Chris Ihidero Unedited: The Headies 2013…Can almost really count?

By Chris Ihidero

The 2013 edition of Nigeria’s biggest music awards event held at the Oriental Hotel on December 26, 2013.  Against all odds, Ayo Animashaun continues to thrive where many have failed. Just when you thought he couldn’t take this any further, he turns up with the boldest attempt yet to turn the Headies around. But how successful was this attempt at a turn around for an award show that has often missed core points in the past?

The Venue

The Oriental Hotel venue lacks a lot of the things Eko Hotel (where the awards has been held the two previous times I attended) adds to awards to make it grand. The hall was small, which forced the organisers to scale down heavily on the number of people invited. Where you once had a boisterous audience of over 5000, you struggled to see 2000 people. This brought a sense of smallness to the event.

Because the hall was pretty small, long and not wide enough, the stage was put at one end and the audience at another. Beyond those who sat around the stage and immediately in front of it, watching the event was a challenge for almost everyone else at the event.

The Comperes

I have always argued against using musicians as hosts at award shows of this magnitude.  I have always felt that most of them were inadequate for the demands of hosting a ‘serious’ show. Kudos to Dr. Sid; he gave a very impressive account of himself. You could see that he really wanted to do this and his eloquent delivery would have been a welcome surprise to many who think all our artistes are illiterates or deficiently educated at best.

Tiwa Savage, on the other hand, acted like she couldn’t be bothered to be there. Actually, she came across as if she was forcefully extracted from her recent husband’s embrace, had some human hair attached to her skull with a mighty needle and shoemakers’ thread (seriously, her hair looked like a hungry rat ran through it) and hastily dumped her on the stage.

While some may argue that using Basketmouth or IK Osakoduwa again might be too repetitive (I disagree), perhaps it is time to give someone like Ebuka Obi-Uchendu a chance.

The Performances

The performances swung back and forth between mind-numbing bad and fairly good. The major problem for me was two-fold:

1. Whoever thought that it was a great idea to have artistes perform their songs till the end of the track as it appears on the CD needs to take a long leave away from planning performances at a show. You could see the artistes just singing along and waiting for the song to end. Whatever happened to creating a special track for a performance at the show and ending each performance on a high? Iyanya was the worst culprit here. On the account of his performance on the night, I won’t pay 5 kobo to see him perform, ever.

2. And why did every performance have the same dancers in different costumes doing remarkably similar moves? This was a music awards show, not a musical. The producers got this wrong massively.

Before that night, I had given Zaina’s music career a miss, in spite of the efforts of Darey’s Soul Muzik to push her songs. On that night she defined herself and her career with the best performance of the night. A truly remarkable vocal display that made me wonder why she was trying to do pop/hip hop. Zaina was born to do soul and yes, the realities of the Nigerian music industry is such that she would not fill stadia if she goes fully soul but perhaps she can do well in small concert halls and inscribe everlasting performances on our hearts.

Transition

This was the most improved aspect of the Headies. I wrote after the last Headies that between one award and the next, you could go home, make Eba and Nsala, eat, wash plates and return to the venue and the next award still wouldn’t have been presented. This was eliminated this year. Once the show started, it ran smoothly and was concluded in about 2 hours. This is a massive step forward and one hopes never to witness sluggishness of the past again.

On-going annoyances

The more things change though, the more they remain the same. Why in the name of God and all the angels in heaven can the Headies not start on time? This time, the show started over 3 hours late.  For a show that had technical set up running for at least 48 hours before the show, what‘s the excuse? For an event with the aspirations of the Headies, this is unacceptable.

I do not know what the process for getting into heaven will be like, but I can assure you it won’t be as cumbersome as getting your invitation and sorting out accreditation for the Headies. Why send invitees an e-mail, ask them to print and bring along, go on a pilgrimage at the venue to have the invitation verified and issued a band before proceeding to the hall where the show is to be held, WHY?  This isn’t an invitation to sip liquid gold, munch exquisite marbles or mine an oil field please.

The Headies almost got it right in many aspects this time but almost doesn’t count, they say. So it isn’t Uhuru yet. Hopefully, the steps taken forward will be the springboard to launch the Headies unto the great platform it desires to be.

Once the show started, it ran smoothly and was concluded in about 2 hours.