Ghanaian Movie stars, Grace Nortey,
David Dontoh and Sinking Sands actress, Ama K. Abebrese, are among those
whose names have been making the rounds as having been offered roles in
Idris Elba’s movie being shot in Ghana.
Elba arrived in Ghana for the production entitled, ‘Beasts of No Nation,’ more than a week ago.
Directed
by Cary Funkunaga, ‘Beasts of No Nation’ is a film adaptation of
Uzodinma Iweala’s 2005 novel that takes its title from the 1989 album –
‘Beats of No Nation' – by Fela Ransome Kuti, the late Nigerian Afro beat
artiste.
Iweala’s book tells the story of Agu, a child soldier
in an unnamed West African country. Elba according to reports is playing
the Commandant – the ruthless head of the guerrilla group – that forces
Agu to join their ranks.
The movie is expected to be Elba’s next big production in Africa, after playing Nelson Mandela in ‘Long walk to Freedom’.
Veteran Ghanaian movie stars, David Dontoh and Grace Nortey, were spotted on set at a location in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
Ama
K. a onetime Africa Movie Award best actress, according to News-One
sources, was also in there, playing the mother of Agu in the Movie.
What is not clear is the identity of the boy who would play Agu.
The CEO of Sonnie Badu Ministries,
Badu Homes and the Worship Radio, Sonnie Badu has added another business
to his list of businesses.
The music icon has opened a day care
centre in London to cater for toddlers and children. The Day Care Centre
dubbed Dizney Day Care caters for children aged five years and below.
The
International Gospel Sensation who also doubles as a football agent, an
Aircraft and Jet Consultant, believes his love for children made him
invest in a Day Care Centre. He further believes that aside from his
singing prowess to win souls for the kingdom, his God given gifts should
also be channeled into his business life, hence the establishment of
the Day Care Centre.
In an interview at his base in London,
Sonnie explained that “being a gospel musician does not mean you have to
be poor, but you actually stand the place and chance of receiving ideas
to help change your generation”.
“I have great passion for kids;
they are our future leaders, so I believe giving them a great
foundation is a good fundamental for their future. Also nursery in
London is big business”. Sonnie further called on all Ghanaians to join
hands in prayers for the over 200 girls who had been kidnapped in Chibok
in Nigeria.
The Dizney Day Care which has officially started
operation was launched by Pastor Kingsley Appiagyei of the Trinity
Baptist Church in London.
Meanwhile, Sonnie who just rounded the
“Teach Me How To Worship Concert” that drew many souls to Christ in May,
is preparing for the biggest live recording project on August 2 at the
New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, USA. The project is dubbed
“Africa goes Classic in America” and would feature three top American
stars. There would be hymns and spiritual songs by Sonnie Badu. The
project would be backed by String for Christ Orchestra.
Tickets
for the “Africa Goes Classic in America” are available on
www.sonniebadu.com and it are pegged at $15, $25, $50 and $35 for
standard, couples, for a group of 5 and for VIP respectively. Dress code
for the event is black tie for men and native attire for women.
The
“Africa Goes Classic in America” is supported by the Worship Radio,
Sonnie Badu Ministries, Plan It live, Afrique and Smartty’s Management
and Production.
After allegations early this year
that he has been sidelined by movie producers in the Ashanti region for
openly displaying his political colors and rallying behind the National
Democratic Congress in the 2012 elections, the Fanti speaking witty
actor, Clement Bonney, says his support for the ruling party will remain
unshaken.
Describing movie producers who have refused to engage
his services because of his political affiliation as “immature”, Mr
Beautiful as he is affectionately called, stated that political
differences should not bring about enmity between people.
Reacting
to a texter’s question to an entertainment program on ETV over the
weekend on why he joined politics, the audacious actor wondered why
celebrities who openly mounted campaign platforms and compose songs for
the New Patriotic Party’s 2008 and 2012 presidential candidate were not
given the demeaning same treatment.
“Four years ago celebrities
in this country supported Nana Akufo-Addo, but no one raised concern
about their involvement in politics, so why the fuss over mine. I can
assure you that I’ll forever remain NDC and support President Mahama
1000 times,” Mr Beautiful vowed.
Adding “anybody who thinks that
way is immature. Our political affiliations should not make us enemies…I
will continue to support President Mahama and NDC.”
Asked about
why he speaks Fanti in movies when most of the productions are done in
the Ashanti region and the scripts written in Asante Twi, the well-known
local actor retorted that he feels proud holding the flag of his mother
region, the Central region.
