TWAS Diction

I lost 6 kids; spent weekends at my wife’s
grave - Koo Nimo Celebrated songwriter, philosopher, lecturer and award-
winning musician, Agya Koo Nimo has
revealed some struggles along his celebrated
life starting with the tragedy of losing his first
wife. In an interview on Joy FM Super Morning
Show, Agya Koo Nimo said the death of his
first wife made him “non-existent”. “[During] weekends I would just drive to my
wife’s graveyard and just commune with
her.....somebody reported me to my uncle”,
he recounted. Agya Koo Nimo says his wife died barely a
month after he lost his 5th out of 10 bubbly
children. She passed away a day after she
gave birth. He is no stranger to tragedy. Some of the children died stillborn, whilst
others died from pneumonia and congenital
heart troubles. Telling the story of how he met his first wife,
Agya Koo Nimo says while hospitalized with
ulcer at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital,
she came along with a friend to visit him.
Although they never spoke during his
hospitalization, he says, “she was always smiling at me”. After he was discharged, he planned to leave
for Bekwai where he was expecting to
perform as a guitarist. But before he could
leave this young lady knocked at his door. The lady expressed her displeasure that he
was leaving for a concert so soon after he was
discharged. The lady was also surprised to
learn that he had been discharged because she
had prepared to visit him in the hospital with
some food. 'A bachelor boy' as he was, the encounter
confirmed the popular axiom that the way to a
man’s heart is his stomach. “I will marry you” a violent promise he made
to the woman. Love makes time fly fast and
soon she was put in a family way. Her parents found much to their chagrin, that
the man responsible for the pregnancy plays a
guitar. “How can you marry a guitarist some of whom
are noted for getting drunk at funerals?”. “But father he also works in a Laboratory”, he
quoted her wife’s response. But the
convincing factor for her father was when he
discovered that Agya Koo Nimo was related to
his very good friend. “Then this marriage will work”, his
prospective father-in-law placed his seal of
approval based on the character of his very
good friend. And it did work until death tore them apart on
21st September 1973 making a philosopher
out of the singer and songwriter. He remarried
and lost yet another child with the new wife
bringing the total number of child deaths to
six. Born on 3 October 1934 and baptized Daniel
Amponsah, the man with 100 songs to his
credit had some wisdom for the youth. Discipline, patience and practice, he distilled
many words down to these three traits. He condemned a corrupt understanding of
time among Ghana’s youth. “What is wrong
with us? …..our concept of time. Order is the
first law in heaven” he insisted. Agya Koo Nimo is at a loss to understand the
mad rush among today’s youth to be popular
and rich and advised that much more focus
should be paid to building a character. Quoting the words of a philosopher, Koo Nimo
said “popularity is an accident, riches take
wings, only one thing endures – character”
Ever reading books, Koo Nimo described the
current generation as a people who “have lost
the power to be still and never once possess our soul till [they] die.”

Sarkodie AGAIN!!!!...Mahama Would Never
Say That; He’s Not On That Level
>
31-Aug-2014
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Sarkodie
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Ghanaian music icon, Sarkodie has broken
his silence on the alleged response from the
Presidency regarding his new track titled
"Inflation."
Following on the heels of his mix tape
dubbed "Free Press" which is still making
the headlines for its attack on the Ghanaian
media, Sarkodie recently released another
track lampooning the Mahama
administration blaming the current plight of
Ghanaians on the ruling party.
The song which harps on some critical
national issues and other relating topics on
the state of the economy, received massive
applause from some opponents of the
Mahama government while others rebuked
the Rapperholic star for being cynical.
As a result of the controversy the single was
generating, a Ghanaian media blog, OMG
Ghana, did a satirical piece purported to
have emanated from President John
Dramani Mahama as response to Sarkodie’s
“Inflation”.
President Mahama was quoted to have
described him (Sarkodie) as an "overrated
rapper" and advised him to concentrate on
his music career.
“I don’t quite understand what he wants to
accomplish with his music.
“He has some good songs, but he’s at best
an average musician. He should focus on
music that brings unity and uplift the spirit
of the good people of this country as we
experience a short term economic challenge.
I must say the song is very funny. He is a
genius in that regard, but in the grand
scheme of things, I will not consider him a
good rapper or a musician at that,” the
president is quoted to have said in the
satirical piece.
But during his recent tour of London after
releasing the fiery political song, in a quick
riposte; Sarkodie has hit back at President
Mahama's alleged remarks about what he
says is his creativity.
According to him, no person can accost the
President with queries about him (Sarkodie)
because in his conviction; President Mahama
is not "on that level" with Ghanaians.
He further added that his song was
motivated by the fact that the Government
of the day is making little effort to curb the
woeful economic situation facing
Ghanaians.
And being “the best person to talk for
Ghanaians", he therefore sought to bring
the President back on the right track.
Sarkodie narrated the rationale for
performing that song, saying music is the
only channel he could use to emit his
emotions.
“When I was young…I was not trying to do
music for money or anything. That’s my only
therapy cos (because) I’m not a talkative. I’m
very quiet and I don’t know if it’s negative
but I don’t socialize a lot. So, that’s my only
therapy; for me to talk to the world. So,
things that I might not be able to tell you
directly to your face, I’d do it through
music…”
“That’s not a true story. That was made up
by the media men. Mahama wouldn’t say
that. You can’t even ask him those
questions...he’s not on that level. You cannot
ask him a question about Sarkodie as at
now,” the “Illuminati” crooner said.
Further addressing the issue in an interview
with Mamme S**e Danso via youtube,
Sarkodie bemoaned the steep depreciation
of Ghana's currency as compared to other
foreign currencies, particularly the US Dollar
and other challenges confronting the
economy.
“…If you’re in Ghana, you get to understand
what I’m talking about because it’s really
hard in Ghana now. Even from the big
companies, even how to get funding from
them; so, if the companies are suffering, just
a layman walking on the streets of Accra.
“So, it’s really hard. Me as an artiste, it affects
me in a way because now the dollar rate, if I
have to change; now I have to shoot the
video in London. And I have to change 5000
cedis to dollars; you change almost like
20,000 or something which is a big risk. So,
it actually pushed me to do the music