Controversial musician, Barima Sydney
has offered a piece of advice to upcoming artistes to stay away from
the use of ' juju' or voodoo and concentrate on nurturing their talents.
In
an interview with Joy News', the hiplife artiste said , "try and be
unique, always remember that if your talent is from God, he should be
the only source of your power and the only one you look up to. But some
musicians have mixed their talent by seeking for 'Juju' "
His
comments follows similar concerns raised by Pink FM presenter Eric
Akoto. Eric also said a few weeks ago he knows about the use of
spiritual powers in the entertainment industry.
He said most people are using evil spiritual powers to enhance the successes of their works or to bring other people down.
The two have refused to mention any names. Barima Sydney however gave pointers on how he identifies such people.
He
revealed, “we know them all! When you find a way around them you feel
it by the mere smell of them, that they have bad spirit in them. It also
happens when you meet them in studios.”
He stated that using spiritual powers to gain fame will only end them in disgrace.
“To
those people using medicine (Juju) expiring date is allocated for that
spirit, when Satan gives it looks all shinny and rosy but it defiantly
have an expiring date but when God gives you something its everlasting.
So the up and coming acts should learn from this”, Sydney said.
Africa's all-time best comedian,
Basket Mouth, last Saturday got the over two thousand comedy lovers at
the Conference Centre reeling with uncontrollable laughter when he
described how his funeral should be organized when he dies "in the
distant future."
Basket Mouth said he would not be dying anytime
soon, but when the time eventually comes, he does not want a dirge to
be played at his funeral but rather the hit American hip-hop song,
'Bugatti' by Ace Hood featuring Rick Ross.
The comedian said he
does not also want to be laid in his coffin but rather wants to sit in
his coffin with style and wants to be buried same style and that no one
should shed a single tear because he would be resting.
He even showed how his pallbearers should walk and dance to the rhythm of 'Bugatti' when they lift his coffin.
-Basket Mouth also taught his male audience how to get into the pants of any lady in the world.
The comedian, for close to an hour, held his audience spellbound With rib cracking laughter that moved some to tears.
Also from Nigeria on the night were comedians Buchi and Bovi who proved they were very much worth writing home about,
Prolific Ghanaian Rapper and versatile recording artiste Edem has just joined the married men club.
According
to Ameyawdebrah.com Edem (Real name: Denning Edem Agbeviadey) got
married on a low key ceremony during the Easter Holidays to his longtime
girlfriend, Stacey Osekere, at the residence of the lady in Teshie,
Accra.
The traditional marriage ceremony was attended by friends and family, strictly by invitation with no press or media presence.
Edem and Stacey who already have a cute daughter, have been dating for over two years before they finally tied the knot. Denning Edem Agbeviadey is a Ghanaian
recording artist and entertainer who used to perform under the name
Ayigbe Edem which was later cut to simply Edem.
He rose to fame with the
release of his maiden album, The Volta Regime in 2008, which has songs
like the hit ‘U dey craze’, ‘Bra fremi fremi’, ’ Nyornuviade’, ‘Give it
up’, ‘Emmre Sesa’ and ‘Lorlortor’.
This album was produced and
executive produced by the music maker, Edward Nana Poku Osei, aka Hammer
of The Last Two Edem collaborated with other Ghanaian acts such as the
sensational Samini, the tongue-twisting Sarkodie, the ‘mad’ artist Kwaw
Kesse, the love – laced Kwabena Kwabena, KK Fosu,Obrafour, Tinny, the Ga
sensational rapper, the yet to come up Tuba and EL, Ruth of Mentor and
A.S.E.M Asem.
Currently, Edem does most of his music in the local
Ewe language and is the most notable rapper in the dialect at the
moment and sometime records some great Reggae songs which is always
received well be his fans.
Aside writing and recording music
and being a student, he has also ventured into philanthropic works. He
has made quite a number of donations to needy patients to undergo
surgery, donations to the Maternity Ward of the Mamobi polyclinic and to
the Weija Leprosarium.
