Diamond Platnumz, Prince Kaybee, Wizkid, Shatta Wale, Rema, Stonebwoy to perform at 2020 Soundcity MVP Awards Festival – Listen to new ‘Road to #SMVP’ Podcast!
What a way to begin the year!
The 2020 edition of the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival is going to be the biggest collaboration between African artistes. With the prestigious award ceremony scheduled for Saturday, 11th of January 2020 at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos Nigeria, the Soundcity MVP Awards festival will celebrate music, community and the most outstanding Afrocentric cultural achievement in the most premium live TV event on DStv channel 327, GOtv channel 75 and streaming on all Soundcity TV and radio platforms.
The Soundcity MVP Awards Festival is famed for iconic performances from Busiswa’s electric stage domination to her-never-seen-before joint performance with Niniola to International star Jidenna’s much talked about closing performance at the last edition all the way back to 2baba Idibia, Sarkodie, Davido, Emtee, Patoranking, Tiwa Savage, and Cassper Nyovest’s colorfully live set showmanship in the 2017 edition.
This year the ante has been upped, there will be performances from music talents from across the continent – a true pan-African affair that the SMVP is known for, with performances from Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz, South Africa’s Prince Kaybee, Nigeria’s Wizkid, Ghana’s Stonebwoy, Uganda’s Big Trill, Togo’s Toofan, Joeboy, Rema, Shatta Wale, Zanda Zakuza, Kuami Eugene, Naira Marley, Ric Hassani to mention a few.
Tickets to the live show are now on sales on www.xchange.ng but for a chance on how to attend VIP style, listen to the Road to SMVP Podcast below. Just after, Check out this special 2020 Soundcity MVP Performers’ Apple Music Playlist.
Road to SMVP Podcast: https://audiomack.com/playlist/soundcitymvp/road-to-smvp
SMVP Performers; Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/ng/playlist/soundcity-mvp-2020-performers-playlist/pl.u-WabZv4PSe5m8PNk
Also, voting is still open for the fourth edition of the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival on the www.soundcitymvp.com website and for the latest “Soundcity MVP” (MVPs) news, exclusive content and more, follow the MVPs on social media @soundcitymvp and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #SoundcityMVP and #iamtheMVP.
Watch video promos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msavSPpHrFQ
Cape Symphony Explores Africa for Next Journey in the “Passport” Series
Rhythmic, melodic drumming. Eloquent and inspiring piano solos. Passport to Africa includes it all in an authentic tribute to the rich musical heritage of a continent whose people traditionally passed down stories and traditions through music.
The Cape Symphony will present a familiar Western view of African music alongside that of African and African-American artists. Ghanaian American pianist William Chapman Nyaho stars in “Africa” by Camille Saint-Saëns, written while the classical French composer was in Egypt and based on North African folk music.
South African cellist Abel Selaocoe has long explored the capacity of the cello across multiple genres, from collaborating with beatboxers and world musicians to giving concerto performances and solo classical recitals. For Passport to Africa, Selaocoe will be featured in the world premiere of “20th Meridian,” referring to the central longitude which runs through several African countries. It’s a musical journey that takes the listener through the heart of the continent.
While continuing his musical studies in the U.K., Selaocoe is involved with many fascinating projects including the Multi-Story Orchestra, an ensemble of young professional musicians who share a commitment to widening accessibility to classical music. Multi-Story performs in parking garages around the U.K., attracting huge, diverse audiences.
“Abel’s love of music, deep African roots, and ability to connect with audiences of all kinds will bring a level of authenticity and electricity to this presentation that can’t be paralleled. Nyaho, a scholar of African and African Diaspora composers as well as an electrifying pianist, will present his take on a classical Western interpretation of African music. And it will all be stunningly beautiful,” said Artistic Director & Conductor Jung-Ho Pak.
Passport to Africa will also highlight local artists’ interpretations of Africa in cooperation with the Zion Union Heritage Museum, located in Hyannis, with the mission to celebrate the African-American and Cape Verdean population as well as other ethnic and demographic diversity of the Town of Barnstable and Cape Cod.
