Africa’s music super group, ONE 8 comprising 2Face (Nigeria), Alikiba (Tanzania), Amani (Kenya), Fally Ipupa (DRC), 4X4 (Ghana), JK (Zambia), Navio (Uganda) and Movaizhalene (Gabon) are making waves across the globe with their hit song, ‘Hand Across the World’, featuring R. Kelly. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Airtel, one of the world’s leading mobile telecommunications company is the power behind this revolutionary collaboration.

At a press conference in Accra, Airtel Ghana has announced that ‘Hands across the World’ can be downloaded as a ringtone via Airtel Live or by sending a SMS to 6262 with the world ONE8. Himankrom Methodist Junior School will receive a percentage of revenues from the hit song. The school has been adopted by Airtel as a founding recipient of the Aitel Education Foundation.

Philip Sowah, Managing Director, Airtel Ghana commented: “We conceived the ONE8 project because music is the bond that connects the continent emotionally, bringing communities and cultures together in the same way as our mobile network. We are using ONE8 to help support our educational initiative for schools across Africa. We are committed to donating a percentage of the sales from the ONE8 records and merchandise to support education in poorer, rural areas by building, equipping and staffing schools to give underprivileged children a better chance to achieve their goals”.

MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) is an award scheme that was conceived three years ago, in 2008. The award is called MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain. This is a result of the telecommunication company being part of the brain behind it and also a proud sponsor. Like any other award, this award was set up with the sole aim of celebrating contemporary African music.

Meanwhile, 4×4 also shared their experience of working on the ONE8 project with the press. According to the hiplife trio, although they weren’t able to join R.Kelly and the other African stars in Chicago due to a delay in the issuance of visas, they had a nice time shooting for the music video in Nairobi, Kenya.