PARAGLIDING SITE NOT READY FOR KWAHU EASTER CELEBRATION

With exactly four weeks away from the much anticipated Kwahu Easter celebrations, a study Flex newspaper conducted in some Kwahu districts has revealed that one of the attraction centres of the Easter celebrations is not ready and there is no sign of its preparation.

Our team of correspondents including entertainment radio presenters with Life fm in Nkawkaw have reported that there is no activity nor preparation at Atibie where the Paragliding activities take place. With pictures to support their report, the team of observers have revealed that the Paragliding grounds is still rough, the road leading to the grounds is not cleared thoroughly for motorist and there was no official representative there to provide answers to their questions.

The team made up Osarfo Kwabeng Emmanuel popularly known as (OKE) and Emmanuel Logah both of Life 98.7 fm were at the Paragliding site last week and the only person they encountered there was one security person, who gave his name as Tetteh. According to Tetteh, he has been keeping the place tidy as he weeds the surroundings himself anytime he finds the place bushy.
Among other things, these were some of the issues they raised in their observation. “Aside Tetteh`s manual weeding around where his security post is, there has not been any clearing around the place. Even as it stands, two vehicles cannot drive pass each other on the road leading to the site as one would have to park to give way to the other to drive smoothly.

The minister of Road and Transport was here to inspect the road for work to be done, but nothing has started yet. The road to the site is also very dusty and not friendly to motorist so we are appealing to stakeholders to intervene as quickly as possible to make the celebration a worthwhile one. Often times, people go the Paragliding site and they become disappointed because of harsh conditions. Even the main road on the Atibie mountains is not in the best of shape so they should consider working on that one too” our respondents filed this report.

Attempts to get Mr Ben Anane Nsiah who happens to be the Manager of special events at the Tourism Ministry proved futile as his contact number could not be reached as of the time we were preparing for press.

‘GET YOUR BRAINS BLEACHED’ – JULIET IBRAHIM BLASTS THOSE ACCUSING HER OF BLEACHING

Actress Juliet Ibrahim went gaga on people who have been accusing her of bleaching her skin.

The angered actress stated: “Those accusing others of bleaching obviously needs to bleach their brains; common sense is a necessity in life and bleaching brains will help! Funniest bs talk I hv ever heard! Lmao, people are so dumb jeez, how can a mixed race/ mulatto be accused of bleaching? Like seriously? Lmao.”

‘I’VE NOT MET A WOMAN I CAN DIE FOR’- D’BANJ

A number of high profile ladies like Genevieve Nnaji, Jennifer Obayuwana and Nadia Buari have been linked with superstar musician, D’Banj, yet in an interview with popular UK On-Air-Personality Tim Westwood, he revealed that he has not met a woman he can die for.

Speaking about his recent single ‘Bother You’ a soundtrack for the movie ‘Half of a Yellow Sun‘ which is based on the novel of the same name by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, the entertainer revealed that the love story behind the movie inspired the song.

‘The song is about finding that person you can die for, I have not met a woman I can die for,’ D’banj said.

Hmmn, one wonders how the Koko Master’s ex’s will feel about that statement…

SHATTA WALE HARASSED IN CANADA!

The never-ending feud between Shatta Wale and Samini making headlines every week becomes boring but when accusations of harassment, molestation and sabotage are raised – such situations must be reported.

Over the weekend, Shatta Wale and his SM4LF posse were in Canada for a series of performances in what was expected to be a good avenue for the artiste to extend his popularity and showmanship to others outside Ghana but such expectations went awry.

According to reports, on Saturday 2nd March, 2014, some unexpected troupe of guys entered the hotel room and manhandled Shatta Wale and others. It was quite baffling to Shatta’s team as to how the guys got access to the hotel premises and to the room of Shatta Wale.

Bull Dog, manager for Shatta Wale, in recounting the episode to Razz Newspaper stated that they were in the hotel when some guys came around and wanted to attack them which resulted in some serious arguments and shoving in the hotel room.

