With “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum – Christina and Steph received a standing ovation from their Coach, Koen Buyse who stood up for the first time since the start of the “The Voice of Flanders”.
Christina, who is 18 -year-old and has no professional singing experience battled with Steph who is 46 and has been singing for some years now. The pair did a good job with their number and Singer Clouseau was confused about who will go to the live edition. In the end, he chose Steph. But Christina did a good job that it was difficult to ignore her. In the end, Bent made a great choice by adding Cristina to the live shows. so, it was a win-win situation for the pair.
Below is Christina and Steph performing “A Whiter Shade of Pale” at The Voice of Flanders (known as The Voice van Vlaanderen in Dutch) last Friday.
A month ago, Christina performed Bob Marley’s ‘Is This Love’ for the coaches who were thrilled by her performance. Two of the coaches wanted her in their team and Christina chose Koen Buyse. See the video below.
She has cited Dr. Maya Angelou her ‘greatest teacher’.
So of course Oprah Winfrey was on hand to help the famed writer and poet celebrate her 86th birthday and unveiling of her portrait at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC on Saturday.
The 60-year-old media mogul held the I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings author’s hand as the special moment took place inside the gallery.
Maya has long been celebrated as an important civil, women and basic human rights activist, with her published works having often been briefly banned from libraries.
Her writing is now available and appreciated worldwide, and her life’s work has been honoured with a portrait that will remain in the gallery for public viewing.
Oprah showed up in support of her fellow wave-maker, looking stunning and radiant in a fitted black turtleneck as she held Maya’s hand.
Maya’s smile was insatiable as she sat in her wheelchair dressed in a glittering black gown, surrounded by a slew of other strong figures in art and culture such as actress Cicely Tyson.
Oprah has had the legendary woman on her show in the past, where she shared such words of wisdom as: ‘Don’t get older just to get wiser.’
‘If you get older, you will be wiser, I believe that – if you dare. But get older because it’s fun!’
She even dared to touch on the issue of what happens to parts of the female body with age, speaking candidly about the topic.
‘And the breasts are very interesting, because they are in an incredible race to see which one will touch my waist first!’ she joked as she chatted with Oprah in 2002.
Maya notably declared that ‘living is fun’, as she chatted with Oprah about issues of life and wisdom.
On Saturday April 5th 2013, the family of Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice President celebrated the wedding of their son Abba, and his American bride.
The wedding took place at Conrad Hotel in Dubai and was attended by top and influential personalities from Nigeria. Among the attendees were Bola Tinubu, the former Lagos State Governor, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande and many other dignitaries.
See below, more photos from the wedding of Atiku Abubakar’s Son in Dubai.
Atiku Abubakar introducing the parents of his son’s wife to Bola TinubuThe groom Abubakar Atiku Abubakar and his mother Hajiya Ladi Atiku Abubakar
Atiku shared a selfie of himself, his son and his new wife welcoming her to the familyDavido performing at the event
MC Timmy (Tim Odofin) is an internationally renowned master of ceremonies, compere, radio host, voice over artiste and TV presenter based in London.
He can regularly be seen acting as the MC at a wide range of corporate and social events, including award ceremonies, weddings, birthday parties, concerts and community events. He has hosted events in London, around the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Spain, Denmark and Nigeria.
He currently acts as a newsreader, reporter and voice over artiste for NWTV, the television station of New Wine International in London. He has also hosted TV Talent shows, and currently acts as a guest pundit on Vox Africa’s Sports 360 show.
For the last 12 years he has hosted a yearly live broadcast to the 30,000 plus London Marathon runners on behalf of New Wine International, and acts as a commentator for Cancer Research UK’s ‘Race for Life’ every summer. He has also hosted their night time event ‘Shine London” which has over 10,000 participants.
He has a passion to see young people succeed in life and over a 5 year period attended many schools and colleges in London as part of a roadshow speaking with, and learning from the young people about the challenging issues they face and offering them advice and guidance.
His radio credits have included hosting his own weekly shows on Meridian Radio, Premier Radio and Westside 89.6FM. He is also a voice over artiste for the Premier Media Group voicing promos, trailers and adverts. Some of his recent voice over work has included voicing an online learning resource on behalf of Dare 2 Engage that is now being used in schools across the United Kingdom.