It is uncommon for one to accurately
predict his or her death but controversial filmmaker, Socrates Safo, has
tasked his family, friends and the general public not to mourn him when
he dies because he “will surely die a beautiful death.”
Socrates was speaking about the burial arrangements for the late Fennec Okyere, when he made the revelation.
“I
wish we will all celebrate Fennec Okyere any time his name is
mentioned. The same way if I die, I also want to be celebrated and not
mourned because I know I will die a beautiful death,” Socrates told
Akwasi Aboagye on Neat FM.
He therefore asked Ghanaians to
continue to exercise patience and allow the Ghana Police Service to
conduct investigations into the gruesome murder of the artiste manager.
Fennec,
who contributed to Ghana’s entertainment industry in many ways, was
found in the wee hours of Thursday March 13, at his Spintex home in
Accra. Until his death, Fennec was the manager of rapper, Kwaw Kese.
One of Ghana’s Hip Life sensations,
William Kojo Johnson who goes by the stage name ‘Stay Jay’ has dropped
another bombshell after his controversial departure from Unda One
Entertainment to record under his own label; African Star Boi Music
(ASBMusic).
This time the award winning artiste has made a
shocking revelation relating to narcotics and stage craft. He has
revealed that contrary to what most people might think, he neither takes
in Alcohol nor smokes.
“I don’t drink and I don’t smoke, I
never have and I believe that drinking and smoking is not the key to
stage craft or good music.” The Afro Pop star revealed this when he
spent time with some JHS students from various schools in Tema during
the Easter holidays.
Stay Jay also lamented on how he has seen
excessive smoking and alcohol abuse ruin the lives most of his friends
and even some very close relations. He noted that he believes that God
has given him his talent to entertain as well as educate people and that
he needs no motivation from either alcohol or from smoking narcotics to
be able to give his fans a deserving performance on stage or even
record his award winning tracks.
“It is sad how most young and
upcoming musicians think that they have to do drugs, smoke or abuse
alcohol to fit in, record hit tracks or to be able to perform live on
stage.” Stay Jay added. He however advised the aspiring artistes and the
youth in general to refrain from drugs and rather stay focused, work
hard always put God first in all their endeavours. The ‘Se Aba’ singer
said he considers himself a role model and as such owes it to himself
and his fans to be an exemplary figure who leads a lifestyle worthy of
emulating.
Stay Jay also expressed his interest in curbing the
canker of substance abuse especially among the youth and said that he
has plans in the pipeline to collaborate with the National Narcotics
Control Board (NACOB) and other authorities to embark on a campaign to
create more awareness on drug abuse.
Stay Jay is currently
promoting two singles, the club banger “Se Aba” featuring ‘Guru’ and the
Afro Pop tune “Mugu” which he features the Hip Life group ‘4X4’.
According to the camp of the singer, the videos for both songs would be
officially launched soon.
The full list of Ghanaian movie
stars, who are going for this year’s 67th Cannes film festival in
France, has reached GhanaCelebrities.Com; unfortunately, none of our
Kumawood actors found their way into the list.
Organizers of
Ghana Movie Awards GMA promised the media in 2011 that they had a
memorandum of understanding with the organizers of the deluxe
internationally acclaimed Cannes film festival in France; so annually,
they shall take some winners of the award scheme to the said film
festival.
In the year 2012, organizers of the award scheme issued
a press release headlined: “Final List of Ghanaian Movie Stars Going to
Cannes Film Festival This Year.” The list revealed the list of actors
and actress the organizers had shortlisted to attend the 65th festival
de Cannes. They were eleven in number.
The names were: Nadia
Buari, Jackie Appiah, Van Vicker, Majid Michel, Yvonne Nelson, Yvonne
Okoro, John Dumelo, Chris Attoh, Juliet Ibrahim, Prince David Osei and
Martha Ankomah. Riffing through the list carefully, one would note that
none of our Kumawood or Twi-oriented movie actors/actress is/are in the
list.
