Popular Actress Yvonne Okoro To Autograph ‘Contract’ For Fans

Yvonne Okoro

Popular Ghanaian actress Yvonne Okoro is expected to meet her teaming fan base as she organizes a signing ceremony to officially release her first produced movie, ‘The Contract’ onto the movie market.
At the yet to be announced date, she will organize a special launching event to officially release the movie. Fans who will attend the launching ceremony will be the first to get copies of the movie.
She will also sign autographs on the copies of the movie and grant photo opportunities to fans who will buy copies of the movie.
Yvonne is currently in Paris, France and is expected to bounce back to town sometime next week to officially announce the release date for ‘The Contract’.
The movie remained one of Ghana’s best movies that have made headlines across Africa and beyond.
The award winning romantic comedy directed by Shirley Frimpong Manso was the first Ghanaian movie to open Canada’s ReelWorld Films Festival in 12 years.
Also, it broke a number of movie records in Ghana’s movie premiere industry with some of the most patronized movie premiering events. By popular request, the movie was recalled into Silverbird Cinemas after it was premiered at National Theatre in December 2012.

By Francis Addo (@fdee50) NEWS-ONE

Azonto Festival To Shake Ghana

Ghana’s music industry is set to witness another remarkable event with the launching of the first ever, Azonto Festival.

Being organized by FlashMob Ghana, an independent entertainment company that specializes in flash mob dance, event organizing and modelling, the festival would be launched tonight at the Coconut Groove Hotel in Accra, where organizers will explain what Azonto Festival is all about.

The event, according to a release this week, was targeted at “creating a platform to market made in Ghana brands culturally through the Azonto dance around the globe”.

Funny Face on Azonto move

Majid Michel on Azonto move

Organizers assured Ghanaians, United Kingdom citizens and the rest of the world to watch out for diverse forms of Azonto with the upcoming festival.

Azonto is currently the first Ghanaian dance to get international attention. There is some kind of confusion over how it originated but today entertainment observers would always credit it to music icons, Gasmilla, Sarkodie and soccer-star-turned-musician Asamoah Gyan.

The dance involves a wildly excited or uncontrolled set of hand movements that either mimic everyday activities or are meant to signal an often amusing intention. It begun with one or two step movements but has been advanced to more complex and almost acrobatic movements. Just like most African dances, knee bending and hip movements are elements to dancing it.

The dance has effectively evolved from a few rudimentary moves to embrace depictions of ironing, washing, driving, boxing, grooming, praying, swimming, and others.

Generally, the dance reflects the creativity and sense of humour of the Ghanaians. The dance is usually performed with an accompanying smile, evolved from the combination of several local dance moves. It has evolved with the fast pace dance culture of modern West Africa.

Hence, the upcoming festival is anticipated to give Azonto another definition.

By Francis Addo NEWS-ONE

I Won’t Quit Acting When I Turn Pastor –Omar Sheriff

Omar Sheriff Captan

Popular Ghanaian actor Omar Sheriff Captan has said he is not thinking about quitting acting any time soon.

Last week reports linked the actor to taking a French leave from acting to do God’s work after he had said he was going to be ordained a pastor very soon.

But he told NEWS-ONE that, “I am not quitting acting. I will act while I also do God’s work. I will do it hand in hand.”

Over the years, Omar has not openly displayed his Christian faith until two weeks.  His latest revelation that he would be ordained pastor has thus come as a surprise to many who did not know his religious side.

Omar is one of Ghana’s best actors, known for his roles in movies such as “Outrage’, ‘Dark Sands’, ‘My Sweetie’, hit soaps‘Tentacles’ and ‘Broadway’, and ‘Tinsel’ among others.

He is an actor synonymous with captivation and dynamism. Once upon a time, he was the sexiest man to grace TV screens in Ghana and a lot of young men and women adore his good looks and smooth flow.

Omar just describes himself as a simple everyday person who goes about his daily chores diligently.

He used to be a consistent face on ‘Tinsel’ but he has not been that constant in mainstream Ghanaian movies like his younger pals in the industry.

But thank God fans will see more of him because he would still do God’s work and still make himself available in Ghana’s movie industry.  

