Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Call For Entry: Bass Awards makes call for submissions




Organizers of the Bass Awards have officially unveiled the various categories for the maiden edition. One would be voted for by the public, and the other, by members on the awards committee/board.
The Public Voting Category, the organizers say “contains a number of award categories that are open to the general public as well as the BASS Awards Committee (Board) – as it was explained during the official launch”.
The Industry Voting Category “comes with some of the award categories would be strictly voted for my members of the committee. The major reasons being that, such categories are highly technical categories and or would require only the Board members to cast votes on that explained during the official launch”. Entry forms for potential applicant(s) in all ten regions would be released soon
“Demo version songs/content will NOT be accepted, they’ve advised. “Songs, music videos or content with openly explicit content and or vulgar language will be DISQUALIFIED as well”.
CATEGORIES
PUBLIC VOTING AWARDS
1. Kwame Nkrumah Award (Artiste(s) Of The Year – (Reggae/Dancehall)
2. Best Collaboration Of The Year – (Reggae/Dancehall)
3. Dancehall Song Of The Year
 4. Reggae Song Of The Year
5. Music Video Of The Year – (Reggae/Dancehall)
6. Best Presenter (Radio/TV)
INDUSTRY VOTING AWARDS
7. Best Male Vocal Artiste Of The Year
8. Best Female Vocal Artiste Of The Year
9. Lifetime Achievement Award
10. Record Of The Year
11. Producer Of The Year
12. Yaa Asantewaa Award
13. Riddim Of The Year

To be part of the process, download an entry form from www.bassawards.net now and email together with mp3 version of music to info@bassawards.net. Alternatively, you can pick and submit an entry form plus 2 copies of your music at the following media house:
Radio Gold (Accra), KFM (Kumasi), Skyy Power (Takoradi), Diamond Radio (Tamale)
For any assistance or more information, call 0262224480.

Call for Entry: Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards Call For 2013 Submissions





Film makers and participants interested in being considered for the 2013 GIAMA nominations must be residents of any African country, or an African descendant living in the Diaspora, in order to be considered eligible.
Film makers and participants interested in being considered for the 2013 GIAMA nominations must be residents of any African country, or an African descendant living in the Diaspora, in order to be considered eligible.
GENERAL
The GIAMA Awards of Merit shall be awarded annually and will recognize outstanding performances and achievements in theatrically released films in the African film industry.
The Awards of Merit shall be presented in the form of a gold plaque with an imprint of GIAMA on the statuette, and will be provided to all the winners for each categories listed below:
ELIGIBILITY
All eligible films, unless otherwise stated, must be a feature length (defined as over 60 minutes running time).
All films to be considered must be shot or released between January 2012 and May 2013. Films that were previously submitted for 2012 GIAMA consideration are not eligible.
Eligibility for all awards will first be ascertained by credits as they appear on the screen and/or as provided in the submission form to the GIAMA organization by the producing companies. Final determination, in the event of credit discrepancies, will be made by the GIAMA in conjunction with the producers or publicists of the film production company.
In the event of any dispute concerning credits, the GIAMA maintains the right to declare any achievement ineligible or, alternatively, to reject all claims to credit, list credits as being in controversy and withhold any award until the dispute is resolved.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Every submission shall be conditioned upon the delivery to the GIAMA in a DVDor Blu-ray format.
Interested filmmakers should contact the appropriate contacts as stated below, and complete the required form while submitting a preview copy of their movie(s) for GIAMA Awards consideration.
In submitting a film for GIAMA Awards consideration, the film owner(s) are deemed to have conveyed to the GIAMA organization the right to choose excerpts from the film for incorporation into the GIAMA telecast for the year in which the film is in competition.
The preview copy should be submitted between the recommended dates April 6 through May 31, 2013.

