X'TREME BOUNCES BACK WITH HIT SINGLE

One of Ghana’s upcoming hiplife musicians, ‘X’treme’ has declared his readiness to take hiplife music to another level with his hit single ‘Bum Bum Shaker’ and yet to be released album. Knowing very well that it takes a mature and enlightened mind to become a music icon, X’treme, whose musical career started just a year ago, has taken his career very seriously to meet the challenges ahead of him. The release of his hit single is in fulfillment of a cherished dream to take his music career to another level. ‘Bum Bum Shaker’ is an absolute club banger that has provocative lyrics and a good vocal delivery that will impress music critics and wow fans to hit the dance floor at every opportunity. The song, which also boasts of a masterful groovy production and can be referred to as music for the masses, enjoys considerable airplay. ‘Bum Bum Shaker’ after its release earlier this year, is still enjoying massive airplay on most radio stations in the UK. X’treme has decided to pursue music as a full time career and has since done a lot of recording in various studios where he got de chance to work with renowned sound engineers and producers like Laxio, FireBlaze, BushBeats, Bones, ArticleWan, PossiGee, among others. He released his first 2 singles ‘Clique Azonto’ and ‘Xtreme Love’ in July and November last year respectively. X’treme as a rapper looks up to Nigerian rapper, Ice Prince and Edem of the VRMG. Download ‘Bum Bum Shaker’ from http://www.hulkshare.com/iwaa6yvmtedc By: Bryma Adams(DJ Casper)

Ghana’s Next Young Entrepreneur Competition Calls For Entries

Are you between the ages of 18 and 35? Do you have a sound business idea? Are you looking for seed capital and start-up support? Then you stand the chance of being named: Ghana’s Next Young Entrepreneur with prize package worth over 50,000 cedis in seed capital and start up support. To participate, submit a one-page executive summary of your business idea (online only via ghana@entrepreneursafrica.org or through the website www.entrepreneursafrica.org ) clearly demonstrating business idea feasibility, marketability, profitability, employability and sustainability. Submissions should be made no later than the deadline of 30th June, 2013.Following the submissions, the best 30 business ideas will be shortlisted and the owners of these ideas will be contacted to defend their business ideas in an interview session with GNYE board. The purpose of the interview is to grant the owners of the idea the opportunity to justify their inclusion. The best 15 candidates will then be selected to participate in weekly task sessions which will be aired on television. The weekly tasks have been carefully selected to cover all areas of world class companies, preparing the entrepreneur to go beyond mushroom orientation. They include: business law, strategy development, recruitment, sales, financial management, research, etc. Each week, the worse performing candidate will be eliminated until we have the final 3 who will compete at the grand finale. For their final task, the final 3 will prepare business plans with emphasis on their first year of operation. These will be presented to the GNYE board before a live audience for scoring. The most promising candidate will be declared winner and named Ghana’s Next Young Entrepreneur. As part of the awards presentation, all 15 participants will be given the investment opportunity awards, where their business ideas will be pitched to an organised group of investors, investing over 50,000cedis or more depending on the nature of the project. Secondly, the top five participants will be flown to the African Recovery conference in Kenya, where they will be introduced to global investors and business partners across Africa. The ultimate winner however, takes home seed capital and start-support worth over GHC 50,000 including One year access to board of directors; One year office space with stationery; First client; Wardrobe; Start up branding services; Website development; Certificate; Plaque and more. GNYE is supported by Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), The African Network of Entrepreneurs (TANOE), African Recovery, SliceBiz, and Deegib Multimedia, and organised by iQmenn. For more information, please visit www.entrepreneursafrica.org or look for Ghana’s Next Young Entrepreneurs on facebook, or call our hotlines: 0508740047/ 0249945339.

