Say It

My morning was met with torrential laughter when I read that top-USA based Ghanaian Film Producer/Director Leila Djansi plans on using Ghanaian singer Becca for her next moving after “Sinking Sands”.

Leila Djansi’s ability to make something out of nothing is colossal, heavily overlaid with her creative prowess but I would openly throw a bag of advice to my honourable “friend” Leila Djansi to quickly scratch any idea to “lead-role” Becca in her next movie. (more…)

We have had enough of the feud between the two fake woods, Nigeria’s Nollywood and Ghana’s Ghallywood. I would make this ‘piece as short as possible’ and give readers the chance to voice out their views. Keep comments clean, any verbal assault and senseless comments will be deleted (thanks for the understanding).

Imposition of the $1,000 fee on Nigerians

Ghallywood is not being fair. Why should Ghanaians force Nigerian actors to pay $1,000 before they are allowed to shoot in Ghana, does it really worth it? They should be taxed rather than the fee. (more…)

Somewhere in March,Beeca, Ghanaian  Afro-pop singer organized a fund raising event called  “ Becca’s Ball” to solicit for money with the aim of registering various underprivileged children who cannot afford the National Health Insurance Scheme.

The above idea and the mere thought to help these poor children by Becca and her management is recommendable but the turn out of the entire concept and arrangements is disgusting to my intellect.

Becca and her management have not been able to deliver their promise of registering 10,000 children under the NHS Scheme and they are fully blaming their deficiency to perform on certain individuals who have failed to honor the promises they made (Money promised). (more…)

Celebrating one’s work sounds amazing and extraordinary to on-lookers and sometimes even to the celebrated person. There is this prima facie wonderfulness ascribed to all celebrity figures which do not only influence youngsters to fly up and down aiming at becoming a celebrity, but also challenges many to limit their interest and career to movies, music, soccer and others where it is deemed that celebrity status can easily be fetched.

However, the life of a celebrity is not as flamboyant as most of us envisage. The glamour and attention seems very intriguing and this can easily be envied, swaying people away from their long loving careers in pursue of what seems to be a colorful celebrity lifestyle. Do not be swindled, not all that glitters is gold.

Celebrities have a hell of rough and “roboted” life. As much as the ordinary “us” have all the freedoms under the sun including but not limited to the freedom to make mistakes, celebrities dare claim to have such freedoms and the sky will fall fast on them. (more…)

As a democratic country, the constitution of Ghana has a freedom and independence media, without unnecessary censorship as Chapter 12 article 162 states in the Ghanaian Constitution.

“Censorship according to my source is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organization”.

Literally, the constitution has given any medium in Ghana the right to publish anything without being suppressed. It is no news that Ghanaian movies are well cherished within and outside Ghana. With great actors, actress and storylines, the audience (Ghanaians and Africans) can learn and connect with their background as these movies are enriched with our culture. These are some of the characteristics that make Ghanaian (or African) movies outstanding.

Recently, there has been a growing dissatisfaction among the audience on the lack of classic storyline. The directors have rather adopted a lot from the western culture and needs to be censored. Families in the olden days could gather around watching television programmes and movies that were educative and entertaining at the same time. These programmes and movies brought a lot of people together in various ways. This pattern has been part of our tradition for so many years. (more…)

Have you been faced with the question why various talented musicians and movie stars from Ghana are unable to achieve their world success dreams? Undoubtedly, most of our stars have the talent to get them there but their international success is curtailed by their “bootleg” managers and prs’.

After years of dealing with celebrities in several arts, one thing they all have in common is managers and Prs’.  It is sometimes shocking that after one “shady” movie or a good for nothing song to a person’s name, the first thing that comes into such an individual’s mind is to acquire a manager or PR. (more…)

I am not ashamed to say I love Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry and its Ghanaian contemporary, Gollywood. In these days, where all we see of ourselves as Africans on Western television is the same old, stereotypical depiction of the African as conflict-ridden, corrupt and malnourished–at least Nollywood and Gollywood– show another side of Africa.

They give us the other story, as Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie puts it. Nollywood and Gollywood’s portrayal of the African story is by no means perfect. It is problematic at times. But the canvas on which they tell the African story is broader than what we see on Western television. At their best – Nollywood and Gollywood- attempt to tell our stories in ways that are familiar to us, and in ways we can relate to. (more…)

The movie industry has been making impressive progress for the last few years. The awards received at the just ended Africa Movies Academy Awards (AMAA) clearly show we are definitely on an upward curve.

Why then the sudden drift to R rated movies? Ghanaian movies have always evolved around family entertainment and culture – just like we used to gather round to watch Thursday Theatre back then. Pure family entertainment and that’s what makes it different from the western movies. (more…)

Seldom do the Ghanaian media or general public object to male artists who put out racy videos or shows. Nonetheless, the same cannot be said of female artist, the general response is harsher. There wouldn’t be a need for this article if the level of disapproval is equal between both genders. It seems when artist such as, 4*4, screwface, R2Bees etc display scantily clad vixens stiffly shaking pancake butts and thrusting their pelvis at the camera in their videos, or on stage it usually slides without a hitch. However, when a female artist like Mzbel, Veeda, KK Vidash (LOL) exhibit equal raunchiness it is deemed too provocative and too sexual. (more…)

The inevitably spread of music genres across the globe has spawned some excellent musicians and Ghana is no exception to this feat. As the originator of the highlife genre which spread to other African countries such as Nigeria, Sierra-Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia and others in the 1900s, Ghana set a musical trend that still survives to this day. But it seems that the role has been reversed: now popular Nigeria artists have set a trend that Ghanaian artists are aspiring to follow.

No one can doubt the popularity of Nigerians artists such as D’Banj, 2Face Idibia, P-Square, Wande Coal and 9ice here in the UK. Their music continuously graces our dance floors at many Ghanaian parties as well as clubs. The obvious success of Nigerian music overseas has prompted some prominent Ghanaian artists to learn from their Naija counterparts, and this is being done through a series of collaboration between Ghana and Nigerian artists. (more…)