African Global DJ Awards announces dates for nominees party across Africa



The first and only African DJ awards ceremony ‘African Global DJ Awards’ created to recognize and celebrate the talent of the greatest DJs in Africa would be held on  May 4 at the Sandton Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa. This event is billed to hold annually.
The DJs are nominated in sixteen categories including a category for the females. The winners will be decided by popular Fan votes while the event will be hosted by the lifestyle show presenter Lerato kganyago and Ugandan rapper Navio.
Acts billed to light up the night are Tear Gas, R2bees, Navio, Efya, Duncan Mighty, AKA, Ice Prince,Camp Mulla, Dj Oskido, Dj Aly and Fila, Dj Xclusive, Dj JimmyJatt, Dj Tbo Touch, Dj Kess, Dj Black and a host of other acts
Before the awards, a lot of opportunities will arise for the fans to interact with their favourite DJs from around the world who have been nominated. Fans and DJs can chat and share pictures via our facebook page (www.facebook.com/agdaawards ), Hangout via googleplus (+agdaawards) and share opinions, pictures and video skits via twitter (@agdaawards, using the hashtag #AgdaAwards), Instagram (agdaawards), youtube (agdaawards) and keek (agdaawards). Fans can also send in questions or their views regarding the event and our nominees via these media and all questions will be answered. 
The nominees’ parties will hold in 3 different cities before the event proper and these are:
· Accra, Ghana on the 12th of April 2013
· Lagos, Nigeria on the 18th of April
· Nairobi Kenya on the 20th of April
  GALA NITE This will be a night before the award: DJ Networking Gala
Date: May 3rd, 2013Venue: Johannesburg, South Africa
Time: 7pm
After Party: 10pm
(This event is strictly by invitation)
MAIN EVENT
· African Global DJ Awards
Date: May 4th, 2013
Venue: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
Time: 7pm
After Party: 11pm

'Akon Hitlab' to be aired on Live 91.9fm




Live FM before its transmission is working indefatigable to gain most Ghanaians to listen to their network. According to enewsgh, American star Akon will be hosting a show on the radio station when it starts its transmission.
It’s been confirmed! Award-winning Senegalese-American artiste Akon will present a show on Live 91.9 FM, when the station starts proper programming next month.
The arrangement, which would see the Konvict Music boss host his pre-recorded internationally-syndicated weekend show called Akon Hit Lab, is one of many on-air packages driven at getting a solid listenership base for the station.
Akon Hit Lab would air Saturdays, 6pm to 8pm and would be heavy on music, featuring the biggest hits, celebrity interviews and music from new artistes.
Akon’s Hitlab is a weekly syndicated 2 hour radio show currently being broadcasted on radio stations in 15 different countries around the world, reaching millions of listeners each week. It fuses the biggest top 40 dance/ club hits, talented, new, up and coming artists and one-of-a-kind access to celebrities and recording artists around the world.
Born Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, he has sold millions of albums around the world and collaborated with countless pop and hip-hop icons such as Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dog and Eminem.

Tuesday, 9 April 2013

Beyonce Covers Vogue UK, Calls Herself “A Modern-Day Feminist”



Beyonce is featured on the cover of the upcoming May 2013 issue of Vogue UK magazine, but we already knew that. What we didn’t know, however, is what was INSIDE the pages of Beyonce’s British Vogue issue — which just so happens to be her SECOND Vogue cover this year alone.

Inside the latest issue of British Vogue, Beyonce talks about how she considers herself a modern day feminist, while also discussing motherhood, her husband Jay-Z, and her “passion for a job which has seen her singing professionally for nearly 20 years.” (Beyonce has been around for almost 20 years? WOW!)
Read a few excerpts here:
On considering herself a modern-day feminist: “That word can be very extreme…But I guess I am a modern-day feminist. I do believe in equality. Why do you have to choose what type of woman you are? Why do you have to label yourself anything? I’m just a woman and I love being a woman…’I do believe in equality and that we have a way to go and it’s something that’s pushed aside and something that we have been conditioned to accept. But I’m happily married. I love my husband.”
On why she calls herself “Mrs. Carter” now: “I feel like Mrs Carter is who I am, but more bold and more fearless than I’ve ever been. It comes from knowing my purpose and really meeting myself once I saw my child. I was like, ‘OK, this is what you were born to do.’ The purpose of my body became completely different.”
On whether she supports Blue Ivy becoming an entertainer: “I definitely want my daughter to have goals and drive and passion … it has to be a balance.”

