Entertainment Briefs
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THE Copyright Society of Nigeria, COSON, is collaborating with the South Africa Music Rights Organisation, SAMRO, to strengthen the management of music copyright of both countries. This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by Mayree Uket, COSON’s senior executive on media, on Friday.
According to the statement, both the COSON and SAMRO would henceforth improve the sharing of collective management technologies to protect the creative works of Nigerians and South Africans in the creative industry. It said that the bilateral ties would explore the best technologies in which the creative works of African artists could be collected, documented and compensated for their works. One of such music copyright management technologies is a Pan African shared solution, known as the Pan African Repertoire Database.
“The Pan African Repertoire Database is a welcome development for African music collecting societies. It will go a long way in reducing the cost involved in managing individual databases and will also make it a lot easier to license African works used anywhere around the globe,” the statement said further.
The Pan African shared solution is expected to ensure more efficient documentation and monitoring of the use of artistic works belonging to African right holders. Major African societies such as Music Copyright Society of Kenya, MCSK, Uganda Performing Rights Society, UPRS, and Zimbabwe Music Rights Association, ZIMURA are expected to take part in the project.
Lupita Nyong’o wins Oscar in debut role in ’12 Years a Slave’
LUPITA Nyong’o won the Oscar for best supporting actress on Sunday, March 2, for her role as the hardworking slave Patsey in drama “12 Years a Slave,” capping a breakout awards season for the Yale-trained Kenyan actress. It was Nyong’o’s first feature film role and earned her a thunderous standing ovation from the Hollywood audience. The 31-year-old actress beat fellow frontrunner Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of a loopy housewife in caper “American Hustle” in one of the most closely-watched Academy Award races this year.
“Yes!” the actress exclaimed when accepting the award after hugging her brother, Steve McQueen, director of “12 Years a Slave,” and other actors in the film. “It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s, and so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey, for her guidance,” she said.
Nyong’o, who earned the same award from her peers at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January, was chosen for the role from some 1,000 young actresses who auditioned. She received plaudits from critics for her depiction of suffering as a field-working slave and the object of sexual desire from her master.
The award marks Nyong’o’s coronation into the top echelon of dramatic actresses working in Hollywood. She has also burnished her image as a new emblem of high fashion with her styles on the red carpet.
“12 Years a Slave,” is based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a 19th century free black man tricked and sold into slavery.
P-Square launches animated TV Series
PETER and Paul Okoye, twin music stars popularly known as P-Square, on Thursday, launched an animated family TV series called ‘The Alingos’ in Lagos. The twins said in a statement that the series was inspired by the need to create unique content for children. But adults would also find the animated series appealing. According to the twins, the programme would initially run as a weekly web series before going on TV. The series is named after the hit single of the artistes titled ‘The Alingos’.
The twins also plan to release an animated music video for another single to be called ‘Unlimited’, which was entirely produced and directed by Nigerians. The series would first be released on a P-Square phone application which could be downloaded to any smartphone. The application would also contain an archive of exclusive pictures of P-Square, gallery of latest musical videos including all the videos from past albums and a compilation of all P-Square songs.
According to the statement, fans and the public will have endless access to all these materials and more content from P-Square in the future by downloading the P-Square app for free on android, iOS and windows devices.
P-Square have been influential on the Nigerian music scene for more than 10 years and have released five full albums, including ‘Last Nite’, ‘Get Square’, ‘Game Over’, ‘Danger’ and ‘The Invasion.’ They have also won numerous awards including Kora Awards, MTV Africa Music Awards, Hip Hop World Awards and the Channel O Music Awards.
Remembering Goldie Harvey
GOLDIE Harvey’s recently released a mixtape of tribute songs titled Goldie Tribute’, in memory of the late singer, who died February 14, 2013. The singer died shortly after returning to Nigeria from Los Angeles where she had attended the 55th Grammy Awards.
Goldie had complained of having a severe headache before being pronounced dead at Reddington Hospital in Victoria Island from what was later established to have been deep vein thrombosis from a pulmonary embolism due to the 12-hour flight.
Various celebs also took to social networks to pay tribute to Goldie, including the likes of Denrele Edun, Karen Igho and Uti Nwachukwu.
Tags: 12 Years a Slave Channel O Music Awards Copyright Society of Nigeria Goldie Harvey Hip Hop World Awards Kora Awards Lupita Nyong’O Mayree Uket MTV Africa Music Awards Music Copyright Society of Kenya Oscar P-Square South Africa Music Rights Organisation Steve McQueen Uganda Performing Rights Society Zimbabwe Music Rights Association
