The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

The  Konnect Kouch  is a version of hot seat  in Konnect Groups for its members. These Konnect Groups are WhatsApp Groups run by or in conjuncation with the  GhanaThink Foundation . We have had  Konnect  members   to volunteer as a  Kouchee  to be on the  Konnect Kouch , on Saturdays & Sundays starting from 2:33pm  . This is basically a personality interview. We at  GhanaThink  moved this  #KonnectKouch  into some of the Konnect meetups (3 hour networking events mostly in the weekend evenings) and also to Barcamps (free networking forums on Saturdays). A couple of Saturdays ago, I was on the Konnect Kouch for Sunyani Konnect thanks to the proactiveness of Wilhemina Nunu. Exciting. Are you excited to read about what transpired? I love Sunyani a lot. I have spoken severally about how I want Sunyani to become the capital of Ghana, if we change it from Accra. More on this in another blog post. My favorite restaurant is Greenleaf Eatery. Their food is mwah!  Wilhelmina Nunu : The floor

On one fine day in 2019, one member of Cape Coast Konnect - Lex Williams - had a bright idea. He asked that we have something like "hot seat" in this WhatsApp group run by the GhanaThink Foundation . We started a discussion around this and the result was the Konnect Kouch , a version of hot seat  in Konnect Groups for its members. Since then, at different times and in different Konnect WhatsApp groups, we would have had Konnect members   to volunteer as a Kouchee to be on the Konnect Kouch , on Saturdays & Sundays starting from 2:33pm  . This is basically a personality interview. We at GhanaThink moved this #KonnectKouch into some of the Konnect meetups (3 hour networking events mostly in the weekend evenings) and also to Barcamps (free networking forums on Saturdays).  1 of our GhanaThink members, Mildred Adeaba , earlier in 2024, encouraged that we should run this #KonnectKouch for GhanaThink Members (in our own WhatsApp group). I volunteered to start this off. I

 I have been meaning to do this blog post but my last few weekends have either been out & about (you can guess for what reasons), restful (important right?) and chillaxing (tres imporant aussi). The weekend that just passed was the one that included the 25th Ghana Music Awards. " If I add Telecel, I would get money? Okay ". The Telecel Ghana Music Awards - 2024 edition - was at the Grand Arena at the International Conference Centre. I would have loved to go, but some weekends eh, when I get home on Friday, I do not leave my house till Monday morning. Yes, the Ghana Music Awards was sponsored by Vodafone for many years. More money right? Anyway, we have been talking about Ghanaian music these last few days, so there is no better time to finish this blog post. I have asked a few Kosmos Innovation Center colleagues about their all-time top Ghanaian songs. Not favorite, but top. Like Most Popular Song of the Year (MPSY) category, but since the inception of Ghanaian music

I met Kwame Nsiah-Apau and interviewed him in 2008. I came away very impressed. He was working towards his Bachelor's Degree at KNUST. Really smart dude. Time has proven that he is a really smart dude. Growing up in Ghana, we say the smartest folks become the doctors. He calls himself the Rap Doctor.  He helped popularize Wear Ghana and has become one of our best #MadeInGhana ambassadors. More on this later.  He and Okyeame Quophi helped popularize hiplife through Akyeame, one of the first great duos. His successful solo career took hiplife to another level. Mesan Aba is one of my all-time favorites, and his rap on this track is legendary. Word play be what. However, we're talking about his solo hits . He called himself the best rapper alive. I started this series with Obrafour and ended with Okyeame Kwame, it's apt - they have some small history together. I think Okyeame Kwame challenges him for best Ghanaian lyricist ever . Let's listen to the music. Woso (2009) T

 While the likes of Angelique Kidjo were making lots of money playing to foreign and mostly white crowds, P-Square was also making serious money playing to Nigeria, African and black crowds on the continent and beyond. They were the first African act doing popular youthful African music to really go global, alongside 2Face Idibia. And they could perform! I once went to  their concert  in Oakland, California and they were worth every price of admission. They released a string of hits in the first decade of the 21st century and continued to remain at the top. They have many classics to choose from. Here are my top 3. No One Like You (2007) One of the best African wedding songs ever.  The video is spectacular. P-Square is probably the biggest African act ever and tracks like this prove their standing. Their use of Pidgin English and regular English is great and the lyrics to this song is great too. The song starts off really well in my opinion, "Hello how you doing; My angel, my one

One cannot talk about Ofori Amponsah without talking about Daddy Lumba, methinks. DL aka Daddy Lumba aka Da Legend released some songs at the turn of the century featuring Mr All4Real. A couple of years down the line, he became the biggest musician in Ghana. He led the Contemporary Highlife genre, in tow with my buddy Kofi Nti, helped ragga become part of mainstream Ghana music through his features with Barosky.  Ofori Amponsah became born-again (which makes me think about Lord Kenya's song of the name and Lord Kenya's story as well). He never quite had popular gospel songs. His highlife songs are classics and they live on. His music features heavily in Ghanaian weddings too. His songs feature in my favorites .  Otoolege (2005) I believe Otoolege is one of the top five songs ever from Ghana. Apart from it being well-written, well-composed and well-sung, this song ended the dominance of hiplife from 2001 to 2004 at the Ghana Music Awards. I love singing this song in the shower,

Ahead of March 6th , I told my wife Tracy that I was going to an event which was about Karaoke, Sip, & Paint . I mentioned that I was not as keen about the painting, but the karaoke? Count me there. Sipping is just a bonus. Babe said that why would you go to a painting thing and not paint ? She's a painter. Literally in more than one way and figuratively too. She's painted some pieces, and she can draw well to boot. I have always wanted to go with her to some of the painting things, whether at the Republic Bar, Eleven15 , anywhere we can access. Ghana's Independence Day Holiday brought an opportunity for me and I took it. Today is March 23 , as in 23-3 , which has 233 in it. I took another opportunity to expand the painting, especially of a Ghana map on Ghana's birthday . The venue was in Labone - the Brown Sugar Lounge . I arrived at Brown Sugar Lounge and sought out  Efe Keyz . She's a  musician , an entrepreneur running El's Foods Ghana and an  AccraKon