*MUSIC - the final decision*

You tap your feet, snap your fingers, move your head, smile, and then you cannot help it so you get up on your feet and dance along. This is the joy music gives you.

Music is an art, a culture,permanence! Music is sound pleasing to the soul. It is performed, enjoyed, dynamic. Music is a feeling. It is elastic, controversial and a strong connection between people of many different cultures. Some may call it melodies, harmonies stringed together or sweet noise. Whatever you may refer to as music, it performs its role wholly and leaves a smile lasting seasons and spanning generations.

From prehistoric times to the harp phase of David and King Saul in the Bible through to the highlife, hip life season in Ghana, music fills a vacuum. It is wanted, needed and recognized as important. In Ghana, music has been the one off thing that has pulled seeming opponents and torchbearers together. Wondered how conflicting relatives will troop to the dance floor and gladly shake to the melodious tune of Adane Best’s (one of Ghana’s leading highlife sensations) Adesa track and contentedly perform the desires of the song. Music is a healer.

Just like dance, theatre, opera, circus, music is performed…and enjoyed. From the highlife tunes of Paapa Yankson, Ben Brako, Gyedu Blay-Ambolley, Nana Tuffour, Paa Bobo through to the contemporary versions of Ofori Amponsah. KK Fosu, Kofi Nti, King David, Sarkodie, Ayigbe Edem, EL, Ghanaians have provided a safe haven for the musicians who continue to pour in lyrics of all shapes, sizes and characters.

The tune of Efya’s Little Things does inexplicable things to the system of a young girl in love. She sees the tune as her own version of appreciating her man. Here, love emanates and glows to beyond the comprehensible. A loveable tune of traditional jazz fused with afro pop rhythms, Efya’s song, even from the very start, is adapted into the varied themes of environment. Imagine the goose bumps that form when you hear internationally acclaimed ace guitarist and keyboardist Kwame Yeboah strut his stuff on the keyboard in one of the many wonderful performances of celebrated musician, Kojo Antwi. This leaves room to wonder how a student sings along every line of the lyrics of his favourite musician and yet finds it extremely difficult to study and recite a common poem. Simply…music is love respected!

Rhythm, beats, harmony, synchronization, pace characterizes that achievement called music. It is an idea acted upon, a zeal to work on a dream. It answers questions, offers invaluable advice, fills a vacuum and realizes a need. Music is tactical, calculated and a barrier breaker. You stop to listen and probably groove to Shaggy’s it wasn’t me or PSquare’s No one Like you and Tic Tac’s Philomena tracks. American hip-hop thrill, Nicki Minaj, appeals to you and you move along. For the musicians, it is important to get the beat right and they are sure of followers of all kinds. What would prompt Babs, president of Piono Music and manager of Akon and Konvict music to listen, enjoy and subsequently sign Ghanaian rapper, Sarkodie, on his label, though he could not fathom a word of  Sarkodie’s lyrics in Twi . According to him, though he did not understand a word of Sarkodie’s lyrics, he enjoyed it and it made him move from his own chair. If ever you have listened to Beenie Man and enjoyed his music yet cannot measure a word he says, know that you are not in this alone.

Music is gain. Sports is music. Football is Music in Ghana, politics equally has a thing with music…music has a wide web which incorporates seasons, people of all ages, atmospheres; a clip that permanently pulls you along.

Music pulls crowds; a party. Let any event house organize an award ceremony or anything of that sort and not include any music on the bill. Let the issue of awards go to rest, it is music people came to enjoy. You will not be far from right to say that all the top-notch events in Ghana today have everything to do with music.  The GMA’s, The Vodafone Icons, the 020 Live Shows are just a few instances where music  has proven a soul healer, an enjoyable session with all others.

Get that CD, slot it in…and relive moments and reminisce times. Hum along with the lyrics and forget your troubles. For those moments, let music be the final decision.

