TIPTOPSTARS

The Cameroonian gospel music industry keeps growing in quantity and in quality, thanks to scores of young people who are increasingly taking interest in serving the Lord and sending across His message via songs. Itz E is now part of this victory team. He is a Yaounde-based singer whose entry into the domain now seems to have given Cameroonian gospel music an added impetus, not only through style, but by the teaching that is embedded in his music. His new release, Hallelujah is a perfect reflection of this assertion.

In the “technotronic” (fast beats) fashioned piece, the singer gives praise to the Lord for his life and pledges he would carry along his Bible wherever he goes to. To him, everything comes from Jara (God). Inspired by John 13, Itz E talks about Jesus’ death, which became mankind’s greatest sin cleanser. Anything he does, to the artist, is successful, just like he is favoured anywhere he goes.

Just like his father, Itz E who doubles as a radio host at the Yaounde-based Kingdom Goodnews Radio (FM 97.1), is a lover of music from childhood. Inspired by the spiritual leader of his congregation, Rev. John Nchamukong, he opted for gospel music and has since then been pursuing his dreams in this genre. He runs E-Media Empire, a production outfit where he has worked with several up-and-coming artists including King Ray, Vicky Blinkz, Jmp2 and Francis Danji.

Generally known to be jovial, friendly and loving, Itz E who is graduate from the University of Yaounde I where he read History and International Relations believes in the power of the Almighty God and it is with it that he hopes to get to the apex of the art he knows best – music.

Radiant! That’s the one word that summarily describes Anita Etta’s My Deliverance Has Come, a new tract that has enrolled on the stunning list of best-selling gospel music. That the tract has succeeded, not only in meeting contemporary audio-visual standards, but can easily search and find hearts, is far from being an exaggerated assertion. My Deliverance Has Come is simply telling in every aspect!

The video’s opener is a direct message that My Deliverance Has Come is a serious topic. The image of iron bars with a human being, (prisoner in this case), void of any smile and struggling to whip herself across, already paints the picture of suffering which in the true sense of the artist’s message, depicts the turmoil the devil is good at plunging God’s children into. Even the image of lying on a bare floor (enduring cold) only portrays how hard the devil can batter.

However, the Holy Bible which the protagonist succeeds in carrying along to this dreaded closet is not only an ordinary companion for a committed victim of satan’s oppression, but a veritable symbol of hope. That image is effectively used to complete the message which My Deliverance Has Come seeks to sail across.

And so in a sharp contrasting approach, the author of the 5.32-minute-long tract presents the other side of the story which is as easy as being liberated from the devil’s maximum security prison. It is therefore the “keep calling on Him when you are in trouble” option that has moved the protagonist from the behind-the-bars pains to the soothing natural breeze she and her lovely offspring now savour at the leisure park on a bright summer afternoon. The image of yellowish penetrating sunrays that provide light to the woods is not an error – it is the filmmakers/videographer’s deliberate option to indicate that darkness has been overcome, hence deliverance.

That children are presented as characters in Anita Etta’s My Deliverance Has Come video is a perfect illustration. They are a wonderful gift from God. With deliverance, such gifts are obvious, the makers of the video are certainly indicating. The park racing with mum and kids is a true sign of love and happiness which only the Lord can provide, just like the swinging of colourful balloons would strongly mean that all is well. Perhaps, post-jail smiles from the protagonist and broad ones from the kid characters are enough to celebrate a much-desired deliverance which the singer does not mince words is saying it has happened.

But, what about the colour of their costumes…We may not be missing the point if we conjecture that the artist and her crew members decided on white, just to paint an immaculate picture of the Lord’s purity and honesty in dishing love to mankind.

In another excitingly contrasting image, the makers of My Deliverance Has Come present the rose flower which the main character smiles over and pampers with a soft touch, as opposed to the bitter grab she previously had on the prison iron bars in a difficult struggle to unchain herself. This, to the artist, implies that life would undoubtedly be a bell of roses, if you’re delivered and you stay in the Lord.

With repeated choruses of “my deliverance has come - Jehovah has done it for me - nothing can hold back…” Anita Etta in her new track is simply buttressing her message for it to sink properly. This is in a typical Anita Etta spirit who would speak more than she sings, after all, her genre of music is about creating positive impact on the lives of the audience.

My Deliverance Has Come is the leading track in Anita Etta’s latest album that has eleven (11) songs and was released on September 12 this year. The track and its video are respectively produced by George Okudi and Avant Multimedia’s William Rivera.

The amazing improvement which has generally been noticed within the Cameroonian film industry is fast and glaringly reflecting in Nollywood. It is becoming increasingly clear that Nigeria has found inert pleasure in loving what is Cameroonian and is overtly providing a comfortable spot for the latter within the world’s number two film platform.