Strangely, Samini was nowhere in Canada and nowhere close to the incident but BullDog is accusing the artiste of masterminding the harassment on his artiste. According to Bulldog, right after the unfortunate incident at the hotel in Canada, Samini updated his twitter page, writing the following; “Toronto is my turf..Just in case you didn’t know. HGF to da world. Akyesaaaaa LOL”

In a separate interview with the promoter for Golden Empire Productions/Sam Tuga’s Promotions, Mr. Samuel K. Agyei, he confirmed that the alleged attackers went to Toronto Airport Quality Suite Hotel to harass Shatta and his team but luckily, they called some security officers to their rescue.

Mr. Agyei stated that he sensed some danger with the purported attack and in taking precautionary measure, he moved Shatta from the Toronto Airport Quality Suite Hotel to a different hotel but he did not disclose the new hotel.

When asked if the attackers had confirmed that they were sent by Samini, he said that all indications confirms so and also, from the investigations conducted, Samini is the most possible character whose identity comes to mind but at the appropriate time, Samini shall be exposed.

When Razz Newspaper contacted Tony Pun, Samini’s manager, he rubbished the story and said that Shatta Wale’s issues are not important to them at High Grade Family, and he also gave the reporter a stern advice that he should not be called on issues concerning Shatta Wale.

Shatta Wale has over the years been making allegations in all his interviews on radio and television as well as on social media platforms, that, Samini has been blackmailing him to event organizers, especially, music promoters abroad. However, he’s never been able to pull out any evidence or proof to substantiate his claims.

TRUST US - VGMA BOARD TELLS PUBLIC

A confident Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) Board has asked all stakeholders in the Ghana music industry, especially artistes and their fans to continue to trust the Board to deliver the best nominees available for recognition in the annual awards.

Since the release of the nominees list some three weeks ago, some artistes and industry watchers whose expectations were not met by their non- appearance on the list, have expressed various reservations about the nominees selection.

But Mrs Theresa Ayoade, CEO of Charterhouse has asked the general public to calm down and appreciate the work of the Board.

“We are asking everyone to trust us” she told Showbiz yesterday when some members of the Board paid a working visit to Graphic Showbiz.

Accompanied by other members of the Board comprising renowned musician Ben Brako, MUSIGA president Obour, Nii Ayite Hammond and Eli Tettey of Charterhouse, the team took their time to explain the major concerns bothering the minds of music enthusiasts.

Addressing the New Artiste category brouhaha which has Joey B, Kumi Guitar and Akwaboah as nominees, Mrs Ayoade made it clear that Kumi Guitar did a song for producer Sugar Tone in 2012 but released his own song in 2013 and that qualified him as a new

She also explained that Akwaboah wrote songs for an artiste which won him the Best Songwriter in 2012. However he is now out with his own music which makes him a new artiste, just as Joey B who officially released his Strawberry Ginger in 2013.

Commenting on lyrical content, Obour said that there was a difference between explicit lyrics and suggestive lyrics and that the Board worked extra hard to ensure that no explicit songs made their way into the nominations.

According to him, it is the radio presenters who should be blamed for playing songs with explicit content on their platforms instead of insisting on radio edits of such songs.

“Whenever a musician does an adult song, he is expected to do the radio edit of it but for some | reasons, radio presenters prefer to play the unedited one which is no fault of the artiste”.

Another issue that the Board touched on was the release dates of songs. Mrs Ayoade said it is difficult to tell when a song is released since musicians now use different media to release their songs.

“Some musicians release their songs on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and other forms of social networks so it makes it difficult to j determine when a song is actually released but our committed members do as much as they can to figure out when a song was released.”

Citing an example of Sonnie Badu’s Wonder God which many say I was released in 2012 and therefore did not qualify for an award for 2013, Mrs Ayoade explained that someone uploaded a live concert performance of Sonnie Badu’s Wonder God in 2012 when he had not officially released it and placed it on social media.

