BULLHAUS STRIKES YET AGAIN!

Bullhaus Entertainment has launched yet another extremely talented artiste onto the very competitive Ghanaian music landscape. Naturalface, whose musical talents can be fused with many genres, is set to be yet another Bullhaus wonder.

Two singles were officially released on the 18^th of July, namely “So high” and “I dey feel you”, and are already receiving wildly rave responses. A heady mix between House, reggaeton, pop, with an incredible lacing of African drums and other African aesthetics, Naturalface’s style is definitely unique to the Ghanaian landscape and is primed for creating an international storm.

Saturday 21^st July saw the actual launch of the video of his single “So high” at The Tavern, Osu which drew powerful personalities such as Samini, Okyeame Kwame, Tinny, Trigmatic, Richie, Ignace Hego of 4syte TV, Five Five, and many more. To commemorate the occasion, were performances by the above with Naturalface himself crowning the occasion. Bullhaus videos tend to play with the quality of contrast, daringly bringing to the fore, the harsh realities of life in Ghana. Not caught up in the need to showcase the untrue-to-life flashy lifestyles of celebrity culture, it is not uncommon to find the camera panning areas of neglect and harsh poverty, making social demands for change through the art of film and music. The video for ‘So High’ was shot on a bare stretch of land with a single wreck of an airplane. Camera quality and direction was superb. Costuming was an ingenious masterpiece by Chapter One.

Bullhaus Entertainment has pioneered the careers of popular artistes like Five Five and Iwan through hits such as ‘African Girls’, ‘Mugyebaya’, ‘Boso kena’ by Five Five, ‘Still Love me’ , ‘Thanks and Praise’, ‘Tell ‘Em Again’ by Iwan. Bullhaus has also been recognized with awards such as New Artiste of the Year, Afro-pop Song of the Year at the Ghana Music Awards and Reggae Video of the Year at the 4Syte Music Video Awards (Awards won by 5Five in 2008) and Iwan won Reggae Song of the Year at the GMAs and Reggae Video of the Year at the 4Syte Music Video Awards in 2010.

 Bullhaus Entertainment is currently the record label for the veteran group, VIP, and the beautiful songstress, Bertha, who earlier this year, won Best Collaboration with Okyeame Kwame at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday is a side-splitting comedy which explores the dynamics between a rich couple who just cannot seem to remain faithful to each other. Bernard, the husband, cleverly manages to invite his very sexy mistress, Brigit, over to their country home for her birthday despite the presence of his snobbish wife, Jacqueline. He cleverly orchestrates it in such a way that he invites his best friend, Robert, over and plans to pass his mistress off as Robert’s girlfriend. However, Jacqueline is also cheating on her husband with Robert and does not take it lightly when she discovers that Robert has another “girlfriend”.

Another character is thrown in, a temporary maid, who happens to share the same name with Bernard’s mistress, Brigit, and a whirlwind of hilarious confusion, lies, and sneaking carries the play. Would Bernard find out that his wife is his best friend’s lover? Would Jacqueline create a storm if she finds out that her husband has a mistress? How would Robert keep his secret from Bernard and still please Jacqueline? Would Brigit, Bernard’s mistress, reveal Bernard’s secret if she feels like she is not getting enough attention from a busily plotting Bernard? Would Brigit, the temporary maid, in her state of confusion in this very strange house, unintentionally forget the numerous roles she’s given to play and reveal the secrets of the couple?

This play embodies the confusion of role-playing, and is heavily infused with pun and ambiguity in its language. It is easy to be quite lost in the hurricane of punned words, lies, sneaking and clever manipulations.

Showing at the Efua Sutherland Drama Studio, University of Ghana, Happy Birthday would be running for four days from the 10^th of May to the 13^th of May.

It would be a criminal offense to miss out!

AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS – CELBRATING AFRICAN ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM AT THE AFRICAN MOVIE ACADEMY AWARDS

Proud winner of Best Actor in Leading Role

“Telling the story of Africa by Africans” – the mantra that run through African Movie Academy Awards 2012, celebrating once again African creativity and achievement through the very immense and lucrative film industry. Held at Eko Hotel & Suites, the AMAA 2012 became the lamp that drew African filmmakers across Africa and in the Diaspora to celebrate the incredible art of filmmaking.  

