Ghanaian-born to sing at Winter Olympics
Authors of Africa's 100 best books
to be honoured
Veteran
actor, Joe Eyison is dead
Miss
Ghana-Canada Pageant controversy...The Chief Judge speaks out!
Salt Lake City will echo with music during the Winter Olympics, with a series of Olympic Celebration concerts and an arts festival timed to take advantage of the influx of tourists.
Alanis Morissette, Nelly Furtado, Macy Gray and Sheryl Crow are all lined up to perform during the month-long event. One of the artists flying the musical flag for Britain at the Winter Olympics will be London gospel singer Gena West.
West, whose background is Ghanaian but who was born in Aberdeen, was a dedicated law student when an encounter with the great Nina Simone pushed her towards her true vocation.
"I met her in Ghana, at my parents' 25th wedding anniversary party - she was one of the African-Americans who had spent time there to find her roots.
"I didn't know she was there, so I got up to sing one of her songs at the party - My Baby Just Cares For Me - and when she came up afterwards I was so scared. "But she said: 'You'd better give up the law and take up singing'."
Now West has been invited by Winter Olympics sponsor Samsung to sing at a series of concerts to mark the sports event. The Olympics opens on Friday, so I've got a show on Thursday and another one on Friday. "And then I've got some closing concerts - my final one is on 23 February."
West is still deciding on exactly what her musical approach will be for the concerts. "I've been booked a solo artist but I insisted on taking my pianist - if you can get the pianist right, you're fine.
"They've left the repertoire up to me, and it's going to be a set of very popular, well-known tunes - but I'm not planning to sing The Star Spangled Banner. "I love Summertime, so I'm bound to do that - even though it's winter time. And I'll probably sing something I've written, too."
West, who recently released a self-produced gospel album, has been promoting it on the UK gospel circuit. If she feels any nervousness about singing at the Winter Olympics, she does not show it. "I've done gigs in the States and I'm very familiar with Americans.
"They're very giving, very open and they show their appreciation more than Europeans, they're more overt about it. "And I've got some beautiful gowns to wear, from a couple of designers, Isobell Kristensen and Kruszynska - really fab outfits."
West plans to start work on another album on her return from
Salt Lake City at the end of February. "I'm hoping to record another
album, and the fact that I've been booked for the Olympics is a very positive
thing - people take you a little more seriously. "Out of this could come
some big stuff." - BBC Online
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2002 - African writers and publishers of the best 100 books of the 20th century would be honoured in Harare, Zimbabwe, in July during the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
This is in recognition of their immense contribution towards the development of literature on the African continent, according to a statement issued by the local organising committee in Accra on Monday.
The nomination list of award winners would be announced at a grand ceremony in Accra on Tuesday, February 19, the statement said, adding that the ceremony was expected to bring hundreds of Africa's best writers and their publishers to Accra.
Nana Akufo Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice would be the Special Guest of Honour. Africa's 100 Best Books Project was initiated and promoted by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) with Professor Njabulo Ndebele, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, as chairman of the project's jury.
The jury is made up of eminent and renowned men and women from all over Africa and some international African literature and scholarship experts. The statement said the ZIBF decided to announce the list to coincide with the Fifth International Publishers Association's Copyright Conference, which is also to take place in Accra.
The initial nominations list built from the time of the launch of the project in 2000 to the end of September 2001 comprised 1,521 titles by more than 1,000 authors including 400 females from all over Africa.
They were written in English, French, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Arabic, German, Shona, Pulaar, Kiswahili, Sesotho, Luganda, Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Sotho. The list had now been cut down to 498 titles as part of the process designed to arrive at a final list of 100.
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Veteran actor, Joe Eyison is dead
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2002 - Veteran
actor and musician, Joe Eyison, is dead. Mr. Eyison, popularly known as
'Station Master' for his role in GTV's 'Obra' series, died last Saturday 2nd
Feb 2002, a few hours after the burial of another veteran actor, S.K. Oppong.
