Give way! There’s a new VGMA certified Vocal Goddess in town!
On Friday, June 25th, 2021, the Academy and Board of the 22nd Vodafone Ghana Music Awards adjudged Abiana Ghana’s Best Female Vocalist in the Year under review for her performance on the song ‘Adun Lei’.

Abiana beat five other respectable and very talented vocalists, Efe Grace, Yaayaa, Adina, Cina Soul, and Enuonyam to win the coveted award. “It came as a surprise to me and this makes me more content and this confirms that I am on the right path on my musical career.

Winning this award opens a new chapter to my life”, she expressed after beating vocal queens like Cina Soul, Efe Grace, Adina, Yaa Yaa, and Enuonyam to earn the coveted award” she said.
The elated ‘Adun Lei’ crooner further added, “I am grateful that people are getting to know me and hear the name, Abiana for the first time and in turn exposing my sound and music to them. It forces me to get back to working on being the best version of myself in the coming years. Next for me is to go back to the studio and work on more timeless songs” she continued. 

Signed to +233 Records in 2019, Abiana released ‘Adun Lei’ in 2020 with a video directed by the renowned filmmaker, Yaw Skyface.
The Management of Abiana takes this opportunity to congratulate the talent and express their deepest gratitude to the VGMA Board, the Academy, headline sponsor, Vodafone Ghana, organizers, Charterhouse and their partners, and all fans of Abiana.  
Expect more from the camp of Abiana before the end of 2021.

The latest episode of Hot Palaver hosted by DJ Mac took a deep dive into the life of renowned Ghanaian artist Manager, Bulldog. According to Bulldog, per his vast experience and understanding in the music industry, he sees Afrobeats as more of a Categorization than a music Genre as most people think.

Explaining his opinion Bulldog said “I keep saying Afrobeats is not a genre but a categorization, like this is an African beat, like sounds from Accra, no musician in Africa can enter the Grammys because there is no category in the Grammys for Afrobeats, its world music…”

Emphasizing the “But for me, Afrobeats can never be a genre because it is a collection of different genres from Africa.”

This opinion by Bulldog was in support of his artist, Shatta Wale, who a few weeks ago suggested in his State of the industry address that Ghana music needed an identity. While most people came at Shatta Wale for not recognizing HiLife as the identified Genre of Ghana, Bulldog believes it was only a clarion call by his artist.

The next episode of the Hot Palaver show will also bring another exciting convo that will touch on pressing issues in the entertainment industry. Watch full interview with Bulldog here:

https://fb.watch/6qSMI0atG_/

KYSFM which has the mission of using radio to bring education and development to the community in which we operate has its flagship show called Hot Palava hosted by DJ Mac.

Celebrated philanthropist Kossi Azoumaro, known in the entertainment industry as DJ Mac, who has influence of two nations, Ghana and Togo, uses the flagship Hot Palaver show to discusses pertinent issues and conversations that affects these countries in hopes of boosting the culture of the people of Togo and Ghana. 

In talking about himself, Kossi Azoumaro – MS, CISA, CISSP, GCIH, CEH, AWS Certified Solutions Architect mentioned that he is a Cyber Security Engineer with over 15 years of experience and specialized in areas such as Penetration Testing, Cyber Security, Information Assurance (IA), Security Control Assessment (SCA), Security Assessment & Authorization (SA&A), and Network Security. 

He is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) via the ISC2, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) via EC Council, Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA) via ISACA, AWS Certified Solutions Architect and possesses a Certificate in GAIC Certified Incident Handler via SANS. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Economics and a Master of Science in Information Assurance. 

In addition, Kossi Azoumaro owns two cyber security companies and actively involved in providing cyber security training around the world.

According to the IT Guru who now runs his online shows as a hobby and also as his little contribution to the growth of the media industry back home, he was looking out for ways he could support his “fellow” practitioners in the Volta Region since the Covid-19 came and since he cannot support every single person working in the industry, he decided to throw a challenge which will help in selecting a few deserving persons to merit cushioning.

The weekly Friday show is a new initiative by the United States of America based professional Disk Jockey and Cyber Security Engineer Kossi Azoumaro, known in the entertainment industry as DJ Mac. Hot Palaver run concurrently with the “Weekend Vibe Show”, and ” DJ MAC TALK SHOW”, all hosted by DJ Mac on KYSFM. 

Heavily influenced by the Togolese and Ghanaian culture, the Hot Palaver show is in French and English language, serving listeners from these two nations.

The debut episode of the Hot Palaver show saw the controversial musician cum radio presenter Blakk Rasta as its first guest. Just as the focus of the show, their conversation centered on the current happenings in Ghana. The socioeconomic issues, political issues, the judicial system, the recent supreme court hearing of the 2020 election disputes and the judgement that was passed, and the LGBTQ+ controversy.

Within the last 25 years, DJ MAC worked at Radio Lomé, Volta Premier FM in Ho, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in Tamale before relocating to the USA. He also holds a Professional Certificate in Computer Systems Security and has worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US government and owns a cyber security company TeksPros.

Kwesi Arthur has on an interview expressed his displeasure with the music duo, Dopenation. 

Known for a controversy free music career, it seems Kwesi Arthur doesn’t mind making the trends over his displeasure with his colleagues, Dopenation whom he said offended him in the past.

Speaking from a place of pain, Kwesi Arthur narrated how the twins  lied on his name and how he felt about it. According to him, his music and brand is all he’s got, which is why there is no one he is going to front if anyone says anything that can make him lose that. Emphasizing on it, Kwesi Arthur said “if you take my brand away, I have nothing, so for you to do that, I am not cool.”

