Four Loveable One-Hit Wonders from 2007

Sample! Ekwe!!!!

Every now and then, a new artiste "blows up" to miraculous popularity as a result of years of hard work, raw talent and sometimes a truckload of luck. After the euphoria of their debut brilliance blows over they fade away from the limelight, leaving lovers of their music to "ask what happened to that singer sef"?

Nigeria has had its fair share of one-hit wonders like Edmund Spice (1991) and a number of others but 2007 brought some special acts to the limelight that we thought had come to stay. Four really likeable acts caught our attention.

Enjoy

1. TY Bello - "Greenland"

The afro totting member of defunct gospel group, Kush came out with the monster hit - Greenland and inspired an entire country with the encouraging lyrics and beautiful instrumentals. It was and still is hugely popular with Radio DJs and received massive airplay for almost a year. TY Bello has since returned to her first love of photography and has achieved even more critical acclaim (bucks too) for it than she got for her music.

2. Resonance - "Chinweike"

Enugu based cousins and pop duo, Esther Abigbo and Uche Ozoigbo came out with a beautiful and charming gospel track titled Chinweike and followed up with le le in  2007 to a delighted listening audience. They even did a remix of "Chinweike with Tuface and seemed set to run things when the duo parted ways for no known reasons. Still sounds good wherever they are now.

3. Adaz - "Zarokome"

Adaz Adabamu Abel, Warri born R & B artiste overwhelmed the airwaves with his hit "Zarokome". The second track from his album that had the badly underrated but highly brilliant first single "Pepperminta". He alongside his then label mate and fellow Warri boy ,B.Clean were signed to a dutch based record label which seemed set to launch them into superstardom. Adaz is still in the game and released a single last year which featured Flavour Nabania which didnt cause any ripples.

4. Stereoman Ekwe - "E dey pain me"

From the ghettos of Agboju, Lagos in 2007 our eardrums were assaulted by the conga drum slapping craziness of wild-man Sunday Osakuni aka Stereoman Ekwe. His traditional sounding percussion based sound and gritty, street lyrics exemplified by his biggest hit "E dey pain me" was like nothing anybody had ever heard before and catapaulted him to success. His rise was marred by a massive shift in music taste as the Nigerian music scene was moving away from the Ajegunle type ghetto/galala sound at the time he came onto the scene.

Flashback: Culture Club's Mr. Man

Culture Club were one of the most enigmatic pop bands to grace the colourful 1980's. Composed of Boy George, John Moss, Mikey Craig and Roy Hay, the band enjoyed a  memorable though somewhat short reign that saw their influence and popularity dwindle before the end of the decade. 

Their second album, Colour by numbers has sold over 10 million copies and gave us some of their most enduring and popular tracks. It is rated as one of the best albums of the 80's with its signature Karma Chameleon topping the charts in more than six countries including the USA, UK and Nigeria when it was released in 1983. 

The track Mister Man ranks nowhere near other tracks in terms of popularity as it was never released as a single but is a critic's delight and one of the most catchy songs ever done by the group. 

J. Martins Returns With "Faro" Featuring DJ Arafat

J. Martins just dropped his latest single titled "Faro". A praise song where he gives glory to God and mentions some familiar names that he hustled with, to friends and loyal fans from over the years.As usual J. Martins creates a banger that is easy on the eardrums no matter how loud you raise the volume.

He also followed up on his transafrican trek after striking up hot partnerships with the likes of Cabo Snoop (Angola), Fally Ipupa and his latest accomplice, DJ Arafat from Cote D'Ivoire who he teamed up with to achieve beautiful results on last year's hit "Touching body".

Enjoy "Faro" courtesy of Kizaro-faro! (sorry couldnt resist)

Third World Lead Singer: Bunny Rugs Dies At 65

Bunny Rugs is second from left

William "Bunny Rugs" Clarke, the husky voiced lead singer of iconic reggae band Third World passed away in his Florida home on Sunday at the age of 65. He had been suffering from leukemia. He joined the band in 1976 just in time for their rise to super stardom which peaked by the early 1980s.

The group was signed to Island Records during which time Bunny's strong vocals propelled them to a string of hits around the world. The band visited Lagos in 1982. Rugs brilliant vocal performances were also seen in hit songs like "96 degrees", "Now that we found love" and "Try Jah love" which was written by Stevie Wonder.

Flavour Nabania Thrills Students At His Alma Mater

High life superstar, Flavour Nabania showed up announced at the assembly ground of his alma mater - College of the Immaculate Conception, Enugu to the delight of the pupils who were reportedly starstruck though heavily inspired by the visit.

Letter from a CIC pupil/fan-boy

He even showed up fully decked in his CIC uniform of white and blue.  Nice one Flavour, its good to stay real to your roots.

Nigerian Army Officers Conclude Counter Terrorism Course

A group of officers demonstrate during the graduation  ceremony on friday

On Friday, 31st January 2014, 937 Infantry officers of the Nigerian Army graduated from the newly introduced, counter terrorism programme at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji. Nigeria's elite military training facility had recently added a counter terrorism course to its curriculum in light of the security challenges dogging the country. The officers trained were from Headquarters Infantry Corp Centre, 7 Division and Nigerian Army Ordinance Corp (NAOC). 

Regular raining exercise

Its safe to say that the insurgency caught the military "pants down" in years  past but with growing emphasis on intelligence gathering and well honed anti-insurgent techniques the future of the insurgency in the country looks to be bleak. 

Lets keep our boys in prayers always as they daily lay down their lives for preservation of our collective freedom, way of life and survival.

3 Funniest Viral Naija Videos

Before the rise of the internet, newspaper cartoons used to be the most popular means of lampooning the goofs of public figures or ordinary folk. These days with tools as simple as Microsoft Movie Maker in tandem with the hilarious antics in the public space, the impact and popularity of the "Video DJ" can only continue to grow. Enjoy out top three rib crackers.

• River State Assembly Featuring Terry G: This video spoofing the shocking violence in the River State House last year, took the edge of what is some really disturbing footage and helped us laugh through the shame.