She also explained that although the song Slow Down was on R2bees 2013 album together with some award-winning singles that had been released a year earlier, that particular song was released first on the 2013 album and not earlier.

Concluding, members of the Board took turns to urge the public to continue to have confidence in the VGMA Board because the Board is composed of individuals with varied skills and knowledge in the music industry.

“It is most unlikely that any of us will place personal interests above that of the industry that we serve, said Ben Brako.

“This award scheme has been so designed that it takes into account various tiers of control including the general public and therefore the public voice is as important as that of everyone else”, he said.

According to the programme of events, the VGMA Nominees Jam comes off in Tamale on April 5 with top musicians including Sarkodie, Samini, and last year's Artiste of the Year - R2Bees.

The show will also feature 'crowd pleasers' such as Castro, Bisa Kdei, Stonebwoy, Joyce Blessing and other surprise acts. More than 40, 000 music fans are expected to be at this free concert at the Tamale Sports Stadium.

A VGMA Industry Awards Night has been scheduled for the Alisa Hotel in Accra on April 26 and The VGMA main Awards Night comes off on May 3 at the Accra International Conference Centre.

OBOUR HOT AGAIN OVER CASH FOR ARTISTES

Though the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) has often trumpeted the need for event organizers to respect performance contracts they sign with artistes, the Union has committed the same blunder.

News One has gathered that several of the artistes MUSIGA contracted to perform at the 2014 Ghana Music Week’s GH All-Star Live Concert, have not been paid weeks after the event, though their contract said they would be paid exactly a week after the concert.

The Union’s President, Bice ‘Obour’ Kuffour, is in a rather tight corner owing to the development. Though several of the musicians have expressed disappointment over the development, only a few of them have spoken publicly about the matter for fear of victimization by the Union.

One of the few vocal ones is Karl Gidiglo, manager of dancehall sensation Stonebwoy, who said MUSIGA had not paid his artiste.

Stonebwoy earlier threatened to boycott GMW’s concert because the money MUSIGA offered to pay him was not enough, but he later agreed to perform because of the love he has for his fans.

The Union, according to Karl, was expected to pay Stonebwoy a week after the event but “it has been two weeks and still MUSIGA hasn’t paid my artiste.”

“I have called the MUSIGA office twice and each time I call, they tell me they are holding meetings… they will get back to us. It is cool, we are alright. We are fine with no beef, but my problem is that we shouldn't wait for my musician to go overboard before they (MUSIGA) start calling us. We kept our end of the deal and performed on the night. They don’t have to wait for my artiste to go on social media again and tweet about this,” Stonebwoy’s manager told News One.

He added that he was really disappointed and wondered how other event organizers should behave if MUSIGA, which is supposed to champion the welfare of musicians, acted in that manner.

“After all this, they don’t have to let me chase them for the money due my artiste. If the Union, which is supposed to fight for the interest of musicians is not paying us to become who they want us to become, then what are we looking at. I see MUSIGA as an organization that is supposed to grow artistes, not to deny them what is rightfully theirs,” he said.

Daddy Bosco, administrator of MUSIGA, declined to comment when News One reached him over the matter. In an uncharacteristic fashion, he said the paper could go ahead with a one-sided story if it so wished.

Meanwhile, News One has gathered that MUSIGA was expecting funds from some of its sponsors to fulfill its financial obligations to the artistes it contracted.

The Union, which is said to be in talks with some of the artistes, has called for calm.

YOUNG MEN CHASE ME AT 52 - ADJOA PEE

Veteran Ghanaian actress Adjoa Pee says that though she is 52, young men still chase her, thinking she is still in her 30s.

Adjoa Pee currently lives a comfortable life with her six children in her own house and says she now spends most of her time at the gym and has great interest for sports.

In the following interview, she tells NEWS-ONE’s Francis Addo that the Ghanaian movie industry now is about money and fame but not about celebrating Ghana’s beautiful culture and history.

You have been in the industry for over 20 years. Give us a glimpse of the nature of the industry back then.

