Adom Temafest 2011: Another success story

For the thousands of fans and music enthusiasts who trooped to the Tema Community Eight Number Three school park on Boxing Day (December 26) to witness the fourth edition of Adom Temafest, the smiles of satisfaction on their faces emphasized one point; the event had been a resounding success.

Since it started about four years ago Temafest, organized by entertainment powerhouse, Adom FM, has grown to become the biggest outdoor event in Tema and even Accra, boasting great organization to bring the big names in the music industry closer to their fans especially in Tema and Ashaiman while also helping to launch the careers of up and coming artistes in the Metropolis.

The all-day event is usually characterized by games in the morning and a big jam in the evening lasting into the wee hours of the next day and this year’s edition was no different. The various communities in Tema and Ashaiman competed for top honours in games like football, draught, cards, and volleyball among others with the winners receiving trophies.

There were some new additions to the morning event this year like the mobile swimming pools and bouncy castles for the kids, a beer village where patrons were given meat and tilapia soup.

The evening jam was a highly anticipated one as several big name artistes including Edem (formerly Ayigbe Edem), VIP, Tic Tac, Kwaw Kese, Rana, Opanka, Slim Busterr among others were expected to thrill the huge crowd which turned up about three hours before the jam.

When it finally took off, it was a non-stop dance party with gospel artistes, DSP Kofi Sarpong and Gifty Osei setting the stage with some inspiring songs. DSP Kofi Sarpong has shown great improvement in his stagecraft and it was evident during his performance.

Then there were the “stage warmers”, those underground or up and coming artistes especially hiplife and hip hop, who took the opportunity to show the crowd what they were capable of.

Some were not too good while others entertained their audience and if the enthusiastic response some of them received from the crowd is anything to go by, then Ghana had better watch out for a new crop of stars from Tema soon.

Tic Tac took the crowd down memory lane performing songs like Mansa, Philomena, Mmaa Formula among others and interacted quite well with the audience, while Mzbel was her sexy self along with her dancers as she sang some of her songs.

The Rana boys also entertained the crowd with their dance moves and songs like Fly With Me and Slim Busterr proved that he has still got the moves and the voice with his energetic performance on stage.

The collaboration between Kwaw Kesse and Daddy Opanka was a really great one and a major highlight of the evening as the two artistes performed their songs like Oye Nonsense, Tie Tie, Obiaa Ne Ne Taste, Me Ne Wo Ne Asem, Popping among others together and it was delightful with the excited crowd urging them on.

They had great chemistry and it was quite obvious that the act had been rehearsed because it flowed and the crowd yelled for more when they were done.

VIP were on fire right from when they mounted the stage and they took the crowd down memory lane with songs, Besen, Ahomka Wom, Daben Na Odo Beba, I Think I Like Am to current ones like Away, She Be My Taste and Change Position.

There is no doubt about their stage craft and they really put themselves in their act, interacted with their fans; even holding a dancing competition between two of them and woke up many a sleepy eye at the park. By the time their performance ended the crowd was screaming for more.

Headline artiste, Edem, proved why he deserved to be the lead artiste on the night as he electrified the stage with tracks from his old and new albums including Nyornuviade, Teva (Bougez), De Afor Tome, Give it up, Lorlortor, Too Much and Over and Over.

The crowd had waited several hours to see him and he did not disappoint them at all engaging them and thrilling them with his stagecraft. Although not everybody understood the Ewe, they still responded to him enthusiastically.

A big surprise of the night was the presence of Sarkodie, who was not billed to perform at the show. His appearance was not announced so the moment he spoke, the crowd burst into deafening cheers.

Although suffering from a sore throat resulting from the launch of his “Rapperholic” album on Christmas Day, he did not disappoint his fans as he performed songs from his album ending with the popular You Go Kill Me.

He later expressed thanks to his fans and also to Adom FM where he was discovered.

The show ended around 4 am and the tired faces and shuffling feet said it all that once again Adom FM had delivered on its promise to continually entertain the people of Tema.

Some of the artistes who later spoke to Adom Entertainment News asked that the event be held at the Tema Stadium next year as it had outgrown its current venue looking at the huge numbers that attended.

Temafest was sponsored by Ulcerplex Herbal, Kudos Pharmaceuticals; Bump Patrol, NDK Financial Services, Helen Kay Fashions, Volta Catch, Privada Natural Mineral Water, Star Beer and Keep Fit Yogurt Drink.