Kelly Rowland has joined the list of international artistes to sample afrobeat sounds in their music. In recent times Africa has become the spice route for artists, musicians and people in the creative industry as they continue to buy into Afro inspired sounds, dress codes, dances etc. Over the years, artistes such as Ciara and Beyonce have made Africa their go to, Beyonce especially as she constantly infuses the ‘Mama Africa’ theme into her costumes as well as featuring African stars in her most recent “Black is King” album.

In Kelly’s new song “Hitman”, she samples beats from Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s “follow follow” track. The song which is part of the NFL songs of the season project definitely excites her African audience.

The video for the Hitman track was also released on 20^th November 2020 and does even more justice to the track as it infuses great colours, popular African hairstyles like Bantu knots, Afro and simple fluid moves.

With 2021 around the corner will more international artistes follow the trend and with it establish a global Afrobeat genre?

Fans of the first African Netflix original series “Queen Sono” might not be watching the second season of their favourite show, as it stands.

The series is a crime drama centred around an African spy named “Queen Sono” who sets out to discover the death of her mother. The first season premiered on Netflix on the 28^th of February, consisting of six episodes.

Critics branded it as an absolute delight, with the series receiving positive reviews and a ranking of 91% on rotten tomatoes upon its first rollout.

Aside from being the first African Netflix original crime series, the show produced by Kagiso Lediga boasted a solid cast including Pearl Thusi, Vuyo Dabula, Kate Liquorish, Khathu Ramabulana, Sechaba Morojele amongst a list of other amazing actors.

However, the anticipated season 2 is reportedly being cancelled as the production company faces some challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first season was shot in different locations in countries across the continent including Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Nigeria.

As expected, the news of cancellation has sparked reactions from its viewers. While some were keenly awaiting the new season, others are of the opinion that it’s cancellation was only expected.

In her response to the cancellation, the most talked about star of the movie Pearl Thusi says “It’s so incredible that we as a team got a lifetime opportunity to make history together as there will never be another ‘first’ African Netflix Original Series. I’m proud of the work we did, but everything happens for a reason. I am excited about what the future holds.” 

And indeed, we look forward to what the future holds.

It’s been months since COVID-19’s initial impact on the industrial sectors of the economy, resulting in losses among many businesses and complete shutdown of others.

The film industry was not spared and cinemas across the globe have also paid a huge price.

The Nigerian Cinema industry is believed to have lost about N8bn in revenue according to Filmone co-founder, Moses Babatope.

News Central spoke with the Executive Director of Genesis Cinema, Opeyemi Ajayi on the current struggles and the future of the Cinema business in Nigeria.