Reggae and Dancehall artiste Samini has shed light on the technical challenges that affected his performance at the just-ended Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards.
Speaking on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM, the musician revealed that he was not originally billed to perform at the event and that his stage monitors were not working during his set.
“I originally was not billed to perform on that show. My friend is the current President of the GJA. I was out of town, and when I got back two days prior to the event, he called, so it was on that tip that I went there,” he explained.
He added that although the situation appeared awkward, he did his best to manage it.
“To the performance bit, I think for a live performer, every once a while, you should expect glitches here and there because it’s a live thing, a lot of things happening at the same time and with this very incident, my monitors on stage were off,” he said.
Samini noted that such technical issues are not new to live performers and that he has encountered similar situations before.
“This is not the first time I’ve been on stage where the stage monitors don’t work, but sometimes the platform you’re on allows you to tell the engineer through the mic. No matter how hard the place is or how harsh you might sound, sometimes you’re able to tell the guys, I beg you, fix my monitors before I continue,” he stated.
He further pointed out that although the organisers included performances in the programme, technical glitches are common at such events, so artistes must learn to manage them professionally.
“I think the organisers did factor in performance because they had artists booked. Akwaboah was officially booked for the event,” Samini said.
He added that he had to end his performance tactfully due to the faulty monitors. “You would have to find a strategic way to nicely exit. Before I would leave, I constructively said that I would have done more but for the monitors that I can’t hear. So, let’s meet at the dinner. But the dinner, I wasn’t even there. I had to find something to say so I could exit,” he concluded.