Groundbreaking new Al Jazeera documentary series, Lifelines: The Quest for Global Health, highlights the African and Asian health professionals saving their communities
Series filmed by award-winning South African team in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda
Premiering on Al Jazeera English on 10 April 2014, Lifelines: The Quest for Global Health highlighs the work of inspiring Africans on the frontline of public health. The groundbreaking eight-part series is filmed up close as these health heroes forge dramatic breakthroughs while tackling nine of the worst diseases and conditions that afflict poor people: Guinea worm, leprosy, malaria, maternal and neonatal mortality, polio, rabies, river blindness, schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia or snail fever), and trachoma.
“Al Jazeera always looks for local solutions, especially in the face of so much grim news,” says Al Jazeera’s award-winning executive producer Ingrid Falck. “Lifelines is exactly that. It gives powerful voice to communities that are rarely heard and shows that even in the face of the most horrendous diseases and conditions imaginable, there are African and Asian health workers at the centre of a global fight to eliminate them.”
South African Clifford Bestall, a Grierson, Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentary filmmaker, is the series director. Cliff directed four of the episodes, while fellow South African Brian Tilley, a producer on the multi-award-winning documentary series Why Democracy? and Why Poverty?, directed the other half.
“The long struggle to control, eliminate or eradicate some of these deadly diseases and conditions is tantalizingly close to victory,” says Cliff.
The first film in the series, Island By Island, premieres at 20h00 GMT on 10 April 2014 and highlights the health heroes overcoming rabies in the Philippines.
This is followed by:
The End Is In Sight (17 April), which focuses on the eradication of river blindness in Uganda and trachoma in Ethiopia
The End Game (24 April), which looks at malaria in Tanzania just before World Malaria Day on 25 April 2014
River of Hope (1 May), which looks at schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia and snail fever) in Senegal.
Later episodes look at Guinea worm in Sudan and South Sudan and maternal and neonatal mortality in Malawi.
See below, the trailer of Lifelines: The quest for global health
Mexican-born Kenyan actress and the newest face in Hollywood, Lupita Nyong’o keeps on making one stride after another. The beautiful black actress who was described by the Kenyan president as ‘the pride of Africa’ after her Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress in the movie 12 Years A Slave has been unveiled as Lancome’s ambassadress.
The 31-year-old actress was handpicked by the French beauty giant to represent its brand and said in a statement today: ‘Her instinctive and sophisticated talent and one of a kind beauty, both delicate and strength-exuding, has taken the world by storm.
‘She is an outstanding example of a natural beauty; confident and simply true to herself, she embraces life with freshness, citing happiness as the most attractive form of radiance,’ the brand added.
Excited about the deal, Lupita said, ‘I am truly honored to join the Maison Lancôme, a brand with such a prestigious history and that I have always loved. ‘
Lupita will be seen from this summer in campaigns shot by star photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
Grammy-nominated R&B legend Angie Stone is set for a long-awaited six date tour across the UK this April. Backed by her full US band and supported by singer/songwriter Ms D, this is a highly-anticipated opportunity to see one of giants of R&B performing live. Angie Stone’s rootsy and sophisticated fusion of soul, funk and hip-hop, as heard in her landmark solo albums “Black Diamond” (1999) and “Mahogany Soul” (2001), embodied the breakthrough Neo Soul sound. She has inspired artists as diverse as Alicia Keys, Estelle, Bilal, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse and Mary J Blige.
With sales in excess of five million albums sold globally, Stone’s hits include “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” and “Everyday” – as well as 1979’s “Funk You Up” with The Sequence and “Seems You’re Much Too Busy” in 1993 with Vertical Hold. Today Angie Stone reaches a new audience through her “R&B Divas” reality TV show on VH1, and her latest album, 2012’s “Rich Girl”. She been seen on the big screen in “The Fighting Temptations” and “Pastor Brown”, and on television in “Moesha”, “Girlfriends”, and “Lincoln Heights”.
Support is provided by emerging London-based singer/songwriter Ms D, who has guested on all three of Wiley’s singles from his 2013 album “The Ascent”, and on Chipmunks’s 2009 hit; “Oopsy Daisy”.
