AND A.B CRENTSIL WEPT...

He was so overcome by emotion that as a short documentary on his music career was shown to the audience at the MTN Legends and Legacy (LAL) Ball at the Accra International Conference Centre last Saturday, AB Crentsil could not hold back the tears.

His wife held herself together, wiped away the tears and cuddled him like a baby being consoled by its mother.

Until that moment came, the highlife superstar had been profusely praised for his abundant contribution to the progress of popular music in this country and a string of well-known, younger artistes had done their takes of some of his popular songs.

They included Castro, Raquel, Koo Ntakara, Kwabena Kwabena, Efya and No Tribe. King Ayisoba was on stage but did not play any AB Crentsil song.

It was not only the known artistes who rendered AB Crentsil songs on the night. Presidential candidate in the 2012 elections, Hassan Ayariga did a rousing version of Juliana and actor Kofi Adjorlolo was simply great doing the ever-popular Moses.He sang and played his trumpet as well.

Attendance at the Imajin Advertising-organised event to honour AB Crentsil was fair considering the fact it rained in most parts of Accra in the early evening and there were other major entertainment programmes in the city.

Former President, John Kuffuor was at the event. He was present at the 2011 LAL Ball where Daddy Lumba was honoured and made it to the celebration of Amakye Dede last year. When emcee Kwami Sefa Kayi announced that the Gentle Giant had been to all three LAL Balls, the audience clapped for him.

It was a great opportunity for the featured artistes to do justice to some of AB Crentsil’s composition. It was a delight to hear the unique touches they all brought to the material of a man they have a lot of respect for.

Raquel, for instance, did a splendid version of Akpeteshie while Efya soared high and high into the jazz firmament with I Don’t Know Why. Kwabena displayed his mastery of the highlife medium with Obi Baa Wiase and Castro was spot-on with Aboa Oni Dua.

It was an enjoyable affair for the audience as some of them danced their hearts away, obviously happy to be present on the night when that giant highlife star was celebrated.

The man himself later took to the stage and performed some of his classic pieces like Angelina, Atea, Papa Samo, Obi Baa Wiase and Adwoa. It was way past 1.00am on Sunday then, but some of the audience still had enough energy left to shake their bodies to his scintillating highlife.

Bassist Dan Grahl and his Shabo Crew were in good form as the carpet band. They appeared to have rehearsed well with all the artistes they backed.

A number of presentations were made to AB Crentsil as well as his wife on behalf of MTN, Imajin Advertising and the Musicians Union of Ghana. AB Crentsil turns 70 next January and the 2013 MTN Legends and Legacy (LAL) Ball was definitely an appropriate pre-birthday gift from Imajin Advertising.

Sponsors and supporters of the 2013 MTN Legends and Legacy Ball included Global Access, Special Ice, GTP NuStyle, Jandel Limited, Oak Plaza Hotel, Sign Language, Golden Tree, Jaanam Car Rentals, Starbites Food and Drink, Atitiriw Magazine, Dream Oval and Digital Innovations. 

WHY I WANT TO MARRY NADIA BUARI ––JIM IYKE

For those who are still doubting his sincerity and all those women in his past who are trying to distract him with story of pregnancy and all that, Jim Iyke said he is a changed man and has decided to settle with his new found love and that person is no other than Ghanian actress Nadia Buari.
Below is what Jim Iyke said about his plans for Nadia Buari…

“Yes we have discussed marriage. But we are taking it one step at a time. I am actually at a point where starting a family is becoming an attractive proposition. Nadia and I have been to Nigeria and my family members love and adore her.”

Since his family members are already in support, haters should please give them a space!

GOD WANTS TO TAKE BACK THE TALENT HE HAS GIVEN YOU – PROPHET TELLS WIZKID

A certain Wizkid fan posted a prophecy on popular social media forum, Nairaland and the post has since generated a lot of buzz…
Check-Out the Prophecy below:

“This is a prophecy for Wizkid, God wants you back, he wants to take back the talent he has given you. He wants you to start singing for him. Thus saith the lord. God’s eternal salvation plan confounds human logic. Humans expect salvation to come in ways humans normally experience it like through strong, powerful, authority figures.

