Lucky Dube (born Ermelo Dube; pronounced “doo bay”) was one of South Africa’s best-selling artists and one of its most outspoken performers. Although he initially sang in the traditional Zulu mbaqanga style, his move to reggae in 1984 was sparked by his quest to express his anger against the oppression of apartheid. While The Village Voice observed, “The spirit of Lucky Dube‘s music and dance epitomizes the spirit of Black liberation”, Niceup Magazine wrote, “(Dube‘s) lyrics have brought an original voice to reggae by chronicling the political and spiritual struggles of his South African brethren”. brethren musical talents were obvious from an early age.

By the age of nine, he was conducting his school choir. After singing with school rock & roll bands, he joined his cousin, Richard Siluma‘s, mbaqanga band, the Love Brothers. Together with the group, he recorded his first single in 1979. Inspired by thcontroversialal lyrics of Peter Tosh, Dube moved to reggae in 1984. His earliest attempts with the newly adopted style were met by strong opposition by the then-all-white South African government, and his first reggae album, Rasta Never Die was banned from radio airplay. Without notifying his record label, Dube re-entered the recording studio and cut a second reggae album, Think About the Children. The album became a major hit and achieved gold record status. Dube‘s third reggae album, Slave, sold more than five hundred thousand copies.

Lucky Dube died in 2007

SOURCE – ALLMUSIC.COM

Date of event: 29th July 2017
Event Name: Kenya and friends in the Park.
Theme: Celebrating African/Kenyan Culture, Diversity, Investment, Pride and Networking.
Venue: PLAISTOW PARK
Time: 11am – 10.00pm.
Due to our previous successful events, this events aims to attract more than 7500 individuals and to provide a platform for Kenyans and friends of Kenya to network professionally, Spiritually, Economically and Socially. We will strive to be in line with the role of Ministry of Tourism as a promotional organization to increase foreign tourist arrivals and stimulate the growth of local trade and tourism. We will also provide a platform for our youths to showcase their talents in sports, beauty, Arts, culture, fashion design and entrepreneurship in line with government’s manifesto.

Wilson Nwane (Aka ekpuchi anyanwu)  a.k.a (SoGreat ) is an African Highlife musician who began his music career in Nigeria.He started singing in his local church choir at a very young age.

His love for music came from his lineage especially his mother who is a wonderful singer whom God’s gift is enhanced.

Wilson Nwane is a multi-instrumentalist, who plays more than ten (10 ) musical instruments with over 20 years experience in art of music making.

A music teacher, Singer, Songwriter and Producer, Wilson has also  released many Albums and SINGLES

Albums 

(1 ) 2000 Ima otu Chukwu si ke uwa)

(2 ) 2013 SoGreat and Ala Igbo )

(3 ) 2015 Ndi Ezigbo Omume dedicated to People Club Int’l London branch)

(4 ) 2017 ( Chukwu  Echetagom ) and Ego Amaka.

  Singles 

(1 )  Aduro

(2 )  I sabi and kuria

(3 ) Ala Eze

(4 ) I will be

CEO SOPRECS MEDIA / SOPRECS INT’L BAND and He is the founder of  Naija Musicians Forum UK

Wilson Nwane has performed in Events/concerts  promoting  African Cultural /  Highlife Music in the UK .

Social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc.

1. http://www.twitter.com/wilsonnwanecom

2. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYL3BKnXvVJ5T9WXQt2dkTg

3. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/wilson-nwanekwu-5570b920

4. https://www.facebook.com/Wilsonsogreatmusic-228626160512750/

5. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1509917499319416/

Contact: www.wilsonnwane.com / info@wilsonnwane.com

Wilson Nwane is a heavy promoter of African highlife music in UK & Europe .

