The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ciara

  • Grammy winner Ciara applauds Lagos’s progress on ‘clean’ roads

    Grammy winner Ciara applauds Lagos’s progress on ‘clean’ roads

    American singer Ciara has commended the visible progress in Lagos, noting cleaner and better-paved roads compared to her previous visit.

    Speaking during her latest trip to Nigeria, the R&B star expressed delight at the changes.

    “I’m so happy to be here and I’m really glad,” she said.

    When asked if this was her first time in the city, Ciara clarified: “No, this is not my first time, I know about Lagos”.

    Read Also: American singer Ciara attends Lagos Fashion Week

    Having toured several African countries, she highlighted the urban improvements: “When I used to land, I used to see dirty roads, now it’s all clean and it has changed.”

    The Grammy winner arrived Lagos to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Lagos Fashion Week.

    Her comments come amid ongoing infrastructure upgrades under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, including road rehabilitation and drainage enhancements across the state.

  • American singer Ciara attends Lagos Fashion Week

    American singer Ciara attends Lagos Fashion Week

    Grammy-winning American artist Ciara has arrived Lagos to participate in the 15th anniversary of Lagos Fashion Week and a cultural tour.

    The Senior Special Assistant on New Media to the Lagos Governor Jubril Gawat confirmed this in a statement.

    According to the statement, she was received byCommissioner for Tourism, Mrs Toke Benson-Awoyinka.

    He wrote: “International Superstar, Grammy Award Winner, CIARA Princess Wilson @ciara is in Lagos, accompanied by the Commissioner for Tourism, Mrs Toke Benson-Awoyinka, She will be joining us in Lagos to celebrate our, Tourism, our Art, and our culture”.

    Read Also: Lagos Fashion Week, The Bicester collection convene roundtable with designers, global platforms

    Ciara plans to immerse herself in the city’s vibrant arts, culture, and fashion scenes, visiting key cultural sites and interacting with local designers and artists.

    Her visit is seen as a “homecoming” for the global artist, highlighting Lagos as a hub for creativity and innovation.

    Ciara’s itinerary includes appearances at Lagos Fashion Week, where she’ll celebrate African fashion and creativity.

    He added: “It’s a homecoming for her and other Creatives who see Lagos as HOME, she would visit different cultural sites in Lagos and also celebrate the successful hosting of the 15th anniversary of the Lagos Fashion Week in collaboration with Lagos State Government”.

    The event, organised in partnership with the Lagos State Government, has showcased African fashion on the international stage for 15 years.

    Ciara’s visit aims to promote Lagos as Africa’s creative and cultural capital, emphasising the city’s influence on the continent’s fashion and entertainment industries.

  • Thank you, Janet

    It was American singer, Ciara, who danced to popular Nigerian songs on the streets of Lagos in 2016.

    Not only did she help to popularize some of Nigeria’s dance steps doing Etighi to Iyanya’s ‘Kukere’ while she also grooved Tekno’s ‘Duro’, the super star singer who performed that casual dance with Nigerian school kids, portrayed she had a blast in Lagos for the world to see. She was in town as headliner act for Darey’s ‘Love like a movie 3’ show.

    When President Emmanuel Macron of France came to Nigeria, Lagos was also in the news globally, mainly for our culture, going by The Afrika Shrine as his preferred location. It was a night of Nigerian music, arts, fashion and general entertainment.

    Now, pop star, Janet Jackson, has beamed another South-West tradition to the world in the video of her recently released single, ‘Made for Now’, featuring Daddy Yankee.

    It was her comeback effort, having been away from the music scene for quite a while, and it is thrilling how she decided to do it – the usual ways of doing things in America may not be catchy enough, so she searched through other continents, her compass paused on Africa, and yes! Here is where there is still so much to tap. Browsing further, Nigeria stood in its creative glory, and finally, the Yoruba culture of the South-West, one of the most exported, made so much sense to her.

    It has something to do with Afrobeat, the Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s brand of music which has enjoyed fresh narrative across the world.

    Thus, while Janet must jolt her American audience with a beautiful oddity, she must appeal to the African and Caribbean audiences by infusing Yoruba in the new track. It was a dramatic performance as the singer is welcomed by talking drummers who ushered her in with Yoruba lyrics. The outing enjoyed a complete blend with the Ankara fabrics won by Janet, her drummers and dancers.

    What more, there is the popular ‘Shoki’ dance step in their performance.

    To underscore how popular Nigeria’s pop culture is abroad is to understand how popular our music artistes are around Africa and beyond.

    One of the major cash earners for show promoters abroad is the tour of Nigerian singers, and one can also imagine why our local artistes live in so much luxuries.

    Afrobeat for example has become a mass-followed genre, especially, among youths in Diaspora. Having wondered why some of the best Broadway shows are performed by non-Nigerians?

    It is a fact that a lot of urban dwellers listen to Nigeria music in clubs and offices in Eastern and Southern Africa.

