Anyone familiar with the music scene knows the first-ever music awards nominee slated for Discovery of the Year of the Ghana Music Awards was Sidney Kofi Oppong Ofori, formally a member of Nananom, but now known as??B3rima Sidney.?
And he is today a household name all over Africa and beyond for his hit single, Wanna Money, officially called Africa Money.
Recently, Today?run into him and decided to pick his thoughts on few issues, including, when to expect his next album, what he makes out of the music industry in Ghana today, the last Vodafone Music Awards, and, of course, the new genre of music-dance, Azonto.
Talking about his personal project, Sidney said he yet to poise to release a new single after Easter, hopefully next week, and he will be doing it with Omanhene Pozzo in a Nananom re-union.
The album is set to be released with the title, GH B3y3 d3, and by the CDs should be out by the middle of next month.
On the music awards held a month ago, Barima Sidney said: ?To tell you the truth I am lost when it comes to Ghana Music Awards.? I?ve been? lost after my Africa Money Album.? I have never been around in Ghana [much since] I?m doing shows out the country.? I don?t even know when they do it and what goes into it??
He added: ?I don?t think I should know, because I have other projects? across Africa. So I?m hardly here?? Also Africa Money is still doing very well all over Africa.?
When quizzed on the whereabout of his mother group, Nananom, Sidney replied, ?It is very much alive.? I am set to release a single with Pozzo, and Jyotiis is married to a pastor and, probably, making babies,? He laughs.? ?Nananom is very much alive.?
This is what Sidney has to say about Azonto: ?I don?t know why people see Azonto as some kind of dance or music.
The word, Azonto, simply means a girl who is cheap.? It?s a term men use in for a girl who is cheap; for example, Gonney, flamingo,fuwum. Those are all terms use to describe cheap ladies.?
He explained that the dance, now presumably called Azonto dance, actually originated from the dance repertoire of Gas. ?They created that particular dance, James Town [near Bukom,] and because it is a dance that is easily syncronised with a lot of danceable song we adopted the dance to the song.?
According to Sidney, ?Sarkodie even did mentioned the meaning [of Azonto] in [one of] his song, the Azonto song, [where he says] ?Azontobi a manya no.?? That should simply tell you [Azonto] is not a dance or music, but a lady.? It explains it all.?
He also expressed his view on P-square, Alnico and Ghana Azonto. The musician, also popular for his hit single, Scente no!, also pointed out that ??????? Azonto and Alingo are two different things.? ?They have their type of music they do, so they can?t cliam Azonto is from Nigeria.? It is simply a publicity stunt, that?s all.?
Talking about the awards again, Sidney thinks the past two seasons of awards went to deserving artistes.? He said it is fair for Sakodie to win the artiste of the year, and prays R2B take cover, because they are hardworking guys.
?In the past people had to pay organizers to be given awards,? he intimated, but said he is not sure if that still happens.
According to him he lost an award,?because his management refused to pay money for the award for which he had been nominated.? Eventually, the award was giving to somebody else.
?I hope things have now changed for good,? he affirmed.
STORY: NANA ADWOA BIAMAH
