Ghana Music Awards - Akon's n' dem cousins?

The MTN Ghana Music Awards is a people's choice awards scheme that seeks to foster the development of the Ghanaian music industry.



This dude is joggling between school and his music career



Campaign video...this dual won "Best Collaboration"

Log on to http://www.ghanamusicawards.com/ for more information

South African male choir scoop Grammy

South African male choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo have won their third Grammy Award at a Los Angeles ceremony.

They scooped best Traditional World Music Album for their LP Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu. They have also picked up Grammys in 1987 and 2005.

But another South African group - the Soweto Gospel Choir - lost out in their bid to win three Grammys in a row.

They had been nominated for best Contemporary World Music Album, which was instead won by Global Drum Project.

Global Drum Project is a group of four drummers, including Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead and Nigerian talking drum master Sikiru Adepoju.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo were founded in 1964 by lead singer Joseph Shabalala.

The acapella group came to international attention in the late 1980s after working with Paul Simon on his celebrated Graceland album.

SOURCE: BBC

The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit), "Kamphopo"

Enjoy...

Femi Kuti's Day by Day album teaser...

Can't wait to get my hands on this album!! By the way, he is on tour. And will be hitting DC early January.

Nigerians sweep MTV Africa awards

Kelly and Nigerian artist D'banj performed together


Wahu was emotional as she collected her prize for best female

Nigerian artists dominated the MTV Africa Music Awards (the Mamas) on their own turf in the capital city Abuja, scooping six of the 10 awards.
D'banj won both the artist of the year award and the best male award, crowning a successful year for the self-proclaimed "entertainer".
Fellow Nigerian rapper Naeto C won best new act, while 9ice won the best Hip-hop award.
Kenyan singer Wahu, who was overcome with emotion, was named best female.
She tearfully dedicated the award to her husband, fellow musician Nameless, and to her daughter who, she said, "is too young to understand how much she inspires me".

Fusion
BBC 1Xtra's Trevor Nelson hosted the show in front of a crowd of 5,000 fans in the stylishly shaped Abuja Velodrome.
Nigerian duo P-Square, who had five nominations, only managed to take home one prize for best group.
Despite not winning, the disappointed twin brothers thrilled the crowd with their stage act.
South Africa hip-hoppers Jozi won the award for the best live performers.
However, Ghanaian artist Samini revealed he was not happy the live award had gone to a "group that plays CDs and mimes".
He added: "If you say 'live' then the music has to be with a band.
"I'm not picking names but I think that the best live performer should go to a live band artist.
"I'm sorry if I'm being harsh here but I'm trying to be straightforward. If I watch you on TV and I see you with a live band, then you better do it on stage for me."
There was a cameo appearance by US rapper The Game, who gave a brief medley of his hit songs.
There were also performances by the rapper's compatriots Flo-rida, and Kelly Rowland.
Other live acts included Seun Kuti, 9ice, as well as HHP from South Africa, but it was the assortment collaborations that stole the show.

HHP came back on stage to join Nigerian singing sensation Asa on her song Jailer, and Rowland performed alongside D'banj.
But the biggest fusion was that of South African rockers Cassette, Kenyan rapper Jua Cali, and Ikechukwu and Naeto C.
American R&B singer Alicia Keys gave a video acceptance speech for winning the best R&B award, as did South African band Seether, who won the best alternative award.

Mama Africa

The legend gong went to the late Fela Kuti, the Nigerian pioneer of Afrobeat. The award was received by the star's children, Yemi and Seun.
Speaking of Kuti, Nelson said: "He was the first man I ever heard, all the way from the UK, when I heard African music for the first time it came from this man.
"There could only be one person, only one recipient."
Kuti's children joked in their acceptance speech that they would "not take this award to him yet".
"We'll keep it in our house, and when the times comes then we'll take it to him."
Out of the 11 awards given out on the night the legend award was the only one that was not chosen by the fans.

Winners were selected by fans sending text messages.
There was also a tribute to "Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who died just over a week ago.
Winners each received a Golden Microphone trophy, which has a futuristic microphone emerging from a globe of the world, with the African continent symbolically placed at the top of the world.

Even though this was an African event there were some non-African artists nominated in different categories, including Lil Wayne, The Game, Coldplay, and Keys.
African music videos were also recognized, with Nigeria's Ikechuku winning the award for the best video for his song Wind am well.

SOURCE: BBC

1st MTV 2008 Awards In Africa scheduled In Abuja Nigeria

Legendary Singer Miriam Makeba - RIP

Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who wooed the world with her sultry voice but was banned from her own country for more than 30 years under apartheid, died after collapsing on stage in Italy. She was 76.

In her dazzling career, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world -- jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon -- and sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.

"Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us," Mandela said in a statement.

He said it was "fitting" that her last moments were spent on stage.

The Pineta Grande clinic in Castel Volturno, near the southern city of Naples, said Makeba died early Monday of a heart attack.

Makeba collapsed on stage Sunday night after singing one of her most famous hits, "Pata Pata," her family said in a statement. Her grandson, Nelson Lumumba Lee, was with her as well as her longtime friend, Italian promoter Roberto Meglioli.

