THE EXPERIENCE OF ROCK ROSE A POPULATION TANZANIAN CREATIVE ARTIST IN LAGOS. CULLED FROM cITIZENS NEWSPAPER.
It was glitz and glamour as the glitterati of Africa converged to crown the cream in the music industry at the Eko Expo Hotel in Lagos for the MTV Africa Music Awards.
To be precise all the best in the game including actress Genevieve Nnaji were there.
In the crowd, I could see former Nigerian soccer maestros Jay Jay Okocha and Daniel Amokachi.
They were all there to rub shoulders with the cream as they waited for history to unfold.
From when our flight touched down at the Mohammed Murtala International Airport, which seems to be suffering from some neglect, my heart pumped with anticipation of the Airtel sponsored event.
Naija models dressed in Airtel colours were there to receive us as we boarded the waiting special vans which later drove us in a police escorted convoy to the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel.
The organisers had made sure everything is in tip-top condition and as the natives saying goes, ‘there is nothing that is as hard to beat as the Lagos traffic.’
The whole city was adorned in either Christmas or Mama colours with giant billboards proclaiming, ‘Mamas is here’.
We were soon being brought up to speed with the culture in Lagos, which,of course, included dealing with the Naira, adding the letter ‘O’ to some words, and getting accustomed to being referred as ‘Oga.’
I must say, I was keen to know why the event went to Nigeria for the second time skipping Tanzania.
The venue
The venue of the event is Eko Expo Hotels in the Victoria Island of Lagos and I can’t help but mumble Eee! Eeee! By the way in Nigeria whether in Yoruba or Ibo, it doesn’t matter how many times you say Eeee!
The hall, which originally belonged to the Lagos state government, was one of the partners in the event, is a state-of-art-facility with a sitting capacity of 10,000.
The hall was clearly set up to handle such events with a VVIP area, which is bullet-proof overlooking the two stages.
Now, I know why Tanzania was not an option. So I choose to give MTV and Aairtel top dogs, Kevin Twissa and Alex Okosi a break.
Our Diamond Jubilee Hall is such a far cry in comparison to this structure, and I am reliably informed that such structures are many in Naija, which makes me coil my tail like a beaten dog.
The performances
On arrival VIP guests were treated to different tribes of cocktails plus a picture opportunity on the red carpet.
This is where those with a sharp and tasty dress sense either got it or missed it completely. But believe you me; it was a spectacle to behold as every fashion house in Lagos was represented.
The women some went for the paisley getups, the hugging minis was dominant and some chose to go grand on the evening gowns.
As for the men it was the usual, an Agbada here, a formal suit there and some just kept it casual with the jeans and there after it was drinks galore.
The opening performance was an explosive affair by Hip Hop heavyweight Rick Ross, and closed with an unforgettable rendition of “Win” featuring T . There were also an array of electrifying collaborations between artistes from different parts of the continent, mixing up music genres, language and cultures in an unprecedented extravaganza of African talent.
Among the collaborations were Nigeria’s 2Face, who hooked up with South African rock outfit The Parlotones.
Nigeria’s Banky W’s ‘Lagos Party’ brought together South Africa’s Big Nuz, Angola’s Cabo Snoop and Paul G and DRC’s Barbara Kanam rocking the house with the first ever truly pan-African version of the hit track.
Our man, Diamond, was overshadowed when he came on stage to perform with Kenyan outfit P-Unit.
Now this, I think wasn’t justice to the budding Bongo Flava artiste because this was his moment of glory, a perfect timing to sell ‘Mbagala’ to the rest of Africa.
However, even as the performances and the show stopping antics of the evening’s hostess American rapper, Eve, were great, power fluctuations was a problem that the organisers had to contend with at certain points affecting the lighting and the sound system. And we thought only Tanesco, gives us such rare treats! Clearly, power outages are an African specialty!
The presentations
These awards always serve as a learning platform for those that are either yet to win or organise and event of that magnitude.
Kudos should go to the props on how they quickly cleared the stage after every performance since very artiste had a preferred set of equipment.
The quickness with which the artiste acted to come to stage was something that showed great organisation, however, the old pet peeve of lack of a speech was there to haunt them as most didn’t have quality lines to give the audience.
The after party
They say that there ‘aint no Party like one thrown in Lagos’ and this event billed up to expectations. The after party was exclusive and only took in VVIPs, so you had to be the who-is-who to even peep inside.
Chuck D of Public Enemy in the other corner having a chat with Ruff Ryders’ first lady, Eve and even our own Cloud FM ‘s boss Joseph Kusaga, MTV country representative Christine Mosha and Kevin Twissa were all in attendance.
The venue, which was just opposite the Eko Expo Hotel was another celebrity affair as we danced and drunk until the wee hours.
To confess very few party animals slept a wink that night, because those who were not invited ended up in other Night Clubs like the Auto Lounge in Lagos’ upmarket Victoria Islands.
As we look forward to next year’s event, and I boarded the flight back to Dar es Salaam, I was still puzzled as to why P-Square decided to give the event a blank sheet. Of course, I learnt about their God-like image much later
The wazua spirit as members is to educate and inform and learn from others within the limit of what we know in any chosen area irrespective of our differences in tribes, nationalities, etc. .