In honor of Martin Luther King, Reverend Joan M. Martin, Ph.D., Pastor at Christian Union Church in North Truro, and Dr. Johann Buis of Wheaton College will lend their voices in a powerful presentation where Buis will read text written by Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment, and Rev. Martin will read Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
“The moving connection between these two icons of social justice who were imprisoned because of their principles of equality will be set to music and text in a dramatic way,” said Pak. The Martin Luther King Action Team of the Nauset Interfaith Association is providing a study guide for local groups (community, church, synagogue, mosque, etc.) interested in studying Dr. King’s extraordinary “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
Source: capecodtoday.com
Wizkid trends as Grammy report confirms he signed the biggest deal by an African artist
Nigerian singer Wizkid is currently trending on social media – This comes following a 2019 report on the website of the Grammy Awards – According to the report, the singer signed the biggest deal yet by an African music star with RCA Records in 2016 Nigerian music star Ayodeji Balogun aka Wizkid is currently trending on micro blogging platform, Twitter. Fans of the singer managed to dig up a report by the Grammy’s that confirmed that Wizkid’s 2016 deal with RCA Records remains the biggest music deal yet by an African music act.
An excerpt from the report reads thus: “Currently, Afrobeats is the next international sound sweeping pop music. Major stars like Kanye West and Rick Ross have all collaborated with Afrobeats acts. Drake’s 2016 international hit One Dance, once the most-streamed song on Spotify, featured Nigerian Afrobeats artist Wizkid, who would go on to sign with RCA Records in what became the biggest record deal ever for an African artist.”
Source: legit.ng
Rapper Ludacris embraces African identity with new Gabon citizenship
Ludacris is kicking off the new year with dual citizenship. The Grammy award-winning rapper revealed in an Instagram post that he is now a citizen of Gabon. His wife and three children are also citizens of the Central African nation.
Grammy award-winning rapper, Ludacris is kicking off the new year with dual citizenship.
Ludacris (real name Christopher Brian Bridges) in an Instagram post revealed that he is now a citizen of Gabon, the home country of his wife Eudoxie Mbouguiengue.
“Starting my new year off with dual citizenship. Africa, I’m official! Momma and kids too. The best gift of the decade award goes to @eudoxie,” he wrote.
“I am a loyal citizen of Zamunda,” he joked. “This is the best day of my life and Wakanda,”
His wife and three children are also citizens of Gabon, which is located on the west coast of central Africa and is the eighth largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana’s year of return
Reacting to Ludacris’s new citizenship, his fans joked that it was a response to the recent assassination of Iranian military general Qassem Soleimani.
They said the rapper got his Gabonese passport in time to avoid being enlisted for the possible war between the United States and Iran following President Trumps’ airstrike order.
“Ludacris is a citizen of Gabon cos next week they were about to enlist him for the war. What a G!” one user wrote.
Ludacris, 42, has been vocal about his love for Africa. In December 2019, he visited Ghana to join in the the Year of Return celebrations, part of a campaign encouraging people of African descent, whose ancestors were victims of the transatlantic slave trade, to return to Ghana.
As part of its celebrations, Ghana in November, gave citizenship to 126 foreign nationals who were long-term residents.
Ludacris shared a moving caption during his visit to the West African nation.
“Our ancestors never gave up faith. You can never imprison our minds nor our spirits. They empowered me to return. I have completed the cycle and I’m beginning a new cycle. The chains have been broken and the indomitable resilience of African people triumphs #yearofthereturn,” he wrote in the Instagram post.
Embracing Africa
More diaspora-based entertainers are embracing their African identity.
In December, British film star, Idris Elba was awarded citizenship of his father’s native Sierra Leone on his first visit to the country.
The actor said becoming a citizen of the West African country was “the biggest honor” he could get from the country.
“I’m no stranger to Africa: I’ve been in Africa, I’ve made films in Africa, I’ve championed Africa,” he said. “But Sierra Leone, it’s a very different feeling because it’s my parent’s home,” Elba said in an interview.
Rapper Jidenna has also visited Nigeria a number of times to perform and connect with his African roots.
In a recent interview, the rapper mentioned feeling at home whenever he was in any of Africa’s cities.
“When I’m in Africa, I’m building. Even if it’s not my country because my heritage isn’t direct to that specific country, I still feel like I’m building a place that ultimately cares and will respect me, and my offspring,” he said during the interview.
Source: CNN
African American Music Heritage in Athens
In conjunction with the upcoming launch of the Athens Music Walk of Fame, which will recognize some of the city’s most influential creative forces, the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission has organized an evening of presentations on the topic of African-American contributions to local music history. Speakers include Art Rosenbaum, musician, artist and folk historian; Clarke County School District pre-K coordinator Gregory Hull; and Mary Helen Hoque, a musicology PhD candidate at UGA.
Topics will include folk musician Joe Rakestraw, sacred choral music and George Davis, Athens’ first civic band leader. Refreshments and conversation will follow.
