While there is no sure word on whether Guyana will be having an Accolade Music Awards of Guyana this year -- it looks like an international group is set to honour stake holders in the industry shortly.

For the first time in its short history, on Sunday April 25, the Guyana Artistic Music Awards (GAMA) is set to be staged at the National Cultural Centre to honour not just locally based artistes but Guyanese entertainers from 14 territories in the Diaspora.

The promoter is the ‘Guyanese Canadian Artistic Enterprise’ company based in Toronto Canada and is headed by promoter Sherlock Shepherd. Working alongside is co founders Randolph Waterman CEO of “Randolph’s Building & Renovation Company”, Elton Joseph CEO of “Nortel Upholstery” and Andrew Francis CEO of "Ark Plumbing Inc.”

GCAE has promoted annual boat rides, concerts and dances during the Caribana Celebrations every summer since 2002. The company also promotes various events during the year featuring Guyanese and other Artists from Canada and around the world.

The last GAMA was staged in Toronto Canada in 2008. It was organised by GCAE in collaboration with “Massive Bunch Entertainment”.

It is being staged in Guyana this time around because the promoters have expressed the belief that Guyanese music has made commendable strides.

The Guyana Artistic Music Awards (GAMA) of Canada is an annual community event created to promote and recognize Guyanese talent internationally. It will feature 29 Guyanese acts spanning 14 countries on stage entertaining. Some of the lot will receiving awards in various categories.

Among those listed to be honoured are Lionel Abel, Mark Bryan, Otis Holder, Dave Martins, Sammy Baksh, Sash Persaud, Tony Ricardo, Ivor Lynch, Kenny Lawrence, Phil ‘Bumpy’ Dino and Patrick ‘Patto’ Gonsalves.

Originally, the event was to have been two-fold but Shepherd said that after discussions with senior authorities locally, he was advised not to stage two back to back shows. The other is the Guyana Reggae Sunsplash.

“We are aiming to create a product that can become a marketing tool for the tourism industry while aiding in creating a Guyanese cultural identity that is on par with the international musical requirements, Shepherd said.

The promoter is of the belief that the awards to be staged annually would encourage artistes to up their game and work towards bettering their musical and entertainment offerings.

That Sunsplash is carded for April 17 as a prelude to the awards so that locals can experience live performances from Guyanese musicians who are doing their thing for Guyana in other countries.
The GUYANA REGGAE SUNSPLASH is carded for the NATIONAL PARK.



Some of the nominees resident in Guyana include Shelly G, Tennicia Defreitas, Jumo, Adrian Dutchin, Timeka Marshall, Mariam Williams, Jory Hector, Melissa Vanilla Roberts, Bones Man, Kester D, JB, Big Red, Alabama, Cid Hooper, Young Bill Rogers, and Cliff Davis. The nominees residing in France include Ras McBean and Colin I and the England based artistes include Joe Tex.

The Jamaican based nominees are Imykal, Fire Juice and Major Joe B, while the USA artistes include Zebulan, Kapa Shanti, Prakz, H20, Redemption and Yonette Hooper. From Canada the nominees include Telescope, Donna Makeda, Prince Ally, Cyborg, Mandela and Daddy Rusty.



There is also an editor’s award that will cover the media for best print, television, radio and Internet personalities.

The organisers say they will be consulting with the Ministries of Culture and Tourism to endorse the Awards and to get the relevant support.

Local sponsors listed for the event thus far include Carib Beer, Wireless Connections; White Castle Fish Shop, FCE Systems; American Exchange Barbers, Colours, Lenscraft optical, Aubrey James Video productions amongst others.

They are awaiting confirmation from the telephone service providers of Guyana among other corporate entities.


According to Shepherd the local event will be a Red Carpet affair at the National Cultural Centre with a Cocktail Event to follow. The list of artistes that number more than 15 for honorary awards will be announced later but this publication understands that Barbados based international artistes Eddy Grant will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award wile Jamaica based Natural Black should take home the International Music Ambassador Award.


Why GAMA?

When asked why such an event given that Guyana has its Accolade awards the organisers said the GAMA of Canada started around the same time that the Accolade Awards started without any prior knowledge about the Accolade Awards.

GAMA was created after the President and other members of GCAE realized that many Guyanese artists living abroad had made tremendous strides in the Entertainment Industry and so decided to create this event to award and honour these artistes. The difference with the GAMA of Canada and the Accolade Awards is that GAMA honours Guyanese artistes worldwide while the Accolade Awards only honours mostly Guyanese artistes in Guyana.

“After presenting the first GAMA in Toronto Canada, we realized that we were only connecting with Guyanese artistes in Canada and USA, when there were Guyanese artistes all over the world in many different countries making their mark on the Entertainment scene and so we decided to include Guyanese artistes from other countries”.

The GCAE decided that Guyana was the fittest place to stage the present Awards show because it is strictly a Guyanese Awards show and they wanted to honour not only the Guyanese artistes living abroad but also those living in Guyana. “We know that everyone cannot travel to Canada and hence the decision to stage the event in Guyana was decided upon.

Some of the international sponsors are ARK'S plumbing Inc, De Castro & De Castro Construction Co, Channaman’s Restaurant, First-Class Printing, Calypso Hut, Tennessee International, Freight Inc, All Natural Beauty Supply Product, Randolph Cuilding and Construction and Titan Tours Airlines.

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