On the entertainment journalists’ side were: Osarfo Anthony
– Flex newspaper, Attractive Mustapha Ayinde – Flex
newspaper/Ghanamovie.net, Ameyaw Debrah – Ameyawdebrah.com, Chris
Vincent Agyapong Febiri – GhanaCelebrities.Com, and Eugene Osafo Nkansah
– Peace fm.
I – Osarfo Anthony ( now with GhanaCelebrities.Com),
managed to get accreditation from the organizers of Cannes film
festival in 2012, but, Ghana Movie Award organizers could not secure my
visa date earlier so the Embassy refused me visa; hence, my inability to
attend the film festival.
A reliable source close to the
organizers of GMA, forwarded to GhanaCelebrities.Com, the full list of
Ghanaian movie actors who have been approved by the organizers of Cannes
film festival to attend this year’s 67th edition starting from May 14
to 25, 2014. Below is the list:
Jackie Appiah: 12F540GC97, Yvonne
Nelson: 11T56NM640, Juliet Ibrahim: 14L481WL422, Nadia Buari:
11Q935NW366, Yvonne Okoro: 11R333NA508, Chris Attoh: 12K431NG460, Fred
Nuamah: 11V954MM836, John Dumelo: 11X886KL265, Van Vicker: 12L792NN521,
Majid Michel: 11O213ND254, Prince David Osei: 12M491NK640
According
to our source, the organizers of GMA actually sent 40 names (including
some Kumawood actors) to the organizers of Cannes film festival but the
latter approved only the 11 stars above.
Again,riffing through
the list carefully, one would note that none of our Kumawood or
Twi-oriented movie actors/actress is/are in the list.
WhenGhanaCelebrities.Comcontacted Fred Nuamah, he refused to comment on
the issue.
However, in 2012 when the organizers of GMA failed to
take any Kumawood actor to the Cannes, the main reason Fred Nuamah gave
on Peace fm’s ‘Entertainment Review’ was that, majority of the Kumawood
stars don’t have website or online presence – Wikipedia, Google,
LinkedIn, Instagram, Tweeter, Facebook, WiseGeek, etc. hence, their
disqualification by the organizers of the film festival.
In a
separate interview with Kumawood actor Kwaku Nkansah aka Lil Win who won
– Best Supporting Actor, some weeks back, he told GhanaCelebrities.Com
that he has not heard anything from the organizers of GMA concerning the
trip to this year’s Cannes.
He explained further that, the organizers have not called for his passports to secure any visa for him for the film festival.
GhanaCelebrities.Com
is still following up on this story to fish out which entertainment
journalists Fred Nuamah and his team shall be taking to this year’s
Cannes film festival. Keep your fingers crossed.
Shirley Frimpong Manso and Leila
Djansi have been touted by movie critics as not just being the two
female leading film makers in Ghana, but the leading film makers in
Ghana who are putting the country on the international map for the
production of quality movies – but there has been little talk on who is
superior of the two. In fact, their rivalry, be it friendly or
competitive has not been stoked until award-winning actor; John Dumelo
stroked it last week.
During the premiere of the latest movie
from the stables of Sparrow Productions, John Dumelo, who stars in the
movie alongside the likes of Jocelyn Dumas, and O.C Ukeje took the stage
and stated, “There is Hollywood, there is Bollywood and then there is
Shirley Frimpong Manso making Africa proud.”
His statement came
after producer/Director of the movie had passed her comments on the
movie and the cast. According to Shirley, “John’s role and performance
in the movie is the best thus far.”
Ironically, John Dumelo won
his first major award at the 2013 Ghana Movie Awards in his performance
in the Leila Djansi film, ‘Northern Affari’ which also featured Jocelyn
Dumas.
Shirley’s latest movie, “Love Or Something Like That’ was
showcased last week at the National Theatre and was heavily attended by
many including Hon. Oye Lithur and other dignitaries, movie stars and
movie fanatics.