“I have received calls from ‘big
men’ and respected people of the Fanti land including chiefs for
speaking my native Fanti in all my movies. I can speak very good Ashanti
Twi, but I won’t use it for movies. I’m proud of my language and if a
producer gives me a script in Asante Twi I’ll reject it. My people back
home have been praising me for promoting the language,” he said.
Touching
on why movie production has been concentrated in the Ashanti region and
why other regions cannot do their own production, Mr Beautiful, in an
apparent swipe at Ghana’s populous region, stated that the Ashanti
dialect permits the use foul languages hence it is easy to use it for
movie production.
“The Northern belt frowns on the use of foul
language, it is the same in the Volta and the Southern coastal belt…,
those part of the country do not allow it either but those at the middle
belt of the country consider the use of foul language as normal, so it
is easy to produce movie in that part of the country because you have
the liberty to say all the bad things,” he explained.
According
to him the assertion that movies in the local dialect have no future is
true, explaining that “the movies are full of insults and anything made
of insults certainly has no future. That is how the language is
structured…it is full of insults.”
Single mothers rarely give up the dream of finding love and making a life with someone other than that of their baby father.
Occasionally
everything just falls beautifully into place but most of the time,
things dont work so smoothly. Sometimes the child seems to be the
obstacle to finding a mate and it takes some strength to fight the
temptation to hide the child when a potential man comes along. Screen
goddess Vicky Zugah, has been a strong single mother who says “love me,
love my child”.
Recounting her experience, she told Showbiz, “All
this time as a mom, I was hoping to meet a lover who would embrace me
and my child so we can go on to live ‘happily ever after’.
“So I
met this guy who was well-to-do and we started something. Everything
was smooth to the extent that he wanted to go down the aisle with me. I
was happy and began preparations only for him to come later and tell me
that his family was not comfortable with him having a single mother as a
partner. To me, that was bull***t so I told him I wouldn’t denounce or
hide my daughter and if that is the case then we should go our separate
ways.
“Anytime a man wants to have something to do with me, the
first thing I do is to tell him about my daughter so I did the same
thing to him and he was cool only for him to come later and give me that
excuse. I could have agreed to take my daughter to live with my mother
so I can enjoy my luxury but I didn’t and I told myself that he wasn’t
my mister right”, she said.
Vicky said that seeing her daughter
grow up healthy, intelligent and beautiful gives her satisfaction and a
reason for living. “She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me
and I will not allow any man ruin our relationship,” she said.
There
is a disconcerting myth about single mothers in our largely traditional
society that they are wayward and irresponsible but according to Vicky,
she cared less.“I made a mistake and so what, my life would not end
because of that. I love my daughter and I find joy in her and I don’t
care whatever society thinks,” she said.
Vicky acknowledged,
however, that raising a child as a single mother for the past eleven
years has been a very challenging situation. “It is tough because you
have to be the provider, the comforter, the teacher and the
disciplinarian all in one. This can be daunting because sometimes it
seems that you are on a treadmill constantly going round and round”, she
said.
Opening up for the first time about why she is not with
her baby father, Vicky said she was not ready to relocate to New York to
live there with him just as the guy was not ready to spend the rest of
his life with her in Ghana.
Vicky Zugah is from the Volta, born
to Mr. Komla Zugah and Ms Beatrice Patu. She has three siblings of which
she is the third. If she is not on set, then she is watching movies or
reading.
She started acting about 10 years ago when she was
recommended to a director. She has a large number of movies to her
credit. Among them are Keeping the Promise, Twixted, The Bible, My
Dearest Princess, Girls Connection, Stand by me, Agatha, Pretty Queen,
The Bible, The Return of Beyonce, Tears of Womanhood, Pretty Queen, True
Colours, Girls Connection, Big Girls Club, Araba Lawson, June 4th,
Cross my Heart, and Total Exchange .
She has acted alongside
other well-known actors such as Stella Damascus, Zack Orji, Muna Obikwe,
Stephanie Okereke, Eucharia Anunobi, Peter Bruno, Jackie Appiah, Majid
Michel, late Enebeli Elebua, Ramsey Nouah, Desmond Elliot, and Yvonne
Nelson.
Film producer Daniel Kwadwo Sarfo of
Peace and Love films is to face legal issues after using a house owners
property in Kwahu Obomeng to shoot his already released movie Boys Abre
which featured Porpor from Nigeria (Nollywood) without the owners
knowledge.
Meanwhile Daniel Kwadwo Sarfo has a different story to
tell as he is also defending himself that he contacted one Gideon who
was acting as the caretaker in the house when he got to Obomeng to shoot
the movie, “It’s true I and my Peace and Love production film have been
served with a writ of summons, but we don’t understand all these
happenings and we think this should not be a media thing. It is
something we are trying hard to solve but since they are not being
forthcoming with issues], we have also given it to our lawyers to handle
it for us” Sarfo told Flex newspaper last Monday.
