07.07.08

Monday was the 3rd year anniversary of the 7/7 London bombing.

See the story here.

Also, in relation to the unfortunate event, a project titled The Forgiveness Project has come about. Click here to read the stories including that of Marie Fatayi-Williams, mother of Anthony Fatayi-Williams who was killed in the bombings - R.I.P

Nigeria for Obama??

As cute as this sounds, I just find it all very amusing. Nigerians put together a 4000 strong fundraising campaign to support Barack Obama last weekend at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja

Their notion is that the funds raised will be sent to the OBAMA campaign office as their own way of showing support for OBAMA since they are not eligible to vote as they are Nigerians based in Nigeria and not in America. - Is that right....

.....is that right? I dont think we have finished campaigning for each other but hey, who knows what Obama's plans for Nigeria will be if he is elected president :)

The Buzz

New music videos, click to watch.

Olu Maintain's Karmakazee -

Mo Hits Records' Pere -

Mo Hits Records' Close to you -

Etcetera's Life for you -

Pheel's God dey -

Naeto-C Press Release - see below

Blogville Idol 2008

Blogville Idols 2008 is here! Itt started yesterday and will go on till the 23rd of July. Check it out here

Two Nigerian Websites to check out:

- Luxury on Water

- Nigerian Circle

NAYO on the cover of July's True Love!

NAYO (N-áá-y-Ò) of Nigerian descent (culled from Odunayo) is really doing things....her album African Girl has also been included in Virgin Atlantic's inflight music programmes and magazine.

You can buy her album here and a copy of true love here.

Music Week (2)

Asa Concert Review

The Asa concert in London was so much fun! She has a huge presence when she's on stage. It was also quite entertaining having our fellow Naijas there. Several times she had to ask them to allow her sing because they were basically shouting over her voice. It was a pleasant night out. After she had bowed out off the stage with her band, she returned for three more bonus tracks for the rest of us who hung about including Nina Simone's Feeling Good.

Check out a video clip of one of her songs here.

She also pulled a few members of the crowd to come and sing a few lines to her song. Tami was one of them who has a single Mama, released with her brother MC Baba. The song is dedicated to their late mum. Check out Tami's song in the video below:

Visit Asa's myspace and her website


Hip Hop World Award Winners

I never featured the awards as I had so much on the go at the time but there was a lot of publicity for this event. Nomination went on for quite a while and the public could nominate via the website and then................ the ceremony came. It was held at Planet One, Maryland on the 15th of March, 2008.

Winners

While Asa grabbed the awards for Recording of the Year (Bibanke), Album of the Year and Vocal Performance (Female), as well as her Producer, Cobhams Asuquo, emerging the Producer of the Year, 9ice emerged the best in two categories, winning the awards for Vocal Performance (Male) and the HHW Revelation of the Year. Wande Coal, however, won the star prize of the show, a Hyundai Sonata, as the Next Rated artist.

Other winners include, Olu Maintain for Song of the Year, D’banj for artiste of the year, DJ Tee (Stylee) Best music video, Timaya for Best Reggae/Dance hall, Tu face for Best R&B/Pop Album (Grass2Grace), Ruggedy Baba for Best Rap Album, Jimmy Jatt, 2face, Elajoe and Mode9 got the best collabo award for Stylee, M.I got the best rap single award for “Crowd Mentality”

Congrats to Asa, 9ice, Olu Maintan, D'banj, Wande Coal and everyone else.

See photos from the event below:

Resources: www.hiphopworldawards.com

Yellow Carpet pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24845048@N02/
Stars - 9ice (website) and (myspace)
- D'banj (website) and (myspace)
- Wande Coal (website) and (myspace)
- Olu Maintain (website) and (myspace)

NAYO at Jazz Cafe

Nayo will be performing as a special guest of Nate James at the legendary Jazz Cafe, Saturday May 31st. You may purchase your tickets on Nayo's website and you CAN WIN TWO TICKETS by viewing the Competitions page on: http://www.nayomusic.com

Read a review on NAYO in the UK Guardian here

Careers in Africa Recruitment Summit in London - May 23rd, 24th and 25th 2008

The Careers in Africa Recruitment Summits bring together world class business leaders and high calibre African talent from across the world to interview at unique invitation-only events. Career opportunities available range from entry-level graduate programmes to senior management positions and cover a wide variety of functions across all sectors. Click here to visit the website and apply.

Videobytes

It's been a while since I spoke about Blak J*sus. Here is his African Rendition of Tambourine:

Verdict = Funny as always.

J. Holiday - Be With Me

Verdict = He's very talented, love his laid back style.

