Reggae

THE CULTURE CARAVAN

On the road from 30^th April to 7^th of May 2009

Brought To You By the French Embassy and Vodafone 


Organized by the Cultural Affairs Services of the French Embassy in partnership with Vodafone, the Cultural Caravan is an initiative designed to challenge artists to develop entertainment by creating new ideas and material which will help the local industry grow. The Culture Caravan is a musical in a contemporary context, with a DJ, a band, traditional musicians, dancers, artists and actors taking you through local fables, daily drama, current news and issues in a format that bears some resemblance to Concert Parties. Starring Hiplife Grandpapa Reggie Rockstone, Kwaw Kese, King Ayisoba, Wanlov the Kubolor, DJ Black, Master Drummer Okyerema Yaw Kontor and his all female drummers and theatre starlet Abena Takyi amongst others.



Arnaud Dornon, Head of Cooperation and Cultural Affairs at the French Embassy spent months developing the concept with Pidgen Music, and enlisted the help of renowned Director Michel Crespin (nicknamed the “Pope of Street Art” in France) to assist with the project. Speaking about the collaboration, he said “the French Government appreciates how important our culture is to our development and economy, and I am very excited by this project, which combines the best from France with the best from Ghana.This is also a new era in commercial partnerships and we are very happy to have Vodafone as sponsors of this project.”



Panji Anoff, the Artistic Director, is very upbeat. “People don’t even know that Reggie Rockstone is an actor who went to drama school and performed in many plays in the U.K. before hiplife. We have Reggie, Wanlov the Kubolor, Kwaw Kese, King Ayisoba and Abena and Yaw Kontor acting roles, performing their hit songs and DJ Black scratching video.This will be a real treat for the audience. Ghanaians are always eager for something refreshing and it is time our artists are challenged with real opportunities to show their talent and ability.”



Vodafone’s sponsorship of this Culture Caravan is a first in the industry. As David Anku, Events manager at Vodafone puts it, “At Vodafone we believe in supporting the local arts industry. By associating with this novel concept, we are saying that we are ready to see it make waves and look forward to the reviews that it will garner.”



The Culture Caravan is brought to you by the French Embassy and proudly supported by Vodafone. Media Partners: TV3, The Multimedia Broadcasting Company and the Graphic Communications Group.

ITINERARY

Round 1.    Thur. 30th April, Takoradi Jubilee Park  
             Fri. 1st May, Elmina Castle Park
          Sat. 2nd May, Kasoa, fmr. Market Sqr.
          Sun 3^rd May - Jamestown Mantse Agbona
          
Round 2.    Thu. 7th May, Kumasi, Jubilee Grounds 
          Fri. 8th May, Koforidua, Jackson Park
          Sat. 9th May, Nkawkaw Ofori Park
          Sun. 10th May, Obuasi Black Park

THE MTV BASE SPECIAL

Bless the Mic presents a once only special edition of the show which will be recorded for MTV Base. The show will feature the best of your favorite artists fom the show. This is not to be missed! I will be performing some poetry on the night too...

Date: Wednesday
Time: 21:00
Venue: The Baze Lounge bar, Osu

A weekend to remember

Last weekend was definitely worth all the work thanks to Mike O & Eugene of Xclusive Vista Entertainment. True to their word they gave us a show like no other. I HEART ACCRA would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them on the outstanding success of the show which was superbly pulled off even with all the glitches and problems they faced.

Well done guys more grease to your elbows!

On Saturday night one of the official sponsors for the show Hennessy held a Private Hennessy Party at Embar with the most delicious Hennessy cocktails ever! All I need to say is "Miami by night". All the drinks were on the house by kind courtesy of all the lovely people at Hennessy and EVERYONE had a great time.

The show on Sunday was even more spectacular than I imagined it would be. The local acts Scientific, Praye, 4x4, Asem, Skillions, Peer Pressure and all the others were fantastically well put together and Reggie blew us all away with his suit, words and sounds.

Miss Trinity was just what the guys needed to get them going and there was nothing but smiles from the three lucky guys picked to go on stage.

Omarion... Omarion was wonderful, he danced and he sang and the crowd went wild over and over and over again as he gave us all a no holds barred performance.  Ghana would like to show her appreciation to him for coming through on such short notice.  He was pretty impressed with how Ghana held it down on the dance floor too (see pics for more details on that).

Fat Joe gave an un-miss-able performance and played a few tricks on us all along the way.  He sincerely apologized for being unable to make it the day before due to ill health and disassociated himself and Xclusive Vista from the disappointment caused by Sean Kingstons failure to attend.  He went on to congratulate the boys on their work and guarantee Accra that this was only the beginning and there would be only bigger and better shows from XVE.

I HEART ACCRA is proud to have been associated with The State of the Republic concert and would like to once again congratulate Mike & Eugene on a job well done.

Pics coming soon.

UPDATES: Fat Joe & Omarion Live in Accra with SWAY

The show has been postponed until tomorrow evening at 7:30pm at the conference centre. Exclusive Vista Entertainment sincerely apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Sean Kingston was unable to make it to Accra but Omarion will now be performing live at the conference centre in his place.

The Week Ahead

This is proving to be a very busy period for the I HEART ACCRA team.  Kobs is fully immersed in the literature of Pan-Africanism which is now in second gear over in Kokrobite.  The newest member of our team Felicia is busy getting ready for our Christmas activities and I am learning the art of putting Afro-chiq into recycling over at the Kokrobite institute, whilst setting my my mind on WAPi and preparing to Party it up with our guests from way yonder this weekend.

I'm really impressed with Accra.  I still remember what it was like here 4 short years ago when all people ever talked about was how bored they were and how there was nothing to do.  These days it's hard to take a breather from the amount of things that there are to do.

Tuesday night - Obama Party

Wednesday night - "PLAY"

Thursday night - Bless the mic Live

Friday night - V.V.I.P. party at African Regent

Saturday night - Drinks at Rhapsody's

Sunday night - Fat Joe, Omarion, Sway, Wanlov etc etc etc live in concert

See you all there!

Fat Joe & Omarion Live in Accra with SWAY

July 19th. Details to follow

Richard Bona Live in concert

Catch Richard Bona live in concert here in Accra on the 17th of May 2008 at the National Theatre.