PLYMOUTH, Minn. – July 21was a very busy night, as hundreds of fans flocked the auditorium at Armstrong High School for a night of action that included appearances by three prominent West African celebrities.

Ghanaian actor, Van Vicker, and Emmerson Bockarie and Lady Felicia, who come from Sierra Leone, put up a show that included a call for Africans to stand up against corrupt leaders.

“If you don’t say anything about the corruption and bad governance, those in government will think it is okay to continue stealing from and oppressing people.” Emmerson told the fans.

Emmerson uses his music to attack corrupt leaders and the elite in Sierra Leone, a risk few in the country take.

“This is a revolution through music,” he said.

As Emmerson performed previous hits like “Swegbe”, “Borbor Pain” and “Gi Am Bench,” fans sang along with him. But the highlight of the concert came when he played his hit, “Tutu Patti,” a song urging fans to go out and party. The crowd was energized and some women took advantage of the absence of the security guards who had manned the stage most of the night, and jumped on stage to mob the musician.

There was also mayhem earlier when Vicker got on stage. Almost all the women ran to the front of the auditorium to get a picture of the Ghanain heartthrob, leaving the men behind.

Vicker is most known for his role as lead actor in the popular movie “Beyonce: The President’s Daughter.” The movie has become a great hit among Africans and people from the Caribbean. Vicker, who was in the United States for the first time, has always garnered much attention, but he said he was shocked that his movie was so popular in the United States.

Even though his arrival at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport was supposed to be secret, word got out somehow and a group of women showed up, screaming upon seeing him, said Tarkus Zenon, organizer of the event.

At the concert, the audience was allowed some time to ask the actor questions. Many girls asked for a hug or a kiss and even marriage. Some asked for more doable things like advice on becoming an actor.

Not surprisingly only one question was from a gentleman. The ladies were slightly dismayed to find out that Vicker is married and has two children. But Liberians in the audience were pleased to know that part of him is Liberian. His mother is half Liberian. He did admit though, that he hasn’t been back to Liberia since 1991 when he left because of the war.

Vicker is touring the United States to promote his upcoming movie, “American Boy.” He advised young people in the crowd to recognize their talents and pursue them, but with care.

“It’s not about being a Hollywood Star,” he cautioned.

When Sierra Leone’s female sensation, Lady Felicia, finally stepped on the stage at 11p.m, one would not have known that the fans had already been dancing for two hours to performances of local artists, while they waited for the headliners.

Donned in a multi-colored outfit, Lady Felicia led the audience in singing their national anthem, before she started her performance. She kept the crowd dancing to hits like “U Go Betta,” “No Condition is Permanent.” and “Mama.”

Both Lady Felicia and Emmerson are relatively new to the music scene, but have become musical heavyweights in West Africa. Lady Felicia, who entered the music scene in 2001 as part of a group called LDO, went solo in 2005 and is promoting her first solo CD, “Song for Mama”.

Emmerson’s musical career started in 2003 when a college program he was enrolled in was temporarily shut down. After his first song, “U Go See Am,” became an instant hit, some local producers approached him and asked him to write an album. He has won many awards for his premier album, “Borbor Bele,” a jab at selfish government officials, who pocket public funds. His second album, “2 Fut Arata,” which literally translates to “two-legged rat” also talks about theft in the government.

Africans must pick and choose what aspects of the hip-hop culture to embrace.

The late Ahmed Sékou Touré, the founding president of Guinea, once said, “To take part in the African revolution, it is not enough to write a revolutionary song; you must fashion the revolution with the people. And if you fashion it with the people, the songs will come by themselves and of themselves.”  

His message seems to have resonated across Africa into the minds of African hip-hop artists. In the documentary, “African Underground: Democracy in Dakar,” featured in a forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, last month, Senegalese rappers seem to have led a hip-hop revolution in 2000 to oust Abdou Diouf.  Diouf had been in power since1981. 

With the country dissatisfied by President Abdoulaye Wade, Diouf’s successor who many feel has failed to bring about the changes he promised, Senegalese hip-hop artists find themselves once again at the crossroads of politics

The forum at the Wilson Center, moderated by the Africa Program Director Howard Wolpe, touched on the environment in which hip-hop is thriving in Africa. In comparison with other regions of the world, Africa has the highest percentage of youth and the fastest rate of urbanization. With the growing influence of Western culture on African youth, and a vast access to music via the Internet, hip-hop will continue to empower African rappers as instruments of change. There are claims that hip-hop has already become the contemporary manifestation of African culture.

The reality is that hip-hop also brings to Africa the bad and the ugly. American hip-hop artist Tupac, the rapper said to have influenced African artist the most, left a legacy riddled with not only hope, but also with pain from the ghetto. His lyrics and eventual violent death exposed the dangers of hip-hop’s digression to gangster rap, which is notorious for violence, use of profanity and the degradation of women. African social critics have begun putting pressure on rappers, urging them to realize their influence on socio-political culture. The critics encourage artists to express the more positive elements of hip-hop.

In April, while observing the recent elections in Nigeria, I kept hearing Nigerian artist, 2Face Idibaba’s song “E be like say” on the radio, which condemns “shady politicians” for constantly deceiving the electorate for the sake of power. I realized this was a powerful tool of voter education to millions of Nigerians who are neglected by politicians, especially in rural areas. If African rappers continue to educate and give a voice to the scores of youth, who are the primary victims of poor governance and rampant corruption, hip-hop may become a political force to reckon with.

Ugandan musician Joseph Mayanja a.k.a. Jose Chameleon is currently on a tour of the United States that is scheduled to bring him to the Twin Cities on August 11th. The artist, who burst into the East African music scene with the hit “Bageya,” featuring Redsan, one of Kenya’s top artists, has had several successful tours in the United States, Europe and several African countries.

The question of Chameleon’s nationality has lingered since the beginning of his career, with some calling him Kenyan, others Ugandan and a few, Tanzanian. But everywhere he goes his fans see him as one of Africa’s best.

Chameleon, who was born in Uganda in 1979, adopted his stage name at a young age. He started his career in the late 1990’s with Kenya’s Ogopa DJs record label, where he released “Bageya,” one of his first compositions. While in Kenya, Chameleon collaborated with Uganda’s then top reggae artist, Bebe Cool, on several tracks. They have worked together since on songs like the exciting duet, “Songa Mbele.” They went back to Uganda where they became household names, their music attributed for the improved recording standards since 2000.

Chameleon’s music is a combination of Ugandan folk music, Central African rumba, zouk and raga, sung in mostly Luganda and Swahili. He released his first album in Kenya in 1999 which was followed by “Bageya” in 2000, “Mama Mia” in 2001, “Njo Karibu” in 2002, “The Golden Voice” in 2003, “Mambo Bado” in 2004 and “Kipepo” in 2005.

 
Recently, Chameleon added Shona to the array of languages in his music which has excited audiences in Southern Africa. He won several Pearl of Africa Music Awards and two categories in the 2006 Kisima Music Awards. He has been nominated for both the Kora Awards and the MOBO Awards.

Chameleon’s U.S. tour will bring him to Minneapolis – St. Paul on August 11th, at the Eritrean Community Center on 1933 University Avenue, St. Paul, presented by the East African Community of Minnesota. This concert will also feature East African DJs; DJ Dari (Uganda), DJ Dan (Kenya), DJ Baruti (Tanzania). More information can be found at the Ugandan American and Kilimanjaro Entertainment websites.