TIPTOPSTARS

The next 12 months may be some of the most challenges in the life of the 24-year-old beauty queen, but  Jessica Lydie Ngoua will equally be breathing sweet air that comes with the status of Miss Cameroon. That pleasant smile that has now found a permanent place on her face was the aftermath of the over four-hour Miss Cameroon contest final that pulled the attention of Cameroon’s political capital Yaounde this Saturday, July 11, 2015. The beauty of the event went beyond the colourful presentation of pageants and other forms of cultural displays at the Yaounde Conference Centre. It was also the presence of the gorgeously dressed First Lady, Chantal Biya who presided at the contest, accompanied by members of the country’s top political class and diplomatic missions. Flown in from the United Kingdom, Ngoua Jessica Lydie, former Miss Littoral emerged winner after a stiffly contested beauty race. The event was covered live by Apex 1 Radio’s Valery Dulafe. We shall come back to the details in subsequent updates. Here is the full broadcast of the event

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Change will definitely come to those who think positively or are working towards it. The continent of Africa and the world at large might just be benefitting from the expertise of a young Cameroonian , Solomon Atah whose six years research on psychology, mind power , social patterns has earned him #Helphope 7 Quantum Humanomics a book that will generate new thought. The book is written as a persuasive approach to change in Africa and the world at large. The 170 -page book ideally advocates a society in Africa where those who identify themselves as up lifters of the community as a whole could come together in a collective effort geared towards achieving that goal.

#HelpHope is a sure quinine for change to those who will peruse its key topics which are the outcome of thorough research including; The power of Personal story, #HelpHope, Quantum Collective, passing it on, the act of giving, Echoing Each other, Heroes amongst us , Harnessing to Harvest .

Available on the shelves of bookstores across the world, the launch of #HelpHope has been slated for Thursday 23^rd April, 2015 at the Maboneng Precinct 261 Main Kruger, South Africa from 5:00pm till 9:00pm.

The Author of the book Solomon Atah is an industrious Cameroonian-born civil society promoter and media development expert resident in South Africa, who holds a strong conviction that the act of giving or sharing is something worth propagating. This new thought practitioner with #HelpHope as his debut book is also a seasoned film maker and critic with over ten years’ experience that has catalyzed his passion for the African Continent. Mr. Atah is also founder of #ConnectSeminars and Cameroon Land of Promise Project and it would definitely not be an overstatement to say Solo is a man of valor whose book will water the appetite of book lovers.

Music concerts or other related events are described as a failure if spectator turnout is drastically low. They can also be said to have failed if the general organization is poor – insufficient lighting, awful sound quality/system, below-standard performance, etc. However, none of these was the cause of the failure of the much-talked about and highly media-publicized B1 album launch that was supposed to have taken place in Maryland, USA, over the weekend.

Rather, the event failed in that it did not happen as planned, even when the stage had already been set for it. According to organizers, Laurel, MD Police stormed the venue and firmly instructed that the event which had just begun be stopped. Reasons – guests to the event were grossly more than the capacity of the hall and the said venue, according to police reports, was licensed to run only Church, not secular activities.

“I had no idea  that the venue could only host Church activities and so did not feel at any moment that we were violating the license policy,” B1 told TIPTOPSTARS when we reached the artist for explanation. “Rather, prior to mine, several other events of such nature had taken place there and I was part of some of them – it is unimaginable that the violation of policy should only come out when I was doing this particular event,” the singer doubted further. B1 told went ahead that his previous single, Ndolo Dance was launched in that same hall with no qualms.

Disappointed, some observers have suspected fowl play and think the album launch, described as one of Cameroon’s biggest event in the diaspora, at least as far as the first quarter of 2015 is concerned, was sabotaged. The Maryland-based Afro-styled singer however refused to lay blame on anyone. “It happens, so we take it as such and life continues. Even if there wasn’t a license issue, they were still going to stop the event from taking place because of the huge crowd which the hall could not accommodate,” B1 said. “So, we just have to forget about the past, learn from our lessons and avoid mistakes next time.”

The author of Ndolo Dance however expressed gratitude to all guests and guest artists who showed up on Saturday at the aborted event. “There came in their numbers from far and near and this shows how much space I occupy in their hearts. I’m really thankful and doff my hearts to my fans as well as colleagues,” said the singer.

As a mark of gratitude, the author of Africa Mama (the album that was on agenda for official release) opened up for a catch-up concert the following day, Sunday April 12, 2015, during which guests stars, including the Minnesota-based child band, C-Boyz, performed. The Sunday make-up event was free of charge.

Aborted music concerts are not a strange phenomenon in the entertainment world. A couple of years back in Yaounde, Cameroon, a highly publicized concert with a famous French rapper ended abruptly when 10 to 15 minutes into the spectacle, lights went off. The thousands of spectators who had showed up were stranded but the situation never changed. The organizers had incurred huge losses.

According to B1, the Africa Mama album launch proper will place in July this year. “Details will be announced subsequently,” he told us.

B1 has been in music for some time now, but he hit the fame road last year with the release of Ndolo Dance and since then, the artist has been a replica of hard work and determination. He is now known to have broken the myth of ‘much show, less business’ which Cameroonian entertainers are being tagged with. Observers say his mastery of the business component of entertainment is a good example to emulate.

Dust hardly settles so fast on spectacular things. Reason – the strength of spectacle has the propensity to repel it. This logic fits squarely with good music – music that spectacularly finds a comfortable spot in every heart that comes across it. Stay, a Rihanna hit whose cover was recorded and dropped into public space by Cameroonian song heroine, Kei, is one of such tracks that will stay longer in the music minds of its everyday listeners. In just a week following Stay’s outing, the remix fetched over a hundred and fifty thousand views on YouTube. That was in 2013. Hilarious!

Two years on, there are very serious speculations that the same scenario may be produced with Cry, Kei’s second single whose official release has been slated for Wednesday, April 15, 2015. “Who knows how loaded this next piece would be – I can’t wait!” Miriam, a young Cameroonian Afro-styled music lover told us. Miriam, who sa

id she is a fan of Kei, explained that Stay had knocked her out as though nothing ever did. “Till date, I can still be caught on it, savouring Stay as though it was my first time to come across it – Kei was extraordinarily great on that track,” she said.

“I’m awaiting Cry with my fingers crossed, but I can assure you that my girl will do it big again,” Willis, another Kei admirer indicated. He went on: “I only hope we’ll be having that golden voice again.”

Just like Miriam and Willis, scores of other African music lovers in general and Cameroonian ones in particular are excited, yet anxious ahead of the USA-based Afro Soul Pop artist’s second release. According to Kei’s communication team, the artist is currently whipped by strong emotions as she braces for the outing she describes as special. And if the release of this new track is special, it is indeed thanks to that fact that Cry has been dexterously made, with the expertise of great people including producer Gemini of the Los Angeles-run Gemini Musiq (known to have produced singers such as Justin Bieber, Mario, Christina Milian, Lil John, etc.).

“Upon release, Cry will be available on iTunes, Google, Amazon, Spotify, Sound Cloud, etc. a lyrics video will be on YouTube for those who want to sing along with Kei,” writes I Rep Camer, one of Cameroon’s leading entertainment blogs known for its committed promotion of the country’s culture.

Sung to tell one of the singer’s stories, Cry is a heart-to-heart track from which several love lessons would be drawn. It comes to swell the list of hit contemporary music tracks that have had strong grip on the sector in recent years.