Credit: Francis Addo (@fdee50)

NEWS-ONE

Thelma Crowned Face Of Exopa

Thelma flanked by 1st runner up Belinda and 2nd Runner up Rhoda

23-Year-Old Cosmetologist of Super Plus Academy Thelma Nartey was the proud winner of the May edition of the Exopa’s New Face competition, last Friday.
The Exopa New Faces contest has, for the past year, served as a platform to aid young models to harness their catwalks and also improve their confidence among other benefits.
Saturday’s event brought both wannabe male and female models to compete for the Face of Exopa.
Combined with exciting musical performances from wannabe musicians, the models thrilled fashion audiences in different categories including talent show, catwalk, evening wear and bikini display.
After a nerve-racking display of catwalks and confidence, Thelma turned out to be the judges’ favourite.
As part of her prize package, she will be with Exopa for some years.     
Belinda Akosua Asiamah, 21-year former student of Akim State College and Rhoda Nyam a 22-year-old young lady came 1st and 2nd runners-up respectively.
With the male model winners, Ahmed Abdulai 21-year-old student of Ghana Technology University College to the lead ahead of Godspower O. Akuakwa 23-year-old student of Sikim Mannipal University and Adjei Wisdom, a 2-year-old former student of Regional Maritime University also emerged first and second runners-up in that order.
Rap doctor Okyeame Kwame was a special guest at the event on Saturday, while Jon Germain returned to the judges’ seat after a long break.  

Source: By Francis Addo  (@fdee50) NEWS-ONE

Elephant Man Storms Ghana

Elephant man

Popular Jamaican dancehall icon Elephant Man, also known as the Energy God (born O’Neil Bryan) has confirmed he is currently rehearsing for his best ever stage performance in Ghana during the BASS Awards scheduled for July 6, at the Accra International Conference Centre.

It would be the debut performance of the Energy God in Ghana and his spokespersons say the mega star is excited about the trip and the fact that he would be performing at an event meant to celebrate and award reggae and dancehall music.

Elephant Man would be one of the several international artistes attending the programme.

Another name being speculated to be at the BASS Awards is Winston ‘Yellowman’ Foster, world-renowned Jamaican reggae (rub-a-dub) and dancehalldeejay, widely known as King Yellowman.

The award ceremony is being organized by Rackus Productions in collaboration with Bullhaus Entertainment and Solid Multimedia to honour Reggae and Dancehall music stakeholders.

Elephant started out his musical journey as a member of the Scare Dem Crew, later continuing as a solo artist.

He was later characterized for several trademarks, such as his dyed yellow-orange hair, his unique low-key voice, and his stage performance, which included jumping and running, or even climbing on stage props and monitors. His acoustic trademark is marked by a light lisp.

He had his first international recognition when he and Puma settled a contract for using his single ‘All Out’for its Olympics commercial campaign in 2004.

He also had a song called ‘Willie Bounce’ that appeared on several mixtapes in early 2006. It sampled the first few bars from ‘I Will Survive’by Gloria Gaynor.

Recently, Bryan signed with New York-based label Bad Boy Records and released ‘Let's Get Physical’ on November 6, 2007. The first single is called ‘Five-O’ and features Wyclef Jean. Another track on the album featured Diddy and Busta Rhymes and was produced by Cipha Soundsand Solitair.

Many of his songs are found on various Riddim Driven albums by VP Records and Greensleeves Records’ Rhythm Album series. He performs on popular riddims such as "Diwali", “Coolie”, “Stepz”, and “Bubble Up.”

The Gully Creeper dance, for which Bryan created a song, was danced by Usain Bolt at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing after winning the gold medal and breaking a world record in the 200 metre sprint.

Credit: NEWS-ONE

 

Yvonne Nelson Hijacked At Miss Universe

Yvonne Nelson and her fans at Miss Universe

 Actress Yvonne Nelson had a rough time dealing with a section of her fans at the 2013 edition of the Miss Universe pageant on Friday.
The beautiful actress was one of the high profile judges for the event alongside international model, Veronica Varekova, 2011 Miss Universe winner, Leila Lopes, actress, TV host Benny Blanco and Brian D. Hogan, founder and partner of Paradigm Group Capital LLC.

