Kojo Antwi’s big night
Kojo Antwi’s fans and general music lovers started arriving at the Accra International Conference Centre last Saturday, November 1, long before the stated starting time of 7.00pm for the 2014 MTN Legends and Legacy Ball.
They all wanted to be part of this year’s programme to celebrate the Music Maestro and the energy-sapping marathon session at the well-attended show illustrated the reverence we are beginning to have for our accomplished artistes.
Organised by Imajin Advertising, there was a lot of delightful singing from some brilliant artistes and Kojo Antwi himself, energetic dancing from a Mapuka duo and a well-choreographed dramatised tribute that elicited a salute from the cherished Music Man.
He quietly sat beside his wife, Rocklyn, as artiste after artiste came on to do their own treatments of some of his hit songs.
With his head bobbing up and down as he took in the atmosphere, the Music Maestro simply felt proud of the ‘official stamp’ being put on his years of hard work in music.
Acts that participated in the show included Wiyaala, Kwaisey Pee, Edem, a Chinese singer called Ekua and Akwaboah.
Others were MzVee, Kaakie Nacy, Nana Asante Bediatuo and Nana Yaa as well as Sonti Ndebele and Yvonne Chaka Chaka from South Africa.
With citations and other presentations from the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), MTN, and Imajin Advertising out of the way, Kojo Antwi himself performed for about 90 minutes.
During the time, he craved the indulgence of the audience to ‘school them a bit’ about lyrics in a couple of his songs and also introduced Rocklyn and two of his three sons.
The Music Man ended the show by giving several fans the chance to take photographs with him on stage.
It was the fourth MTN LAL Ball, with Daddy Lumba, Amakye Dede and AB Crentsil having been already honoured at the previous events.
The audience therefore expected the super-smooth, first-rate production values so far associated with Imajin Advertising to be on board.
They, however, had to deal with issues such as a three-hour delay in the start of the show and an embarrassing power outage that kept the audience which included Ministers of State, Members of Parliament and corporate chief executives in the dark for close to 10 minutes.
There was also a serious security lapse when a man, out of the blue, climbed the stage and headed straight to the star being honoured.
Apparently, the ‘intruder’ only wanted to pay homage to Kojo Antwi but no one knows what could have happened if he had other intentions.
The show also dragged at some points and the emcee, Kwami Sefa Kayi, appeared to wield too much freedom to handle the event anyway he liked.
The LAL Ball will bring on its fifth event next year. It is obviously too early to know who would be honoured then but the audience would definitely love to see a much tighter production that also starts on time.