“The secret is
that boss, we did not break into his house to do the shooting there. I
and my crew members paid some amount of money to Gideon who was taking
care of the house at that time and we even prompted him to inspect the
house before we left Obomeng.”
“After the production, my location
manager also spent three days there sorting out those we owed. So there
was nothing like we used the place and ran away from the house. When we
received their first writ of summons, we came to meet their lawyer in
Accra (Adabraka) but he will not listen to us. Nana Ama McBrown who was
part of the production even followed up to apologize on our behalf and
all proved useless so we have handed over the case to our lawyers so we
can’t do further commentary” Sarfo noted when he granted an interview to
Flex newspaper.
According to Mr. Sarfo, the owner of the house
is demanding a whooping GH50,000 from them (Peace and Love ) for
compensation but whether they will pay or not is an issue to be resolved
by their lawyers.
Meanwhile, Bob who is handling the issue for
the house owner who wants to be out of the news has also confirmed the
story to Flex newspaper adding that the case is with their lawyers so he
will not make further comments.
Ahead of his performance at
Saturday’s MTV Africa Music Award (for which he is also a nominee),
Sarkodie has picked up another international award.
He has won the Best Rap/Hiphop award at The 13th Annual Independent Music Awards for his song, ‘Illuminati’.
Willie
Sugarcapps, Vienna Teng, Valerie June, The Bankesters, Pete Seeger, The
Soul of John Black, I See Stars, Rabbit Rabbit, Sultans of String,
Elizabeth Mitchell, Marcio Novelli and Fanfara Tirana Meets Transglobal
Underground were all among the exceptional self-released and independent
label talent named by Music Resource Group (MRG) as the
judge-determined Winners of The 13th Independent Music Awards (The
IMAs), the influential international awards program for independent
bands and fans.
The veteran artists and rising stars named as
13th IMA Winners in more than 80 Album, EP, Song, Music Producer, Music
Video and Design categories were winnowed from thousands of submissions
from around the globe, and were determined by a panel of influential
artists and music industry executives.
Among the noteworthy
achievements of the 13th IMA program, Vienna Teng was named the winner
of four categories, the most any artist has received in a given year.
The self-proclaimed “chamber folk” artist was honored in the Adult
Contemporary Album, A Cappella Song, Social Action Song and Pop Song
categories.
Mree, who bills herself as an emerging, experimental
folk artist, and who is currently entrolled at NYU’s Clive Davis
Institute of Recorded Music, received top honors in the Music Producer
category for her sophomore album “Winterwell.” The judges cited the
sophisticated soundscapes that cushion the songs among the reasons for
honoring the album’s overall production.
The unique pairing of
Fanfara Tirana Meets Transglobal Underground was awarded Best Short Form
Music Video for its whimsical, stop-motion video for the song “No Guns
To The Wedding.” This collaboration between members of the Albanian
military brass band (Fanfara Tirana) and the British dance pioneers
(Transglobal Underground) was also honored for top World Beat Album.
In
the IMA Long Form Video category, Marcio Novelli was named winner for
the documentary “Marcio Novelli Presents Walking Proof,” a film that
shows the process of recording his debut album “It’s Not An Excuse, It’s
A Reason.”
One
of Ghana’s female highlife musicians, Akosua Agyepong, who is also the
Vice President of the Music Council of Ghana (MCG), has called on all
musicians in the country to unflinchingly support the Council and
promote their good works since it (MCG) belongs to all musicians and not
for a selected few.
She stated that the Council is not for or
against the action taken by about 100 musicians who have sued Carlos
Sakyi, Chairman of Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), for
allegedly dissipating funds of belonging to GHAMRO collected on behalf
of music right owners in Ghana.
Speaking in an interview on Hitz
FM, Akosua Agyepong said, “We don’t want to condemn the actions of the
musicians because they have every right to sue GHAMRO, but we would have
preferred they settled the issue quietly in peace and unity.”
The
Vice President of MCG also stressed that though MUSIGA told the Council
that it had spoken to GHAMRO on the issue several times but to no avail
hence the court action, “we plead with GHAMRO to meet with MUSIGA as
soon as possible to settle the issue amicably.”
Akosua Adjepong
also attributed the current impasse within the organisation to musicians
who have albums to their credit but have not registered with GHAMRO,
and urged all to be part of GHAMPRO.
She had also advised GHAMRO
executives to prove to musicians that they have their best interest at
heart and quickly come out to clear the allegations levelled against
them.
