Robert Klah, Head of Communications and Public Events for Charterhouse, the organizers of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards, has explained the exclusion of Kojo Blak’s ‘Excellent’ from this year’s scheme.
Giving clarity on the issue, Robert Klah told Kelvyn Boy who was also on the show that the ‘Excellent’ by Kojo Blak did not make the cut because it was released towards the end of the calendar year (January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024).
“If you release a song and we have a deadline for the year and a review, if after two weeks, so to say, the song hasn’t garnered enough airplay, publicity streams whatsoever, what’s going to happen is that in the category that it’s going to be put into, if you consider all the songs that are in that particular basket, so some songs are going to have the advantage over that particular song.
He further elaborated, “So what it means is that, if you end up having let’s say, 20 songs in a particular category, in this particular case Afrobeats, right, then you now say this song ‘Excellence’ in the year under review, not in January, not in February, that is in. By 31 December, what is its performance in comparison to the songs that have been selected in that particular category?”
Robert Klah
Robert Klah, however, acknowledged the popularity of Kojo Blak’s ‘Excellent’ song in the year 2025 which is outside the calendar year.
“If you ask anybody about ‘Excellent’ today, March, they would tell you is a big song. Nobody’s arguing about that because it’s a big song. But was it as big as it was on 31st December?
“I’m just trying to establish clarity. So we cut it off and then we try to get the necessary numbers or the parameters we use to be able to evaluate.”
Robert Klah
Robert Klah’s explanation sheds light on the TGMA’s selection process, highlighting the importance of timing and performance metrics in determining nominations.
While Kojo Blak’s ‘Excellent’ may have been a popular song, its release timing and performance numbers ultimately affected its eligibility for a nomination.
Robert Klah on DopeNation Not Filing for TGMA 2025
The Head of Communications and Public Events at Charterhouse Productions gave reasons why Ghanaian music duo DopeNation was not nominated for the year’s category.
He explained when he was asked about the snub.
According to Robert Klah, although DopeNation’s ‘Zormizor’ song was big in the year under review, the artists failed to submit it to the scheme.
“One would expect that on a platform like this, in the year under review, their place will certainly be established. Unfortunately, when there was no filing and we tried to reach out for consent, we couldn’t get it.”
Robert Klah
In the meantime, DopeNation responded to the non-inclusion in the scheme after DJ Slim mentioned them in a post on X.
“I’m hearing, you guys didn’t file for nominations and when the research team picked up your songs sef, you guys were not responsive to the award scheme. How true is this?”
DJ Slim
In their response, the duo wrote that they have been battling a lot that can’t be said out of respect for some people in this “hypocritical Music Space.” “However, can we all recall from 2021? Maybe some of us will know this is not just about Awards sir. Gradually this industry will be loosing its ‘TRUE ARTISTS’,” they added.
