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0 Robert Klah, Head of Communications and Public Events for Charterhouse, the organisers of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards, has explained the exclusion of Kojo Blak’s ‘Excellent’ from this year’s scheme.
His reaction was in response to a concern raised by Kelvyn Boy who was featured on the show.
Giving clarity on the issue on Hitz FM‘s morning show, Daybreak Hitz hosted by Andy Dosty, Robert told Kelvyn 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). He noted that because of the late release, the song could not garner enough traction to compete other songs nominated in the various categories.
“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 advantage over that particular song,” he said.
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, 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?” he said.
Robert concluded, “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’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.