Film screening, exclusive parties, music performances in eleven locations across Africa were the exciting forerunners to the main event held on the 22^nd of April. The Red carpet event which commenced activities for the night was sizzling hot with huge African film personalities from Kenya, USA, South Africa, Ghana, Cameroun, Guinea, Germany, Uganda, Jamaica, Canada, France, Tanzania with Nigerian filmmakers in the majority. It was a lovely gathering of African achievers, of colossally creative minds coming together to shake the African continent. A bit of Hollywood was also present at the awards, insinuating the beginnings of a bridge being built between the African film industry and Hollywood. Personalities such as Rockmund Dunbar, Morris Chestnut, Maya Gilbert, Lynn Whitfield and Jimmy Jean Louis (who were also to present awards) definitely gave a Hollywood glamour to the event. The pool of talent in Eko Hotel and Suites was simply astounding.

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Best Actress in Leading role

Jimmy Jean Louis and O.C Ukeje were hosts for the evening, which commenced with excellent jazz, and an emotional rendition of the Nigerian National Anthem, a duet with the saxophone. Events then really took off with the opening speech by Asantewaa Olatunji, chairperson of the jury, who introduced all members of the jury and announced an inclusion this year of the Special  Jury Award. The jury for this AMAA 2012 were Berni Goldbat, filmmaker from Burkina Faso, Steve Ayorinde, Nigerian film and art critic, John Akomfrah, Keith Shiri, international film curator and writer, Asantewaa Olatunji herself, lawyer and member of the Board of the Pan African Film Festival in LA and Ayuku Babu, international legal, cultural and political consultant.  Asantewaa Olatunji also struck the heart strings of the AMAA when she commended African filmmakers for their very important role in the decolonization of African films and urged for unity of English, Francophone, Lusophone Africa and in the diaspora.

This very invigorating speech was followed by an extremely uplifting and pan-African speech by the CEO of the AMAA awards herself  who reiterated the strong spirit of the African Movie Academy Awards, “telling our own story in our own way and in our own words”, urging the need for “our histories to be told by ourselves” and no other. She ended quite powerfully with a call to all African leaders to remove all borders in Africa and make Africa one. The rousing applause and ovation she received was testament to the fact that she had sown some seeds of inspiration in her audience.

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Jimmy Jean Louis

To cool off the heat the next session was a musical performance by Yinka Davies who took her audience on a jazzy, Nigerian trip. Her confidence, playful creativity was warm and connectable. The night was graced with more remarkable talent with performances like Edge from Kenya, who threw in some fun Afropop (the band was simply awesome) , a beautiful singer form Senegal who complemented her stage performance with very talented dancers. O.C Ukeje’s introduction of the great Asa was an amazing forerunner to the electrifying performance she put up on stage. Singing his own rendition of the “Jailor”, O.C proved he was a man of many talents. The world-class, and African success story in the form of Asa, looked great in a white knee-length dress, ornamented with a black bow hanging from her shoulder and red pumps, which she kicked off her feet in the heat of her performance. Dancing, twisting, jumping, running, the cameras definitely had a difficult time trying to keep up with her energy, drawing her audience into her and the message she sung about. 2face’s performance was equally electrifying if not more so. He had people on their feet with their fingers up in the air before he stepped on stage. Preaching the message of “One love”, the walls of Eko Hotel & Suites were definitely shaking with the powerful unity of voices singing along with the BET award winner. Crowds of people rushed up near the stage to shake his hand during his performance.

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Yvonne Okoro

The competition this year seemed to be largely between the Nigerian film Adesuwa, South Africa’s How to Steal 2 million, and Otelo Burning. Below is the list of winners for AMAA 2012

Best Short Film

Braids on a Bald Head

Best Documentary

African Election

Best Diaspora Feature

Toussaint Louverture

Best Documentary in Diaspora

The Education of Auma Obama

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Tiwa Savage

Best Diaspora Short Film

White Sugar in a Black Pot

Best Animation

The Legend of Ngog Hills

Best Film by an African Living Abroad

Mystery of Birds

Achievement in Production Design

Phone Swap: Pat Nebo

Rockmund dunbar to present award

Achievement  in Costume Design

Adesuwa – Iyen Agbonifo

Achievement in Make-up

Shattered – Sarah Wanjiru

Achievement in Soundtraack

Alero’s Symphony – Chibuzor Oji

Achievement in Visual Effects

Adesuwa – Victor Ehi-Amedu

Achievement in Sound

State of Violence (S.A)  - Jim Patrick

Lynn Whitfield

Achievement in Cinematography

Otelo Burning – Lance Gewer

Achievement in Editing

How to Steal 2 Million – Mick Audsley

Achievement in Screenplay

Ties that Bind

Best Nigerian Film

Adesuwa – Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen

Best Film in an African Language

State of Violence – DV8

Ama K.