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

School of Performing Arts honours Kwabena Kwabena




Sensational Ghanaian highlife musician Kwabena Kwabena has received a special honour from the Music Department of  the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon, for his contributions to the development of highlife music in Ghana. Before receiving the plaque and the citation from the music department Kwabena Kwabena real name George KwabenaAdu had thrilled the students with good music like Aso, Engya Me Ho, Dabi, and Menewoa.
The presentation was made by  Dr Awo Asiedu, Director of  The School of Performing Arts. Kwabena Kwabena who received the award with his wife Abena Owusuaa thanked the music department  for recognizing his works and urged the students not to give up in whatever they aim at.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Don't Offend The People Of Kwahu This Easter - MP





Member of Parliament for Nkawkaw constituency of the Eastern region, Eric Kwakye Darfour, wants the Ghana Tourist Authority (GTA) to coordinate with those organising the Kwahu festival to ensure that the cultural sensibility and heritage of the chiefs and people of Kwahu are not slighted this Easter weekend.
 
Mr Kwabena Darfour is therefore urging the GTA to liaise with the Kwahu Traditional Council, MPs and Assembly Members within the enclave, Districts and Municipal Chief Executives so that they “the people are not allowed to be exposed to threadbare, more in the midst of the fanfare and enculturation”.
 
The Kwahu Ridge has become the official place for the celebration of Easter and the annual National Paragliding Festival organised by the tourism authority, which draws thousands of patrons to the mountainous area yearly.
 
But delivering a statement on the floor of the House ahead of the festivities which begin this Friday, Mr. Dafour recalled: “the media were replete with bad reportage of immoral acts characterising the last year's festival," he said.
 
“These publications did not go down well with the Chiefs and people of Kwahu as reports of these immoral acts cast a slur on our Cultural Heritage as Ghanaians and we would not countenance that.
 
“Mr. Speaker, Kwahu is a disciplined community with high morals and would be the last to either engage or encourage visitors to do that."
 
The MP also appealed to the media from reporting “to purposely taint the hard-won reputation of the good people of Kwahu.”
 

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Gallaxy to thrill Fans at Adom 106.3 fm and Airtel sponsored festival at Kwahu.

Gallaxy



It has almost become a routine in Ghana that every Easter people from all walks of life moves to the mountains-Kwahu to spend the holidays with their friends and families.
This year is not exceptional as numerous media  and cooperate bodies are organizing a series of activities and Adom106.3 fm a subsidiary of the multimedia group in collaboration with one of Ghana’s leading Telecommunication companies Airtel are  staging a big platform to entertain it loyal listeners and fans  starting from 28th  to 31th March respectively.

This event will see a host of Ghana’s celebrities and musicians including Gallaxy from Harbour city recordz performing vehemently to satisfy their fans for the first time. The ‘wodo nti’   hit makers will be sharing the same stage with the likes of Edem, Amaky Dede,EL, and the host of others who will also br performing.
This event is going to be their maiden biggest platform for them to perform,  since their official entry into the music industry with their three hit  singles ‘Chop money’ ft Guru, ‘Bo asie mamie ft Dobble’  and the banging highlife tune of the moment ‘wodo nti’.

According to Gallaxy they are not surprise but very grateful to God and the organizers for the opportunity, because they have been working industriously for a moment like this. So this is just one of the numerous privileges that, they will be getting to showcase to Ghanaians  both home and abroad what they have for them.
The duo continues to add that, they are ready to deliver and their fans should expect it. They also used the medium to remind their fans that their second video is coming soon and urge all their fans to keep supporting them Gallaxy.

Monday, 25 March 2013

Edem gives new life to ‘Sika Ye Mogya’



Hiplife strongly expresses its close affiliation to highlife when the former overtly borrows from the latter and rapper Edem’s vibrant re-working of Pat Thomas’ Sika Ye Mogya classic shows how the two home-grown styles can effectively feed off each other.

Edem’s version features Pat Thomas himself. The original piece was done in Fanti but Edem brings a fresh tang to the song with his usual energetic raps. He has also injected a fast club tempo into his version.

