The Ghanaian populace will soon be bedridden with what seem a national canker which has gradually eaten into the minds of people. Every Ghanaian in one way or the other has been affected by this canker-FEAR, from students to workers, traders, politicians, mad men, the aged, the young, sick, down to the little child.

Fear which is known to kill champions before their time, has spread its malicious tentacles across the breadth of the country. Harboring fear leads to some form of stress, which can cause depletion of the immune system, errors in judgement and can even prevent one form making reasonable decisions. Fear leads to the loss of confidence, fatigue, anger explosions and sometimes stomach upsets.

AMONG STUDENTS

Students studying in schools to become the leaders of our motherland harbor in them the fear of failing their examinations. Right from the word go, students have been raised to fear exams and hate the very word with all their might and with all their hearts. Beginning for their “first world war”-Basic Education Certificate Examination (B.E.C.E) to the so called the almighty West African Senior Secondary Examination (WASSCE) to the End of Semester Examinations in the Tertiary level, students face these requisite exams with fear, ample enough to kill a giant, in their hearts. Little wonder yearly results of students’ exams come with many surprises.

AMONG CHILDREN

Children in their development stage become very curious and tend to ask a host of rhetorical questions, some answerable, others simply unthinkable. In bid to escape the barrage of questions and non-existing answers children expect their parents, teachers and guardians to conjure for them after each round of their “curious endeavours” parents, teachers and guardians tend to formulate weird superstitious tales, to scare the little ones rather than educate them. Among these many tales are stories of Ghosts appearing in the night to catch children who refused to sleep early enough, stop talking or refuse to bath, Stories of dwarfs, witchcraft and wizardry.

The amazing thing is that these children grow with the fear of these non-existing phenomena glued to their thoughts and transfer it, like a contagious disease, to the next generation.

AMONG THEIST

The doctrines of the two populous religions in Ghana-Christianity and Islam, imbibe in their members the belief in a final day of Judgement, where the Almighty God will replay to mankind all of his activities on earth. The Judgement per the indoctrination of the religions of Islam and Christianity, will see some men taken to Heaven and others cast into hell, an abode of ever burning fire and perpetual suffering.

The fear of being cast into hell or Janam’ah (as described referred to by Muslims) appears be a sort of headache for some religious folks as it has been described to be the worst ever place ever imagined. Residents of hell will be plagued with thirst and unimaginable diseases, as narrated in one bible story.

This stories when rehearsed creates fear in the hearts of the theist.

AMONG WORKERS

The fear of being sacked and losing one’s job is an ingrowth that has eaten deep into the minds of Ghanaian workers. Daily, under the guise of pleasing their bosses and a lukewarm way of securing their jobs, workers join long winding queues in lorry stations or join the struggle for bus to their destination. A minute’s lateness would find one smiling on the wrong side of his or her mouth. With the current state monetary affairs in the country you better not lose your job.

It’s a different story, however, when it comes to output of production.

AMONG TRAVELLERS

Accidents have become rampant in the few months in this New Year. The latest one claiming about 6lives on the Takoradi-Winneba road.

Travelers now fear for their lives, as they have little control of happenings on their way as they travel.

AMONG POLITICIANS

It is election year and one of the common seasonal fears is one notable among political figures. The fear of losing election. I bet you don’t want to experience this sort of fear. It capable of killing a fully matured lion and making one’s hair turn grey in a twinkle of an eye.

The latest fear of all is the fear of terrorist attack.

Written by Edwin Abanga – 0249475585 (Student Journalist)

From obscurity many seek acceptance in mainstream music; from minority ethnic groups many want to be appreciated as a part of the big whole.

There is a surge in artistes seeking national recognition, global domination and the bliss that comes with being a success musically; however we all agree that the convention is hard work and a respect for the craft. Hard work, love and respect for the craft is what has seen artistes like Sherifa Gunu, Wiyaala, Atongo Zimba, Rocky Dawuni, King Ayisoba, Delle and several other musicians originally from the savanna of Ghana soar and continue to stay relevant in an industry that is yet to fully develop.