Best Child Actor

Tshepang Mohlomi (Ntwe) - Otelo Burning

Best Young/Promising Actor

Ivie Okujaye (Alero) – Aler’s Symphony

Best Actor in Supporting Role

Fano Mokoena (Man on Ground)

Best Actress in Supporting Role

Terry Pheto – How to Steal 2 Million

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Morris Chestnut

Best Actor in Leading Role

Majid Michel – Somewhere in Africa

Best Actress in Leading Role

Rita Dominic – Shattered

Best Director

Charlie Vundla – How to Steal 2 Million

Best Movie

How to Steal 2 Million

A very special CONGRATULATIONS to Majid Michel and Leila Dzansi for lighting Ghana’s beacon throughout Africa. Majid, who had been a frequent attendee to the AMAA awards long before he began his trip of four years of nominations, finally won the crown this year, and promised in his very charismatic way, “AMAA, I’ll be back”.

Leila Dzansi, proud winner of Best Screenplay

VODAFONE GHANA MUSIC AWARDS: AND THE BEST GOES TO…………!

Exit the old and worn out and Enter the new, glitzified and drippingly glamorous! The VGMAs this year was pushed up a superb notch to establish to all that it was being handled by very different hands this year (MTN to Vodafone).

Funnyface displaying his 'Blackberry' shoe

Capturing the mood of the excitement and curiosity of who was going to show, what they were going to show up in and who was hoping to win what, a Red Carpet show hosted by Confidence and KOD brought to the viewers what they were craving for without having to spend GH c100 or GH c200 on a seat! Confidence, looking elegant as usual in a blue gown, and KOD sporting one of his own designs from his label, 1957, caught the stars as they filtered past: Joseline Dumas, 4x4, Stay J, Bertha, Bulldog, from Bullhaus entertainment, Ohemaa Mercy, Gifty Osei, EL, Appietus and many more.

Sharing their views on their expectations for the night, Confidence and KOD were also looking out for fashion statements and did they find many! Stay J shared his love for nature with his companion dressed as a butterfly, Joseline Dumas looked breathtakingly hot and elegant in a cocktail dress of African material and organza, 4x4 looked superb and smart in identical black and white suits, white jackets with a black lapel to match the black trousers, Bulldog was sporting a 1957 white Kaftan…the night was a bonfire celebration of not only foreign designers but also the rich creativity and innovation of our Ghanaian designers. Frankly, I preferred the latter in more cases than one!

The official band for the night was the Patch Bay Band with DJ Black on the side doing his thing with a fervent frenzy. You can imagine the audience’s response. The night was commenced with a gospel performance to the philosophy, “In all things, give thanks to God almighty” and award-winning Cwesi Oteng saw to just that. A mad collaboration with the Patch Bay Band, Cwesi Oteng rocked his audience to their feet in praise. Then a surprise performance with Lord Kenya pushed the tempo notches higher. The legendary Ben Brako soon followed with some rich highlife that kept people on their dancing feet. The energetic Gifty Osei was an example of when electricity meets Gospel singer. Her incredible dancing moves and very good azonto electrified her audience and had them moved to spiritual heights.

The stage was awesome with the inclusion of the Vodafone Walk of Fame which led the stage directly to the VVIP section housing all the nominees and their entourage. To grace this stage as MC was Chris Attoh who looked like the striking model icon as usual in a three piece suit, complete with an inner vest. He made a few more changes during the night into a 1957 white and red Kaftan outfit, a dark blue suit with a matching slim blue tie and silk handkerchief peeking neatly from his top pocket. Three Letters: H-O-T.  

