Abro Ne Bayie

 For almost as long as i can remember I've been into horror movies, i was a young kid under the video explosion of the early 80ies and looking at all the colorful boxes of movies i was not allowed to see created an lifelong interest.  Years later (while visiting friends in Gambia) i learned that there is an African movie industry and where able to see my first African horror movies. Apparently there is an interest for horror in Ghana which is where this movie I am about to review comes from.

Brother Vincent is an successful and Christian young man, he seems to have everything going for him whit a deep involvement in church, a gorgeous, young fiance and flashy new car at his disposal. His life is soon about to take a turn for the worse though as his mom Dufie (unknown to him) is involved whit spirits from the dark underworld and has promised to deliver them her sons soul. But to penetrate Vincents faith and succeed whit her evil deeds turns out to be much harder than she thought.

It seem as if the only way to get to Vincent is to make him break up whit his fiance and get him involved whit an evil spirit in human shape. Whit her son dating evil but attractive Natasha he should be no match for Dufie and her spirit companions right? Luckily for Vincent this is not the case as his father and the local priest bravely puts up a fight to save his soul.......

This is only the beginning of the story, i saw 2 parts that totaled way over 2 hours and there is more to come, I can only hope that the whole series of films has been released as i found this to be an very enjoyable and fascinating viewing experience. Technically a bit crude and absolutely nothing like the American, Italian and Spanish horror movies I am used to but "Abro Ne Bayie" still managed to deliver. One thing viewers should be aware of is that horror movies from Ghana often is deeply religious whit a strong Christian message being the focal point. Black Metal gorehounds in corpse-paint and leather coats may not be very pleased and if you look at religion as superstitious and dorky you may not like these movies. Sure, it's still a horror movie but whit strong christian undertones.

I found the scenes whit the evil spirits to be very pleasing, they managed to create quite an atmosphere and that little boy in a skeleton dress and facial paint was kinda creepy (but also a bit retarded looking i must admit). I happen to be into graphic design and knows that one of the major Photoshop filter producers, Alien Skin also made an "Adobe Premiere" version of their highly popular "Eye Candy" and the digital "Special FX" scenes in this movie very much reminds me of what you can do in this filter. The flames, lasers and dissolving spirits looks kinda generic but did not bother me too much and in a strange way added to the entertainment value.

What i found a bit weird is how this movies switches back and forth from English and Twi (a local, Ghanian language) and i wish that they would have subtitled larger portions of the dialogue than what they did. It's still enough to make sense of what is going on so i guess im cool.

All in all, i thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it had an good enough tempo, some interesting visuals and an story that appealed to me. I'm however realistic enough to realize that large portions of western horror fans probably wont share my opinions or enthusiasm. If you're open minded and want something different, give this movie a try, you just might end up liking it as much as i did.

Capleton - I-ternal fire

Capleton may be one of the biggest names in modern Reggae but if you ask me he is also one of the most uneven ones. He's capable of doing amazing, modern roots masterpieces but also horribly average "dime a dozen" Ragga.

An general advice would be to skip the singles collections and go for the albums recorded whit the album format in mind. No one in their right mind could argue whit that albums like "Reign of fire" and"Still blazin" is anything but modern masterpieces.

It was a while ago but now he's back whit "I-ternal fire" and an promo has been floating on the Internet for a moment now. Since it's just a promo I am not going to review it as it might have changed once it's officially released but let me tell you, this is one solid album and a must buy.

He may not reinvent the wheel on this new album, it's more of the good ole' "Capleton" we all know and love. The lyrics are intelligent and well thought out, one could argue that everything RastafaraI has already been said but Capleton is not content whit just yellin a stereotype "praise Selassie I, bun fyah, babylon a go down" and settle whit that. He backs things up, give examples and shows he's very aware of what is going on in the world.

All fans of modern roots will love it and while nothing may rank up there whit "Reign of fire" this one comes close. Hurry up and release it, im standing in the line waiting to buy it!

Holding on to Jah

While us Reggae fans sadly lack in magazines dedicated to our genre the same can certainly not be said about documentaries. There's a steady output of movies educating us about soundsystems, artists, dub etc and now the time has come to Roots-reggae. "Holding on to Jah" is the brainchild of "Roger Landon Hall" and Harris Stafford from "Groundation" and tells us about the more religious side of the genre.

It's currently making the festival circuit and will hopefully soon arrive on DVD (although no release is on the horizon at the moment)

http://www.holdingontojah.com/

Spade, the last assignment

Im back whit another Nigerian movie review, last time i had a look at a movie whit a horror theme and now the time has come for a more action oriented movie, "Spade" which is the first in (i believe) a series of movies trying to introduce an African hero styled after the tough guys found in American action movies. I believe this is made by Oliver O Mbamara (and features well known actors like Prince Eke, Ichie Okuko and the director himself as Spade) the movie opens up in New York where a crime syndicate picks up a shipment of fresh Nigerian prostitutes and discusses their advances in the illegal artifact smuggling business.

We quickly moves on to Lagos, Nigeria where the rest of the movie takes place and is introduced to an historic artifact robbery gone wrong. An hostage situation appear and supercop Spade saves the day. It soon appear that there's more to the case than meets the eye though and the gang responsible for the botched robbery are still very much set on getting the artifacts they originally had their eyes on. They rescue the captured thugs and sets out to do their dirty business. This is not Spades business however, he just had his last assignment and has resigned from the force and is about to get married. This quickly changes when the gang kidnaps his "wife-to-be" and forces Spade to once again face them but things has changed, this time it's personal.

I know what you're thinking, this sounds very much like standard B-action fare and in a way i guess it is, Spade pretty much is an typical American action movie whit an strong African touch to it. But i would also like to claim that this is a landmark Nigerian movie and Nollywood takes an huge leap forward whit this movie. It looks way more polished and have a faster tempo than anything I've seen in Nigerian cinema up to now (I have to admit though, i have not seen a lot of Nollywood movies). That is not to say it's a perfect movie, at times it's still a bit hard to hear what they are saying and it's still a bit overlong in places.

But regardless of any minor flaws this movie might have I seriously enjoyed it and was very impressed, Spade raises the bars way up for Nollywood cinema and if future movies uses this as a stepping stone to accomplish even greater films then only the sky is the limit. An must see movie, I look forward to see what the future has in hold for this budding movie franchise, Spade rocks!!!!!!

Jah Melodie

It was a while since i did an "i demand an album" post but I think it's about time, been spending plenty of time on "Jah Melodie's myspace page lately listening to his tunes and this guy is nothing but amazing, i dig his music 100%.

I'm sure most of y'all heard "Thanks and praises" by now, i absolutley love that song but unf. the only song released on cd is "Love jah more" ( on "Roots Tribe Showcase: Love jah more) and i crave more. Im not into vinyl anymore, i have no deck to play vinyl on and don't plan to buy one anytime soon. Unfortunately i can't find any mp3's either (except for "Thanks and praises") to satisfy my cravings until a cd is available so pleeeease release something soooooon............. (i will stand in line to pay for a cd).