The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Am I marriage counsellor? No. Hehe. The  Konnect Kouch  is a version of hot seat  in Konnect Groups for its members (run by the  GhanaThink Foundation . We normally ask a lot of questions to the kouchee, some are quite personal. I have leveraged some Q&A from being on the #GhanaThink & then #SunyaniKonnect kouches to talk about some thoughts I have about dating, marriage, etc.  Mildred Adeaba is the Barcamp Accra Resources Lead. I first got to know her through Barcamp Takoradi . She has become #ModeratorMildred . She asked the 2.33 million cedi question on Konnect Kouches : Are you single, dating or married? If you are dating or married, how did you meet your partner? What do you look for in a partner to date? Here's what I typed. I'm married to Tracy Ulzen-Appiah (nee Asare). We got married on my birthday, December 31, 2016. I met her on July 24, 2009 through my cousin Jamie somewhere in Maryland (aka Maryland). Not Virginia o (Virgin land)  I ...

Wutah Fire!!!! They feature in my  my top 10 Ghanaian songs of 2009 ,  my 10 favorite Ghanaian songs ,  my African wedding songs playlist  and the soundtrack to 1 of the best Ghanaian movies ever made - Perfect Picture . One of the best Ghanaian groups ever! I just don't know why they hardly made music videos. I mean, like why, like how? They need to be fired for that though :-) I was sad when Afriyie & Kobby split, though they were making great music individually. For instance, Love Of My Life by Afriyie - one of my wedding playlist songs,  #MightyAfricanLove . I remember when they released Bronya , I was so excited they were back together. However, that song does not make my top 3. They are still making some songs individually, and Afriyie 's Country Hot is a classic for the ages, composed and released in the midst of the #FixTheCountry movement, a song that should be played consistently on radio, everywhere. Anyway. back to Wutah Fire! Esikyire...

I am a very big fan of Akwaboah's music. One of my favorite YouTube videos to listen to is this one - a performance he did at the EMY Awards. I would love to see him perform live, surprised I have never? Me too. I would have loved to be at Citi TV and he was making us rally around the flag , or the various #Cituation related shows. I always love hearing his songs on the Citi Breakfast Show hosted by Bernard Avle and Nathan Quao.  Akwaboah is the king of love songs in Ghana, currently. Maybe ever. Kojo Antwi? Okay, debatable. I already gave Kojo Antwi his props too.Before I get into my top 3, have you heard Akwaboah's song Posti Me ? This song eh? You know I love social media. I love to be romantic on social media too. See  #MightyAfricanLove . W8! W@!?  I just realised he has done a song with Efya and Adina ? OMG! Check it out, I Still Love You ! Okay, onto the faves. I Do Love You - 2013 This was one of my wedding songs. Self-explanatory. Thinking about this is maki...

We can't really talk about Kojo Antwi , without talking about Daddy Lumba. Or you disagree? These days, many say Kojo Antwi is like Kidi while Daddy Lumba is like Kuami Eugene. On one side, Kojo and Kidi make a lot of love songs, while DL and Kuami Eugene make a lot of other types of music. I'd leave to you to discuss over some sobolo. Kojo Antwi is Mr Music Man though. Now that's someone whose music I know to sing well in the shower hehe.  Growing up - in Ghana - December 24th was Kojo Antwi's night . A night for couples and lovers to enjoy his craft, his music, and love. I always wished I would go for one of those, with my love :-) I think my first Kojo Antwi concert was in Kumasi - the old City Hotel that Kwame Nkrumah built, on a December 26th in 2010 . I was there with my family. I grew up on his music, at home. Nkwanta Basaa - 2000 Surprised? We are not here for the applause, we are here for the truth.  The song starts with "I came to look for something to ...

It's still Women's Day here in Yankee in the Eastern Time Zone. So, I can say a few things about the woman who was keeping me up last night. Let's say that one of my goals to finding a wife this year is on course. God forbid anything that derails that lol. Sometimes, a woman comes along who inspires change. She makes you want to be a better you because you can't stand to disappoint her or yourself in the grand scheme of things. When they say behind every successful man, there is a woman, the man sometimes becomes more successful because of the things the woman makes the man do. People have told me countless times, you need to find a woman. I understand that more now. So sometime last year, I tweeted. "I only had time mostly for my passions and family. Now, there's you. Let's grow something beautiful. I love you". — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) September 4, 2013 I meant it. She's the woman I sang about in the infamous Amanone video take...

I hardly check my yahoo account, I check it once every two months or so. Or when I am expecting some important information that only goes there. Tonight, I started looking at my drafts. Emails I never sent. One of the drafts reminded me of when I first was in love. I mean that's what it had to be. Just read this email I was going to send to a lady. The whole email was written like a poem :-) Hey Ma, rhythmic huh? u want more? u can get more. good u liked the poetry piece wasn't written with ease Hope you are doing well is there any news to tell? Great news,  Now there are no rooms for an excuse I got u a ticket And it's not for a game called cricket Wednesday is the day to be on the go We are going to see Carmelo For me, it's been long overdue Looking forward to see you You have no clue How I am missing you. xoxo, It's Bambino, Ato. Lovely huh? This is a real email I was going to send. Pity that I never sent it. But hey, I sent messages like this to the lady j...