God promises to bring salvation that will transform the world’s power structures. Please this should be taken seriously, this is from me to you Wizkid.  You know I’m right, the dreams and the strange sensation of awe you experience most times, that’s God, come to him and the joy you think you have now will be smithereens where his joy is”

IT’S TRUE; I WAS NEARLY BEATEN IN BOLGA – A.B. CRENTSIL CONFIRMS 'ATIA' RUMOR

Music legend, Alfred Benjamin Crentsil, simply known on stage as A.B. Crentsil, has confirmed over a decade-old humourous rumour that he was nearly beaten in the north for one of his all-time hit songs – Atia.

AB narrated how he jumped a wall  to safety in a middle of a concert in the North with an angry fan swearing to beat him up for allegedly referring to Northerners as drunkards.

For years, a story was told about A.B. Crentsil, usually in a comic setting, that he went to Bolgatanga, Upper East regional capital, to stage a concert there.`

A.B. Crentsil, at his prime, and at his best on the day, played all his known songs to thrill his fans, but cautiously refrained from singing Atia: the song that had generated huge controversy which inadvertently mocked natives of Bolga at the time.

The song talked about two guys from the area who came down south to hustle for a decent living. One took to drinking hard liquor – akpeteshie, said to be 100% alcohol by volume – and habitually got heavily intoxicated. His obviously frustrated and disheartened colleague advised him without success to stick to their time-tested, less volume liquor called Pito: a locally brewed beer from their hometown.

But the drunk developed a thick skin and warded off all the useful advice given him. To cut a long story short, he died of his ignoble behaviour.

Though the story has a moral footing, according to A.B. Crentsil, it was lost on his northern fans. They felt he was portraying them as drunkards.

To cap the underlining humour, one of the disgruntled fans stood out of the audience and demanded why A.B. Crentsil would not play his popular Atia song. The displeased fellow proceeded to bare his teeth at the musician and told him point blank – whether he played the song or not he would be beaten.

What made the rumour even more hilarious was how the angry young man reportedly 'butchered' the Twi language in a way many northerners would when learning the language.

Speaking on Joy FM's Personality Profile with Bola Ray on Drive Time on Thursday A.B. Crentsil confirmed the story was no rumour but staggering truth which endangered his life.

He recalled on that fateful day, he announced to the audience that he was going to play one more song to end the first part of the show, that song was definitely not Atia.

The gentleman, he said, started cursing from the crowd and swore that whether that track was played or not he would not go scot free. At this point, A.B narrated that he was expecting nothing than beatings. He was scared to the bone.

He said he quickly dashed to the backstage, jumped out of a wall to safety. He left the rest of the team behind to continue the concert.

He said how he managed to come to Accra, unhurt is history now.
Addressing the moral undertone of the song, A.B said too much of everything is bad so he was advising against excessive intake of alcohol without any iota of intention to ridicule the people of Bolgatanga or northerners in general.

He was somewhat remorseful for using them, but said it could have been any other tribe without malice.
He also denied that the evergreen hit song 'Moses' was banned by government.