Angie Stone on touring the UK: “I’m really, really excited because I’m so well received in the UK!
There is so much talent here waiting for their breakout moment. “She lists Amy Winehouse’s recordings as a continual inspiration, and had previously tipped Adele for chart success. Angie Stone continues to highly rate British acts Estelle, Omar, Carl McIntosh, Soul II Soul and Mica Paris. She also describes “Long Walk to Freedom” star Idris Elba as “an old friend who goes way back.”
Punch CEO Ammo Talwar says; “We’re proud to be bringing a voice and a talent like Angie Stone’s to the UK. So many people, like me, will have worn out their “Black Diamond” and “Mahogany Soul” albums as a part of the soundtrack to their clubbing years, but this tour – especially with support from Ms D – will be showing the full range of her talent and repertoire.”
Seun Osewa is the owner of Nairaland, the popular online forum in Nigeria. In this article that was written by Michelle Atagana and published on ventureburn.com, Seun Osewa tells Michelle how he built Nairaland, the website that has become Nigeria’s most popular online forum where Nigerians and other African citizens discuss issues ranging from politics, fashion, entertainment, relationships, and much more.
Below is an excerpt of the interview.
Building a multi-million dollar internet empire
The founding of the platform and the company that followed happened almost by chance.
“The process that led to the decision to start Nairaland started when I stumbled on a website called hotornot.com,” Osewa tells me.
The idea of rating the opposite sex (and seeing how other people rated as well) was a simple concept that Osewa got addicted to very quickly. Soon enough a business idea was born.
“I learnt that the creators of the site made money by selling ads on it. That was the first time I realised that one could make money by building a popular site and selling ads on it,” he says.
The first iteration of Nairaland was born.
The journey to monetisation was a little trickier for the new community. The task for Osewa was figuring out how to make money out of the growing traffic. Learning about ad networks and how they could help him circumvent having to sell ad space directly to clients was key.
“I read a blog post titled “blogging for dollars” where a blogger described how he made thousands of dollars monthly by just joining the biggest advertising network,” he says. “This was essential, because using an ad network allowed me to focus on growing Nairaland’s traffic knowing that if I could make Nairaland popular, I would automatically make a lot of money. It allowed me to be focused on traffic.”
It was only years later that Osewa began to introduce the idea of forums to the site as mobile telephony became popular in Nigeria. At the time, Osewa says that “the government had just allowed private telecom companies to build GSM networks”.
The Vlisco Women’s Month Awards Night is a monthly award and recognition event that honours the outstanding achievements of women from West and Central African by identifying and rewarding those who inspire others to realise their dreams.
And March was a special month to celebrate these women Vlisco, as the world’s, International Women’s Day is March 8th every year. To give more attention to the celebration, top Nollywood actress and producer of “Through the Glass”, Stephanie Linus Okereke was chosen as the face of the ‘Dare to Dream’ campaign. A tribute to women who have the faith and courage to realise their dreams, as well as inspire other women.
The campaign, which lasted throughout the month of March as international Women’s day is also in March (8th), was brought to an end with an award in which women with outstanding achievements in West and Central Africa were nominated.
The Vlisco Women’s Month award was given to Adesuwa Oyenokwe, the Publisher of TW magazine and communications expert was announced the winner for the Nigerian category at the Award winning ceremony that took place on Saturday, 30th March 2014.
Oyenokwe’s award was earned for her outstanding role and work in the Nigerian and African media.
Also in attendance was Stephanie Okereke who is the face of the “Dare to Dream” campaign, c, Waje who performed at the event.
Nollywood iconic actress, Silva joke was also present at the event.
Beautiful Ghanaian Model, Shirley Selase Anku is not just a ‘pretty face’.
She is a college graduate, a Triple Jump Record holder for Ghana, a past runner-up at the,’ Face of Africa’ competition, has starred in commercials for Jc Penny’s, Mary-Kay and 7-Eleven and appeared on numerous catwalks around the globe. She has also graced cover of ‘TimeOut Accra’
Her vital statistics are:
Country: Ghana
Education: New Mexico State University – BS, Clothing Textile, Fashion Merchandising; Minor in Management
Owner/CEO: Selase House Of Fashion
Fashion Model at Kim Dawson Agency
Twitter: @Shirleyanku