Yvonne Nelson

Yvonne Nelson

Yvonne Nelson

Yvonne Nelson

Yvonne Nelson and George William

While in her judge’s seat during the night, she told audience, “I am looking out for which of the ladies can take Ghana to the next level and put Ghana on the map at Miss Universe.” 
After the ceremony hosted by Ama K Abebrese and Nathaniel Attoh, an amazing number of patrons gathered around the actress to take memorable snapshots with her.
She took turns to take pictures and even interact with them.
A lot of them gathered around her virtually preventing her from going out of the auditorium.
It however took the intervention of PY Addo, one of the organizers and co-host of The One Show on Viasat1 to free her from the fans, as he ushered her out of the gathering.
Yvonne is currently one of Ghana’s most loved and popular celebrities around. She is putting Ghana on the map around some parts of the world and is presently a household name in Nigeria.    

Source: Francis Addo (@fdee50) NEWS-ONE

Cheaters Premiere Gets Amazing Patronage

The Crowd

Abdul Salam, Jackie Appiah and Frank Rajah

Chichi Neblett

Uche Iwuanyanwu

Frank Rajah & Yvonne Nelson

The premiere of new Ghanaian movie, ‘Cheaters’ attracted an encouraging patronage at the Silverbird Cinema in Accra than expected last Friday evening.
Two of Silverbird Cinema halls were used for the premiere. Each of the halls screened the movie twice and on each occasion, the halls were fully packed.
“It is encouraging that movie fans came out in their numbers to see my movie. It is indication that Ghanaians still have interest in our local movies and we must improve the frontiers to heighten that attention,” director Frank Rajah said at the premiere.
“It is amazing,” CEO of Venus Film Production, Abdul Salam described it.
At about 6:00pm Friday evening, movie enthusiasts started trooping to Silverbird for the premiere event which had some of Ghana’s hottest actors passing through. 
By 7:00pm when the movie was about to start, all two halls of the cinema were packed. At the same time an interesting number of movie fans were waiting outside of the halls for their turn.
Also patrons’ reaction to some of the scenes of the movie during the screening ceremony indicated that they loved the movie.
Present at the ceremony sponsored by Baileys were top actors Yvonne Nelson, Jackie Appiah and John Dumelo.
Among the cast were Chichi Neblett, Uche Iwuannyawu and Henry A. Asiedu as Adjetey Anang and Omar Sheriff Captan were conspicuously missing.  Also present were Gloria Sarfo, Roselyn Ngissah, Kweku Elliot, Nollywood’s Bobby Obodo, David Oscar and a host of others.   
‘Cheaters’ is described as the next romantic comedy to rock the movie scene.
It follows the stories of several young couples caught up in a web of love, lies and extramarital affairs. It throws more light on the assumption that marriage is the only war in which one sleeps with the enemy. If the couple is inseparable, it usually takes five people to separate it and ‘Cheaters’ reflects just that. In this film love is portrayed as a mysterious adventure that takes one through many twists and turns. 
One adds a bit of infidelity to the mix and he or she has the perfect recipe for disaster.

By Francis Addo NEWS-ONE

I’d Rather Perform With A Guitar -Kissi Kantios

Kissi Kantios

Ghanaian rising reggae icon Kissi Kantios says he finds miming to be a cheap and appalling way of performing music, so he would rather mount a stage with at least a guitar rather than mime.
“ I’d rather perform with  a guitar or keyboard and percussion than mime my own song...but with the current trend of event organizing where organizers do not make provision for live bands ,well man might be compelled to bend his own rules just for the show to go on,” he told NEWS-ONE in exclusive interview.

