Kizaro's 13 Best Songs Of 2013

Contrary to the industry's naysayers, 2013 was an amazingly creative year for music and entertainment in general worldwide. Musicians both home and abroad, threw down some wicked material and we loved them all (at least plenty of them). We saw an amazing rise of new artistes and startling consistency of not so new ones. Out of hundreds of songs that deserved to be on our list, it was very tough whittling a treasure trove to so few.

Here's a look at the 13 best of 2013. Happy New Year and God bless y'all in 2014 and beyond.

13. Bruno Mars - "Treasure"

Mars reminded us all of the immense talent he displayed in his debut album with this 70s style disco love song from his sophomore album, "Unorthodox Jukebox" which like the songs of the era he copied, fused charm, catchy melody and puppy love lyrics to keep our feet moving and earn a place on number 13 on our list.

12. Burna Boy - "Run my race"

2013 is considered by many including this writer, as the year of Damini Ogulu aka Burna Boy, aka Oluwa Burna, aka Burn Anikulapo Kuti (yes i'm a big fan). Out of his amazing debut album "L.I.F.E" came this afro-beat/hip-hop banger that channeled Fela Anikulapo type vocals in Burna's trademark dancehall drawl over a wall of sound that Abami Eda himself would have endorsed.

My favourite part - "Wetin dey sup? When i dey hustle you dey lick lollipop. Now you dey form robocop but na today reality must comot, ask dem!..."

The 10 Fastest Footballers In The World

World Football governing body FIFA recently collated and calculated the respective speeds of professional footballers in the world and came up with a list of the ten hottest speedsters on the pitch.

Unfortunately no Nigerian player made the cut, leaving fans such as this writer to rue the retirement of the likes of Tijani Babangida and Pius Ikedia who both made the list of top ten fastest in the hey days of former Real Madrid left-back Roberto Carlos and Arsenal hit-man, Thierry Henry who both took the glory of fastest player at some point.

The fastest player in the world at the moment is Manchester United Winger Antonio Valencia closely followed by Real Madrid's Gareth Bale. Valencia could outrun a "keke marwa" with an average top speed of 35.1 km/hr. Not bad at all considering the fact that world's fastest man Usain Bolt runs at an average speed of 37.58 km/hr. He may consider a career in track and field if he gets bored with football.

Enjoy the top ten chart and Antionio Valencia video below

Starstruck Raja Players Strip Ronaldinho As Raja Casablanca Stun Mineiro 3-1

Morroccan Club side Raja Casablanca,  beat Brazilian favourites Atletico Mineiro to qualify for the finals of the World Club Cup Final in a fairy tale match against Bayern Munich on Sunday. 

Mouhssine Iajour opened the scoring after the break before Ronaldinho equalised with a tantalising free-kick before a penalty and a Vianney Mabide tap-in made it 3-1 for the African club.

Some comic relief came at the end though when a couple of the Raja Casablanca players who are all big fans of his, stripped Ronaldinho to his briefs.

Lawrence Of Arabia Actor, Peter O'Toole Dies At 81

O'Toole as T.E.Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Highly acclaimed Irish actor, Peter O'Toole died in London on Saturday at the age of 81. The actor had reportedly been ill for some time. He made his name big-time by his performance in the 1962 epic movie Lawrence of Arabia. A true story in which he played British Army officer T.E.Lawrence who helped the Arab revolt for independence from the Ottoman empire in the early twentieth century.

A scene from Lawrence of Arabia

Son of an Irish bookie, he started his acting career doing stage performances and by the time he was in his 20s he was the youngest leading actor at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre   like many of the great actors of his generation and was truly one of the greatest. A booming, clear voice with excellent diction in far from ordinary roles that made him easily one of the most regal of his contemporaries. Also an accomplished party animal like his late friends Richard Burton and Richard Harris who were also members of an elite club of great British actors studied closely by many great actors of today as well. Amazingly he never won an Oscar for Best Actor despite 8 nominations and countless classic performances.

From his beginnings as a stage actor he played many types of roles but is celebrated more an account of his characters in epic movies. Younger moviegoers will be more familiar with his work in the 2004 adventure movie Troy as King Priam with Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom.

King Priam in Troy (2004)

He is survived by two daughters and a son.

An Inspiring Evening At The Future Awards "Best 100" Celebration

Our very own President Goodluck Jonathan threw open the gates of the State House, Abuja (otherwise known as Aso Rock) on Sunday the 15th of December for hosting of the Future Awards event tagged, "100 Best". An event that honoured 100 of its past youthful alumni for their special contributions to Nigeria in their own diverse and trailblazing ways. The 100 spanned different areas of endeavor and included an array of icons such as Yaw, Tara Durotoye, Seun Osewa, D'Banj, Uti Nwachukwu, Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu and Ebuka Obi-Uchendu among many others.  

The event notably drew a major chunk of public and private sector leaders including Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ben Murray-Bruce, Tony Elumelu and Agriculture minister Akin Adesina. Artistes, Nikky Laoye, Timi Dakolo and musical maestro Cobhams Asuquo spiced up the gig with a couple of uplifting performances.

Most notable were the accounts of the awardees and their stories. The essence of the event was beyond the glitz, fancy speeches and bright lights but the inspiring accounts of seemingly ordinary young people doing extraordinary things. To quote the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina - "you can start small but always think big"

Enjoy the pictures below

Cobhams and the COZA Choir perform their tribute to Nelson Mandela

Stephanie Linus

Pharrell Williams, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z & Macklemore Dominate 2014 Grammy Nominations

Macklemore performing on friday night at the Grammy nomination concert

The list of nominees for the 2014 Grammy Awards  coming up on January 26th, 2014 is out and there is an air of inevitability on who the biggest winners will be. Jigga is leading the pack with (yawn!) nine nominations. Granted he's on top of his game and has been for years now but its getting boring (in my humble opinion at least). Now on to more exciting prospects like Seattle's finest, Macklemore who bagged seven nominations in three major categories outside of the Rap category - Song of the year, Album of the year and Best new artiste. Also bagging seven nominations a piece are Kendrick Lamar. Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake who all helped make 2013 a great creative year for us as well as the music industry.

Its been a busy year for Pharrell

Check out all the major nominees below, and visit Grammy.com for the full list:

Flashback: When Mandela Came To Town

Nelson & Winnie Mandela arrive in Lagos

On February 2nd, 1990, to the relief of the civilised world, The Honourable Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was released by former South African President FW De Klerk after 27 years of incarceration by the country's apartheid regime which crumbled shortly after. The inevitability of his release was due to among a cocktail of factors, the global deification of Mandela as the spiritual leader of South Africa's resistance in a rapidly changing world that had seen the Berlin wall come down months before then.

For decades Nigeria had been a heavy supporter of the Anti-Apartheid/Free Mandela campaign and our dream was about to come true. As a teenager in those days it was normal to have grown up amidst a culture of anti-apartheid protest. Besides the dangerous pens wielded by writers back, we also had songs by the likes of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti ("Beast of no nation"), Sonny Okosun ("Fire in Soweto"), Majek Fashek ("Free Mandela") and an army of khaki clad militant reggae artistes that were the rave back then. (Not to mention a special edition of defunct comic, "Ikebe Super" in which the protagonists Papa Ajasco and Pa James with the aid of juju, successfully lead an army into SA and overthrow President Botha) It was natural that weeks before his release, welcome rumours had been filtering in that the amiable and indeed noble FW De Klerk would let Mandela go home and the excitement ran thick until it came to pass.