Elorm Fugah

*THE WOMAN’S COMPANION*

It houses a hairbrush, a sewing kit, alternate slippers to replace high heels, a full make up kit, handkerchiefs of different colours, a diary, a cutlery set, a substitute sanitary pad, a comb, contraceptives, a scarf and a big purse that contains money folded in three creases. I know you have begun to wonder what the subject for this discourse is.

It comes in handy, in different shapes, colours, sizes and designs. From time to time, its contents may vary, but the core of the innards lie primarily on the items listed above. Surprised? Why should you be?…The perpetrators themselves have even attested to this fact.

The women handbag has been a cause of disagreement among men and most other people.  Many more have often wondered what the purposes of each item in the bag served. Some others still wonder what drives women to keep large amounts of items in their handbags. Still, many equally puzzle about the possibility of calling a mini travelling bag a handbag. Simply put, some of the bags are too big. A few of the women who agreed to comment on this issue disclosed that big bags were convenient and safer and it was the in-thing in town.

Almost everybody on this planet owns a bag. This influences the choice of designers to manufacture more. Choice for selection is largely designer inspired, cost driven, or occasion of bag use. It may come in large leather forms; satchel handbags or even just small pouches with carefully embedded designs for special appeal.  Women will basically not go in for just any type of handbag. If it must be done, it must be done well. While top brands may boost self-esteem among peers, the desire to remain in vogue gets the women going. Fair enough, it has to be a Louis Vuitton, a Coach, a Prada, a Kate Spade, a Dooney, or a Bourke. It is amazing too, how the woman can spot a fake designer from the real thing.

Trust me; low prices are a sure way of sifting the real from the fake. Prices lower than anything GH100 may pass as below standard. Manufactures will argue out that, the bags are made out of the finest materials and are built to last so if you find a Prada that is excessively cheap…do the simple thing and just walk away with caution.

If the seam is on the bottom or the logo of a Louis Vuitton women handbag is cut off, forget it. It is a fake. Do you have in your possession any Louis Vuitton bag with the handle or hardware wrapped in plastic or bubble wrap? Please return it because you have in your wardrobe an unworthy stuff. Or, did you purchase a bag with the price tag hang loosely around the bag? Then I am sorry to burst your bubble because Louis Vuitton handbags have their price tags placed inside the bags. I bet you did not know all these before.

Women are noted to carry small pouches of leather bags to occasions such as weddings, high-class society dinners and the likes. The occasion greatly influences the choice of bag used. Then again, individual preference is key in deciding what to hold or what to clutch on to.

The art of clutching unto a purse or a big sized purse is a craze catching on with our women. It is an art and the styles vary. Swing it along rhythmically as you step and you let it lie just at the fringes of your elbow. This technique leaves enough room to trace your steps and put the bag in the full glare of all who care to see. Just a few will possibly hung it over their shoulders with its remains somewhat hidden under their arms. According to most women, this gives them enough room to operate since they can clutch on to other stuff. In addition, what would you call the women who hang the bags on the tips of the fingers while they swing it as they walk with the bottom almost touching the floor? A complete show-off? You cannot possible blame them. Who would purchase a $200 worth of Prada handbag and clutch it under her arm, hiding the fact that it is a thorough designer? She has to let it shine so all must see.

For most women, handbags define status. Simply put, you have to know what is in vogue to be able to choose an apt bag for all occasions. The more expensive the bag, the more you confirm your place in society as the new modern woman in town. Almost every woman has a bag. Even if it is, the one you probably might have got from the 3 am shopping sale at Kantamanto market or the Kate Spade bag you bought a month ago. A woman with a handbag is seen as mature, stylish and in vogue. Further, it serves as a safe haven to store whatever comes in handy. Handbags will forever be a woman’s companion.

 It serves many purposes and women would just wish that men would stop asking why they keep big bags. For a particular girl, it was to store overnight clothes because occasionally, she spends the night at her boyfriend’s. Various reasons will be given and various options will be chosen, but women and their handbags will be a remarkable sight for a long time to come.

Elorm Fugah

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