    At the center of this is the fact that our culture is gradually being exported and Nigeria can only shine with such developments irrespective of some ugly news

  • How Alesh lost his dad after meeting Ciara

    JUST after the recent presentation of a portrait to popular American singer Ciara by Nigerian artiste, Alesh Akeem, it has been confirmed that the father of the artist has died.

    Alesh Akeem’s father, Mr. Ismail OriyomiAleshinloye, 71, died in the early hours of Tuesday 1st of March 2016 after experiencing serious of difficulties in breathing. Survived by his wife, children and grandchildren, he was buried on the same day according to Islamic religious rites.

    Alesh who spoke following the shock of his father’s death recounted how he lost his dad.

    “As of 1:30am on Tuesday, I was reading comments about my presentation to Ciara, when my mum rushed into my room asking me to come see my dad,” said Alesh.

    “On seeing him, I saw the worst expression on his face with little tears struggling for breath. He managed to tell us he couldn’t breathe, without wasting time, we rushed him out to the hospital. It’s quite unfortunate that four hospitals didn’t attend to us until we took him to the 5th hospital where he was confirmed dead.”

    The artiste wrote on his Facebook account: “Wish my dad lived to see his son as he trends all over the world, but unfortunately, the man who gave me his last penny for transportation to deliver this (portrait), on Sunday, two days ago, passed away about 1:30am on Tuesday. About time I delivered my #‎Artsassination.

    “Well, his heart lives in me, I’ll make you proud dad; I PROMISE…This is for you pop! No consoling or R.I.P comments please! My dad only passed away to rest and watch me continue from where he stopped, not dead! #‎Aleshian.”

  • Nigerians invoke Ciara’s passion for new dance

    Nigerians invoke Ciara’s passion for new dance

    Nigerian dance queen, Kaffy, may be on her way to America as the new Hollywood dance coach, following tutorial she gave visiting American singer, Ciara, on some of Nigeria’s dance craze such as Kukere, Duro, Etigi and Shoki.

    Ciara had excited fans during last week’s Darey Art-Alade’s Love Like A Movie concert in Lagos, where the singer was special guest and performer.

    The American singer, producer and model who performed some of her award-winning hits, got more applause when she called on Kaffy to lead her on some of Nigeria’s dance steps, including Olamide‘s Shakitibobo, Iyanya‘s Kukere and Tekno‘s Duro.

    There was loud ovation as Kaffy taught the singer and her backup dancers how to make these popular ‘steps’ which Ciara later took to the streets of Lagos.

    On Tuesday, Ciara and her dancers stormed Dolphin Estate where they choreographed on the street, all she had learnt. She shared several videos of the head-turning show on Instagram.

    She uploaded the videos with captions such as “UNREAL! #Dancing, Vibing, and Learning #Nigerian Dance In The Streets Of #Lagos! #DolphinEstates.

    “I Couldn’t Leave Without Doing This! The Soul, The Culture, The Passion Here Is Unreal!! Thank You For Opening Up Your Neighborhood To Me and My Dancers and Letting Us Feel Your soul!”

    She said in other posts: “It’s so cool how we put this together with very little time. God Is so Good!! THANK YOU!!

    “Wind Dem Hips, Drop It Low… Aye.. #Duro,

    “Watching These Girls Dance Give Me Chills! It’s Not Just A Dance. It’s A Feeling. Wow! #Nigeria.”

    This was just as the singer visited a school in Lagos on Monday wearing the local adire fabric.

  • American singer Ciara excites many at Darey’s love show

    American singer Ciara excites many at Darey’s love show

    There was so much thrilling drama around visiting American singer, Ciara, who was this year’s face of Darey Art Alade’s annual “Love Like a Movie”#LLAM3, which held at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre, Lagos, Sunday night.

    Ciara performed some of her award-winning hits, including 1, 2 step and Love Sex Magic, leaving guests excited all through.

    This was just as she danced to some of Nigeria’s hit songs, calling out dance queen, Kaffy, who led her in dancing to some of Nigeria’s dance steps, including Olamide‘s Shakitibobo, Iyanya‘s Kukere and Tekno‘s Duro.

    There was loud ovation as Kaffy taught the singer and her backup dancers how to dance to the Nigerian ‘moves.’

    Some veteran Nigerian artistes also left an impression at the show, as they thrilled guests to songs that rocked the country over a decade ago.

    Blackky opened the session with a performance of his 90s hit, Rosie, followed by Shifi and Zeal of Styl Plus who turned up without the third member of the group, Tunde. Styl Plus performed Olufunmi and Imagine That to the excitement of all present. The oldskool session was further lightened by Jazzman who thrilled the crowd with his debut solo single, Raise the roof.

    Acclaimed first female rapper, Weird MC closed the session with her usual energetic performance as she brought down the building with Ijoya.