A very funny vignette of staged backstage happenings intro-ed Chris, seemingly close to death, revived and remembering he had to run all the way to the venue to host the VGMAs 2012. It was crazily hilarious to see Chris running through Accra in only boxers, stealing and conniving his way into getting clothes and EL’s phone, only to meet a very loud but bribable Funnyface at the entrance. Funnyface was co-MC, handling the ‘VGMA TV’ segment where he would interact with the winners of the awards. The night produced side-ripping laughter from funnyface’s interviews with the likes of Kwao Kesse and Blak Rasta.

Performances of the night were in a wider sense, the same old mundane routine: Come up on stage, DJ Black plays your hit song, your shout over hit, throw in some azonto and ask the audience to clap their hands or whatever it is that makes them feel as though there is some response. Kaki did wonderfully though, dressed in a short red and yellow jumpsuit with frills to make it look like a skirt, with matching red hair. First of all, her marked name as the one Ghanaian female reggae and dancehall had the girls up on their feet and cheering way before she came up on stage. Secondly, her winding thighs and hips, combined with the dancehall made many a man’s mouth water. Cabo Snoop’s performance of his one hit song with Ghanaians saw him dancing like mad on stage. Dressed in very bright colours like orange and yellow, his legs looked strangely enough like spaghetti steeped in food colour. Efya and Sarkodie’s performance was made just a little more innovative, by getting Awal of Talented Kids Fame and another girl of the same age to impersonate them at the beginning of the song. The mike for the girl was really messing up so it took away the shine from little Efya’s performance, but Awal carried the show, spitting his own rhymes in a very Sarkodie-like way. Soon the real duo came up on stage, Efya looking very African and elegant in a gown with patterned frills in a heart-shaped tube and a swishing trail of African print – a Duaba Serwah item. Efya and Sarkodie were their usual selves and moved the audience but they did not make best performance of the night.



Kwao Kesse receiving his award for Hip Hop song of the year



HHP from SA, sent his audience on a hardcore rap and hiphop journey. This guy is awesome! However, the Ghanaian audience was not soaking him as much as they needed to but he did his thing, danced well to entertain his audience and got his first round of applause when he tried to do the azonto. The Nigerian onslaught of Byron, Ice Prince, Jessie J, and Gh favorite, MI was wicked! Sitting in your GH c100 or GH c200 seat would be wasted because everyone was standing on their chairs to get a closer look.

Then a back to back performance by BukBak, 4x4, Guru was all that the crowd needed to put the cherry on top. Bukbak spiced their act with the inclusion of dancers. Guru brought up a little girl and boy, driving in a tiny car to add some creativity to his act. Boy, were they adorable! His hot, flexible, azonto PHD-holding dancers, at the end of the performance, overshadowed Guru – but hey, that was the point right?

The final performances of the night took the crown; Edem, simply with his charisma and power to move crowds to hail him and Kwao Kesse, with his ‘Abodam!’Edem singing his hit “Over Again” is the one current Ewe rapper to make the larger non-Ewe population sing in Ewe though they did not understand a thing!

Kwao Kesse, who drove into the conference centre in zoomlion car (You can imagine the riot!), appeared onstage with a Zoomlion uniform and a wheelbarrow filled with champagne all “for the Poppin’, for the, for the Poppin’!” Rapping his hit song, similarly dressed men popped bottles and gave them out to crowds or poured them out in calabashes for their pleasure! It got the Vodafone walk of Fame, pretty wet, but hey, blame it on the alcohol! EL’s “Ogbuu mo na” was the last performance of the night, with Papa Nii of Taxi Driver fame intro-ing the song as it was done in the video.

A few skepticisms were raised about the award-winners of certain awards, for instance, the New artiste of the year award which went to Stay J, of a couple of hit azonto tracks, when EL, producer, rapper, singer and multi-genred musician(not just the azonto phase) was on that list. Seriously! Album of the year was given to 4x4’s Waist and Power as opposed to Sarkodie’s Rapperholic! Below are the list of winners:

Gospel song of the year:

Presenter: Ohemaa Mercy

Winner: Selina Boateng

Reggae Song of the year:

Presenters: Adjetey Annang, Lydia Forson

Winner: Blakk Rasta

Hilife Song of the year:

Presenter: Mrs. Muntari, KKD

Winner: I go pay (Quabena Maphia)

Afro-pop Song of the year:

Presenters: Miss Ghana UK, Miss Malaika 2012

Winner: U sey wetin (Zigi)

 

Hiphop song of the year:

Presenters: Joseph agbeko, Eazzy

Winner: Poppin’ (Kwao Kesse)

Hiplife song of the year:

Presenter: Christelle (eTV)

Winner: Kill Me Shy (Dr. Cryme)

Highlife artiste of the year:

Presenter: Princess Calaba

Winner: Kwabena Kwabena

Hiplife artiste of the year

Presenter: Appietus

Winner: Kwao Kesse

Gospel artiste of the year:

Presenter: No Tribe

Winner: Gifty Osei

African artiste of the year:

Presenter: Chief Dele Mamudu

Winner: Ice Prince

 

Best Music Video of the year:

Presenter: Ama K.

Winner: Becca

Best Rapper of the year:

Presenter: Naa Ashorkor, Black Boy

Winner: Sarkodie

Best collaboration:

Presenter: Samini

Winner: Okyeame Kwame and Bertha

 

Record of the year:

Presenter: Ina Patti

Winner: Abena (Kwabena Kwabena)

New Artiste of the year:

Presenters: Jay Foley, Jeremy

Winner: Stay J

Album of the year:

Presenter: Juliet Ibrahim

Winner: Waist and Power (4x4)

Vodafone Song of the year (Most Popular song of the year):

Presenter: Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone

Winner: U go kill me (Sarkodie)

Artiste of the year:

Presenter: Obour and CEO of Charterhouse

Winner: Sarkodie

 

It seems most appropriate to end with Okyeame Kwame’s fervent wish that his award for best collaboration be dedicated to the whole of Ghana in the hope of collaboration during this election year.

One loud “Whoop!” for GH music!

The Flower behind the Mossy Stone

Think of all the fairytales; The sleeping Beauty awakens to the kiss of her Prince Charming, the ugly duckling transforms into the beautiful swan, Snow White's beauty is finally no longer hidden in the shadow....it can go on and on.....

But this is our very own Ghanaian love story...the beautiful and incredibly talented SHE, a flower behind a mossy stone, who after years of hiding in the shadow, has finally spread out her wings to fly high into the Ghanaian horizon and beyond!

She, whose real name is Yvonne Ohene Djan, is a diamond in the rough. Her voice is one that is known to many ears (you know, that incredible voice you hear in many songs, but never know the name of the person, because she's always in the background?), singing with Ghanaian legends such as Kojo Antwi, Daddy Lumba, Ofori Amponsah, Samini, Kwabena Kwabena and many more.

Well, she has decided to push her days of being in the shadow in the background, and is stretching out her powerful melodious wings and boy is it stirring hearts! A movie about her life, KWEIBA,  is to be released on the 30th of March at the National Theatre at 6pm.

What seems to be a love story, set in the delicious Afro days of the past, this movie stars KKD, David Dontoh, Emelia, D-Flex, and the sweetly dimpled She herself.

Tickets go for GHc 25 regular and GHc 50 VIP. Call 0571111111 or 0244479242 for tickets.

Fabulously Flavoured Felly

Daaaammmnn! Y’all heard bout Felly? Hot, female rapper/ singer/ writer on the Gh Block!

I heard her single, “Naughty Gurl” and it was as though someone had glued my feet to the beat she had my hips and legs moving to. The song is infused with some kind of urgency for some dangerously exciting hanky-panky, if you know what I mean! Rapping the whole song in whisper, Felly’s lyrics are tight with rhyme and rhythm in the right place, injected with an incredible amount of sexual innuendo that would definitely make even black skin blush purple (pink is pushing it a bit far), Felly comes across on this track as the irresistible Femme Fatale. Just listen to these words, “I come in different flavours/ Take what you want boy…back to back/ you know I like it like that”

Her other single “Follow me” brings dancehall and pop together, throws Felly in yet another madly interesting light. What you hear is the femme fatale become the hard female gangster, shouting orders for her audience to “Follow me”, like she says, “Felly no be rookie”. The “Rap Queen of Accra” she orders, she stamps, she winds, she intrigues, she hypnotizes. Before you realized, you would be dancing to her magic rhythms, completely losing track of where you are till the song ends!  Featuring E.L, this track is definitely club banger.