DD2017, FHA-Diaspora City & NIDO: My excitement for Diaspora engagement is fed partly by a deep sense of optimism about the future of the organization as it continues to contribute in its own little way to National development. Clearly, through NIDO, a very good foundation has been laid for the Diaspora to make great things happen at home and also to join in the national discourse regarding the process of nation building # Diaspora remittances + Diaspora Projects = Diaspora Commission

Lets meet @ DD2017 in Abuja!

Hon Kenneth Gbandi

NIGERIA FALLEN HEROES PROJECT (NFHP) will be hosting the leadership of NIDOWW (and country Chairpersons) for a thank you Dinner on the 22 July 2017 in Abuja for supporting the NFHP and to discuss further cooperation and action plan for 2018.

NIDO Leadership will also formally discuss other details of the VDSS scheme. The VDSS is a valuable and tangible part of the nation’s recognition and appreciation scheme for those who serve in the Armed Forces, Security and Para-Military Services in Nigeria.

NIDO has been officially included in the VDSS scheme for their support for the NFHP in line with the Inaugural meeting and decisions of NIDOE Board of Trustees (BoT) (6). NIDOE ID card project with E-commerce functions and discount advantage possibilities and the the decisions of 2nd Bi-Monthly meeting of NIDOE Board of Trustees (BoT) (g) Diaspora Day 2017: Call for Projects in Nigeria – Project Team / Committee NIDO (Partnership Projects and planned)

NIDO members registered for the Diaspora Day 2017 and subsequently all NIDO members worldwide will enjoy 40% discount for both online and physical purchases and transactions from all accredited Business Providers within the VDSS scheme. VDSS discounts cover a wide range of sectors which include; Hotels, Restaurants, Shopping, Supermarkets, Schools, Hospitals, Pharmacies, Salons, Hotels etc. One more reason why we need to know the details of intending participants from Chapters. Further update from the Hon. Gen Sec. and PRO

KataKata café creperie and Arts Space promotes healthy living and a healthy lifestyle.

We offer our community a chance to indulge in a vegetarian and vegan French galettes.

Highly recommended
KATAKATA 132 Brixton Hill SW2
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 10am to 10pm
Best crepes and Gallettes with freshly pressed fruit juice.

Available for Breakfast, lunch and dinner; Book Launch,  Business meetings, Acoustic Music, Spoken word etc…

FACEBOOK PAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/KataKata-1625882254356217/

With the death of Mrs Christiana Essien-Igbokwe, the Nigerian entertainment world lost a first class performer and arguably one of the most accomplished artistes of her generation. She was also a role model who achieved professional success at a relatively young age yet lived a scandal-free life as a devoted wife and mother.

Fame, it can be said, found Essien-Igbokwe early in life. Having lost her mother at the age of 12, a family friend who became her guardian encouraged and subsequently nurtured her interest in singing. That was to thrust her on the path of a musical career as she became a regular feature on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 6, Aba musical and entertainment programmes like Ukonu’s Club and Now Sound. When the then running popular sit-com, The Masquerade, was shopping for a suitable actress for the role of the wife of a make-believe garrulous Yoruba man, she effortlessly stepped into the part.

With that, Essien-Igbokwe became better known by her screen name, Apena, the cantankerous wife of Jegede Sokoya (real name, Claude Eke). She retained the role even when The Masquerade morphed into The New Masquerade in the 1980s. But her talent was to shine brighter in music where she became a trailblazer.

At age 16 in 1976, Essien-Igbokwe released her first album, Freedom. Other albums – Patience and Time Waits for No One – would follow two years later. Then came One Understanding in 1979, the year she tied the nuptials with Mr Edwin Igbokwe, then General Manager at Punch newspaper, and became Christiana Essien-Igbokwe.

Her better known albums, Give Me a Chance and Ever Liked My Person hit the airwaves in 1980 and 1981. The latter was released under the London-based label EMI International Records and was adjudged her best LP till date.