If you listen to songs a lot, you will pick out how to say "I love you" quite quickly. Since I have grown to listen to music from all over the continent and used that to build Museke.com, I am well-versed in saying that "1-4-3" line in many mother tongues. Let me show you ;-) Akan: Med ɔ wo ! What you thought I wouldn't add my mother tongue? Some folks can't say what "thank you" is in their lingua francas. Such a fracas. Don't belittle this at all at all. Ga: Mi sumo bo ! I learnt this through songs. Especially, Amandzeba's Dede . That's such a classic highlife track. Ewe: Mi l ɔn w ɔ ! Would you forgive me if I said I (pretty much) learnt this from a Daddy Lumba song? I don't remember which but the Ghanaian Michael Jackson taught me.  Hausa: Ina sonki . After loving how D-Flex sang Hausa lines while featuring on K. K. Fosu and Ofori Amponsah songs, I had to learn to this one. From who? I don't remember. Swahili: Nakupe...

Last weekend, I attended my very first wedding in the USA. I've been here close to 9 years and this was the first one. I had known people who were tying the knot, but they were normally marrying in locations that I couldn't afford to go to or I wasn't getting invited. Canada did beat America to my first North America wedding (yay Canada) when I debuted my credit card to fly me to Toronto for my buddy, Eric Hammond's wedding, supposedly as best man. I ended up emceeing the reception. What a Canadian debut! I was very interested to see the songs that would be played at Ernest and Kai's wedding ceremony and reception in the Bay Area. The music selection was cool but I already have a good idea what will be played at my wedding. Unless, my partner comes up with some recipe of her own. A few African party songs made the list together with some usual suspect Yankee songs. It was a wedding between a Ghanaian born in Canada and an African-American. At Ernest and Kai's re...

This is my second post this Valentine's National Chocolate Day. I was going to combine both posts but had too much to say in the first one . I have a poem to share with you all in the spirit of this weekend. It's a very special poem to me, because it is a love poem. Uuh. It's titled 'I would like'. I have debated well over a year whether to make it public and finally I have decided to let you all enjoy it. Well, I've performed it a couple times (spoken word) so it's not a huge secret and I've shared it with some friends as well. I wanted to keep the poem safe till I released it in my anthology or maybe, used it at a very very very special time. But hey, since I am unable to write poems these days for stupid reasons like "this poem better be better than the last poem", I figure I'll share the poem with y'all so I could be forced to write some new ones. It's easy to see why I chose this day, it's Valentine's Day, love is in t...

So it's Valentine's Day all over the world, so let me start by wishing you all Happy Valentine's! Like the Good Book says, Love is the greatest commandment. Love your neighbour as yourself. Pretty golden quote to live by. Where I'm from, aka Ghana, February 14th is National Chocolate Day. It was adopted by the Kuffour government in 2007 to boost the consumption and sale of cocoa. Ghanaians like to claim the best cocoa (or even chocolate) comes from Ghana. February 14th is a day cast in stone for high consumption of chocolate and cocoa products in Ghana. I know when I was in Ghana for February 14th in 2008, I bought my family a big pack of Golden Tree Chocolate. I shared my story on GhanaConscious too . So yes, we must buy made in Ghana-products all the time, but if you needed any reminders, we have National Chocolate Day. Too bad, I don't have any here to give us gifts. In fact, I am wondering where I could get some. I MUST get some Golden Tree Akuafo Bars today! I ...

The most recent poem I wrote. It's titled 'This time of the week' but am not talking about this time of the week, am talking about THIS time of the week. Enjoy :-) (PS: I must be missing someone :-D) This time of the week does not mourn Monday This time of the week teases the use of Tuesday This time of the week takes the words out of Wednesday This time of the week forgets there’s a Thursday This time of the week can fry the joy of Friday This time of the week satisfies Saturday This time of the week sunbaths Sunday It is a moment etched in time that the days envy This time of the week defaces the wall This time of the week alarms the walls This time of the week colors the calendar This time of the week marks the calendars This time of the week starts the arriving This time of the week completes the waiting This time of the week queries the questioning This time of the week does the answering This time of the week can sing the chorus The chorus which refrained from singin...

I know Valentine's day has already passed but this is never late. Besides, everyday should be valentine's don't you think? It is pretty commercialized now. It's even National Chocolate Day in Ghana. I didn't get the chance to munch on some Golden Tree on Saturday but I did get some on Sunday. That right there is fulfillment for the weekend. A friend and I happened to be checking out commercials and it reminded me about some African commercials I had found and was going to share with y'all. Well, here they are. I picked up some that revolve around the Valentine Day themes. Please don't tell me I have to tell you what those themes are. First up, we have an ad from MTN Nigeria. I fell in love with this advert when I first saw it. For all the long-distance lovers, this is for you. You need to be in Africa and have MTN though - so that even when you're apart, you're still together. In fact, the Nigerians force on this one. More props. They should have cho...