However he agrees to work with them in future if the record was good and deserved he puts his very on, how every he did not hesitate to make his ill feelings for them known.

Kwesi Arthur is currently promoting his new song featuring Vic Mensah, Winning:

Brilliant Ghanaian rapper, Kojo Cue has sent out an important request to be universe and is expecting a response before he leaves earth. 

On his official twitter handle, Kojo Cue tweeted “I deserve an @iamobrafour hook before I leave this earth, universe make it happen”. While many may see this as nothing, it is a big deal which needs more attention as any other conversation in the industry. 

First of all the post projects Obrafour as a music god as most people see him in the music industry. Obrafour has been that legendary music figure whose works and contribution to the Ghanaian music ecosphere can not be over looked or written off. This shows the respect and reverence artist like Kojo Cue have for the iconic figure.

Also, the part Kojo cue’s tweet that says “before I leave earth” is equally as important because in Ghana, listeners are quick to retire artists, here you will hear things like “former musician” . Leave the earth simple means that until he, Kojo Cue, leave the earth, he will remain a musician whether or not he is involved in the music business actively. Also for sometime now, the legendary Obrafour seem to have put a pause of recording, which happens all over the world, however in Ghana once an artist does not have a current hit song or is not a recording artist, his career is considered Dead! But Kojo Cue placing a call to Obrafour means that as long as they are both alive their music career is alive and collaborations can happen any time.

Finally, the “I deserve a hook…” which some may consider as some form of an entitlement or ultimatum to Obrafour, to me, may just be the right call. Kojo Cue, like any other contemporary rapper who has done a song with Obrafour is equally as talented, as hard working and has the huts and momentum to “deserve” an Obrafour hook. If you don’t agree, check his catalogue. Ghanaians mistake hit musicians for good musicians and that is not entirely right.

Hopefully the universe answers his call so Ghanaians will have the privilege to enjoy a Kojo Cue-Obrafour collaboration.

While the world has become more aggressive on fighting barbaric acts like rape, it seems it continuous to be a problem in most parts of the world. According to renowned Ghanaian musician, Efya, rapists should simply be castrated.

Instead of being prosecuted and coming out to continue in the act, it seems the songstress believes castration could help nib the wicked act. However, the use of castration seem to only favor women, what about men who get raped by women, what should be done to them, should they also, be circumcised?

It seems the A list artists will never be free of expectations projected on them no matter how much they do for the young ones. In Ghana, most mainstream artist like Sarkodie, kofi kinaata, Samini to mention a few have been tagged with. To supporting the younger generation of musicians. Though they try so hard to vindicate themself it seems such conversations will always come up. 

Nautyca, a young talented musician has in a live video bastardized celebrated Ghanaian musician, sarkodie, for not sharing his music link as often and random as he does for others in spite of being on the song and the music video. Although Sarkodie posted the link a couple of times, according to Nautyca, he didn’t do it as often considering how he sacrificed time with his then manager, possigee for Sarkodie’s recording sessions.

After the live Video went out, unhappy sarkodie called for his verse to be taken off the next song called BUM BUM he had recorded with Nautyca. This attack on Sarkodie’s brand has caused a stir on social media  and has got the management of Sarkodie commenting on the issue. According to him Sarkodie went all out for him and agreed to do the second song because of that family friendship they had, which is why a disrespect like that got him upset.

Hopefully, young artist learn a lesson and not depend solely on big artist for their breakthrough.

Nautyca is out with a new song called EChoke

The 22nd Edition of the Vodafon Ghana Music Awards has promised to be one that will be full of excitement and unforgettable Xperiences for its patrons.

Revealing the artists to perform for the Xperience Concert, the scheme has on their official social media handles announced Kelvyn boy, Kwesi Arthur Adina, Celestine Donkor, Kuami Eugene, Epixode, Abiana, Amerado, kwekuflick, Camidoh to mention a few.

The experience is slated for the 12th of June 2021, where the scheme promises to enthrall Ghanaians with good music and experiences that will leave an indelible mark on their memory.

The Story of Legendary Musician Okomfour Kwadee can never be told without the mention of names like Producer Quick Action. While narratives have gone against Quick Action, it seem the producer is unperturbed.

Speaking to Oneplay Africa on his take on the just ended birthday bash for the Musician, Okomfour Kwadee, Quick Action expressed how excited he was and how it gave him a taste of their good old days together.

Touching on allegations leveled against him over the years for being a bad influence to the artist, he said that he loved him genuinely as a brother and nothing said about him will affect his love for him and theirs was for life and a true agape love for his brother.

He stressed that, if he harbors ill feelings against Kwadee for rumors peddled about him, then it means he never loved him in the first place. Which is why he is praying for his full recovery and a possible comeback.

Seven years ago, a legendary figure in the Ghanaian music scene, Castro, was reportedly taken away by a water body at Ada, during a pleasurable moment with friends.

While family and loved ones held to the hope that the artist was going to resurface, per the laws of Ghana, after seven years of his disappearance the he was to be legally declared dead.

Speaking to close friends and colleagues of the late Musician, Oneplay Africa had a conversation with producer Kaywa who expressed his hearth felt condolences to the family.

Recalling his friendship with Castro, Kaywa narrated that, Castro was a good person to him and all producers he worked with. Adding that, though producers were at the time not receiving any royalties for their work done, Castro always made sure those he worked with earned what was due them. He also recounted a moment where Castro use to shop in bags and boxes for him.

D-Flex also sent a message to his family sending their heartfelt condolence and praying for strength for them since this was going to open up old wounds.

Renowned music Producer, Quick Action also speaks on his time working with the legendary artist on song like Nfoni. He also went ahead to send his heartfelt condolence to the family of Castro.