The cause of his death is yet to be confirmed. But the President of the
Musicians Union of Ghana, Sidiku Buari suspects some foul play.
He told JOY FM that a day before his death Mr.
Eyison reported that he had been threatened by a group of people who claimed to
own the Ghanaian music industry.
The alleged threat followed an interview with
TV3 on Friday, in which Mr. Eyison declared support for Alhaji Sidiku Buari,
who is under pressure to step down as President of MUSIGA. Alhaji Sidiku Buari
suspects that Mr. Eyison was beaten up by these people who later dropped him
off at his home. - JOYONLINE
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Miss Ghana-Canada Pageant controversy...The Chief Judge speaks out!!
Toronto (Canada) 05 February 2002 - The Chief Judge
at the controversy ridden Miss Ghana-Canada Pageant, Mr. Jayson Schwarz, a
Toronto Legal Practitioner has pointed out that as far as he is concerned,
Anita Aboagye won the crown on the night of the Pageant.
Appearing as Special Guest on a Talk Show "Nsem
Pii" hosted by Mr. Kwadwo Okyere Bonnah before a live studio audience, on
Saturday, January 26, 2002, at Eddystone Ave. Downsview, Toronto, Mr. Schwartz
insisted that Miss Anita Aboagye was the clear winner because she had the most
votes.
As the Chief Judge he did not vote, but his job
was to collate the results and tallies from each of the judges, tabulate them
and give the final result to the announcer. But according to Mr. Schwarz,
something happened after he handed the result to George Fynn's assistant.
For reasons, which he doesn't know, the results
were switched and a wrong name was given to George on the stage. He said when
they announced the 1st runner up Freda Adjei as the winner, he was shocked and
within 5 seconds he had to make a decision to correct the mistake. He jumped to
the stage and insisted that the crown be removed from Freda Adjei to Anita
Aboagye because Anita was the winner.
"That was the hardest decision I have ever
made in my life. My job was to do the right thing, not only for the girls but
also for the community at large", Jason emphasised.
Mr. Schwartz said he accepted the invitation to
come to the show to tell his side of the story because of the love he has for
our community. He said that when the crown went to the wrong girl his heart was
broken and if he had not stopped it right away he would have betrayed the
purpose for which he was there as the Chief Judge.
After he corrected what would have been an
injustice, one of the organisers came to him to say that they could not crown
Anita for immoral reasons. He refused, telling them that he did not care about
that because legally Anita is the winner. He was brought there to judge what
went on at the contest but what ever they want to do after that was their own
business which had nothing to do with the judges.
In an answer to a question as to what he will do
if the case goes to court, Jayson said he cannot give any opinion, but said
that he will not represent either George or Anita. They need to engage their
own lawyers but he will be a witness.
The bottom line, he said, is that Anita won the
show. George Fynn, he said, is a nice guy so he wishes that they should both
sit down and sort things out. He will be prepared to mediate, if they ask him
to. He feels that the Miss Ghana-Canada pageant is not about Anita nor about
George but about the community. He believes that George Fynn is "stuck
between a rock and hard place", but the fact that he is stuck between a
rock and hard place should not be held against him.
He however said he has offered George Fynn a
series of recommendations for any future pageant. These include setting up a
protocol contract for all the girls and that the envelope from the chief judge
to the announcer should not be opened.
Two weeks earlier, George Fynn, the Pageant
Director, had appeared on the same show to tell his side of the story. He
maintained that the pageant reserved the right according to its own laws, to
strip Anita off the title, so in his view nothing illegal has been done.
But in answer to the question as to when he knew
about Anita's past , he said it was "one of my African organisers, Albert,
who said three of the girls engaged in stripping and he saw one himself".
According to George Fynn, he had a difficult time believing it and he took it
as a serious allegation.
He said he questioned one of the girls at that
time. The girl got mad so he took it as rumours and a dangerous hear say. He
said since he did not have the facts he decided to let go so that it did not spoil
the Pageant. He decided to deal with it later. - Ghanaian News in Canada
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