Essien-Igbokwe’s most acclaimed songs were ironically neither in her native Ibibio nor in her husband’s Igbo language. Arguably, her most celebrated song was in Yoruba and was titled “Seun Rere”. The song, with others in the Hausa and Igbo, made her the quintessential pan-Nigerian singer. She, however, never forgot her roots as her song in Ibibio, titled “Akwa-Ibom Mmi” (My Akwa-Ibom), virtually became the anthem of her home state, Akwa Ibom (carved out of the old Cross Rivers state), the creation of which she played a very prominent role in 1987.

Essien-Igbokwe also played critical roles in the politics of her chosen profession. Her renown in the local music scene had indeed put her in good stead to vie for the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) presidency, which she won and became the body’s first female president. Through her obvious talent and diligence, Essien-Igbokwe earned herself many laurels some of which were: International Special Achievement Award Mexico (1983), Africa Music Mother Award (1984), World Song Festival Award, Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners Lagos (1996) and in 2002, she bagged the National Honours Award of the Member of the Federal Republic (MFR). She also unofficially became acknowledged as Nigeria’s Lady of Songs.

Incidentally, for this incredibly talented actress, besides featuring in two early Nollywood movies Flesh and Blood and Sacred of Womanhood, nothing much was heard of her acting career as her music blossomed. She, however, remained a role model for many actresses nonetheless. But away from the limelight, she ran a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), called Essential Child Care Foundation, involved in child welfare needs and rights and participated in two concerts in 2009. The first was to Inspire Africa Benefit Concert in January while the other was the MTN Musical Festival, a musical show of old and new-breed musicians. Essien-Igbokwe, who would have turned 51 on November 11, is survived by her husband, Edwin and children, one of whom is also a musician.

She may not have lived a long life, the glowing tributes that trailed last week’s announcement of her death attest to her achievements as encomiums came from eminent Nigerians, including President Goodluck Jonathan. The outpouring of grief is indeed a testimony to the fact that the late Essien-Igbokwe not only sang her pan-Nigerianess but also lived it. Adieu, the irrepressible Nigerian Lady of Songs.

SOURCE –  LAST.FM

STATEMENT BY THE EFIK LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION (ELF) ON THE BIAFRA ISSUE.

The Efik Leadership Foundation (ELF) is a vibrant pan Efik non-governmental organisation (NGO) that champions the cause of the Efik people of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, particularly as it affects community building and national development.

Our vision, through our activities is to actualise the dream of a united Efik people that are socially and economically prosperous within and beyond Nigeria.

The ELF has as its core strategy, the following:
i. Leadership.
ii. Education.
iii. Entrepreneurship.
iv. Good governance.

• We aim to achieve the aforementioned through mentorship, sponsorship, grassroots engagement, advocacy, partnerships amongst others.

• The ELF has watched patiently in the past months, the activities of certain individuals and groups agitating for the secession of certain States from Nigeria and the creation of Biafra nation.

• Our decision to finally publicly state our position is borne out of the growing false propagation especially on social media of maps showing various versions of the proposed territories of the new country being agitated for wherein such maps include our beloved Cross River State.

• More recently, we were presented with a video of one Nnamdi Kanu, the acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) at a gathering of some sort, where he thanked an unknown fellow for attending the meeting on behalf of the Obong of Calabar. This unknown man who dressed in an attire mimicking the Efik attire, had earlier claimed to be representing the Obong of Calabar.

• Historically, and as can be Googled for confirmation, the Obong of Calabar “is one of the eight rulers recognised by the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Natural Rulers and Treaty Kings whose Kingdoms existed hundreds of years before the amalgamation, and who interacted with, and signed Treaties and Agreements with Sovereign Nations in Africa and Europe”. We are therefore pleased to note that the Palace through the Chairman of the Etuboms Traditional Council (ETC) has since unequivocally disowned and distanced the Palace from the impersonator.

