FUN!!! ..........the Grimy side of Accra Nightlife

In the area in front of the towering HQ of the nation's premier commercial bank, right from the Kwame Nkrumah roundabout towards Accra, lies a strip buzzing with fun and excitement. The crowd here is basically West African. Tons of Naija folks, a few French and lots of Liberians; this must be one of the few hotspots in the city with more foreigners than Ghanaians. The demographic is a wild mix of old and young, with the latter being the most dominant. Nightlife in the city does not get grimier than here.

A roadside pub caters for about five hundred party folks sitting on cheap plastic chairs and tables, most of which will probably end the night broken. The bar does not serve Moet, Hennessey or any other exotic cognac for that matter. Make no mistake however; the folks here probably make the beer companies more money than most other spots in the city. Table top bars are also common. They serve a surprising array of local spirits or 'bitters' for those with a stomach for the hardest liquor. There is the usual installment of “check check” fast food joints as well quite a number of “bread and egg” spots lining the streets; all that liquor is get your stomach churning before end of the night.

This place buzzes with fun and excitement every night of the year. The biggest night here is Monday nights, with a crowd of over a 1000 rave heads having their fun on the strip. Other nights quite easily average about 500 people. It may not be listed as one of Accra's yuppie havens for the city's bourgeois crowd but the folks who come here are not exactly broke. According to the owner of the roadside pub, which started out as a table top bar, most customers spend on average GHC 20 - 30 each night and most are regulars who chill out here every night. Cigarette stands are also common place and non-smokers will easily feel out of place in this crowd. The air is constantly misty with the smell of stale beer, cigarette smoke and the scent of cheap perfume mostly accentuated by the ladies on the ' front line.'

One of the main attractions around here is the premium red-light district. The most notorious in the city, they certainly give any man a lot to feast your eyes on all night. They come in various sizes, shapes and attractions. This business seems to defy all age restrictions. Some of the girls appear as young as 17 years old with other being as old as 45 years. Almost nude and determined to attract, a male customer will most likely have a pretty vixen asking to join him at his table within minutes of arriving or yet still have them whistling or pulling to get your attention. If you do oblige and go the extra mile by taking them home, one must be prepared to part with a few wads of Ghana Cedis. According to the street code here, the charges depend on your level determined by which part of the area you are allowed to operate from. The high class prostitute goes for about GHC100 for the whole night and about GHC30 for short-time [the street parlance for 1 hour service]; it is about GHC10 and GHC50 respectively if you find yourself on the cheap side. Suffice to say, it’s a perverts paradise.

On this particular night, I end up here purely by chance; having come to 'Honest Chef' right across the street and then being intrigued enough to join in the carnival. Cars line the streets competing for space with the “working sisters” and party people. Loud music blurs from a 2 piece machine that could do with a little tweaking on the baseline. The DJ works his music from a small set and seems very lost in his own tunes. So much so that he may not have realized that he kept repeating the same Naija joints over and over again. He however redeems himself with a repertoire of traditional Naija tunes and local tunes that would not necessarily get much airplay on radio but are good enough to get the party going. This crowd will party no matter, and the booze induced gyration and loud shouts of excitement will go on all night.

There is never a dull moment. A heated exchange between two 'sisters' over the supposed snatching of a boyfriend; a guy being heckled by another group of prostitutes for refusing to pay for service rendered and two beggars in a heated exchange with one accusing the other of taking money from a stranger she was supposed to have received. This is no fiction. On this side of town, scenes like these are nothing out of the ordinary. It is however not quite as dangerous as has been stereotyped over the years. Folks here are surprisingly nice. I had a few Naija guys join me at my table and before the end of the night we were chatting away like old buddies. Then again, what better way for men to form a friendship than over bottles of liquor and interesting conversation about beautiful women parading all around you?

”TREATING LUCKIE'S “SILENCE IS GOLDEN”

…...The tale of the more successful wife and sweet love gone sour

Luckie Lawson has certainly come of age. In her debut effort as producer/actress, she brings this maturity to the fore in treating very tactfully the story of Kayla [Luckie Lawson], a modern day regular wife who decides to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. Though her endeavors turn out very well, it resorts in a stand-off with her husband,Xavier[Ramsey Nouah], which threatens to destroy her once very happy marriage.

The subject matter in this movie is not new. Matter of fact, it is part of an age long debate over the ability of a woman to become successful in her chosen career and still manage to please her husband and family.

Credit must be given to Luckie as she uses tart and wit in her portrayal of her on screen characters thus allowing her audience to warm up to them right from the start. Kayla does not come off from the start as a fiercely independent career woman. On the contrary she's more subdued, a pretty and faithful wife who abandons her dreams to follow her husband's and will obviously do all to make him happy; never mind that she is very bad at her job. Xavier is treated as a caring husband, who does not seem to mind his wife's incompetencies as his work assistant so far as she continues to work for him. It is only when she decides to follow her dreams and actually succeeds at it, that there begins to be friction between husband and wife. At this point, her independent woman nature as well as his chauvinistic tendencies begin to shine through.

