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| Basketmouth |
There is nothing like a mad comedy session to laugh away the chains of life obligations and come out for a deep breather of freedom. Accompanied most harmoniously by rich, good music, CharterHouse definitely solidified their position as the prime entertainment and event organizers in Ghana.
The night was one of class and glamour, women dolled up in shiny jewelry, many of the men looking really good in African prints. Adding to the class was the music selection for the night: jazz and nothing substandard in music quality when it came to singers selected for the night: Efya, Irene, Emmanuel, Omowumi. The Jazz band treated the audience to all genres of music in expert style, taking their more adult audience through the blues, funk and even an azonto track (“Agyeei”). Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable”, Lionel Ritchie’s “All night Long” were a few of the world hits that had the audience clapping exuberantly to the talented musicians on stage.
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| Emmanuel |
The very first act after soaking in the great jazz band, was Emmanuel, Stars of the Future winner, who commenced his show with an incredible rendition of Adele’s “Someone Like You”, hitting the high notes, catching his voice just in time, playing with adlibs, and slipping in and out of different keys. His great performance was met with a rousing applause, not at the end of his performance only, but in the middle. He was amazing. After this performance, he performed his own single, which he calls his winning song, and definitely won him some more fans that night.
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| Klint Da Drunk |
Klint Da Drunk was phenomenal as an MC for the night. Tapping into his gift of comedy and obvious intelligence and creativity, Klint Da Drunk had the whole audience in a standing ovation upon his entrance. Causing his audience to stamp their feet and clap in uncontrollable laughter, he shared his frustrations with phone networks problems, the harder job of comedians as compared to other performers, the latest fad of Botox and the Ghanaian Black Star. His expert way of gauging his audience, involving them, preaching against facetiousness and pretentiousness through comedy, picking true to life scenarios, or simply creating comedy of the current situations, without any fumbling, rumbling or falling into repetition made him arguably a much better comedian than the star comedian for the night. His hiccupping version of Efya’s “Best in Me” definitely needs to be recorded as a new hit single!
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| The Sensational Efya |
Efya, back from Nigeria and looking wonderful in a black above-the-knee dress accessorized with a stunning red necklace, took her audience to different levels of music appreciation. A tribute to music legend, Whitney Houston, Efya sang a madly innovative rendition of Whitney’s hit, “I Will Always Love You”, in a jazzy blues version. Words cannot describe the loud appreciation she deservedly received from the ecstatic audience. The tone of her show was jazzy blues which she maintained with “Best in Me”. Working wonderfully with the great band, the feeling one got was that of a legend being born, of a human reaching deep into themselves and finding their innermost power.
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| Irene |
The night was a night for Charterhouse Stars of the Future discoveries. Following Emmanuel and Efya, Irene swept up on stage with her powerful voice. Telling her audience a story, typical Blues style, of Akwasi the Casanova, she was dressed up in a red blouse and jeans. Red seemed to be the signature color for all CharterHouse discoveries that night. Following the intriguing story of Akwasi, she dove into her hit song “Runaway”, performing it with finesse and outrageous ability. Her single, popularized by Adam’s Apples, “My Heart Dey”, switched the atmosphere to a sizzling seductive mood; lovers reaching for hands, hearts warming, eyes closing. However, somehow , in the end, she managed to make a song of lovemaking sound like gospel. Have absolutely no idea how that happened though it still did sound very good!
CharterHouse definitely sent the message through Irene, Efya and Emmanuel about their penchant for quality and difference.
Gordons, another Nigerian comedian on the bill who had the audience on their feet as he came on stage, changed the rhythms to comedy once again. His genre of comedy was of the mad kind, talking about a range of things from sex jokes, hazardous jobs, to the invisibility of the police in Nigeria during Boko Harram attacks.
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| Omawumi |
Omowumi from Nigeria waltzed onto stage, a ball of confidence and energy, immediately commanding attention from her audience when she sang the Ghanaian National Anthem, accurately and extraordinarily soulful, so much that her audience was clapping long before she reached the chorus. In African print shorts, and to the tune of the comedic night, she herself cracked a few jokes during her performance that got her audience laughing – endearing themselves even more to her. She then proceeded to perform danceable tunes which had quite a number of people dancing in their seats. Her total comfort on stage, supported with amazing back-up singers, made hers was a spectacular performance.
Finally, the reason why most had gathered that night appeared: Basketmouth in a grey fitting suit, with his signature lackadaisical hair. He shared what he had noticed about the differences in African and western lifestyles, termed as ‘Black and White”: Differences in parenting, first kisses, cheating spouses, differences between African ways of dealing with dangerous situations as compared to the seemingly fearless whites were but a few of the issues he shared in hilarious comedy that had his audience holding their sides in laughter. Seemingly hindered by the presence of children in the audience, he cracked a few sex jokes, gave true-to-life tips to both males and females about lovemaking, as well as sugar daddies. Going beyond the funny dynamics of male-female relationships and black-white differences, he joked about the female obsession with Brazilian hair, homosexuality, poverty, expensive school fees, and most importantly, the “lie” of female’s appearances.
Basketmouth distinguishes himself in that behind the guise of comedy, he shares universal messages and advice. However, his performance on this night seemed as though he was quite unprepared. His organization was quite poor; starting a joke, stopping in the middle of it to start another. Some jokes also seemed to have no point really and there were times he seemed to be fumbling.
All in all, the rlg Independence Comedy Jam was an amazing night!
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