Speech by Nana Kwesi Coomson, PRO of Western Music Awards on the journey so far

• Posted on May 2, 2017May 2, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• 1 Comment

The journey so far has been one which requires a patient heart, a never giving up spirit, a resilient team, a team which is able to think on their feet and make smart decisions and above all a team which has a thick skin to withstand scads of criticisms.

Just like how the human race was started with one man Adam, this vision also started with one man, Emamnuel Ampaabeng, someone I am excited to call a vision bearer. This team of dedicated, hardworking and smart brains who worked tirelessly to put this together embarked on this on a pro bono basis. What was continuously heard from this team during the planning was “for the love of the Region.” To some, this appeared like a Snap chat post with a 24-hour expiry date. To others, this vision was like a jilted girlfriend who is visiting her ex-boyfriend, anything could happen. To those who saw the bigger picture in the mustard seed vision, this awards ceremony will leave a lasting legacy in the shores of the Western Region.

As the Public Relations Officer for this awards, I granted 29 radio and 3 TV interviews. During the interviews, the interviewers were asking intriguing questions to know how prepared we are for this big task. I entreated all Westerners to be participants and not onlookers. I think I underestimated what I asked for. The participation came in three (3) main forms; critiques, criticisms and commendations. On social media where we were the loudest, the criticisms, critiques and commendations helped to shape this amazing programme that we are witnessing today. Just like electricity supply, we needed both the positive and negative energies to produce power. This assessed the patience of the team and taught us to embrace all opinions, no matter how extreme they sound. This has taught us that as humans, no single person is the custodian of all wisdom and sometimes you might get things wrong so listening to others’ input for an event like this is essential. We got some foundations wrong and it took some well-wishers to make us aware that we had blatantly disregarded the fundamentals of award ceremony.

This team visited C. K. Mann at his residence on 21^st April. Even in his frail state, the gusto in his stuttering gave us another ardour to make sure we do something he could be proud of. If we had ever doubted the statement ‘Behind every successful man is a woman,” Auntie Paulina Oduro’s presence in this awards has reaffirmed this axiom to us. The whole time for this awards could be spent on telling how her presence in this event has shaped this ceremony to be what it is today. Momie, Nyame nhyira wo atsi! To the media partners who dedicated immeasurable airtime to cover this event from the launching to now, we cannot thank you enough. We are indebted.

To our title sponsor Rush Energy drink and other sponsors, your contribution to this event is rare and we cherish you so dearly. Our professional board members are priced so much that Bill Gates will struggle to pay for their contributions. We are indeed overwhelmed by your exceptional works. To the Artistes who are billed to perform today, we cannot thank you enough for this service to the region you love so much. To our invited guests, thank you so much for the dear time spent to make this maiden edition one of a kind and to our cherished patrons, you mean a lot to us. You are all in our records.

As we take our seats, we know that you will enjoy this maiden edition and I must thank you once again for your priceless time spent here. Please, especially to the media, please be romantic on air when bashing us during the post-mortem of this event and to the social media users, we urge you all to share your thoughts about this events using the hash tag #RWMA17. We will improve on the subsequent events with the various contributions.  

Please don’t forget that there are two (2) Westerners in the finals of Talented Kids, let’s vote for them to bring the award home.

Thank you and enjoy the show.

By: Nana Kwesi Coomson, Public Relations Officer, Western Music Awards