I’ve been in this industry for 27 years. When we started it was fun, sweet and natural talent at its best. Money was not the issue. Even though there was very little, it was the love for the industry. We ‘killed’ ourselves for it because we loved it. Compared to now it’s for the money. Those days, we used to care so much about our fans so what we gave to them meant a lot for us. And thank God I still receive that kind of warmth from my fans.

Do you think there is less dedication and discipline now?

Yes, very much so. Everyone wants to be a star. They want to be popular, so there is no discipline. They have thrown away our beautiful culture and are copying blindly. Producers are getting tired of using artistes for a long time; the same people they used to build the industry.

What do you think may have caused this?

Hmmm! Money! Money! Some producers will not take their time to do a good work. They only think more of the money involved and how many movies they can do within a short time. We must refrain from that and take it one at time and get a good story told. Actors Guild has not been of good help to the industry at all. I know they will not like it but that’s a fact. They’ve been there themselves and not the industry as a whole. I was not surprised when Kumasi came up with Kumawood. Now they are doing much better than we in Accra in terms of movies. Even now Accra artists have to go and seek roles in Kumasi. I am personally happy for them because in all the regions my biggest fans come from Kumasi. I am proud of them.

Please refresh our memories about Adjoa Pee and how she started acting.

This year will actually mark 28 years since Afro Moses the musician featured me in his music video. It made the producer for the Weekend Rendezvous programme at GBC, the late Adjoa Abankwah Duodu, to take an interest in me and ask me to be visiting her office. Through That, I had my script for my very first role on TV Theatre. Then I had a role in Osofo Dadzie series and that was my breakthrough.

What have you been up to lately?

Now I am still in the acting business. I am also working on my own production but lack of funds has slowed me down. This year, I am going back to it because I don’t want to kill a good story.

Do you envy the current crop of hot actresses?

(Laughs) I don’t at all because it is also their time. I have been there and I know how it feels. Whatever fame they have now, I had it 10 times in our days. Because in our time, you had no other choice but to watch Adjoa Pee on the only TV station in the country. My goodness! I really enjoyed my time and I am still, so there is nothing like envy. They rather show respect when they meet me. I have come very far and still counting. Let me say this: one morning I was going to drop my kids at school and while stuck in traffic jam on the motorway roundabout, I saw on my left a school bus loaded with school kids. They started shouting and making all kinds of noise on seeing me. I waved at them and it was like Christmas for them. I asked my kids, ‘so how do you feel when you are with me and you witness this?’ And they said “proud” I told them that to me it’s a huge responsibility. It makes me check myself. In our days there was a cloth named after me at Makola.

Are you still married?

No, I am still happily divorced (laughs).

Was he an actor too?

Yes, Kojo Demanya.

Did you meet him through acting?

Yes and no, but I don’t want to talk about that.

How many children so far?

I have six boys.

You still look young and sexy. Are you likely to marry again?

A million dollar question, but a very simple answer—no comment. But no doubt I am still hot and wanted.

How old are you now and how do you maintain your looks?

I have no peace at all with the young guys. Age means nothing to them. I am 52 years and they think I should go to Osu cemetery and ask my mum again about my age (laughs). I am always considered to be in my late 30s or early 40s. I simply take good care of myself. I love the gym.

How often do you stay at the gym? I go from Mondays to Saturdays.

Having acted for so many years, will you say it is profitable to act?

Personally, whatever I have achieved in life is not through acting, but my own means. But it has paved a way for my goals. So in a way it’s been profitable.

Will you consider yourself one of the richest veteran actresses around?

Of course and I am proud of myself.

I hear you are a proud owner of a lot of houses in town.

(Laughed) I only have a four-bedroom house built from my hard work. It was always my dream.

Is Adjoa Pee dating?

Mmm I am dating.

Who is he?

I will hold it close to my chest for now! Haahaha

But is he one of the young men?

Hahahaha! No comment!

Thanks for your time.

Pleasure! I must say I have enjoyed it.