Sidiku Buari Calls For Unity Among Music Stakeholders

The former president of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Alhaji Sidiku Buari, who served eight years as MUSIGA president, has declared that there is the need for the stakeholders in the music industry in Ghana to put their differences aside and form a united front to fight for the pressing needs of the industry. Alhaji Sidiku Buari urged stakeholders in the music industry to learn to accommodate and tolerate each other and try to eschew personality clashes that have existed in the music industry for so many years. Alhaji Sidiku, who was once chairman of COSGA Oversight Committee, said Ghanaian musicians had a lot to gain if they worked together as a team to move the industry forward, adding that team work would help the music industry to grow and would also help the musicians to realize the fruits of their labour. Speaking to BEATWAVES in an exclusive interview in Accra, Alhaji Sidiku Buari, who is the also former vice president of the Federation of International Musicians (FIM), noted that some of the many other ways in which MUSIGA and Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) could help musicians and composers include organizing workshops, showcases, having other exclusive tailor-made benefit packages that include health and instrument insurance, credit unions, discounts on musical accessories, travel and much more. The former MUSIGA president appealed to MUSIGA and GHAMRO to work as a team to promote Ghanaian music, culture and tradition to the outside world. He explained that Ghanaians could not do away with their culture and music, which formed basic guidelines in their day-to-day activities. Alhaji Sidiku Buari again advised the GHAMRO management team to practise an open-door policy to enable the views and concerns of the stakeholders to be taken into account before any decision was taken. He also advised that MUSIGA should work tirelessly to protect and promote the image of the Ghana music industry to attract additional investment into the music sector. He said the leadership of MUSIGA should initiate programmes to guarantee regular incomes for the members, apart from the annual royalties they received from the collective society. He also said that music was a potential revenue earner with many job creation opportunities, but because of lack of focus and effective structures to enhance the development and promotion of the Ghanaian music, coupled with a divided front, potential investors with the ability to drive the industry were also shying away. Sidiku Buari stressed that musicians offered far better branding of the nation than official emissaries posted to represent the nation in foreign lands. He called on the government to put in place a programme that would occasionally send a crop of Ghanaian musicians to go and perform abroad for the Ghanaian community and outsiders in general. He also called for a united musician’s body; a tool which he said would aid and promote their well-being. The former president of MUSIGA urged the union to create a situation where musicians and other intellectuals would reap the full benefits of their efforts in the system. He advised MUSIGA to create a situation where musicians and other intellectuals would reap the full benefits of their efforts in the system. He noted that the days that musicians dwelt on popularity, but wallowed in poverty were over, adding that MUSIGA should work closely with all the stakeholders to create jobs for the musicians. He appealed to the union to chart a new path to develop musicians and other collaborators to send Ghanaian music to the international market. According to him, it would also encourage its members to compose songs that would promote national unity and tolerance. On the issue of piracy, the former MUSIGA president hinted that technology had made piracy very easy and simple, and the pirates were taking advantage of it. He further stressed that in order to calm piracy down, MUSIGA and GHAMRO should train some personnel within the two associations to monitor the activities of music pirates who were infringing on the rights of music owners. He said the members of the GHAMRO board should also see themselves as stewards who were taking care of each other’s precious properties and for that matter should bring their activities unto the door steps of stakeholders to avoid speculations and suspicion. He urged GHAMRO to draw outreach programmes to educate the people on piracy, which, according to him, was killing the music industry, adding that stakeholders should exhibit transparency in their activities. He said the level of piracy in Ghana was high, effectively preventing the emergence of Ghanaian creativity. The former MUSIGA President said creativity remained an unappreciated and underexploited resource in Ghana and Africa. Alhaji Sidiku Buari appealed to the record companies to invest in Ghanaian musicians, saying there were many talents in Ghana who could match any around the world. He noted that difficulty in enforcing laws against piracy of music in Ghana was a serious canker, adding that pirated versions of creative works covered at least 60 percent of the market and in West Africa, the figure could be as high as 90 percent. Alhaji Sidiku declared that lack of enforcement of copyright laws had empowered the pirates, who are better organised and more successful than the victims. In most African countries, he said, the ineffective enforcement of copyright laws had led to a host of other unintended consequences including pushing the production of African music out of the continent. For example, in the late 1980s, most legitimate music businesses in Ghana, including production houses and record factories, were shut down due to competition from pirates. Sidiku Buari stressed that promoting Ghanaian culture would attract tourists who would be prepared to pay money to know more about Ghanaian music and culture. According to him, there was a lot to be done with respect to helping Ghanaian musicians make ends meet, and that needed the support of everybody including MUSIGA and GHAMRO. Sidiku who is one of Ghana’s seasoned music icons came into the limelight with the release of his first album titled ‘Karam Bani’ in 1975 which won him a contract with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and the company bought the rights to market the album. He toured several American States to promote his works. He has over 15 albums to his credit.

Citi Fm’s Dj Gaddafi Hosts Raheem

Last Saturday, the 4th of May saw a night of fun and lots of rap on Dj Gaddafi’s Slam Jam Show on Citi 97.3 Fm when Raheem and Bryma of NCS and Q-Drama Respectively were guest artists on the show. The Masoiyana singer Raheem supported by Bryma were on the show to talk more about their music and their love for the arts, listeners of the popular radio show experienced a real urban radio time when Dj Gaddafi played a long stretch of quality fresh, hot and banging series of tunes before introducing the Masoiyana Hitmaker and his Counterpart, Bryma. They began Rapping the moment Dj Gaddafi dropped the first instrumental and they were off the hook. They were properly introduced on the show right after their first freestyles. Raheem in the interview hinted listeners about the next single he is working on again with Laxio and also disclosed the new one he and Joey B were just featured on and is yet to be released, an Article Wan Production. Bryma on the other hand took the opportunity to interact with host, Dj Gaddafi about his group, Q-Drama, a trio affiliated to NCS who are currently in the Studio with Genius Selection cooking a musical meal for all music lovers across the world. He said this was going to be their first commercial single after serving and doing their homework very well all these years. Ghana and Africa should just be on the lookout for the next rising stars, he said.

Are Black Women Worth Anything More Than Their Backsides & Weaves?

