BEHIND THE SCENES OF AY, LIL ROMEO AND LA’MYIA'S NEW VIDEO

Tanzanian rapper AY shot the music video for his new song Speak With Your Body that features two American musicians Lil Romeo and La’Myia last weekend.



The set was on location in Hollywood and was directed by William Tikki and Shai Kadem. The audio was recorded at Master P’s No Limit Records.





Some of the guests on set included actress Meagan Good, Smallville actor Sam Jones III best known for playing Clark Kent’s high school friend Pete Ross and No Limit Soldiers.



AY poses with Meagan



La’Myia (born September 27, 1979) is an American singer and actress. She is best known for her voice work in the blockbuster PlayStation 3 game Killzone 3 as the voice of Jammer and her work with R&B group Isyss.



She is the older sister of actress Meagan Good and older cousin of actor/singer Dijon Talton.




La'Myia on set

In other news AY was in Nairobi last month to put finishing touches to the video of another collaboration effort with Nairobi boy band Sauti Sol dubbed Shukuru.

SEX AND THE CITY’S KRISTIN DAVIS WAS IN TZ FOR CHARITY

Sex and the City’ actress Kristin Davis was recently in Tanzania where she teamed up with actor Steven Kanumba.
The duo took part in honouring Tanzanian women food producers with the launch of a nationwide competition at the Makumbusho Village run by Oxfam.



The Food Heroine of the year award dubbed Mama Shujaa wa Chakula is a new annual competition to recognise outstanding women food producers, where members of the public will have an opportunity to vote for their favourite candidate. The project it designed to empower, inspire and support women farmers and pastoralists by recognising their contributions and increasing their visibility.



Kristin told Tanzanian press Citizen Daily, “I have been to Morogoro for two days and I had a chance to meet inspiring women farmers, I was impressed with their hard work and dedication that’s why I am so thrilled Oxfam is launching the food heroine initiative to encourage and give recognition to women who grow so much of the food we eat here in the country and even in America, where I come from, with so much determination despite the challenges they face.”



Commenting, the Oxfam Ambassador for the GROW Campaign which promotes a future where everyone has enough to eat, actor Steve Kanumba said women have been farmers in difficult circumstances for such a long time and they have never complained, much less received encouragement in what they do.



Maselina Kibena, who represented MVIWATA, a small farmers’ association from Morogoro, said he was happy that Oxfam and its partner organisation had recognised women’s contribution in feeding the society at large and took the initiative to support their efforts.

TUSKER ALL STARS COMPETITION HEATS UP

After Tusker All Stars performances in the first week, fans across East Africa have voted for a trio of charismatic male performers as their top favorites so far.
Heart-throb Alpha of Rwanda stood tall at the top with charming Tanzanian Msechu and sensational Ugandan Davis taking up the second and third slots respectively.
Show host Gaetano released the week one voting results during the Tusker All Stars second show that was screened across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
The second show featured four of the eight Tusker All Stars, Msechu, Patricia, Ameleena and Alpha.
Each of the four Tusker All Stars performed two songs - a popular hit single and an original composition. Their fans also got to discover the personalities behind the music at the Tusker Pub where they were interviewed by Eve D’Souza.
Viewers were in for a surprise when the straight-talking Tusker Project Fame Judge Ian Mbugua appeared as a guest. Judge Ian, who has been involved in the formation and shaping of the Stars into who they are today, was at hand to give viewers an insight into the artistes’ performance.







The show started with a bang when Msechu took to the stage with Samba Mapangala's Vunja Mifupa hit song. He gave us a peek into what he had been up to when he sang a moving tribute titled Mama to his late mother.





Patricia performed Foreigner's I Want to Know What Love Is and her own composition, Nakupenda What Not; while Ameleena performed Carol Atemi’s Simama and her up-beat composition, Dance.










Alpha was the last Tusker All Star to take to the stage with a cover of the popular Phil Collins' hit song, Another Day in Paradise, before he closed the show with his bubbly song Love.





