PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN LAUDS AMAA

Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, has lauded the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) ahead of the 2014 edition of the award ceremony to celebrate African filmmakers on the continent and in the Diaspora.

The award ceremony will, in about a month’s time, be converging film stakeholders on Nigeria’s Bayelsa State for the 2014 event which is the 10th anniversary celebration of the AMAA.

Prior to the award’s nominations release party, an event was, over the weekend, held in Lagos to celebrate sponsors of the AMAA and also open doors for new investors who believe in the AMAA brand.

In a written note, the President of Nigeria praised AMAA for how far it has come despite the challenges and encouraged all to be part of its growth.

Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa State of Nigeria who was at the ceremony said his state was leaving no stone unturned in making sure this year’s AMAA became an outstanding one.
He promised that this year’s event would be the best in the history of the award ceremony.

Among top business moguls and industry players who attended the event were Tunde Ayeni, Chairman of Skye Bank who was also the Chairman of the event; Ladi Balogun, Group Managing Director of First City Monument Bank Ltd. (FCMB); Peace Anyiam Osigwe CEO of AMAA; Lydia
Forson, Ambassador for AMAA 2014 and a host of others.

As part of the ceremony, a biding match was held with several businessmen, corporate bodies among others trying to outdo each other. Several millions of naira was pledged to support the AMAA this year.
According to the governor, a transparent separate account would be opened for all the donations and sponsorship accumulated.

He went on to praise the achievements of AMAA in discovering talent and encouraging the creative industry. He also commended the importance of the awards in bringing investors into Bayelsa and opening Bayelsa, Nigeria and Africa to the rest of the world.

He stated that he wanted Bayelsa to be the home of the creative industry. To emphasize this, a video montage showcasing the beautiful tourist sites of Bayelsa was screened for all at the event.

Lydia Forson, who was also on stage to talk, thanked supporters of AMAA over the years and all who had donated to AMAA and encouraged more corporate bodies to do so. She also praised Bayelsa for its rapid development and for being the home of AMAA.

Peace Anyiam Osigwe, who spoke about the importance of AMAA, said AMAA is the only internationally recognized and accredited movie awards from Africa, adding that it encourages people all over the world to change how they view Africa. She also insisted on the importance of supporting what is ours.

MY BOYS SACKED ME – PRAYE TINTIN

Kente, otherwise known as Praye Tintin, a former member of the stunning music trio, Praye, has for the first time disclosed that it was not his wish to leave the group, but he was chased out by his two colleagues.

Praye Tintin, after leaving the group, changed his name to Kente Sol and started working as a solo artiste. He has however given indications that he does not mind returning to the group if only his former colleagues would refund some money they owe him.

Without mentioning the exact amount, Praye Tintin disclosed on Neat 100.9 FM’s Entertainment Ghana last Tuesday that the money was over some private transactions between him and the two other members of the group, Big J and Eugene Baah (Praye Honeho).

“A point of correction, don’t say I left the group. I did not leave; I was pushed out of the group,” Praye Tintin noted on the show.
After over a year, this is the first time Tintin is speaking about the split. In all his initial public interviews he had denied there was a problem among the trio.

Tintin was responding to recent media claims by his two former colleagues that they missed him and had been calling to ask how he was faring.

Tintin denied the claim by his two former colleagues and said they were only playing a public relations gimmick to make them look good.

He said he received calls from neither Big J nor Eugene and wondered how they could genuinely miss him and not show it in their actions.

The two others, after the split, went public with accusations that Tintin was to blame because he was secretly recording in a separate studio while they were still together as a group. They further disclosed how Praye Tintin took away a lucrative sponsorship deal for himself without taking the group into consideration.

In an interview with Peace FM then, Big J had alleged that Praye Tintin went to TV3 Music Music to perform as an individual and was turned away by Iso Paeley (Ice Baby), the producer of the show. He later went on the internet to rain insults on the producer.
He alleged further that Praye Tintin swore to apologise to Iso Paeley over his dead body, when he was asked to do so. 

KOJO ANTWI SACKED

The Association of Music Right Owners (AMRO.GH), an association made of Ghanaian musicians, has sacked highlife music maestro, Kojo Antwi, as its representative.

“The executive and general membership of AMRO have decided to withdraw Kojo Antwi from the GHAMRO board because we are not satisfied with his performance,” a letter dated March 20, 2014, signed by C.K Morrison and J.A Adofo, chairman and vice chairman of AMRO respectively stated.

The letter, which was copied to the Board Chairman of GHAMRO, however did not state reasons behind AMRO’s decision to kick out Kojo Antwi.

C.K Morrison, chairman of AMRO in a chat with 'Beatwaves' last Thursday, disclosed that the association’s decision to sack Kojo Antwi from GHAMRO board was based on Kojo Antwi’s failure to furnish the leadership of the association with information on GHAMRO’s activities, as well his irregular attendance to meetings, among others.