“Make it work”, featuring Bertha, gives us an almost surprising image of a mellow, but still confident Felly. Doused in the complexities of a relationship hanging on a thin rope, Felly, with Bertha’s incredible voice in the chorus, speaks sotto voce about the importance of working on a broken relationship. “let’s do a surgery on us/dissect every problem and work it out/ ‘cos that’s what relationship’s about boy/ reminisce those times/when I dey write rhymes/you inspire my lyrics/ now you want to leave/But what we had/was chemistry and physics”. With Bertha on the hook, this song is madly emotional, but inspiring at the same time.

What makes Felly the real deal is that she writes her own lyrics, a near rarity to find these days! Her immense creativity spills over into her songs, her lyrics and interests. An amazingly bubbly personality, Felly is the kind of girl who knows everyone, the life of the party, and her own taste in music goes beyond the average to classy, elements that would inevitably be embedded in her own music.

Would be releasing these singles out soon, so watch out, and tell me what you think!

CELEBRATING KING AMPAW

The 2^nd Annual National Film and Television Institute Lectures on the Ghanaian Motion Picture Industry organized a series of Panel discussions, workshops and film screenings, to facilitate research on the industry and provide a platform for students, academics, professionals and the public at large to share and exchange views on the industry. The NAFTI  lectures were also intended to recognize and award film and TV producers who have contributed significantly to the development of the motion picture industry.

Film screenings were aimed at celebrating one of Ghana’s legendary film directors, King Ampaw. Thus films screened were films such as Juju, African Timber, Kukurantumi – Road to Accra, No Time to Die and Cobra Verde, taking us back to days of old and postcolonial Ghana, exploring themes such as slavery, a young and growing Accra, poverty in Accra and other such worthy themes.

The audience present had the chance to interact with King Ampaw and Peter Bringham during workshops discussing topics such as the opportunities, obstacles and the way forward in the Ghanaian Film Industry.

The Lectures were crowned off with an Award ceremony to award and recognize King Ampaw for his contribution to Ghanaian Film Industry.

LADY J AND SIA TOLNO ROCKING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Allianz Français was definitely on fire on International Women’s Day, a bonfire of the creative arts which its patrons definitely could not get enough of!

Supported by the African Women’s Development Fund, activities on that very special day for women were divided into two main categories: an art exhibition and a musical concert, starring the beautiful Lady J and Sia Tolno from Guinea.

Central theme of the art exhibition was an artistic presentation geared towards connecting young women in Africa to inspire the future. It featured exceptional young female artists, Adwoa Amoah and Fatric.  Adwoa Amoah, centering on the phenomenon of communication through connecting energies, explored profoundly complex meanings and implications of communication, through paint and picture. Exploring with pictures of eyes and lips connected in the form of waves or with rope strands, her internal message of communication and world connectivity was intense. Her works titled, “Info Info” (after the famous Ghanaian child game), “Waves”, and “Connecting Energy” created quite some traffic!

Fatric Bewong featured the following pieces: “Self Within”, “Standing Stall”, “Yes we can” and “Amen”.  Fatric plays with abstraction through color and her pieces were intended to inspire the young African woman. “Healing the Scars” was a piercing creative exploration with shades of red, blue and purple featuring a person painted in red, seemingly in meditation, surrounded by blue energy. “Yes we can” was very inspirational portraying a woman holding on to a rope and climbing up a hill and yet, looking back to help another person climb up.

After this wonderful exhibition, the musical concert was commenced, with Ama K. Abebrese as MC for the night. She was great at engaging with her audience, hyping their spirits and making them laugh. A Spoken Word performance which was to whet the appetites of the audience was performed by a representative from Fly by Mike, a non-profit organization which seeks to reach the world through the magic of Poetry. Her performance had her audience awestruck, focusing on topics such as the being Haitian, being Black, poets being the backbone of the world, God’s direction in human lives. She had her audience whistling and catcalling at intervals during her performance.

