Last week, I took the first look at the Radio Gold through the years given that the station celebrated 20 years of existence last Monday.
I did say that I would continue with the concluding part this week, but I have to stay that for another week to talk about the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) that took place in Lagos over the weekend.
THE GATHERING OF GIANTS AND THE EXPENDABLES…NOT: There was a gathering of the people who matter in the television and film industry in Africa in Lagos last weekend. Thankfully, I found favour in the sight of the organisers and so they invited me to be a fly on the wall to see how proceedings at this gathering would go.
I was not the only person who had the privilege from Ghana as my colleague from Showbiz Gifty Owusu-Amoah, fellow entertainment pundit and editor of Razz, Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo, head of online content at Livefmonline and Kasapaonline (both EIB Network outlets), Obed Boafo, Emmanuel Kweku Obeng-Adjei of Starr FM and the lovely Berla Mundi of Live FM and GhOne TV all got the opportunity as well.
No, we were not the Expendables or Ocean’s six, just a motley of media people across radio, TV, print and online going to the biggest television and film event on the continent to mingle and let people back home know what transpired.
PAN AFRICAN GATHERING OF MEDIA TYPES: There were other media people from other parts of the continent whose local Multichoice offices sponsored them to Lagos just like Multichoice Ghana did for us. They came from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and more.
We had the opportunity of staying in the same hotel (Maison Fahrenheit, Victoria Island) with our African brothers and sisters; eating together, driving to the events together, swimming in the hotel pool together and virtually sharing our respective country experiences. It was like a mini Big Brother in Lagos.
THE PRE-EVENT COCTAIL: On Friday night, the same night we arrived, there was a cocktail. This was the pre-event cocktail for nominees and guests at one of the many conference rooms of the Eko Hotels and Suites, where the main event would take place the following day.
This cocktail event afforded us the opportunity to meet and mingle with the “high and mighty” in the arena of television and film in Africa. There were canapes to be canned in our stomach, hors d'oeuvres to be devoured, enough wine to turn us into winos, so much beer to make a German blush, a lot of chicken wings that could make us fly and pretty much anything you wanted to drink or munch on.
After having enough to eat and drink and taking in enough of that our mortal minds and bodies could take from intracting with the crème de la crème of African glitterati, some among us crossed the road and did that 1,000 or so metres walk to our hotel from the Eko Hotel. The first night of work has come to an end.
THE D-DAY: Saturday arrived upon us and with it came the main reason for which we had traveled from across Africa to Lagos. The 4th Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards would take place in the evening on this day. We were delirious, but we managed to stay calm the entire day.
First of all, I got called out of bed to go have a radio show about our expectations for the day and what we had observed so far since arriving in Lagos. We had a make shift studio and together with Arnold and Obed with Kweku Oben-Adjei as the host, we discussed many issues related to the AMVCA. It was carried on Nii Ayi Tagoe’s Morning Zoo on Starr FM back home. If you missed it then you missed greatly.
After that, we then directed our attention towards the upcoming show. With breakfast had, lunch had, suits and shirts and dresses ironed and the ladies seen going about making up and blow-drying their hair, we could smell the big event on the horizon. The “this is it” moment was upon us and we were ready for the show!
LESSONS FROM THE AMVCA: I have written a piece for www.graphic.com.gh in which I have listed five things we learned at the 2016 AMVCA. Here is a summary of that:
AMVCA IS A BIG DEAL: The first thing to note is that the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards or AMVCA is considered by some people to be a very big and respected awards for the film and television industry. Especially so for our closest neighbours (in relationship, of course) Nigeria.
It would be because their content dominates the Africa Magic channels or that as a people, they are predisposed to taking everything that comes as competition seriously.
You do not get the feel back home that the actors, actresses, producers, directors and other professionals in the film and television industry take this awards seriously.
THE OHMS OF OOMPH ON THE RED CARPET: We realised to our chagrin that at the AMVCA, the issue of red carpet is not taken for a joke. You either turn up or you go home! No middle ground there and the people who know take it pretty much serious than I have seen us doing back home.
The red carpet at the 4th AMVCA was a major spectacle that added several Ohms of oomph to the whole show in Lagos.
KEEPING TO TIME IS POSSIBLE: One thing we realised from the AMVCA was that, it was important that event organisers kept to time. In other words, start when you announce to start so you can end when you intend to.
It had been announced weeks before the event that red carpet will begin from 4pm Nigerian time and the main show will start at 7pm. Holy macaroni, it worked with Swiss precision! At exactly 4pm, Africa Magic started with the red carpet and at exactly 7pm, the main show was on and at exactly 9:40pm the show was over. What was left was the after party.
ARTISTES ON TIME AND PRESENT: It is a truism that all awards ceremonies are held for the people who operate within that industry. All other people who attend are therefore not the most important people as far as the awards are concerned.
The movie awards is for movie industry people, the music awards is for musicians and so on, hence those who matter the most are actors and technicians and musicians respectively. All others are just spectators. Organisers therefore like to have these category of people present and on time to get things going.
AMVCA IS THE NUMBER ONE FILM AND TELEVISION AWARDS, BUT…: Having been successful in its fourth year, the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards has proven to be the industry’s most glamorous event and one that is respected by the practitioners.
It brings together great television and film industry professionals mainly across English speaking Africa. There is the need, however, for it to go beyond the glam and ensure that there is quality work coming from the industry.
However, three merit awards were given on the night and all went to Nigerians (deservedly), but they could have found people from two other countries who equally deserved it to ensure that at least, there would be some semblance of equity or pan-Africanness to the scheme.
A MASSIVE AFTER PARTY: Lagosians love to party and they try not to miss any opportunity to do so. Event after parties are a big deal in Lagos and this particular one won’t be beaten to it. The after party of the AMVCA took place in the Eko Hotels and it had an array of stars just as the pre-event cocktail.
Only this time, the turn up was massive. There were even more Ghanaians at this event in addition to the non-expendable media types. We had others including Sika Osei and Juliet Asante. Together we partied till the wee hours of Sunday when we crossed the road again to our hotel.
SWIMMING AND DEPATURE: We had a pool at the hotel and so in the morning of Sunday, we decided it was wasteful to sleep in the hotel for three days and not make use of it before leaving for Accra, Harare, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Nairobi and wherever we had come from. And oh yes we did!
Later in the afternoon, we had a good barbecue lunch at the roof top bar of the hotel and then we departed to Accra. That ended our three-day sojourn in Lagos to be a part of the pizzazz, glitz and razzmatazz that AMVCA 2016 represented.
@TheGHMediaGuru