NIKKI SAMONAS ROBBED IN TRAFFIC

Sexy Actress and model Nikki Samonas has been robbed in busy traffic right in the center of Accra in the full glare of other drivers, Peacefmonline.com sources have disclosed.

According to an eye witness who was driving in traffic between Dzorwulu Junction and the Villagio buildings at about 7:30pm yesterday Thursday March 27, he saw two gentlemen who were posing as hawkers putting their hands in a black saloon car with the glasses rolled down.

The witness narrated that the two gentlemen run off almost immediately he sighted them because the light turned green.

“I drove closed to the car and it was Nikki Samonas who looked dumbfounded in her car in the middle of a moving traffic”, the source said.

The actress confirmed the incident when Peacefmonline.com spoke to her this morning.

The “Fashion GH” hostess disclosed that she was driving a black Hyundai Accent car and out of the blue, two guys (one at the driver side and one at the front passenger side).

“One of them forcefully pulled my gold chain off my neck and the other one took my bag”. Nicki said before she realized she was being robbed, they dashed away so fast before she could even shout.

Nikki said they took away her gold chain, her passport with several valid visas, an iPhone 4, her driving license, her cheque book, cash amount of $400 along with her hand bag.

Nicki who said she has reported the incident to the police has appealed to anybody who may find any of the listed belongings to send it to Peace FM reception especially her passport.

She advised drivers to roll up their glasses in traffic or keep their bags, phones and other belongings away from the sight of the so-called hawkers.

'MAFIARISM' IS KILLING MUSIGA - AMBOLLEY

Legendary musician, Gyedu Blay Ambolley has said there is a cancer of 'Mafiarism' in the Musician Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) which is derailing the progress of the musicians' body.

According to the 'Simigwa Do Man', the age-long culture of 'Mafiarism' has been passed on from one president to the other.

Gyedu Blay Ambolley lost to the current MUSIGA president Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour) during a heated contested election on August 18, 2011 in Tamale, Northern region.

He has since then held the believe that the current administration lacks the requisite skills and experience to man the affairs of the musician union.

Gyedu Blay Ambolley told Hitz Entertainment News that, "'Mafiarism' is in MUSIGA. It was started by Sidiku Buari [and it] was transferred to Diana Hopeson and [now] to the present Musician Union president Obour."

He explained that, "things are going on in a way that [is] not favouring the musicians [or] people [who] have contributed a lot to music in Ghana."

"The Musicians Union is there for the welfare of all [musicians] but because of the 'Mafiarism' that is going on, you don't see all these welfare coming to those that have contributed," Ambolley lamented.

He stressed that the root cause of the problems facing the musicians' union is bad leadership. "If you plant a bad seed, it produces bad fruits. That is what we are seeing at MUSIGA right now.

GHANAIAN MUSIC LABELS TO BE BLAME FOR INABILITY TO CROSSOVER - TURAS

Host of the Check-In-Time Show on South Africa’s Planet Radio TV, Alex “Turas” Kwesi Crassie, has in an interview with enewsgh.com suggested Ghanaian artistes and managers are to blame for their inability to cross-over into other markets.

“We are our own down fall; I have friends in high places who tell me what’s wrong with our system and the back stabbing among our own musicians,” he says.

“We have good music but most of our videos are not up there, take a good look at the “Alkayida” video by Guru, the videos have tags with phone numbers on it, no channel will play that video, it was going to be one of the big songs to make it on SA TV if not for those reasons I just mentioned and I get mocked by my friends from SABC, Trace, MTV, PRtv, and Channel O because most Ghanaian video directors always make sure the videos always have tags.

“I’ve spoken to most of the artists but they repeat the same mistake every time when you see the video online. Truth is, most of these channels get most of their videos and information on the internet, that’s if it’s of high quality and the song is buzzing, they will search for it and use it as content for their viewers.

“We as Ghanaians,” he adds”don’t push our music beyond our borders, we don’t help to make one song big enough, and then we jump onto another song. Just when you are warming up to push a particular song, through social media, people will let you know it’s an old song and get you a link to the new sound everyone is enjoying.

“There is no one single DJ from Ghana playing in the major clubs in Joburg, our Nigerian brothers have DJs almost in every club in the 7 major cities so what do you expect?

“There’s been a lot of talk with many Ghanaian music managers on how to invade the southern region of Africa but they do more talk than work. Our Ghanaian musicians don’t follow up on what they say.”

Turas concludes: “I’ve seen big names and powerful artists fall. There is no VJ, DJ, musician, radio or TV station that is bigger than music from any part of the continent, let’s learn to be humble and respect each other as we all play our effective roles on the field of music and the world will give us our fair share in this music business.”