African American Music Heritage in Athens: An Evening of Presentations
In celebration of the upcoming launch of the Athens Music Walk of Fame, the community is invited to listen and learn about the history and the rich contributions of black musicians in the Athens area. Art Rosenbaum, Gregory Hull and Mary Helen Hoque will speak, followed by questions and refreshments.
Source: flagpole.com
Angela Davis on ‘How to be a revolutionary’
Professor Angela Davis sits surrounded by a portion of the crowd who made their way to her talk on being a revolutionary (Lerumo Sibanyoni)
It’s the second-last day of 2019. Professor Angela Davis is in South Africa as a part of Afropunk’s Solution Sessions. Acting as a prelude to the festival, the Solution Sessions platform engages social activists and experts from varying fields about ways to right the socioeconomic wrongs affecting the community that is hosting the talk.
A crowded room of almost 200 people roars with cheers and applause as Davis concludes her address on “How to be a revolutionary”. The eager crowd hushes as the floor opens for the audience to pick her brain. Davis smiles. Her demeanour is kind but controlled. Her tone is firm but not all-knowing.
One of the audience members asks her what she thinks of T-shirts emblazoned with revolutionary messages. Another asks about the weight that art, music, theatre and literature carry in a revolution. Davis sits up in her chair and sighs. She tells the story of the first time she saw her face on a T-shirt. “I met a black woman who had a T-shirt with my face on it and I asked her why she was wearing the T-shirt. She said she didn’t really know that much about my history but she said whenever she wears that T-shirt it makes her feel powerful. I said, ‘Right on’.” She then lets out a short but sincere chuckle before she confesses to once having a collection of T-shirts with radical messages.
Although Davis has since neglected her collection of T-shirts, relentlessly pursuing a hands-on approach to activism, she’s weary of invalidating those whose radical begins through the sartorial.
“The more I think about how I’ve seen revolutionary consciousness develop,” she says, “the more I recognise that everything is necessary.”
Davis’s call, in essence, is for a creative, “imaginative and multidisciplinary revolution”.
After decades of defying the status quo at a systemic level, she says one of the most fundamental parts of a revolution is sharing the information that will conscientise the masses and transform passive civilians into activists. This is because, “The real work is not so much the demonstrations but in changing people’s minds and hearts”.
And, for this information to spread efficiently, revolutionaries have to be committed to using a variety of ways to get their message across.
Although she notes the importance of the academic and political discourse that is disseminated through journal articles and speeches at rallies, Davis reminds the crowd not to forget that cultural texts and spaces created for entertainment have a wider reach. “It’s through visual art, fictional literature, films, music and fashion that our deep emotions can be transformed,” she says.
As a long-standing activist, Davis has embodied this multidisciplinary stance by supplementing her lobbyist work, literature and teaching through availing herself to other art forms. Think of how she wrote an essay that accompanied Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone by various artists or how she has been a subject in documentaries such as Dolores (2017), about the life of labour union activist Dolores Huerta.
The continuity of this approach can also be seen in the way that, for example, Busiswa’s Lahla encourages the listener to acknowledge their freedom of movement by dancing; in the way that Korean director Bong Joon-ho is able to demonstrate the absurd and unsustainable nature of capitalism by capturing the mundane details of our everyday in his 2019 film, Parasite; or in the decision to wear a T-shirt that reads “Why be sexist, racist, transphobic, or homophobic when you can just be quiet?” to run errands at the mall.
Read more here:
https://mg.co.za/article/2020-01-07-how-to-be-a-revolutionary
Source: mg.co.za
‘Alesia’: The life of a girl who uses a wheelchair
Published in 1981, Alesia, by Eloise Greenfield and Alesia Revis, details the struggles of an African American girl who became physically disabled as the result of being hit by a car. She was Greenfield’s neighbor, which led to this collaboration about her life. Few books include characters with disabilities, and fewer still include people of color with disabilities.
In the quest for disability representation, readers are searching for quality multicultural literature that, in the words of Christine Sleeter and Carl Grant, “recognize, accept, and affirm human differences and similarities related to gender, race, handicap, and class.” As an educator, I join the quest of parents, teachers, and librarians who hope to find bias-free books featuring people of color as fully developed characters.
Each month, “The Reading Quilt” provides a short review of a book that a teacher may use to spark conversations about diversity, along with a learning activity that may help students understand human behavior. The acronym QUILT refers to Quality of writing, Universal theme, Imaginative plot, as well as a mini Lesson plan, and Talking points that stem from the book’s premise.
Read more here:
Source: the notebook.org
Mercy Johnson releases trailer for “The Legend of Inikpi,” movie to hit cinemas nationwide on January 24
Mercy Johnson’s epic movie is set to the hit cinemas nationwide on January 24, 2020.
