FOR a maiden edition in Ghana, the controversies surrounding Afro Nation may have been off-putting for some.
However, the legal issues, which mainly involved an injunction on the location of the event, the La Boma Beach, were not enough to dampen the mood of lovers of music who turned up in their numbers over four days, from December 27-30, for the show which celebrated the best of African music.
Afro Nation saw a number of top musical acts across Africa gather in Ghana to give fans the show of their lives. The first day, Friday, December 27, recorded a huge turnout with performing acts such as Nigeria’s Burna Boy, Ghana’s Stonebwoy, Becca, Medikal and others.
The two acts that stood out were Stonebwoy and Burna Boy. Stonebwoy performed songs such as Hero, Tomorrow, Ololo, Kpo Keke among others and he again proved on the night that he had what it takes to do a live performance for hours.
It was all about Zanku, the legwork dance and Gbese when Burna Boy dropped his Anybody and Killing Dem tracks. He showed off his excellent dance skills and he was just amazing on stage.
As the only female performer from Ghana on the night, Becca did not disappoint as performed songs from her repertoire including her latest, Yes I Do, Move and Na Wash.
The venue’s energy level hit the roof when Omo Ada hitmaker, Medikal hit the stage with his verse on the song Wrowro Ho. He went on to perform his hit tracks and there was no dull moment as his energy was high and contagious.
The likes of Falz, Fireboy, Tion Wayne were wonderful on stage as well and from their demeanour, it was evident they had a good time.
On Saturday, December 28, it was a whole other vibe. From Ghana, there were Shatta Wale, Efya, Kwesi Arthur, La Meme Gang while Teni, Olamide, Rema, Runtown and many more represented Nigeria.
They all did amazing and it was beautiful watching the artistes come under one umbrella and use the same stage. Shatta Wale was in his element and gave a good performance but he did not end without ranting about the music industry not being supportive.
Teni entertained the patrons with songs such as Power Rangers, Case and Wait and she was well received by patrons. Efya also cemented the fact that she was the best when it came to vocal dexterity; taking the crowd to church with renditions of some Gospel songs before lighting up the show with songs such as Whoman Woman and Until the Dawn.
Sunday, December 29 was no different as the celebration of African music continued with Jamaica’s Alkaline, R2bees, Wizkid, Eddy Kenzo, KiDi, Innoss’b, Kuami Eugene, Naira Marley, Rotimi Wily among others. People came in their numbers and there was a lot of excitement at the event grounds.
To wrap up the fourth day of the event on Monday, December 30, Davido, Mayorkun, Moonchild Sanelly, Zlatan, Akala, Navy Kenzo, Kofi Kinaata among others also took to the stage.
The Kokomaster, D’Banj, who was billed to perform failed to do so, disappointing many of his fans.
Of course for a maiden show, there were hitches over the four days especially with the time artistes mounted the stage among others but that does not take away from the fact that Afro Nation was a real celebration of all that is good about African music.