Nayo - African Girl

Verdict = I never saw her video, this lady is a very talented artist, there is something about her voice.

Naija Naija Naija

Naija Social Networking Sites

Happy Easter in Arrears people. One of the things I'm focusing on in this post is our Naija versions of facebook.

I don't know if any of you remember the post I had on Naija5? As the name states, it is Nigeria's version of Hi5 - or, well, supposed to be.

As I pondered over this url for a minute, I thought whether they had an actual version of facebook i.e. Nigbook. I typed the url very slowly into my address bar - hoping, praying that this was not the case. I almost jumped for joy when I got this back - Nigbook result.

Sheesh must there be Nig everything? Nigbay (as in Ebay), Nig this, Nig that....

Anyway back to the social networking sites, I have recently discovered the following:


Central Station NG - Celtel's own version of facebook (dont ask!) but like every other money making sensible business, they've added a few extras like downloading music and ringtones, winning free tickets, etc.

Legwork.com.ng - Another meeting place for Nigerians (looks more like a shopping/dating/forum site) is expanding fast and was started by a young entrepreneur.



naNaija - An interesting one, I think its brand new, worth checking out.

Speaking of Facebook, a major vulnerability in the Facebook web security caused pictures of Paris Hilton to be leaked as well as private pictures posted by Mark Zuckerberg (Fbk creater) - more on the story here.

URLs for your perusal:

http://www.naija5.com/

http://www.centralstationng.net/

http://www.legwork.com.ng/

http://www.nanaija.com/

http://www.nigeria-friends.com/


More Naija stuff - What's On?

Dragon's Den Nigeria

Click on the image to visit the site.

Burma Boy Book Reading Tour

Click image below to see details and info of tour:

Apprentice Africa

Click on the image to visit the site.


Naija - What's Been On?

Leila Fowler Lagos Store Opens

The store opened yesterday and will consist of concessions from Peridot & Ruby, GLAM Indian Virgin Remi, Frenzii, Sweetface and Kimora Lee Simmons collection.

Check out the Leila Fowler website

Nayo's Album Release

The album was released in the UK on the 10th of March and can be ordered on the following websites:

WEBSITE -> http://www.nayomusic.com/

HMV -> http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=776187

AMAZON -> http://www.amazon.co.uk/African-Girl-Nayo/dp/B0013PJGCO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204209002&sr=8-1

INTERVIEW ON CELEBRITY CORNER -> http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1437286070&channel=495713462

EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOADS: TIMES ONLINE -> http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3461978.ece

FACEBOOK GROUP -> http://www.facebook.com/pages/NAYO/12423665655?ref=s

The V- Monologues



Directed by Wole Oguntokun aka laspapi (fellow blogger), the V-monologues was held in and around Lagos and Abuja. Featuring the very best of actresses and Funmi Iyanda, Check out a review on it here.

Speaking of actresses, I found this Essence Magazine article on our favourite Black Hollywood actresses - check it out




Naija - What's To Come

MBGN - coming soon...

More soon.....watch this space

November Events Series: NAYO @ Imperial College

Nayo is the new up and coming artist and if she could be described in one word it would be AMAZING! She has agreed to grace us with her presence for one night as she makes her way around the UK touring and making her mark. Her single "African Girl" is catchy, soothing and all in all immensely original - which is refreshing!

Click Here To Get The African Girl Single For Free (courtesy of Mona)

The host of the show, Imperial College Fashion Society representative/president, Olawande Abe tells us: "I can guarantee that this will be a night to remember as there may even be a chance to meet the artist. Also her album will be on sale following the concert, along with free copies of her single 'African Girl' "

Tickets are priced from 10 pounds! ONLY!

Date: Saturday, 10th November, 2007

Time: 19:30

Venue: Imperial College - The Great Hall, Sherfield Building, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2AZ

Please contact olawande.abe06@imperial.ac.uk to obtain tickets.

Visit Nayo's facebook group, NAYO music or her website at http://www.nayomusic.com/

Also go to: http://www.myspace.com/nayo She is truly amazing! You can get tickets online at https://express.ts.com/k?Fyromusic

Buy Now!!!!

NAYO PRESS RELEASES:

Press Articles:

The Times Online - Entertainment
http://www.mimimagazine.com/2007/march/index.html
http://www.mimimagazine.com/2007/march/03-03-nayo01.html
http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/features/article2294724.ece

Finally, check out Demola at Not Just Ok's post on her.

There is also a fashion show taking place hosted by the talented Obsidian girls! You really don't want to miss watching them... If you missed the first one... let's just say that was a mistake... but if you miss them at the NAYO show... now that would just be silly!

You can see pictures from their show here