Mercy Johnson also stars as Queen Omele in “The Legend of Inikpi”
A visual feast of the ancient cultures of the Igala and Bini kingdoms, Mercy Johnson Okojie has just released the trailer for her first produced full length feature ‘The Legend of Inikpi’ which hits cinemas in Nigeria and Ghana on the 24th of January, 2020.
The film features a stellar cast of Nollywood heavyweights including Mercy Johnson Okojie, Sam Dede, Odunlade Adekola, Saidi Balogun, Paul Obazele and others.
Beloved of her father, King Attah Ayegba, Mercy Johnson’s ‘The Legend of Inikpi’ is the true story of revered Igala princess ‘Inikpi Oma Ufedo Baba’ who chooses to give her life for the freedom of her homeland.
The producer explained, “I believe I’ve been called to tell Nigerian stories. From the feedback we have so far, people are ready to know more about our culture and our past. It’s an honour to be the vessel to tell these stories.”
Set in the ancient Kingdoms of Igala and Bini, The Legend of Inikpi tells the true story of two great kingdoms on the brink of war. When the Oracle informs King Attah of Igala Kingdom of the human sacrifice demanded by the gods, the king plunges into despair, haunted by the ghosts of his past; this is a sacrifice he is not prepared to give.
With critical buzz surrounding the screenings already, the epic flick stars Mercy Johnson Okojie as Queen Omele, Sam Dede as Attah Ayegba (king of Igala kingdom), Paul Obazele as Oba Esigie of the Bini Kingdom while Odunlade Adekola co-stars as Prince Attah Ayegba, Saidi Balogun as the Oracle of Igala kingdom with newcomer Nancy Ameh as the titular Princess Inikpi. ‘The Legend of Inikpi’ was directed by Frank Rajah.
Tickets for the movie are sold at www.nairabox.com. The Legend of Inikpi premieres on January 19, 2020 and hits the cinemas across Nigeria and Ghana on the 24th of January 2020.
The film is distributed by Silverbird Film Distribution. Media partners include Pulse, Bella Naija, Legit, Ynaija, Naijaloaded, YabaleftOnline, TVC, Silverbird Television, Goldmyne TV, The Beat 99.9FM, Rhythm FM Ameyaw Debrah, African Movie Channel, Sodas and popcorn,Wildfower PR & company and Nollywood Reinvented.
Rwanda genocide movie to be screened in L.A
For the first time, ‘The 600’ one of the Rwandese movies based on real events of military’s third battalion of 600 soldiers of the former rebel now ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) will be screened at the 2019 Pan African Film & Arts Festival, in February in Los Angeles, California, organisers of the event confirmed on Tuesday.The film which was produced by Great Blue Production owned by a renowned Hollywood movie maker Richard Hall tells in detailed account, the events in Kigali during the 100 day genocide against the Tutsi between April and July 1994 and the role of 600 former rebel soldiers of the RPF who were stationed in Kigali, in stopping the massacres.
The movie which runs for 117 minutes, according to executive producer Hall has made immense positive impact across the world in changing the narrative concerning the liberation struggle by the RPF in 1994.
The film producer Hall revealed that the idea of making the film came after he visited the Campaign Against Genocide museum situated at the Parliament Building in Kimihurura, a suburb of Kigali during his first trip to Rwanda, which led to producing the documentary 18 months later.
The genocide went on for 100 days and through the eyes of 3rd battalion alias The 600 and people they rescued, they recount the real events that took place by giving testimonies in the movie.
Several Hollywood movies have attempted to capture the 1994 Rwanda genocide among them Hotel Rwanda (2004), Shooting Dogs (2005), and Sometime In April (2005).
However, some of these movies have attracted their fair share of criticism, especially from genocide survivors who thought they know better.
One thing found offensive about one of these movies entitled ‘Shooting Dogs’ is a particular scene where a white Roman Catholic priest decides to stay with the refugees, rather than be evacuated along with his expatriate colleagues.
Read more here
A SEQUEL TO ‘KING OF BOYS’ IS DUE THIS YEAR
King of Boys was one of the biggest Nollywood movies in 2018. Featuring an impressive performance from Sola Sobowale, the movie has gone on to become the fourth highest-grossing Nollywood movie of all time behind only The Wedding Party and its sequel and Chief Daddy. Via an announcement on Instagram, director Kemi Adetiba has shared that a sequel of the movie shall come this year.
If you never watched it, King of Boys is available on Netflix.
Source: culture custodian.com