No sooner had the Nollywood and African Film Critics Awards (NAFCA) seen the light of day than the leading African movie recognition platform in the diaspora embraced Cameroon. From its inception in 2011, the event which is predominantly Nigerian had Cameroonian guests (including this writer who secured an invitation) amongst them, filmmakers and actors. The two succeeding edition even had an increased number of Cameroonian participants and laureates including the country’s Minister of Culture Ama Tutu Muna.

Cameroonian participation and the rising number of nominations and laureates would definitely have inspired NAFCA more and organizers think the former should stretch further. This year, NAFCA wants Cameroon on the red carpet for entry interviews. “It was so simple – I requested for a press pass and NAFCA gladly granted and permitted me to run red carpet interviews,” Crystal Beauty told us. Crystal Beauty is an up-and-coming Cameroonian online TV host and entertainment promoter.

Crystal told TIPTOPSTARS that she wouldn’t pretend to mention that NAFCA is a big event which would normally catch the attention any ambitious television presenter. The host of The Crystal Beauty Show said: “And, the fact that the event is being held in the heart of Hollywood this year is enough to make me excited – but mark you, I’m a little nervous, hahahaha!”

To the Cameroonian online TV personality, her participation in this year’s edition of NAFCA is a great boost to the show she runs and this is certainly going to push her to work harder. “That’s what this singular privilege of running the red carpet interview at NAFCA means to me,” she said.

NAFCA 2014 will however not be Crystal’s first red carpet interview experience. The Boston, USA-based TV presenter has been on other such platforms mostly in the DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area and is well known for her pro-active nature in arranging and running celebrity interviews both Africans stars and those from Hollywood.

Meanwhile, this year’s edition of NAFCA takes place at the Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills in Hollywood, California this Saturday, September 13, 2014.

In a society where talents and interests are quickly identified, nurtured, tapped and utilized, persons who show up have a ready-made rendezvous with success. Hannah Agbor Agbor (4.1 feet-tall) and Emma Agbor Agbor (4.2 feet-tall) squarely fit in this school of thought. They are a set of twins, exceptionally made to excel in a very glamourous domain of art – modeling.

At the tender age of six, Hannah and Emma have fixed their ambitions of becoming top models that will win admiration and fame, not just in their country, the USA, but throughout the world. An encounter with the out-going, smart and intelligent kids reveals this assertion with complete exactitude.

“From a much more tender age, they had always shown great interests in posing for snapshots and it’s amazing how they’d displayed different types of postures,” Relindis Agbor, mother of the rising twin models told TIPTOPSTARS in Ohio. “As they grew up, the interest in catalogues in which they’d learn about and admire fashion increased,” she went further. Agbor told us that her twin models would regularly watch TV shows that focused on fashion displays and mimicked the artists. “You could notice this obsession in them, but hardly did it ring a bell in me that this interest was building a bigger foundation in the lives of Hannah and Emma,” the Columbus-based mother of the hope-rising model explained.

The sound of this bell finally woke Agbor sometimes in 2013 when the duo made their dreams clear to their parents – they had decided, at their tender age, to get into professional modeling. “I’m not a dream killer, so I had no objection,” Agbor said. She added: “I’d rather stand by them, give them the necessary support to succeed in what they have chosen to do.”

Since April 2013, Hannah (brown eyes, brown hair) and Emma (brown eyes, black hair), born by Cameroonian parents have been going through the various steps that lead to full-fledged modeling. Apart from training, they are signed up by a Columbus, Ohio modeling agency that is molding them to become what they and their parents hope to see them become – top models!

For one thing, ambition fills the careers of these child models. “I want to be popular and liked, reason why I’m working hard,” Hannah told TIPTOPSTARS. To the six year-old model, starring in commercials advertising clothes and cosmetic products is her greatest ambition. To Emma, posing for snapshots is her greatest interest. “I also love to catwalk and practice that all the time, at home and at the training ground,” she explained. Emma told us further: “My friends tell me I’m good at it and I must believe in myself and not relent in my efforts of becoming a great model.”

Will this involvement in professional modeling at elementary school age not affect their studies? “Oh no, definitely not!” the mother of the kids are fast becoming a sensation in their community told us. “Rather, they’ve become more serious with studies since they got into modeling. They study at the appropriate time and are always reminded that modeling goes hand-in-hand with education and unless you have good academic records, no serious modeling agency would hire you. We let them know this and they are aware,” she explained.

In the coming months, more will come out from these two child models that are gradually cropping into the news. TIPTOPSTARS will be trailing them and we will be back with more information on Hannah and Emma in our subsequent updates.

EDITOR’S NOTE

For purposes of promoting talent, this story plus the pictures used to illustrate it are published with the consent and support of the parents of the kid models.