Many would argue that the bulk of music from the savanna is ethnic and traditional in nature however a generation of hip-hop lovers have gradually crept into the scene; though often popular in their respective regions & towns, efforts by artistes like Soorebia, Saani, S.K.Y the Tamale Boy, Macassio, Fancy Gadam and several others are gradually making inroads into the mainstream music scene in Ghana.

Whilst the whole struggle to make “us” part of the mainstream music industry goes on, other artistes have chosen to beef albeit from absolutely obscure corners of the country.

Why an unknown artiste spends money in a studio to rain insults on another is way beyond my comprehension. Why an underground artiste would go to a studio to pay money and record a response to a diss song beats my imagination. Could it be the warped notion that beef is an element of hip-hop?  Could it be the warped assumption that every hip-hop artiste is a gangster of a gangbanger?

A look at past events across the world would give you the results of “beef,” great artistes have had their lives cut short, amazing Dj’s and producers have died as a result of beef.  Successful careers have been dumped in the bin because of beef.

www.urbandictionary.com defines beef as;

“To start a fight, to get into argument with another person, or group of people”.

We all know the results of fights & arguments in the context of beef in hip-hop…

My focus is on 2 different artistes purportedly at loggerheads. For sometime now they’ve directed a lot of energy into lyrically slaying each other, something I attribute to cowardice. If 2 grown men cannot talk reasonably over silly accusations but rather project “gangsterism” in their songs then they don’t really understand the concept of life and living together. In fact they might not even be fully immersed in their quest to become success stories in the music arena.

Rap Naygar & Fase 2 are both amazing artistes, even nicer is the fact that they come from the same part of the country; so what informs their constant dissing of each other claiming to have some street credibility when none of them has a taste of what the streets look and feel like? For underground artistes to dedicate so much energy to nonsense, then they must have reached a “Kanye West” status but NO, I doubt if other than singles any of these guys have sold any laudable number of albums.

In this era of globalization trivialities like beef have no place, you are either seeking success or seeking to be taunted as a failure. Even worse is to have failed for pursuing absurd stupidity.

I am in no way trying to ridicule the 2 artistes; I just need them to understand that an ability to insult and threaten in songs does not validate your existence as a musician. What validates your existence is an ability to dutifully deliver mind-blowing music capable of making you into a Grammy nominee;

“The VGMA’s sef no see you, why would u waste time playing a thug”

Any further pursuance of this 1990 mentality is only going to make you an area champion who only gets to mount small stages and spit “venom” only to go back home penniless, your existence as a music act will be confined to either Chiana or Navrongo.  If you fail to recognize that as ambassadors of your respective towns, it is behoved on you to be responsible individuals then GET THE HELL OUT OF THE GAME.

Who is Ewurama Attoh

To her teaming listener’s, she is Ewurama Attoh, the sweet-voiced queen of the airwaves in Tamale. To her friends, she is Queenzy, the back up singer. To her family, she is Agnes, the purposeful daughter whose pursuits are borne of passion, and is boundless. To Ghana, she is the People’s Celebrity Awards Most Popular Female Radio Presenter 2017. She is Agnes Alexis Attoh, the young lady making giant strides by way of impact and relevance in a fast-evolving radio industry.

Growing up, young Ewurama had ambitions and interests like every child. The desire to become a lawyer competed with her addiction to news on CNN & GTV. Often emulating the reading styles of some of her favorite news anchors, she was nicknamed Barbara Sam by her Dad.

Though a Fante, she’s spent most of her life in the Northern Region where she had most of her education. Starting at Queen Elizabeth Nursery in Tamale, she continued to St. Joseph Primary School, and later Bethel Methodist School, also in Tamale. She then proceeded to the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School, located in the capital of the Upper East Region.