Presently, it has become absolutely important to make known the stance of the Efik people on this issue of Biafra to fellow Nigerians and the world at large. We therefore declare as follows:

1. Although we acknowledge the imperfection of the present Nigeria union, we the Efik people are peace loving people hence the acronym for CALABAR: Come And Live And Be At Rest. We primarily seek, within a workable and generally beneficial framework, a better, effective and equitable union of all constituent parts and people of Nigeria, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, sex, age, status and other circumstances of life.

2. History has shown that we have never been a part of Biafra and we reiterate that we are still not a part of this new proposed Biafra, either.

3. We were never consulted before or after the said Nnamdi Kanu and his co- adventurers began their new agitation for the Biafra Nation thus any attempt to annex or conscript us surreptitiously or use our people, land and territory as basis for bargaining is unequivocally resisted by the Efik People.

4. While the Biafra agitators and indeed all Nigerians are entitled, within the law, to speak up against injustices, marginalization by the Nigerian State, and need for referendum and restructuring, the Efik people are also very capable of tabling their own grievances, which indeed exist, to the relevant authorities without necessarily using Biafra as a crutch.

5. We are deeply pained and feel insulted by the actions of IPOB, more so when they attempt to portray the Efik people as co-travellers in a venture where the two parties have not met to discuss any points of mutual benefit or interest.

6. The office of the Obong of Calabar is a highly revered office and the incumbent would never belittle himself by sending such a representative to any gathering. We make bold to say that in this particular instance, the so called representative was fraudulent and the Efik people vehemently alienate themselves from that gathering. The Etuboms and any other person whom the Obong may occasionally ask to represent him are usually carefully selected and well spoken men and women of substance and definitely not the calibre of the imposter shown in that video.

We therefore demand that the Biafran agitators cease and desist from further including the Efik people in their Biafran shenanigans or misleading the world that the Efik people are part of the movement. For now, we the Efik people remain part of Nigeria and are more inclined to making the country a better place for every Nigerian.