After 15 years of recording in various studios across Ghana and 20 years of performing on various stages and concerts, the teacher-Rasta-presenter comes out with two singles ‘Ma No Nko’ and ‘Washe Me Time’ which are already making impact on the airwaves on stations such as Hits FM, Joy FM, Radio XYZ, Peace FM, Y FM and Windy bay among others.
The singles blend elements of high-life music with hardcore dancehall music to recreate and rebrand a hybrid of the two called Dancelife which is original to Ghana.
He worked with Zapp Mallet, one of the best sound engineers on the continent and Naa Elizabeth a voice major and teaching assistant in the Music Department of UEW doing the backing vocals. He hopes his Dancelife music rocks the continent.
‘Ma No Nko’ was the anthem of most clubs and shows in the just ended Aboakyir festival and continues to enjoy a dancing ovation of every ear that hears it.
Agyei Kissi Kantios was born in Asamankese in the Eastern Region. He completed secondary school at Aggrey Memorial A.M.E Zion Secondary School in 1997 as a science student, enrolled into Abetifi Teachers College of Education in 1999 to be trained as a teacher.
He completed in 2002 and was posted to teach at various places in the Western Region of Ghana. Later he underwent training as a radio broadcaster while still teaching. In 2006 he started working as a part-time radio presenter at Ankobra FM in Axim presenting reggae and showbiz programmes.
But his passion for reggae and highlife music has been a lifelong one; hence he decided to veer into doing music.
He wrote his first reggae music at the age of 10 after reading Bob Marley and other reggae lyrics from LP covers belonging to his father.
There were the days when he would run from home or school just to follow bands around towns and villages observing the DJ and sometimes asking to be allowed to operate the sound systems.
 In 2010 he left radio to enter the University of Education, Winneba, to continue his study of music.
A guitarist and a student keyboardist, Kantios has great passion for live music.

Source: NEWS-ONE

Aero Contractors Promotes Tourism

Aero Contractors officials in Accra

One of Africa’s leading airlines, Aero Contractors Company from Nigeria has emphasized its interest in promoting tourism in African countries, where it operates.
On Friday, the airline announced its 13th flight route to Douala, Cameroun and hoped to promote tourism in that part of Africa.

Speaking at a ceremony in Accra at the Silver Lounge at the Accra Mall, Aero's Accountable Manager, Captain Russell Leefon encouraged travellers to take some time off their busy schedules to visit Cameroun because it also has one of the interesting tourism sites in the world.
“Part of our commitment in Accra is to connect Accra to our regional destinations. Cameroun is a country of contrast…it is a country with tropical rain forest, savannah grasslands, deserts and a home of mountain gorillas, forest elephants, chimpanzees, reptiles, hundreds of species of bird lives including the great parrot. It is a country that’s home to every African tribe and that makes it a miniature Africa on its own. It’s a country of over 200 dialects…they too are producing oil and it’s time for Aero to take some of you there,” Captain Russell indicated.       
Currently, he told NEWS-ONE the airline had no major tour operation plan. However, that is being considered in their events plan in the future.
“Few years ago when we were doing our expansion, we actually had tour packages, where passengers had board packages with us to Sao Tome for weekend and a total accommodation and stuff like that including optional tours. That is the kind of programme that we will again put back in place,” he assured travellers.
Starting from May 27, Aero Contractors said there will be an Aero flight from Accra's Kotoka International Airport to  the Douala International Airport - Douala - Cameroon, and back to Accra on same flight, same day schedule.
This unprecedented initiative goes to further highlight the Airline’s strategy to continue to provide the most reliable, convenient, fast and affordable way for their customers to fly.
“As the leading West African airline, we’re delighted to be adding a new route nonstop service, boosting business and leisure travels between our two nations and increasing travel choices for Ghanaians with flights to Cameroon,” said Capt Leefon.
He went on to add that not only is Aero bringing Douala to the doorstep of Ghanaians but also providing affordable fares to its esteemed customers.  The flights will be available three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through to Sundays, for an amazing bargain of USD 250 for a return trip to Douala.
Customers on this flight will be able to save valuable time and money by flying from Accra to Doula and back to Accra through Lagos. As is customary to all Aero flights, customers will also have the unique opportunity to experience the inimitable service of the highly professional cabin crew, as they enjoy great hospitality and' services from their courteous crew as well as complimentary food and beverages.
Currently the fastest growing Nigerian carrier, Aero is focused on bringing customers world class aviation services with affordable fares, quality on-board services, good customer relations with effective online services and operational competence.
Aero prides itself in its punctuality and safety record, and has established itself as the leading regional and e-innovative carrier in West Africa.
Aero currently operates scheduled passenger services with Boeing 737-400 & 500 and Bombardier Dash-8 series aircraft to various destinations across Nigeria and other parts of West Africa.  In addition, Aero Contractors operates and maintains the fleet of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which consists of Hawker 800 Executive Jet, Twin Otter and five Dauphin Helicopters. Aero also offers operational and maintenance services for third party aircraft on a long or short-term basis.







Francis Addo NEWS-ONE