Its been 5 years since her decision to follow her dreams and write her book;by doing so she left his company and his heart. In those years she seems to have paid more attention to her literary endeavors , leaving her husband feeling neglected in the process. Her book has becomes a bestseller and his company is on the brink of bankruptcy. In the midst of all her fame and his problems, one cannot blame the man for feeling a tinge of jealousy and inadequacy. His chauvinistic nature therefore manifests itself in his sudden chagrin for her success and stand off-ish behavior towards her. Kayla however is a different kind of independent woman character,she tries to make amends for all the time that has passed between but is met with rejection at every attempt. In this sense, Luckie explores a different kind of feminist in Kayla. She is less fiercely independent and tries to encourage her husband to bask in her success as well and will keep trying despite his rejection. Xavier on the hand is your regular African male, intimidated by his wife's success in the face of his own problems and will see every action or inaction on her part as her way of disrespecting him. Statements as, “Well, Kayla has always done what she wanted, and it's gone well for her,so I leave it to her to decide for herself ,” and “Oh I totally forgot that my opinions don't matter anymore, ” were a clear indication of his state of mind at this time. To be fair to the man as well, it is not quite right that the husband be neglected while his wife pursues her ambitions, only to be expected to succumb easily when she needs him once again.

When Xavier gets an opportunity to save his dying company by sleeping outside his marriage, he goes in for it. One might view it as exacting revenge on his wife for her neglect;but on the other he may just have done it to save his company and prove his worth as a man who could match up to his wife's success. In an ironic role reversal, the resulting affair puts chauvinistic Xavier right under the manipulative control of Aisha[Chika Ike], his influential mistress.

Again Kayla's independent woman nature is brought to the fore when she finds out about the man's infidelity. While most women would make a scene and get dramatic; she decides to just move out, be on her own and concentrate on her work. The man is therefore left playing the role of the vulnerable heartbroken lover.

The women certainly seem to have it all, with Xavier having to contend with searching for his wife and having to co-tow to the whims of his manipulative mistress.

In the end he would get over his mistress' control and win back his wife, but the femme fatale point has already been made. The new breed of 'independent women' manage to use their innate qualities to make us love them and achieve success in their careers as well. Most men are coming of age, but our chauvinistic/egoistic ideas may have to change to accommodate this new and special breed of the African woman.

Whatever your opinion may be of the movie's subject matter, Luckie and her production team have done amazing job and must be commended for it. I dare say, “GO GRAB A COPY NOW!!!”

IS JOYCELIN DUMAS REALLY THE ONE?

During the period in which they have been on the Ghanaian market, there is no doubt, that Viasat 1's brand of high quality and internationally renowned programming has helped to change the face of television broadcasting on the local scene; and as the records seem to confirm, they have certainly managed to up the ante on their local competitors.

Purely from a viewers point of view and of course as an industry player, VIASAT 1's Rune Skokgeng's and his team's biggest challenge thus far has been to find a way to incorporate comparatively lower quality local productions into their predominantly high quality foreign content. After trying out with a mediocre local television series[which was duly dropped later], numerous Nigerian soaps and movies; the “green and white” guys seem to have finally found an antidote to their biggest flaw. The pride was quite obvious on Rune's face as he explained his team's triumph to the media at a press confab at the plush Alisa Hotel.

The triumph comes in the form of two yet to be released in house local productions namely,' THE ONE' and 'LAUGH A MINUTE.' The latter, has been described as a “a family friendly show which includes funny clips from around the world,”and is to be hosted by seasoned comedian David Oscar Dogbe, in his debut as a television presenter. Perhaps, the most highly anticipated of the two, THE ONE, already has an ad rolling on the network and is billed to be 'a cross between the Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks Shows in a Ghanaian wrapping,” and will be touching on all issues from beauty and fashion to the most bizarre issues with various personalities. Ironically, the female anchor set to give it its Ghanaian wrapping is the lesser known former Rhythms co-presenter Joycelin Dumas, known for her charming smile and unmistakably foreign accent. For lovers of the big screen, Joycelin is better identified as Majid Michel's girlfriend in Shirley Frimpong's ghost thriller, “A sting in a Tale.”

Despite her prior gig with Rhythms[which she quit to cross carpets to VIASAT 1], the pretty damsel is a relative unknown to most avid television viewers and it may work to her advantage, as she then becomes a breath of fresh air with a brand well reputed for innovation. On the other hand however, one has to question if her relative inexperience, will not come to the fore in her performance on the show. She has described the show as,”one of the most costly and exciting TV productions ever done in Ghana.” So is VIASAT 1 taking too much of a gamble with Joycelin Dumas on such a groundbreaking project?

A helping factor maybe the fact that she is being guided by none other than the evergreen, Anita Erskine, as producer , who is undoubtedly bringing her immense experience to bear on the production. There is also the charming Ama K. Abebrese, who in her capacity as Assistant Programs Manager,is sure to help out, having worked on a similar show on London's OBE TV. In addition,the guys at VIASAT 1 seem to have left no stone unturned in ensuring a high quality and entertaining production, with an amazing set that is sure to up the ante once again on their local competitors.

So for now Joycelin seems to be in good company; It remains to be seen however, how things will pun out as the show debuts on the 2nd of August at 6:30 pm..... We are all buckled up, coke on ice with sugar popcorns in hand waiting for the cameras to roll...........................

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