Nominations for the 5th edition of the annual MTN 4Syte TV Music Video Awards is out. In the list are the usual suspects which included the celebrated Ghanaian rapper, Okyeame Kwame.
Known for churning out soul-inspiring songs with beautiful and well directed videos, Okyeame Kwame obtained six (6) nominations out of the nineteen (19) categories of the awards with his “Woara” music video featuring songstress Raquel and directed by Abraham Ohene Djan for OM Studios.
Categories nominated are “Most Influential Video”, “Best Collaboration Video”, “Best Hilife Video”, “Best Edited Video”, “Best Storyline Video” and “Best Directed Video”.
Check out the “Woara” concept and the video below…
FALLING VASE: The video begins with the breaking of a vase. It is to symbolise breaking something valuable since vase is a piece of artwork considered to be valuable even looking at the way it is molded, decorated and polished. Breaking it also stands for the confusion in the relationship.
SEPARATION ON THE BED: The separation on the bed where Raquel is moving away from Okyeame Kwame means they are still together but the relationship is very gloomy that they can’t stand each other. The singing starts with both lovers walking away from each other in an opposite direction indicating separation in their relationship.
ARGUING COUPLE: The part where the couple is arguing is an actual silhouette. Behind them, the light is creating an illusion of love which means they are standing in front of love and arguing.
FALLING GLASS OF WATER: The breaking of the glass of water is where I say in the audio that ‘ you said even if there was happiness even at the end of the sea, you were going to swim to get it, so what how come now it’s only raining and you are roaming searching for an umbrella’. The video trivializes the rain more by just capturing it in a glass. If you watch closely you can see that the “nsuo” (water) falls exactly when I said it, meaning ‘ you said you were going to swim to the end of the sea to bring me happiness, but it’s only a glass of water that is broken; why then are you looking for an umbrella? That is disappointment.
PARTING WAYS AND SIGNALS: They are walking away and everything they are seeing are signals. The signals are describing what the couple is going through (that is what is written on the front page of Graphic holding the man), and how they used to be (the young couple celebrating love).
BURNING OF PHOTO: When it gets to ‘Agyamu Kraa wo ne mia’ it means you promised that you were even going to burn with me but this is just the sun and you are roaming searching for an umbrella. So our photo is being burned to remind her of that statement. Another metaphoric element we have here is that when people get angry in love they tear up pictures and they burn them. They forget that whiles they are burning the picture they “burning themselves too”. So whiles you are creating confusion you do not have peace too.
OLD COUPLE: Around this part too, a seemingly older couple who are extremely happy is seen but the lady passes by. It is just one question, how could they have been together to this point?
DAILY GRAPHIC: In front of the graphic is BETRAYAL. That’s what the whole song is about. It was included to tell the viewers that that is why the couple is in that state of confusion. “Wo de no dada dada saah na wo adaadaa me” the chorus means you have betrayed me. ‘Sweetie sweetie nti na mee su yi also means betrayal. ‘Baby baby wo afa me aborfra bi’ also betrayal. The whole song in short is about betrayal. And since the newspaper is a symbol of knowledge this is the part where we decided to explain the music through the video using the newspaper.
TAXI WITH INSCRIPTION FORGIVE: He walks pass a signal that says FORGIVE, but he doesn’t even look at it. Forgive because it restores hope.
CRASHED PHOTO FRAME: In this segment, a photo of Okyeame and Raquel happy in a beautiful frame drops to sink with the crash in the music. It is communicating something that it is the beginning of more confusion.
RAQUEL IN A WEDDING DRESS: A woman’s wedding day is the most important day in her life. That day she looks the most beautiful and brings all her friends and relatives around to come and have fun but here you can see that she is alone. She is dressed in her wedding dress to remind herself of the love that they were supposed to enjoy. But because of confusion she has smudged her makeup with tears; she is destroying her wedding dress, throwing her chain away, her ring and everything away because she is tired. She is reminding herself of what could have been but never was.
BURNING DOLL: The doll symbolizes valentine, love, so setting it on fire, refers to the heat in the relationship. Initially the beauty of the doll symbolized the beauty of love but when it was burnt love became unpleasant.
STUDIO – REVERSE EFFECT: A man’s work is the most important thing to him. This is because he is the one who is supposed to feed the family. My character in this part of the video is a musician in the studio trashing the whole studio down. What we are trying to say is that if your relationship do not work at home, your work can also go wrong because they are linked to your happiness. The backward and the stable effects all represent confusion. At one point the whole studio is clean and at another point it is down means that I am thinking of whether to give up, and end everything or wait patiently in pain. That is why at the point where the place is in order I am sitting and talking to myself. The last shot where Raquel and Kwame are sadly sitting back to back means there is trouble at home. Though they wish to be together, they cannot because whatever it is that is destroying them is very strong. It is not something that they all wished for but they just can’t be together.
SMASHING OF PHOTO FRAME: The video ends with the smashing of the frame to the ground such that the glass that is supposed to give it colour and beauty gets shattered. The glass stands for the beauty of love and it is shattered. However, behind the shattered glass Okyeame Kwame and Raquel are still together, meaning no matter how and what you do in life there is a loving bond between you and somebody, whether you are walking away or not.
Click the video…
