NEW DAWN

It is indeed a new dawn in Nigeria’s entertainment industry, especially in the world of music.   The iconoclastic faces of Nigeria’s music industry appear to be gaining in popularity and attention. No longer is it weird to see several fans troop to events where their favourite artistes are performing; most of them draped in costumes, hairdos and aping slangs and lyrics which have made their idols household names. Dare art-alade who was a second runner-up in one of Africa’s premiere talent hunt a few years back is a popular face in Nigeria’s hip-hop world, and only last year Timi won the hearts of several music enthusiasts as he crooned his way to winning idols West-Africa. Timi who comes from the volatile Niger-delta region, deprived of the luxuries of a well -to -do upbringing portrays the new idealism sweeping through the Nigeria music scene-never say never, dumped by his fiancée in the run up to idols he succeeded in becoming nigeria’s  first winner of  the renowned  talent discovery competition. But many of the faces I see on local television music programmes didn’t get their breakthrough through talent spot shows. The group, p’square which is made up of twins-peter and Paul, hit the limelight a few years back and haven’t stopped to top record sales and hits in Nigeria. Their songs reveal several years of suffering and rejection. Psquare’s  latest album, GET SQUARED, which was produced  in south Africa with a hit track ‘DO ME’ is reputed to have sold several million copies.  But my review would not be complete without talking of D’BANJ who was an instant hit with TONGOLO nearly three years ago; he recorded similar successes with WHY ME and lately PERE. Unlike the others who had a somewhat  grass to grace experience D’BANJ left the united kingdom for Nigeria at a period when music in the country was already on a downturn , some speculated he’d go bankrupt. Three years on there is very little doubt about his big decision to move. But then 9ICE is a perhaps arguably the biggest mover in the Nigerian music scene, mainly depending on Yoruba-a local dialect to render his songs, 9ICE has been able to break deep-rooted cultural barriers, winning fans like me from outside his region. Although it is debatable, I think these fellows would definitely give Americans a run for their money in their original brand of music-hip-hop R&B. Fame isn’t the only thing that these artistes have attracted but also fortune. 9ICE who is known to have wallowed in poverty for a long while now has his exotic cars tattooed with customized plate numbers but then he refused to be lured by fame preferring a secret wedding rather than the big carnival witnessed at comedian and musician, Julius agwu’s wedding at port-Harcourt last month. who says Nigerian artistes are not catching up with the foreign trend, and then there is Tu face Idibia who broke record charts and hearts of several ladies a couple of years back when he did the AFRICAN QUEEN, now when he says ‘nothing dey happen’, it is with a swagger since he claims to be the king of the Nigerian music industry, fortified with several local and international awards. My parting shot however is to ASA, the young female crooner with the guitar; for her it’s being one year of running on the mountain as her album ‘FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN’ still blazes nearly one year on. Recently I learnt it would cost a local audience fifteen thousand naira which is, equivalent to $129, to listen and watch ASA live. In Nigerian terms quite prohibitive and then remarkable when you mull over the fact that the Nigerian music scene is predominantly male-driven. If you ask me, I think it is indeed the breaking forth of a new dawn on Nigeria’ music horizon

Gloria, CONNECTAFRICA

NO RESPITE FOR AFRICA?

Halving the world’s carbon emission level by 50% appears to be most significant development at the end of this year’s G8 summit at Hokkaido, Japan. The target date for this cleaner air vision is 2050, a nice ring to it -50-50, that’s if statistics really interest you. The G8 calls this a huge step, but a number of civil and environmental rights activists believe that the elitist group is waning in power. Throughout the summit hundreds of placard carrying activists outside the summit’s venue added to the spectacle of this annual event. Well the interesting thing about those raised voices was that they were clamouring for a change of attitude from leaders of the industrialized nations. Perhaps if shouting could bring down the roof on the industrialized world for failing to meet its financial obligations to pauperized countries; many of which are African nations, then they scored a point. Fortunately this year’s event witnessed no economic grand standing by the G8; perhaps its makes more sense to hold your future in your cradle of your bosom than abdicating it to others. If the G8 fared poorly with the continent’s economic future then maybe the Africa’s several political misadventures would have proven a suitable litmus test, but then frankly speaking the MDC’s opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai would stand a better chance waiting for President Robert Mugabe to resign than hoping for a G8 intervention. So from Cape Agulhas to Cape Town you can see why halving carbon emissions don’t hold any water for the African on the street, in any case we aren’t firing silver oxide pellets into the atmosphere to ensure that the Olympians have a clear line of sight next month. the African continent can at least be comforted knowing that the Chinese have promised it would intensify its efforts in ensuring that the world’s grain output cache never runs dry in turn preventing a replay of  ugly food riot scenes witnessed in Egypt and Liberia a few years back

Most importantly however my heart goes to at least 50% of the Ethiopian population who will be missing their daily bread in a few months because of this natural and artificial food crisis, it will be a lon