Sika Ye Mogya was originally recorded by Pat Thomas in 1991 in Ontario, Canada. The recording session included crack Ghanaian instrumentalists like Paa Joe on guitar and Carl Ricky Telfer on keyboards, bass and flute.

Edem caught attention largely with his Volta Regime album that included hit tracks such as Bra Freme, You Dey Craze and Nyornuviade. His subsequent Mass Production album offered the public other catchy songs like Ghetto Arise and Over Again.

He is an entrenched act on the music scene and trekking back in time to pick on Pat Thomas’ all-time great piece re-enforces the idea that there is a big well of highlife classics that the younger generation can always fall on to keep Ghanaian popular music forever alive.

Pat Thomas’ singer daughter, Nana Yaa is also said to have her own rendition of Sika Ye Mogya on her upcoming debut album.

The power of the showbizer

Samini
People in show business are one the most influential if not the most influential in the world because they cause change in the life of a society.

It is conceived of showbizers by many as scatterbrains and worthless individuals who are drug addicts, womanizers, debauchees, hooligans or crooks. Despite these brutish descriptions of showbizers, which some however consider as misconceptions, it is a well established fact and a reality that musicians, actors, fashion designers, painters, writers, radio and TV hosts, and other creative artists are powerful to the extent that the ramifications of their actions surpass that of the politician or the clergy.

Showbizers the world over have influenced how people dress. For example, an artiste appears on stage in a particular costume and in no time it becomes the dress code of the moment. Let a TV presenter appear on screen with an outlandish hair style (I mean one that may be considered abnormal) and the next day, it is the latest hairstyle in town. Hip hop and its variant genres have become so strong that it is seen as a veritable culture of some sort. Its followers have their way of dressing and speaking, and many people from all walks of life copy their lifestyle.

Fashion designers like Mawuli Okudzeto, Kofi Ansah, Bee Arthur and others have contributed to the dressing culture of this country. Is it not interesting how entertainment doyen KOD will create and design his own clothing and people will not just admire it but copy him? A few years ago, wearing suits on top of jeans trousers was slovenly and unbecoming for formal occasions but artistes have soon made this dress code acceptable almost everywhere.

Someone would like to have a tattoo on his body just because his favourite actor, singer or footballer also has tattoo on some part(s) of his body.

Showbizers or creative artistes are one the few groups of people whose names are used by their fans to christen their children. In fact, fans do not care whether these celebrity names they are adopting for their kids were created by the artistes or have always be in existence, let alone dig into their meanings. They just revel in the fact that they are naming their children after stars.

Lyrics of a song can be inspirational, derogatory, suggestive, leering or insinuating. Testimonies abound from people whose lives, upon listening to certain songs have transformed for the better. Others also have engaged in unscrupulous activities after listening to some particular songs.

This case is no different from movies. Movies more often than not epitomize the culture of a people. Any adoption of cultural practices of a people into another would bring a change in the lives of the inhabitants of the latter. A case in point is the current use of explicit sex scenes in Ghanaian movies; something that jars with the indigenous culture of Ghanaians.

It could also be said of creative writers like William Shakespeare, Efua Sutherland and Chinua Achebe (may his soul rest in peace) as very powerful and influential personalities because they used their literary works to affect society. While Shakespeare's English was deferred to and used by his contemporaries, Chinua Achebe used satire to critcise people in power in Nigeria. Efua Sutherland would also be remembered for authoring books that portrayed Ghanaian culture.

One other power that showbizers have is creating language. Remember Barima's 'Abuskeleke' song|? 'Abuskeleke was a word that supposedly originated from the Western Region of Ghana or somewhere in Ivory Coast and was used to describe a lady who is kittenish and promiscuous. It was made popular by Barima in his song and was later used to refer to ladies who were indecently dressed and it has since become part of the lexicon of Ghanaian languages.

'Bye bye' is an English world used to bid people farewell. Until recently there had not been a Twi version for it. Not even professors of Linguistics could help Twi speakers out. It took Dr. Duncan, a radio presenter of XFM to couch 'ekyire' to be the Twi version for 'bye bye'. Up till now, 'ekyire' has become part of Twi vocabulary to mean 'bye bye'.

Credit: Kwame Dadzie -  Deputy editor-Flex Newspaper