Entertainment
Wave Africa confirms ‘order from above’ kept Shatta Wale off stage
On Monday, June 10, 2024, statement, Wave Africa, organisers of the Reunion Rave Artiste Night, have addressed “misconceptions” surrounding the cancellation of the event which was in collaboration with TF Hostels, University of Ghana, Legon.
Wave Africa, a self-identified youth-focused marketing and communication agency, revealed details about the origin of the event, saying they were “contacted two months ago by the executives of James Topp Nelson Yankah Hall to provide an artiste and organise the event on their behalf. The 2-month-long deliberations were concluded and a formal contract was signed on Wednesday, 5th June 2024”.
“Proactively”, it added, a deal was “secured and signed” for “Shatta Wale to perform on the night, and his promotional poster was subsequently released”.
Wave Africa explained when “on Friday, 7th June, we saw an online communique from the Dean of Students’ Office announcing the cancellation of the event,” they “contacted the hall executives, who were responsible for securing the venue as per the contract,” and receiving assurances “that the issues with the Dean of Students office had been resolved,” proceeded with the event plans, making sure “additional security measures were arranged with law enforcement agencies to ensure an incident-free event”.
However, renewed opposition was encountered “on Saturday, 8th June 2024, during our setup and sound check,” when “Legon campus security interrupted, saying it’s an ‘order from above’”.
In response, the statement continued, Wave Africa sent “a delegation from our team” to see “the Dean of Students,” during which meeting they were “informed that the event could proceed but without Shatta Wale’s performance”.
“We adhered just as we were directed,” Wave Africa confessed, noting they were, however, “surprised and disappointed by the turn of events and the last-minute ban on Shatta Wale’s performance at TF Hostel”.
Concluding, they issued an apology and hinted at possible legal action after meeting with all parties involved in the aforementioned programme and regretted the outcome.
“We deeply apologise to the fans for not being able to deliver Shatta Wale’s performance as promised. We have referred the matter to our legal team and are making efforts to reach out to all stakeholders involved. Thank you,” Wave Africa said.
Wave Africa’s statement confirms what Shatta Wale’s manager, Sammy Flex, said when his artiste phoned him during a TikTok live session, the Reggae/Dancehall star missed his gig per an “order from above”.
Shatta Wale on said social media broadcast bemoaned he had invested in the programme as an expression of gratitude to the student fans, arguing, also, archrival Stonebwoy, who was performing on the same campus that night, had sabotaged his gig.
The Reunion Rave was advertised as part of a two-day event for the alumni of Ghana’s premier university.
Prof Rosina Kyerematen is the Dean of Students Affairs, UG, Legon. According to a June 7 letter, signed by her, the Reunion Rave programme was cancelled because it was not approved. The letter intimated the original programme, Two-Day Alumni Engagement, it would appear, was purposed as a trojan horse with the Reunion Rave or the Artiste Night in its belly, on the blindside of school authorities.
Mohammed Hussein, the President of the Junior Common Room (JCR), James Topp Nelson Yankah Hall, in a letter issued on the day of the event, Saturday, June 8, apologised “for any inconveniences caused” by the cancellation of the reunion rave.
Meanwhile, Stonebwoy successfully capped off the Liman Hall Artiste Night on June 8.
“If you reside in Ghana and possess a sound mind, yet believe that orders from higher authorities are given simply because the issuer lacks direction in life, then I hope for your mental growth. I am curious to see if insightful readers will pose the appropriate questions after reading this press release from Wave Africa. Good morning, Ghana 
. As you offer your prayers, include a Dutch passport prayer point as the final one”.
Iconic Nigerian singer Peter Okoye has responded to allegations made by his twin brother Paul over ownership of a new song “Winning.”
Peter Okoye shared a detailed account of the song’s creation, clarifying his role and collaboration with others, including Ghanaian producer Vampire and songwriter Calypso.
He questioned Paul’s claims, citing their agreed-upon creative process and Paul’s removal of his (Peter’s) vocals from joint songs.
Peter also addressed his temporary break from music, stating he took time to recharge before returning with “Winning.”
He wrote on X: “If you have followed my journey as a solo artiste and even before, you will notice that I give people their due credit where necessary as I am a firm believer in teamwork; I know my strengths, where I need assistance or guidance I am not afraid to ask or work with those who are strong in the areas I am not; this includes the process of creating music, executing concepts and ideas etc. I will always credit people for their contributions to my projects.
“Sometime in June 2022, I stumbled upon a producer based in Ghana named Vampire, and my team and I also personally reached out to him via DM, that I liked his work and was interested in working with him. Before getting him to Lagos, I presented the idea of this producer to my twin brother and our team, getting their buy-in before I got him flight tickets and flew him to Lagos.“
It was when he got into Lagos I asked if he would be open to working on P-SQUARE’s next album project, that the 5 songs I had penned down from my end to be presented to our A&R team for the album project were: JAIYE, WINNING, FIND SOMEBODY, LEGENDARY, and ATTENTION, based on tracks he had produced.
“We started with my own 5 songs that needed to be submitted for PSQUARE’s album, which he produced for me: The idea for WINNING came from one of his beats that I discovered. I came up with the idea of changing the chord progression from the original version to what it is today with my own producer Goldswarm who is the co-producer of the song WINNING.
“I had also engaged a songwriter known as CALYPSO who wrote and composed the song WINNING and sent it to me on the beats through a voice note. And we started working on the song. Mind you, he worked on some other songs that were to make the album as well, so my brother was aware of his input to the production as we were all in the studio during this period.
“Then when my twin brother heard the song WINNING, which we had already created the hook/chorus for, he then wanted to start creating a verse. Our agreed-on process for each song presented by us was: arrange the song, leave a verse for the other person, then we both harmonise the chorus and refrain bits together. He wasn’t supposed to until Calypso and I finished it as part of my own song submission to the LEGENDARY ALBUM.
“After that, we finished and shared verses among ourselves. I do not wish to get into details of why the album didn’t see the light of day till date but it takes a different level of psychosis for one to steal what is theirs already; as since the release of this song, I have been labeled and called all sorts online and they have even gone as far as asking for the song to be taken down on various platforms, to what end?
“It was never part of his 5, now 6 (according to him) songs for submission, yet when he felt I was not interested in making music because I chose my sanity over the constant berating and drama that seemed to come up over creative direction in the group.
“If it were his song, why do I have all the music data including initial conversations and picture/video evidence on the above-mentioned titles/songs? Which of his songs do I have its data in my possession in that case? All because he was hoping for me to quit music. Even when I learnt that he had removed my vocals on songs we did together, suggesting that he sing the entire songs including the ones that he planned to present for the album without my input (a very absurd idea as we both make up the duo not just the one), but we both perform them on stage, I begun to have a rethink of the entire situation. Let me leave this here.
“Maybe because I was not posting anything music-related on my social media page for over 4 months. He believes I have lost interest in music. I took a breather to get my mind and head in the right space and when that was done, my epiphany was WINNING!”.
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Peter Okoye reacts to alleged song ownership by twin brother
