A Jamaican Dancehall Culture Ambassador, Donnaray Roc says the unending feud between Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy – two leading dancehall artistes – has dented dancehall culture in Ghana.
The 20th edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) was billed to be the climax of celebrating two decades of Ghanaian music. But that was not to be.
The brandishing of a gun and exchange of fisticuffs led to pandemonium which held up the ceremony for an hour, including some awards not being announced for security reasons.
Industry players have blamed Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jr (Shatta Wale ) and Livingstone Etse Satekla (Stonebwoy) for the anticlimax.
The duo, who are currently in police custody, assisting in investigations, have been blamed for their inability to control their supporters, leading to the fracas which nearly endangered 2000 lives including Ministers of State, diplomats, international artists and celebrities across the entertainment industry who converged at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre on Saturday.
‘What happened is not good,” Donnaray Roc recounted on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday.
According to the Jamaican Dancehall Culture Ambassador, the genre has been stigmatized over the years and it behoves industry players to correct such negativity
“They are influencers,” she said of Shatta Wale and StoneBwoy and it “is their responsibility to do what is good.” Unfortunately “they have dampened the spirit of dancehall culture,” she added.
According to Donnaray Roc, until the government intervenes to stem violence in the music industry, the prevailing situation will escalate.
Though she observed that this situation is not peculiar to Ghana, “there is a point that it has to stop,” she added.
The intervention of government is crucial because what happens to music on such a platform affects the corporate image and brand of the country, she told Daniel Dadzie of the SMS.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