Lady J

A brilliant forerunner, Lady J was introduced on stage and did she blow her audience away! Breathtaking in an array of different Afrocentric designs, merged with her wonderfully husky voice, she exuded a passionate energy which rightly connected her with her audience. Singing away through hilife and soul, the band that performed with her was amazing. A great dance track brought out everybody’s azonto skills, Nana Darkoa temporarily stealing attention on the dance floor. Slowing it down, her next performance, an R&B track, mixing the twi and English was madly emotional, creating goosebumps, and tears down the performer’s own cheeks. “Between the Sheets”, her final performance for the nights spiraled the audience to a romantic lovemaking environment. Singing “Me do wo” with a baby in her hands, it was a pretty emotional end.

Sia Tolno

After a brief interlude, Sia Tolno from Guinea, and her band from Guinea sent the night to the stars. In a shiny gold outfit, Sia Tolno kicked off her performance with a flute duet. She had a powerful ringing voice. Informing her audience that she chose to be a singer to use her singing to send a message, Si Tolno continued with a song about festivals in villages, (a very energetic song, complete with ululations). A performer with much of her emotion showcased on her face, she followed this up with a love song, complete with dimming of stage lights. At that moment, her powerful, crooning voice and the shower of gold on her body made her look like a Siren, seductively beautiful and powerful, arguably a spiritual embodiment of Woman. Wailing “God save Africa” in her next song “Black Awareness”, she drew an even louder applause than before.

A surprise collaboration between Sia Tolno, Lady J, and an incredible African American singer in the middle of Sia Tolno’s performance was the greatest highlight of the night. Singing “If I never give up, I will succeed”, goose bumps were definitely raced onto skins that night, sparking the fires of motivation, calling out to the African Woman to reach into herself, her capability and her powerful future.

This moving performance was toned down as Sia Tolno switched to storytelling through song, about a blind Samaritan who helped a poor man. This then slipped in to a guitar duet which was so soulful, everyone was awestruck into silence, simply watching and listening. The only time movement was revived was when her performance ended and there was a roaring applause.

People of various nationalities were present for this august occasion, including notable personalities such as Esi Sutherland, Joseline Dumas and the FOKN Boys.

AWDF, organizers of this programme, is a grant-making foundation which is to support the work of the African women’s movement. The fund was set up by three African women who have been active in various institutions within and outside Africa, and who have a track record of successful empowerment interventions which have helped strengthen the African women’s movement. The vision of the AWDF is for African Women to live in a world in which there is social justice, equality and respect for human rights.

The night was truly a celebration of the African Woman, of who she was, is and can be.

Nana Darkoa

When a Lighted Candle Dies Out

There is only one time in living when our hearts can be said to really stop - when death takes a loved one.

It never really hits you with that fervent bang when it is not close to you. You always seem to feel it best when someone close, someone powerful, someone who changed the way we run our lives stops breathing, does not respond when you ask for help or ask a question. Eyes are empty of soul staring into a horizon which finds its beginning and end not in this world.

It is therefore with the deepest grief that we try to assimilate and understand the death of a great and influential man, Godwin Kotey - A man whose mind is the seat of phenomenal creativity, which seeped through his being and inevitably touched and changed, in miraculous ways, the creative world and people around him.

His thirst for quality, reality, and authenticity in artistic expression was evident in everything he did. Pushing borders and re-etching them in new ways were tenets that Godwin portrayed in his actions, his speech, his opinions and his deeds. A man who hated pretentiousness, Godwin was the man to go to for brutally honest and unbiased views and encouragement. Working with the youth and encouraging them, it may be cliché to refer to him as the guiding light in the lighthouse, cliché but so true that cliché ceases to exist.

Eyes staring into a distant horizon, beginning and end are places that are non-existent in the real materialistic world. Angels shall cry, sharing their grief with Ghanaians for a man whose very essence is was the crux of our artistic being. Not many pass through lives and leave indentations. And the very few who do, are to be stamped on our lips, hearts, words, pages, books, films forever.

Falling like living pieces of souls, dispatched, parted, in fragments, Angels would cry for Godwin, who mastered the God in himself to move a mass of people.

Death is man’s tyrant. He looms and threatens man in his lifetime, deriving sadist pleasure. He abuses his power from time to time taking away life when it is sweetest to a man, relishing the wails of distress. But the secret man does not know is that he has power over death, for he wields a weapon Death can never be triumphant against: The immortality of memory. Death may take the life of a loved one but they still live in you for as long as you live. In that man’s tyrant is defeated and Death is finally overthrown.

                                                                                 Homebase TV