Former First Lady, Konadu Agyemang Rawlings declared her intension to run for the office of President of Ghana at the ‘Famous 5’ concert held at the Accra International Conference Centre last Friday. When host of the event, Kwami Sefa Kai asked the former first lady if she would indeed run for president, she was a little hesitant to answer but the crowed in chorus answered ‘Yes’! Mrs Rawlings later answered, ‘You heard them!’ each time the host asked the question. But when Kwami pushed a little further, the former First Lady confirmed that she would run ‘absolutely’. Kwami then remarked that Prof Evans Attah Mills was in trouble and moved on with the show.
The night was however not one for politics but serious good music. It started with the mellow vibes from highlife crooner, Kwabena Kwabena and rose up with the tempo of hiplife trio, 5five. Gospel band, No Tribe took the crowd to church in a different and unique style when they gave a contemporary twist to their stage craft. No matter how they did, it was clear that they were worshiping and praising God with their all, and what better time to do that than on Good Friday?
The legendary Amakye Dede and Kojo Antwi then took turns to show the crowd what legends are made of. For the first time in the history of Ghanaian music, the two icons were put on the same bill to each perform for over an hour. With their repertoire spanning over two decades each, patrons were spoilt for choice as hit after hit, the crowd asked for more.
Other highlights on the night included Kojo Antwi performing a yet to be released song with his vocal sidekick, Nana Yaa. Though the song was unknown to the crowd, the performance from the two pulled a thunderous applause in the auditorium. Amakye Dede also had some highlights of his own when intermittently he spoke English to his fans to prove that he can indeed speak the language. To prove that he can sing in English, he also called on stage Peace FM presenter, Fiifi Banson, who has over the years made fun of Amakye Dede on air that the singer has only one English song i.e. ‘Iron Boy’. A hesitant Fiifi Banson went on stage and confessed to his mockery of Amakye Dede. Fiifi added that he was now aware that the highlife icon has another English song, ‘Broken Promise’, and sang the chorus to that song before walking off the stage. Amakye Dede later did an acapella of ‘Iron Boy’ and dedicated it to Fiifi.
15 names including Amakyi Dede, Kojo Antwi, Ohemaa Mercy, No-Tribe, DL(Daddy Lumba), R2Bees, 5Five, Ruff & Smooth, Wutah, Samini, Kofi B, Sarkodie, Castro, Cecelia Marfo and Kwabena Kwabena were put out by organizers earlier in the year asking the general public to vote for the five topmost performers they would love to see on one stage. The 15 were selected by a college of professionals in the music industry namely: Nana Benyin Dadson( Graphic Showbiz Editor), Carlos Sekyi (Musician and Copyright advocate), Diana Hopeson( MUSIGA President), Appiah Dankwa aka Appietus (Music Producer), Fred Darko (Event Producer), Kwasi Aboagye (Peace FM), Whitney Boakyi Mensah (Event Planner and Journalist) and Fiifi Banson (Peace FM) based on their presence, in terms of releases or public performances and how much impact they made on their audience within the past year irrespective of their music genre. The “Famous 5”, organized by Events and More in collaboration with Peace FM, is an event aimed at raising the standards in stage performance in Ghana, will afford the various artistes a unique opportunity and platform to perform and interact with their fans.
