Bentsifi’s Tattle.A guy about town
I am sitting at the back, from where I get a very clear wide view of the stage and audience in front of me. Only the stand of the pole that hooks some of the stage lights obstructs part of my view.
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All the seats in the amphitheatre at Alliance Francaise tonight are occupied with eager fans waiting to experience the first concert of this girl who is fast becoming one of their, and my favourite act; Adomaa. She starred in her own ‘Afraba’ themed concert.
I think it was rather ambitious to plan a solo concert for an act that is so relatively new. Indeed, there were others billed to perform as opening acts, and of those, for me, Robin Huws was the bomb! The young man can sing! He’s got very good voice control.
Highlife to Hiplife medley
And Adomaa, what a talent! I fell in love with her silky melodious voice the very first time I heard her sing in that video of her Highlife to Hiplife medley - ET Mensah to Rockstone - chronicling songs which trace those genres of Ghanaian music.
But girl, tonight I am not so sure I like what I am seeing on stage. Only at the Alliance Francaise can you get away with this. Those dancers let them go. They are a distraction and they don’t add anything to your act.
In fact, they take away from your presence, which again, I don’t feel quite as much I had hoped to, tonight. Do you know what I want you to do, girl? You have a great inspiring voice. I want you to stand in the middle of the stage and sing! I mean, belt out and give us your all in that blasé fashion you do. It’s cocky, it’s hip and I love it! It defines you, but, not with all those disruptive, (are they ballet or adowa) dancers?
This is showbiz
And you keep moving up and down as though you were singing at a prom night. This is the big stage, girl! This is showbiz, the big time and you are big, if you will command the stage. Unleash yourself. Get an experienced producer to groom you. Some Bessa Simons or Kwame Yeboah level.
You come on as a caterpillar, meandering, with poetry and all that dialogue, doing some of your slow tunes. Then you bloom, burst out, and bring the sunshine of the butterfly, doing the happy Osibisa medley which is a good highlight of the show. But, then you bring us back down with some “operatic” delivery and end the show?
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Sweetie, you will grow, I know you will. You are a class act. But, get into the big league. Tell your handlers to get back onto the drawing board and plot a nice crescendo for next time!
I thoroughly enjoyed the show but for the ending. And oh, perhaps, you want to get those ‘area boys’ who took it upon themselves to storm the stage with their engaging jig the time you went backstage for so long without explanation, to dance for us. They are show stoppers! Did you hear how we cheered them on?
Shai Hill
So, last weekend, I went abseiling with Braveheart Expeditions. That is, I got myself hooked up with a doubled rope that coiled round my body, and which was fixed onto hooks and rocks on top of the 30-meter high Elephant Rock at the Shai Hill Resource Reserve, and descended the rock’s face hanging onto the ropes!
It was such an adrenalin pumping pursuit for me! And to think my back joint ache was raging and giving me some discomfort! Oh, it was so much fun in spite of it! Something I had to strike off my bucket list. The next in that vein is to bungee jump. You know, the sport where you get strapped with the long nylon-cased rubber band used for securing luggage, and free fall from a very high point!
I should like to have the opportunity to have my own experience of it to share sometimes. But, this Sunday morning, I am being strapped secure by Nana Adjoa, my guide from Braveheart, who is talking me through how to descend. Such a sensational prospect! “Don’t look down,” she says. “Open your leg wide and find a good spot to step as you go down. Release the rope as you go, and hold tight, to control your drop!”
Pretty much like life, really, this activity. You learn to release and tighten the hold in bits as you careen through. At least, that’s how I took the experience.
Super Cheeky Kid
Here with us to abseil also, is this kid, Amartey Dagadu. The son of my friend Nii Amah. Wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Super Cheeky Kid,” he probably became the first four-year-old to abseil 30 meters down Elephant Rock!
Though accompanied by Kwame Adu, the young man insisted on being independently hooked as opposed to sitting on the adult's lap for more security. We cheer him on and he responded by giving us a thumbs up!
Now, that’s super cheeky! A lad after my own heart who will refuse to accept the premise that "head is used to carry load"! I give a thumb up to JayJay of Braveheart Expeditions, who are creating a generation of kids with limitless imagination!