Davis, Ngangalito, Caroline and Hemedi will feature in the third show performing two songs each.
Viewers can vote for their favourite artist by sending a text message with the star’s Tusker number to 8009 for persons in Kenya and Uganda. Individuals in Rwanda can vote by sending a text message with the star’s Tusker number to 7333 while for those in Tanzania the number is 15324.

BANKY, WIZKID AND SKALES ANOUNCE FIRST-EVER EME AMERICAN TOUR!

US-based fans of ‘superstar’ Wizkid, R&B powerhouse Banky W, and critically acclaimed rapper Skales who have been longing to see them perform live, can now heave a sigh of relief.
The EME acts announced, today, that they’re staging a North America tour that’ll roll out in a matter of months. “Actually, the tour was earlier scheduled to begin in Washington DC on June 24," comments Banky W. "But due to certain circumstances, we have had to step back to work on a couple of elements necessary to deliver the best experience for our fans
"We know our fans in the US are waiting. And we apologise profusely, with a promise that this tour will be worth the wait. Our promoters have put in a lot of hard work, and we’re working with so many professionals in different cities to ensure everything goes well. I want to assure all those who have bought tickets already that we’re on; we’re coming for real; and it’s only a matter of weeks before we hit ‘God’s own Country."
Banky, who runs EME with partners in Nigeria and the United States, spoke from Lagos, Nigeria, where he has been living since relocating from the US in 2007.
The tour, according to a statement by EME, is in conjunction with the top Nigerian and African promoters in each city and will include big venue concerts, select club gigs, road stops, TV and radio performances as well as extended media visits.
The tour promotional partners are Afrique Events, Afrobeat Productions, Big A Entertainment, Camp Green, Club Nationale, De Eminentz, Mr. Déjà vu and The F.I.V.E Company. Others are Freshwaves, Incognito, Janda Entertainment, Jesse Poche (TakeoverDJs), Qrious
Media Group, Royal Entertainment, Shekpe Knights, So So Selective and Townkrier.com Says Segun Demuren, EME CEO: ‘‘Coming on the heels on a successful album launch concert for Wizkid, we’re moving on to the next step which is to ensure we deliver the best concert experience for our fans all over the world. We’re starting with the US with dates for Europe
and Asia to follow’’.
It’s the first-ever EME tour and an excited Banky adds, “Thanks for waiting this long guys. We’ll wait just a little bit longer, and then we can have all the fun in the world. We’re taking Lagos party to America!’’
Cities to be covered, according to an official guide released by EME, include Washington DC, New York City, Atlanta GA, Houston TX, Detroit MI, Chicago IL, Minneapolis MN, Boston MA, Dallas TX, Detroit MI and San Jose CA.

ERICSSON’S ‘1’ CAMPAIGN AT KENYA’S REFUGE DAY

In an effort to mark World Refugee Day, Safaricom, Ericsson and Refugees United joined together to provide a new and innovative service that enables refugees to register themselves, search for loved ones, and subsequently reconnect via an anonymous database.




This new initiative will help cut the time it would normally take to locate displaced family members using a paper based system. It particularly takes into consideration the increasing access to mobile phones: Safaricom has over 17 million subscribers in Kenya, compared to an estimated 820,000 people who have access to the internet via a PC. This represents only 2 percent of the population of Kenya.





In response to a call from UNHCR to “do 1 thing” to support refugees, Ericsson uses technology as a force for good in support of the refugee cause.






The World Refugee Day 2011 was hosted at the University of Nairobi Grounds in a day of celebrating different cultures from nationalities taking refuge in Kenya. Some of the acts that perfoemed included DNG, Emmanuel Jal, Juliani, Lam Tungwar, DJ Wesley, GKon, Shakila and several upcoming musicians.

FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? MILLICENT AND WEZA

The picture for the day. Two females locked up in the Big Brother House and will never see eye to eye. Weza called Millicent a "witch" and "fake". The drama continues...

DNG AND JALANGO'S KATUMBO DANCE VIDEO TRAILER

DNG and Jalango will be releasing their new music video dubbed Katumbo Dance in two weeks time. Meanwhile, enjoy the exclusive trailer.