One of the board members of Ghana Music Awards, Okraku Mantey, revealed that a song writer/composer is not a musician.

Musician Akwaboah is one of the three musicians in this year’s ‘New Artiste of the Year’ category, whose nomination has come under public censorship – calling for his nomination to be quashed because he is not a new artiste/musician.

Those who make the argument posit that Akwaboah once won ‘Best Songwriter of the Year’ in VGMA for the song “……he wrote for musician Becca; because of that, he does not qualify for the ‘New Artiste of the Year’ nomination in this year’s VGMA.

However, Okraku Mantey insists that Akwaboah qualifies because, at the time the latter won the award for ‘Best Songwriter of the Year,’ he was not a musician; instead, he was only a songwriter/composer.

To verify if there is any truth or sense in what he said, GhanaCelebrities.Com did a research.

Who is a musician (noun)? Our research gave us one of two meanings or definitions:

1 “Someone who plays a musical instrument (as a profession).”

2 “(music) artist who composes or conducts music as a profession.”

GhanaCelebrities.Com Also visited celebrated gospel musician and a certified Musicologist, Tseataa – formerly known as Pastor Josh Laryea and asked him: sir, if someone can write or compose song(s) and can play musical instruments but has not yet released a song/album, is the person not a musician or cant the fellow qualify to be called a musician.

“Why not! All song composers/writers are 100% musicians! Any person who does something that is music related aside the executive production or promotion, qualifies to be called a musician! Look, music, just like any other discipline, has got departments.

Just like we have doctors – some are gynecologists, dentists, dermatologists, etc. They are all doctors but in different specializations or departments. If a dentist tells a gynecologist that you are not a doctor, he does not make sense! So, music has departments! Instrumentalists are musicians! Songwriters/composers are musicians as well!

So finally, songwriters/composers are musicians! That is why we have what we call recording artistes or musicians; thus, a composer/writer who does not perform his or her own composed songs on stage, but is still a musician!” Tseataa educated us and the VGMA board.