What happened to those young black women who were interested in some of the most important things that define humanity and civilization? Few years ago, the many young black women I knew were of great substance, and were enthused by career, family, academic achievements, religious and moral uprightness… I remember discussing and debating subjects like the origin of the cosmos, physics, world politics, current affairs, law, religion, racial concerns and ‘whether we are defined by morality or we define morality’ with many of the young women I grew up with. Though I have not met all the black girls I grew up with, I have come across several of them and other new sets of black women, called the cosmopolitan women-better put, the modern black women. To confess, I love the confidence and disturbing ego of these new sets of black women. Nothing can stop them from getting what they want, even if they did not need it and morality is not on their side. To hell with morality-through these new sets of black women, I have come to affirm my belief that, we define morality, contrary to morality being divine and universal. The concept of what is wrong is wrong no matter where you find it is alien to these new sets of black women, and to them; you make things wrong if you want to… After all, who made any of us custodians to morality on this earth? Let me try to restrict my writing to the worth of these new sets of black women and the sort of wretched image they’ve succeeded in building for themselves globally. The new sets of black women I meet each day and find around me are extensively different from those promising and witty ones I saw growing up. Apart from God, this new black women believe in nothing more than their weaves and backsides. They discuss none of the things I mentioned above and a few find such things interesting. Whenever there is a debate or discussing among these new young black women, it is about a new reality show hitting the TV, the old ones or where to find the best weave or bum pads to buy at affordable prices. Have you realize how majority of these new young black women have become instant entrepreneurs-selling nothing apart from weaves and shoes? If it was only a mere interest in weaves meant to simply make them look good, I would not have bothered myself with this piece. After all, when did looking good become a crime? But, if you stand for it, talk about it all the time and can hold a substantive debate/discussion about weaves than any other thing of importance, then it is not just about looking good. It goes beyond that. The new sets of young black women are increasingly being perceived globally as ‘Shallow’ with nothing worth a dime about them apart from their backsides, weaves and loud mouths. No one created this image about them, they’ve done it all by themselves… Bulk of mainstream TV programs and movies think the same of the new sets of black women. Anytime a character is needed in a movie or TV program that has to be blessed with a homogenous backside, loud mouth but no intelligence, a black woman is portrayed as such. Whenever a black woman appears on TV series or movies (even if such programs are highly intellectual), the black woman will be known for her big backside, loud mouth, long weave, unintelligent persona or entrenched interest in non-intelligent subjects/materials. I used to blame ‘white dominated’ media platforms for painting young black women as unintelligent with nothing to offer apart from showing their backside, loud mouth, make-up and long weaves. However, I have realized that; the above is the true nature of affairs and the increasing number of young black women on twitter and facebook confirm this… All I find the many young black women on social media platforms talk about is weave, weave and weave. If it gets boring, they switch to talk about reality TV shows and then make-up. The number of times these women tweet or upload photos of their backside (with lines adoring their backs) make me wonder; Are Black Women Worth Anything More Than Their Asses? If you think I am exaggerating, just head to twitter or facebook and check out the profiles of any of these young black women who are your friends on there, and count the number of photos focusing on their backsides and weaves that have been uploaded. Whiles at it, check out the subjects they discuss and the pages they have LIKED! You can hit me up for GH 50000 if you find out that any of your new black women friends have liked the pages of NASA or National Geographic Society…LOL. Anytime I see black women shake their backside on TV as if that is their passports to heaven, it reminds me of how different these new ones are compared to those girls I grew up with. I have stopped trying to find a TV channel which will not have one of these new black women showing off all her chest, long weave, long nails, thick make-up and building a huge credential around her backside… Probably I just need to let go my ego and accept that; indeed the new young black women’s worth is in their weaves and backsides…nothing More!

Voting begins for 14th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards

Academy members of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2013 on Saturday took turns to cast their vote for the various nominees in the 23 categories in the 14 edition of the foremost and most influential showbiz awards in Ghana. The about 50 Academy Board members drawn from Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi were made up of media personnel and players in the Ghana music industry consisting of music producers, entertainment journalists, disc jockeys and radio presenters. The vote of the Academy Board will constitute 30 per cent of the total votes except in the Song of the Year category, which is exclusively 100 per cent public voting through text messages. Results of Saturday’s voting which was supervised by the event statisticians, KPMG, will be added to the public and the VGMA Board votes. The controversies which has characterised the event was once again manifest at Saturday’s event that was held at the Alisa Hotel in Accra as some industry players questioned the inclusion of some songs on some albums which were released before the year under review. Some Academy Board members did not see the justification for some singles released two years ago but appearing in recent albums. However, a member of the VGMA Board, Nii Ayite Hammond who admitted to the claims, justified the nomination of those albums with songs released two years ago, contending that once those albums were released in the 2012 year review, there was nothing wrong with it. Mr. Hammond said it is the albums that have been nominated for the Album of the Year and not those individual songs on those albums; hence one cannot fault the inclusion of those albums in the awards. Themed “The Next Level”, this year’s event is scheduled to take place on May 18, at the Accra International Conference Centre. This year’s event is geared towards encouraging artistes to think bigger in creating and marketing their music. The Vodafone Ghana Music Awards is sponsored by Vodafone and organised by event organising giants Charter House with support from GhOne television, Star Beer and KPMG.