Educational Background of Ewurama Attoh

She eventually went back to school in pursuit of an HND in Marketing at the Tamale Business College between 2012 & 2014. Ewurama, despite her tight schedule on radio as a marketing manager and host of two shows on Kesmi Fm in Tamale, she makes time to study Marketing & Journalism through the ICM-UK program.

The journey to becoming an on-air personality wasn’t structured; despite her jolly-nature, she assumed her confidence wasn’t good enough to face the public with her voice.  A radio career was a no no. However, her opinionated nature got her contributing to radio programs via text and phone calls.

How Ewurama entered Radio

29^th March 2013 marked the beginning of a boisterous, yet in-depth analysis of showbiz related matters, impact-filled discussions and a refreshing newscaster-voice. Ewurama had the rare opportunity of being a panelist in a radio discussion; a good friend, Seth Sowah who apparently perceived her worth was behind the invitation.

Awards & Achievements

Despite the fact that Ewurama has been in radio for just a little over 4 years; the young achiever has already earned some recognition by way of awards. So far she’s won the following;

• Foklex Media Award (2015-2016) – Best Newscaster for Northern Region
• Dagbon Radio Awards (2015- 2016) – Brunch Host of the year
• Lifestyle Program of the year
• Foklex Media Awards (2016 -2017) – Family Life Host of the year
• People’s Celebrity Awards (2017) – Female Radio Presenter of the Year

The Talents of Ewurama Attoh

Ewurama trained as a Photo Editor/ Graphic Designer, but the yearn to use her voice creatively pushed her into taking up radio as a full-time job. Born to a family of creatives, Ewurama’s desire to make a mark in the creative industry continues to stir her endeavors; thus, she intends to expand her relevance by venturing into TV.

Even though she rarely talks about her singing prowess, Ewurama is actually a fine singer.  She admits to a struggling entertainment industry in the Northern Region, but is quick to name some of her favorite musicians as Kawastone, Dobble Tee, Fancy Gam & Maccasio. When www.atigsi.com asked her about what she thinks account for the struggling nature of the showbiz industry in the Northern Region, she blamed it on those steering the affairs of the industry with little to no knowledge about the industry. She however remains positive that at the current rate and state, there is a bright future for the industry.

Her desires& Wishes

As an enigma within radio circles in Tamale, Ewurama wishes to see more ladies venture into the industry. Per her analysis, she believes Josephine of Diamond FM and herself, are the only female radio personalities pushing beyond the stereotypical roles assigned women.

For her, the main challenge in being a broadcaster in the Northern Region is the inability to access sponsorship for impact-filled broadcasting. A situation that affects the production of relevant and “edu-taining” content for the benefit of the people.

There’s a perception that Tamale is hostile to people who are not indigenes, interestingly Ewurama gives better insight into what is misconstrued as hostility;

“I wouldn’t say it is hostile…. Tamale is a special place and what do u do with a special thing…. you study it, know what the people want, give what they want…. make them happy and you are loved.  it is not easy but learning the love language of the people and u are ok.”

There’s obviously something special about Ewurama, she puts in this way;

“mmm…. well first off the fact that am a woman and a loud mouth lol…. my voice and laughter and oh the fact that my delivery is different…”

Her success, she attributes to the all-out support from her family and Seth Klipss (Seth Sowah) who saw in her, what she refused to pay attention to. Her personal shrink Bertrand Nana Kwame Turkson remains an invaluable asset to her career. In her own words;

“he’s always been the one I run to when I want to give up… he will listen, laugh 😄 then insult u and push u back in lol…. he’s always been my pillar.” She counts herself lucky because she’s built a good professional relationship with most industry players who in turn are very supportive.

Her biggest recognition thus far, has been winning the nation-wide award for Favorite Female Radio Presenter, at the People’s Celebrity Awards organized by GN-Bank.

Ewurama Attoh was born on 30^th May. She has 3 siblings.