Gospel musician Piesie Esther says she will not boycott the Ghana Music Awards despite calls for gospel artistes to boycott the event.
In a discussion on This Is Gospel with Franky5 on Hitz FM she disclosed that she has submitted her works for considering for this year’s awards.
Fellow gospel artiste Cwesi Oteng has called on gospel musicians to boycott the awards following allegations by George Quaye, PRO of Charterhouse, the organisers of the award scheme, alleging that gospel musicians bribe organisers. which he,George Quaye later apologised for his remarks.
Piesie Esther believes that, once George Quaye has come out to apologise for his bribery remarks, it is only prudent to let sleeping dogs lie. She said people sometimes make remarks that hurt the feelings of others but since the Charterhouse PRO has found the need to apologise for his allegations, there is no need to continue to boycott the awards.
Piesie Esther is widely known for her inspirational hit songs such as, ‘Apae Ama Me’, ‘Me Nte Ase’ and ‘Ziba Beko’.
Showbiz critic Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo commenting on the same show stating that, gospel artistes boycotting the Ghana Music Awards will not seriously affect the awards.
“Let me tell you the boycott will not affect the awards so much and it is a fact. First of all, every Ghanaian music genre have two categories, it is not as if gospel music has ten (10) categories, in which case will the award suffer because of a boycott?,” she said
Moving his attention to the main award stage he added that, “Aside the categories, on the main awards stage for the past years only one or two gospel artistes perform on the day.”
Though he further explained, he could not downplay the impact of gospel musicians on the scheme but he still believes, the show will still run even if they go ahead with their boycott.