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For organisers of award shows in Nigeria, it is becoming quite worrisome and embarrassing to see artistes not showing up to pick up their plaques of honour.
The same scenario played itself out recently at Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos during the Soundcity MVP Awards where a large number of awardees were unavailable to pick up their awards.
Artistes like Teni who won Best Female MVP, Burna Boy who scooped three awards and Naira Marley, another award winner, were all missing at the event.
Quite a number of pundits had weighed in on the matter, describing their actions as disrespect and disregard not only to the organisers of the shows but also the fans and music industry in general.
Media mogul, Tajuddeen Adepetu, whose company organises the annual musical event, attributes the trend to lack of confidence from artistes. “I think they don’t have the requisite confidence of a true artiste. They are so afraid of the competition that they run into a hole during awards ceremonies, they can’t stand to be truly judged. Perhaps, if they are told they would win or they can rig it to win, they will be there,” he said.
Adepetu further admits that in a normal setting, the artiste would never miss a platform that celebrates and rewards their creative talents, but in a situation where artistes lord it over managers, the reverse is the case.
“In an industry where you have professional artistes, they will inform the organisers on time about their intended absence and make a clip of an acceptance speech but over here, you have management that can’t even manage their artistes. So, we have people who a little stardom overwhelms their reasoning and their place in the general mix of things. It is quite unfortunate when an artiste can begin to imagine that they don’t need a platform. But you know they always come back to beg. After a failed year or two, that’s when you hear ‘Baba please help your boy’,” he stated.
The Soundcity boss, however, advised the young stars to humble themselves. His words: “Whatever stardom they may think they have, it still does not equal any of the legends of the music industry today, and they should check out those ones and learn from their humility. That humility is the reason they are still relevant today and will continually be relevant until they answer the call of the Almighty.”
Winners of the Soundcity MVP Awards, which was sponsored by Star lager beer and Star Radler, include Burna Boy, who scooped most awards of the night, Kenyan Khaligraph Jones, and South African Prince Kaybee.
