Aside the foot game, this year's World Cup is Africa's best opportunity to showcase her skills in the areas of fine arts, craft, fashion, music, ecology, cuisine and even commerce; hence the creation, in Johannesburg, of the African Village for the exhibition of African culture and also to serve as entertainment side attraction for this year's mundial.
The Ivorian-CEO of the African Village, Jean-Marcel Tape, the man tasked by FIFA and the South African government to organize the African Village set up a team of creative brains to attend a series of music concerts to choose the best artistes from across the continent for this purpose.
“We didn't want to be biased so we went out to scout for the most talented artistes. For Ghana, we decided on attending the music awards in person so we could get first-hand experience to help choose rightly. We also believe that any nation's music awards night brings together the crème de la crème of that industry”, he told Hi Newspaper when he visited Ghana last week.
“I am sorry to say this but we were disappointed to learn that none of the artiste that performed on the night, of course except Amakye Dede, Efya and Becca, deserves an international platform. They still play CDs and mime in the 21st Century? You see musicians climb on stage to behave like kids on a playground,” the say-it-as-it-is man lamented in a funny French accent.
He said the moment Becca appeared on stage, his team heaved a sigh of relief. They had neither seen nor heard of her until that night. “She, like the rest of the musicians, didn't know they were there but she proved herself during her few minutes on stage”, he said.
Becca was well-costumed, well-organized and appeared more composed on stage and her performance, also splendid; they had no choice than to pick her. She performances on Saturday, 12th of June in Johannesburg.
Mr. Tape is an authority in the music business having started as a DJ, before becoming a musician and now a music producer who runs Musiki Records in the Ivory Coast. His record label produces Freddy Meiway, Magic Systems (of 'Premier Gawu' fame), Alpha Blondy and a host of others.
Over the weekend, Hi Newspaper caught up with Becca and her band during their rehearsal session at the EKB Records studio and she had this to say, “It has always been my personal policy to put up my best no matter where I perform, be it an outdooring or a friend's party because you may not know who is watching. I thank God for this opportunity and like the Black Stars, I promise to be a good ambassador of Ghana in S.A.”
Kiki Banson, her Executive Producer/Producer/ Manager, “We are not resting on our oars but working hard to make Ghana proud in South Africa. It's funny how industry people were critiquing her GMA 2010 performance referring to it as “Beyonce copy-cat”.
Becca would be joined in South Africa by KORA Best African Reggae Artiste, Shasha Marley and BET Best International Artiste nominee, Kojo Antwi.