aback because, like Blacko, they had also predicted ‘The Villain I Never Was’ to win.

King Promise later delivered an impressive acapella medley of Anodwo, Jealous and Terminator.

He also took home Afrobeats/Afropop Artiste of the Year to the delights of many.

Also, KiDi made his first appearance, in months, after he suffered from an undisclosed illness.

Although he had been billed to perform his presence was a surprise to those who questioned if he was in good health to show up.

Charterhouse, on Saturday, also upped their game when they surprised Ghanaians with Ofori Amponsah.

The Highlife legend graced the stage performing back-to-back tracks to his classic hits that characterised the genre in the early 2000s - leaving the audience on their feet and viewers showering him with praises.

Like Ofori Amponsah, Kwabena Kwabena was also one of the pleasant surprise artistes to take the stage performing songs like ‘I’m Afraid to Lose You’ and ‘Adult Music’ for fans.

As one of the new acts gracing the VGMA state for the first time, many had higher expectations which fell short when Lasmid’s performance failed to impress.

Meanwhile, Medikal's appearance at the VGMA may not have been a surprise but his bedazzled face mask and suit sure raised a lot of eyebrows, especially during his performance.

See more highlights below:

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

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