Black Sherif is VGMA 2023 Artiste of the Year

Super proficient and young talented musician, Black Sherif in the early hours of yesterday, Sunday May 7, 2023,  outshined about 7 music heavyweights  to win the 2023 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards topmost category.

He won the Artiste of the Year category over gospel musicians Piesie Esther and Joe Mettle, rapper Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, Camidoh, KiDi and King Promise.

The musician who hails from Konongo in the Ashanti region on the night also won awards for the Best Music Video Award, Most Popular Song of the Year and Best Hip-hop Song of the Year with his Kwaku The Traveler song.

The heat to the awards night was a battle between the gospel fraternity and the secular music space. Whiles the secular sphere were soliciting for votes from all aspects for their favorite, a group by name Table of Men, made up of gospel presenters and artiste managers were also galvanizing massive votes from both the public, academy members and the church fraternity.

The group managed to generate the biggest conversation few days to the show for their favorite Piesie Esther. They defended, made clear their intention on both social media and the traditional media space to add the gospel songstress to the potential artiste of the year winner’s discussion.

One popular face of the group, Kwesi Ernest who also doubles as CEO of Media Excel Productions prior to the night said, “As for this year, the Artiste of the Year is a straight fight between Piesie Esther and Black Sherif but I am rooting for Piesie Esther. These two artistes made Ghana proud if you look at the work they put into their craft from Accra to Kumasi to Canada to New York, just name it, they were everywhere.”

“The two of them have been very dominant, Piesie Esther for instance was even on secular platforms. What this means for us in the Gospel fraternity is that the same support we gave to Joe Mettle and Diana Hamilton, we are giving to Piesie Esther and probably even more because we want her to be this year’s VGMA Artiste of the Year which is very possible.”

He added, “From where I sit, I think she is 80 per cent through. See, the excitement that greeted the mention of her name even on the night of the nominees’ announcement was something else. Even some of the Gospel musicians who are nominees too are all rooting for her. For me, the year 2022/2023 is one for Piesie Esther. So let’s all give her our support to see her succeed”.

Reacting to the win, the Kwaku The Traveller hitmaker described it as a combination of hardwork, never giving up, the tenacity and determination to break all odds.

“I worked hard to get to where I am now. It is dreams come through to actually see your hard work pay off. I put in hard work to make sure I achieve whatever I want and today here I am winning the ultimate award on the night. I will not stop putting in the hard work because we are just starting. I always want to bring something new to keep my fans and Ghanaians asking for more. Big respect to everyone who voted for Blacko, you did not waste your votes because Blacko made you proud” he told the media.

The VGMA show which was organized by event house Charterhouse took place at the grand arena of the Accra International Conference Centre.

OforiAmponsah, Sarkodie, King Promise, Kwabena Kwabena and a host of others, treated patrons to hours of live performances of authentic and soothing Ghanaian tunes.

Check out the complete list of all the winners in each category:

Artiste of the Year – Black Sherif

Most Popular Song of the Year – Kweku the Traveller  by Black Sherif

Record of the Year – Far away  by Gyakie

Best Gospel Song – Way3 Me Yie  by Piesie Esther

Best New Artiste – Lasmid

Album of the Year – 5 Star by King Promise

Best Rap Performance – Amerado – Obiaa boa

International Collaboration of the Year – Sugarcame Rmx by Camidoh ft King Promise & Mayokun

Collaboration of the Year – Country Side by Sarkodie ft Black Sherif

Best African Artiste – Asake

Songwriter of the Year Nominees – Perez Muzik – Hewale lala

Best Highlife Artiste – Kofi Kinaata

 Best Hiplife/ Hiphop Artiste – Sarkodie

Best Hip-Hop Song – Kweku the traveller  by Black Sherif

Best Afrobeats/Afropop Artiste – King Promise

Best Gospel Artiste – Piesie Esther

Best Female Vocal Performance – Niella

Best Male Vocal Performance – Perez Muzik

Best Music Video – Konogo Zongo  by Black Sherif

Producer of the Year – MOG Beatz

Audio Engineer of the Year – Altra Nova – Far Away

Best Reggae/Dancehall Song – Atia by Epixode

Best Afropop Song – Therapy by Stonebwoy

Best Afrobeats Song – Sugarcane Rmx by Camidon ft King Promise & Mayokun

Best Highlife Song – Downflat by Kelvin Boy

Best Hiplife Song – Friday Night by Lasmid