YOU DON’T MAKE SENSE - SARKODIE FUMES

Sarkodie, winner of Ghana’s Most Influential Artiste Award has told NEWS-ONE he is not happy about how a section of Ghanaian journalists are delighted in writing negative stories that “do not make sense” about the country’s musicians. The musician said while journalists in other countries are putting their musicians in good light, Ghanaian journalists are doing the exact opposite. He cited two instances which he felt the Ghanaian media was giving him negative publicity. NEWS-ONE publishes an unedited transcript of exactly what Sarkodie said when the paper recently asked him to clarify reports that he had a problem with the media: “What I was trying to say is that I have travelled around the world and I see what goes on in different countries. I have been to Nigeria and when I listen to their radio, it is as if there is no bad press or negative publicity unless it is very negative. Of course if you go rape somebody, they have to talk about it. That one is different. But we have some type of negative publicity here that is not needed. I can choose to talk about it because I think I am in a safe place, I have my fan base and I do what I am supposed to do. But I feel for the new ones coming up because there are a lot of talents and videos coming up which we can talk about on the morning shows for people to understand that there is a new guy out who is rapping or singing. I launched my foundation on my birthday. I went to a children’s home in Kasoa to give them whatever. I had sponsors on and I brought the media in. But the media report I had about that donation was that ‘Sarkodie dances with orphans’ which does not make sense. You understand? I did not go to dance with the orphans. They said I performed my tracks but if you were there, I did not do a single song. They did not even show a picture of what I offered to the kids. So this makes me wonder, did they just want something? I don’t get it. Sometimes it just gets tiring. I was just trying to make people understand that the media is the only way that people outside can know what is going on in the industry. And when the media fights for artistes, they are fighting for Ghana. The main reason why Channel O cannot come to Ghana to do a show is because we do not have handful of strong artistes in Ghana. But we have the people who are capable; all they need is push and publicity. If we have that fan base here, journalists are going to make money, not through artistes making money but by writing proposals to big companies. For example if you send a proposal and you have five Ghanaian artistes, the promoter may think twice on whether to do it or not. But if you go to Nigeria and you mention P Square, Wizkid, D’Banj, you can make your money right there. I mean on the table. So you see, it runs down and comes back to us. So if the media is talking for Sarkodie or R2Bees or Guru or Stay Jay or anybody else, it is for Ghana. What I am saying is that when I go on the blogs, I keep reading negative stuff. I tweeted and I said something about Sarkology and the release and all that. No one called me to ask about the date and what we are to expect. But Akon comes down to say I did not sign Sarkodie and that is major news, and it does not make sense. That was basically what I was talking about.

 

ODARTEY LAMPTEY CAUGHT ELIKEM FLIRTING WITH WIFE THRICE

Highly placed sources close to former Black Stars Player, Nii Odartey Lamptey, have insisted in interviews with XYZ News that the football star, on three different occasions, caught Ghana’s 2013 representative to the Big Brother Africa competition, Elikem Kumordzi, flirting with his (Odartey's) wife in their matrimonial home.

The sources said Odartey Lamptey endured bouts of similar instances of infidelity during his 20 years of marriage to his wife Gloria.

Odartey Lamptey, recently discovered, through paternity tests, that none of the three daughters he apparently fathered with his wife, are his biological children.

The oldest of the three girls is Khadija, 19 years; the second, Moyesha is 18 and the last girl, Latifa, is seven years old.

Elikem’s name was first mentioned by Okay FM’s Abeiku Santana Thursday November 28.

He however tweeted on Friday denying the allegations and calling his accusers “fools”. 

XCLUSIV FOTOS: ONE WEEK CELEBRATION OF RONNIE COACHES

Yesterday November 28, 2013 was exactly one week since the untimely demise of Ronnie Coaches, one half of Hiplife group Buk Bak.

The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) led by Nana K.O Duah (a.k.a. Tic-Tac), who is the Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Branch of MUSIGA, put together a one week celebration at King Solomon Dansoman Accra, from 8am.

Some of the notable faces and stakeholders from the showbiz fraternity present included; Bolaray from Joy FM, Peace FM’s Kwasi Aboagye, Samini and his High Grade Family, Amanda Jissi, Shegee, Trigmatic, DJ Black, Nana Kontihene, Gospel singer Bernard Amankwa, Kobby Rana, Actor Eddie Nartey, Tic Tac, Dr. Pounce among others.

Ronnie family and families of some of his baby mothers were also present. Speaking of Peace FM’s Entertainment Review yesterday, Mr. Decarlo Coaches father of the late Ronnie Coaches said it is not part of the Gas tradition to celebrate one week of someone’s death but MUSIGA put the one week celebration together so they were there to support as his family.

Mr. Coaches confirmed that indeed his dead son left behind multiple baby mothers as already speculated in the media. He disclosed that officially as a father he can confirm that he is aware of four different kids with four different mothers.

Mr. Coaches added that he is not surprise a lot of women are coming up claiming they had an affair with his son because his son is a very handsome man and popular music star and obviously he would attract a lot of women so he wouldn’t be surprise if a lot more women own up as his girlfriend.

About the funeral arrangement, Mr. Coaches said MUSIGA will open a book of condolence at its offices after which the funeral committee would announce the date for the final funeral rite.

The ex-member of Buk Bak hiplife group, Ronnie, 36, died Thursday morning November 21 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after a heart attack.