More online at cnn.com

why doesn't hip hop come home...to Africa

A while ago we had an article on American Hip Hop and Africa in the magazine. Tosin sent this to me, and I thought it was interesting.

Colin Powell bigs up Africa show

Colin Powell danced and sang to the Olu Maintain hit Yahooze

America's former top diplomat took centre stage along with Nigerian group Olu Maintain at the Africa Rising Festival in the Royal Albert Hall.

More seriously, he said his own black identity mattered as much as ever.

He told the audience that Africa, with hard work and foreign investment, could prosper like Asia and Eastern Europe.

US pop singer Christina Aguilera and UK-born soul singer Seal also performed at the event which saw fashion collections by Ozwald Boateng and Deola Sagoe.

'Africa's turn'

"I stand before you tonight as an African-American," Mr Powell said.

"Many people have said to me you became secretary of state of the USA, is it still necessary to say that you are an African-American or that you are black, and I say, yes, so that we can remind our children.

"It took a lot of people struggling to bring me to this point in history. I didn't just drop out of the sky, people came from my continent in chains."

A lot of wrongs had been done to Africa by Western powers faced with "an iron curtain and a bamboo curtain", he said in an apparent reference to the USSR and communist China.

But these barriers had fallen, he argued.

"Asia is expanding, it created jobs for people, and Eastern Europeans are doing the same... it's now Africa's turn."

Colin Powell, a distinguished former military commander, served as US secretary of state during the first term of the Bush administration, from 2001 to 2005.

SOURCE: BBC

Can A Sista Rock A Mic? Festival (CASRAM 08) begins WEDNESDAY!

(click on image for a larger view)

4th Annual Can A Sista Rock A Mic? Festival(CASRAM 08)

Wednesday Oct 8 thru Saturday Oct 11

http://www.canasistarockamic.com

Tosin & HalleluJazz Project @ Busboys N Poets

Hung out the other night at Busboys N Poets to listen to Tosin & the Hallelujazz Project. Some pics (Tosin is on the drums).

FELA: A New Musical

Music Project

We're currently in search of great African musicians for a project this fall and next spring. If you know of any up and coming artist we should know about, please give us a shout.

(Photo via Tosin, via Flickr.)

Esau Mwamwaya- video. Just random behind the scenes fun.

just enjoying. i hope you've heard of the star from malawi.

Sunny Okosuns dies of diabetes

Sunny Okosuns, popular musician, dies of diabetes
By David Ajiboye - 26.05.2008
RENOWNED evangelist and gospel musician, Evangelist Sunny Okosuns, is dead. He died in a United States hospital on Saturday evening.
A former president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Okosuns had been wheelchair-bound for almost six months and sources said he died of diabetes.
No official statement has been released by the family, but close associates confirmed his demise. The late Okosuns was the founder of House of Prayer Fellowship located at 10 Yaya Abatan Street, opposite Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos.
The late gospel musician is survived by an aged father and many children, including Sidney, Michael, Adesua and Ebony, the product of a sizzling romance he had with another musician, Stella Monye.
The late Okosuns performed in several concerts all over the world and released more than 20 albums in a career spaning 40 years. Speaking on his demise, Evang. (Dr.) Bola Are, President of Gospel Musicians Association of Nigeria (GOMAN), described the late musician as someone who accepted Jesus Christ before his demise.
“I saw him at the airport on his way to the United States a few months ago, I was shocked because he had emaniciated beyond recognition. He was even on the wheelchair. All GOMAN members in the country will miss him.
“I pray that God grants the family and the children the fortitude to bear the loss,” Are said. Meanwhile, the Edo State governor, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor, has commiserated with the family of the late Okosuns.
In a press statement, he described the death as a great loss to Edo State, the nation and the music industry.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/26052008/news/news3.html

Video: Esau & Radioclit & Marina Having FUN

Just saw this the other day. Esau claim to be the "Phil Collins of Africa.

Femi Kuti Soundtracks Grand Theft Auto IV

Award winning Nigerian artist, and son of the legendary Fela Kuti, provides the tunes and the talk for a radio station in the brand new Grand Theft Auto game.

GTA IV is the newest game in the very controversial video game series, arriving on consoles in about a months time.




Click here for the full story

Goapele in DC

Just when I was getting over my obsession with Goapele.

Ivory Coast's 'big-bottom' craze

Have you read/seen what's going on in I.C.? It's no longer just a hollywood type thing. Our "bottoms" expert sent this to me the other day.

A national dance craze in Ivory Coast has spawned a black market in treatments claiming to increase one's bottom size.

The dance in question has been inspired by DJ Mix and DJ Eloh's hit song Bobaraba, which means "big bottom" in the local Djoula language.

Read more

Africa Unite 2008: Smile Jamaica

Rita Marley Foundation & Bob Marley Foundation jointly present Africa Unite-Smile Jamaica 2008. The event will be held in Jamaica, February 1-23.

The Programme of Events in Celebration and Recognition of the 63rd Birthday of Bob Marley is now available on African-Unite.org.

Nigerian 2Face Idibia is slated to perform along side the Marley's and Rhianna.

Still trying to figure out how I'll make the concert. It's on February 23rd. Friends...I need ticket money :-)