Signed
1. Richard Duke (Trustee)-London
2. John Nya Offiong (Trustee)-Calabar
3. Barrister Obo Effanga (Trustee)-Abuja
4. Reginald Yves-Bassey (Trustee)-Lagos
5. Franca Archibong (Trustee)-London
6. Barrister Helen Essien -Lagos
7. Ken Henshaw-
8. Ukorebi Ita-Calabar
9. Essessien Edem-Abuja
10. Susan Henshaw
11. Asandia Hogan-Calabar
12. Barrister Timothy Archibong Esu-Calabar
13. Assoc. Prof Bassey Ephraim-Calabar
14. Sir,Chief Maurice Effiwatt,ksji,jp-Akpabuyo
15. Edwin Okokon-Port Harcourt
16. John Henshaw-London
17. Edem Bassey-Abuja
18. Edem Duke-USA
19. Peter Archibong-Calabar
20. Abasi Asukwo-USA
21. James Okon Otudor (JP)
22. Edem Duke-Calabar
23. Alice Duke-Calabar
24. Efio-Ita Nyok-Calabar
25. Eyo Ekpenyong Nsa -Calabar
26. Essien Offiong-Ireland
27. Ewa Aye Henshaw
28. Ekpenyong Ekpenyong Ambo-Abuja
29. Etim .E . Ekanem –Abuja
30. Chief Efiom Edem Orok-Calabar
31. Amasi Eyet Inyamg-Calabar
32. John Essien Inyang
33. Samuel Ekpenyong Bassey -Calabar
34. Benedine Bassey Atima-Calabar
35. Amasi Eyet Inyang- Abraka
36. Emilia Bassey Etim-Lagos
37. Francis Etang-Calabar
38. Eyo Nsa Nkune-Lagos
39. Roseline Asuquo-Calabar
40. Charles Offiong-Lagos
41. Peggy.E.Archibong-Lagos
42. James Effanga Archibong-Calabar
43. Martin Bassey-Calabar
44. Onoyom Onoyom-Lagos
45. Norah Ekpo Effion-Calabar
46. Edemanwan Offiong Akak-Calabar
47. Adim Bassey
48. Edem Bassy Otu-Calabar
49. Emmanuel Ekpo Bassey-Calabar
50. Emmanuel Ekeng Henshaw
51. Anthony Bassey Effiong-Calabar
52. Majorie Effiom Edet-Calabar
53. Okokon Eburutu Ita
54. Hogan Bassey Jnr-Lagos
55. Inyang Ekpenyong –Calabar
56. Roseline Asuquo-Calabar
57. Nkechi Enobong Mordi-Lagos
58. Amanda Bassey-Calabar
59. Ededem Effiom Ephraim-Calabar
60. Malvin Cobham Edet-USA
61. Kingsley Otu-Lagos
62. Alice Rowland Edet-Calabar
63. Umo Adam-Yenogua
64. Offiong Louis Joseph-Calabar
65. Chief Bassey Okon-Calabar
66. Bernard Etim-Calabar
67. Geraldine Boco-Jos
68. Prince H.Hogan
69. Gloria Eme Ekpenyong-Abuja
70. Rosemary Bassey Ita-Calabar
71. Mary Bassey-Calabar
72. Abigail Bassey-Delta State
73. Emmanuel Bassey-Calabar
74. Edak Odey-Calabar
75. Efanga Efiom-Calabar
76. Uta Duke-Calabar
77. Deborah Duke-Calabar
78. Albert Efanga-Calabar
79. Joseph Otu Coco-Bassey-Calabar
80. Florence Edung Ita-Calabar
81. Prince Ukorebi Joseph Eniang Ani-Ita-Calabar
82. Effiom Edem-Calabar
83. Philip Henshaw-Calabar
84. Ukorebi Ndem-Ndem-Calabar
85. Emmanuel Okokon Asuquo-Bakassi
86. Gerald Ekpenyong-Lagos
87. Bassey Edem Ephraim-Texas, US
88. Effiom Bassey Adam-London
89. Jeffrey Eniang Offiong-Ikoneto
90. Daniel Umo Orok Ephraim-Calabar
91. Efioanwan Etim Nyong-Bakassi
92. Bassey Effanga Asuquo-USA
93. Nkute Hogan-Lagos
94. Bassey Tennyson Okon-Calabar
95. Matilda Ironbar-Calabar
96. Jayne David-Calabar
97. Ahmad Bassey-Calabar
98. Christopher Henshaw-New York, USA
99. Efioanwan Edet Hogan-Calabar
100. Bella Effiong Ita-Calabar

Date of event: 29th July 2017
Event Name: Kenya and friends in the Park.
Theme: Celebrating African/Kenyan Culture, Diversity, Investment, Pride and Networking.
Venue: PLAISTOW PARK
Time: 11am – 10.00pm.
Due to our previous successful events, this events aims to attract more than 7500 individuals and to provide a platform for Kenyans and friends of Kenya to network professionally, Spiritually, Economically and Socially. We will strive to be in line with the role of Ministry of Tourism as a promotional organization to increase foreign tourist arrivals and stimulate the growth of local trade and tourism. We will also provide a platform for our youths to showcase their talents in sports, beauty, Arts, culture, fashion design and entrepreneurship in line with government’s manifesto.

ABOUT ME

My name is Ms Buky Orija, I am certified professional coach, social &  business  entrepreneur and a community advocate.  I am also very passionate about personal development, representing the voices of women and social issues that affect the lives of people and collective communities

I am also an Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner as well as a Public Speaker from one of the most prestigious schools in London – The Professional Speakers Academy owned by The famous Andy Harrington.

Before coming a coach,  I received my undergraduate degree from The Polytechnic Ibadan, Nigeria and hold an M.B.A in Business Administration from Lagos State University . I had over 18 years experience in retail  banking.

I enjoy travelling and my dream is to cruise around the world

To enquire more about the services, I provide, Contact me   now on +44778824798 or email her at buky@bukyorija.com

FEEL FREE TO VISIT HER WEBSITE www.bukyorija.com