Ghanaian singer Amaarae has withdrawn from performing at the 2024 Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMAs), citing significant unprofessionalism and technical issues from the event’s production team.
The singer, who flew in from Barcelona with a team of 10, expressed her frustration on X (formerly Twitter), outlining the series of events that led to her decision.
Amaarae’s team, including her audio tech, visual, and tour management staff, arrived in Ghana after a 12-hour journey, only to find that the TGMAs production team had not fulfilled their technical rider request.
Despite providing the necessary details in April and following up for weeks, Amaarae and her team were met with delays and unresponsiveness from the production manager.
“I flew a team of 10 people – my whole audio tech, visual & tour management team – 12 hours straight from stage in Barcelona to Ghana, got Primavera to change my performance date from June 1 to May 30th so I could travel to Ghana yesterday (May 31st) only to get to rehearsals at TGMA last night for their Production Manager to tell my engineers that not only did he not fulfill our technical rider request (which they asked for and we provided in April and which we had been chasing up for weeks) but also that rehearsals are 3 hours behind (I didn’t get a rehearsal last night),” Amaarae wrote.
The lack of communication and coordination continued into the next day, with the production manager failing to respond to calls from Amaarae’s team regarding the necessary equipment. This led to the unfortunate but inevitable decision for Amaarae to pull out of the TGMAs, despite her strong desire to perform for her home country.
“For 3 years now, I have tried so hard to perform at the Ghana Music Awards. Their CEO and my Management have worked hard to make it happen and finally we were able to align this year – only for my team to be completely ignored and frustrated by their production manager,” she added.
Amaarae emphasized her love for Ghana and her commitment to professionalism, noting the significant investment her team made to deliver a high-quality performance.
The financial toll of the trip, amounting to almost $30,000 in flights, outfits, crew salaries, and accommodation, was also highlighted.
“GHANA! I love my country deeply and irrespective of the pushback I’ve gotten from many in this country I still represent and try to show love but I don’t want to lie to you guys, I believe in professionalism and I brought my whole tour team here as an investment in quality because I wanted to put on the best show possible & give you guys the same vim I’ve been giving on all my international shows but that will not be possible tonight given the circumstances!” Amaarae expressed.
Despite the setback, Amaarae remains positive, thanking her dedicated team and expressing her intention to still enjoy the night out. “All the same me and the gang r gonna be outside tonight because we deserve it so if you see me in the club tonight say wassup!” she wrote.
MORE:
- Missing Ghanaian lady’s case in Nigeria stalled as prime suspect is killed during escape
- One dead, 2 injured in gory accident on Kumasi-Accra Highway
- One week observation announced for man whose car fell into Abattoir bridge
, citing significant unprofessionalism and technical issues from the event's production team.){kind=link}