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African fantasy series Blood Psalms premieres on Showmax with glowing reviews

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Khanya Mkangisa as Nymph in Blood Psalms
The first two episodes of Blood Psalms, the first Showmax Original fantasy series, are now streaming. Early reviews are glowing, withTVMzansi calling it, “Without doubt, the best TV show ever created in Africa”; Leon van Nierop “the biggest and most spectacular production of a local series yet” and TimesLive “African fantasy at its finest.”
Set in ancient Africa, the action-packed epic follows Princess Zazi (Bokang Phelane) as she battles a world-ending prophecy to navigate her people through ancient curses, long-standing tribal vendettas and the wrath of the gods.
“Watching it feels as thrilling as being an astronaut exploring new worlds,” says Genevieve Terblanche from tvplus. “The sheer scope of Blood Psalms is breathtaking.”
On TVSA, Movies And Things With Tha-Bang writes, “What Jahmil XT Qubeka and Layla Swart have achieved with Blood Psalms is something that will go down on SA TV history books like the Yizo Yizo and Intersexions of the world, series that came and changed the game when folks least expected it.”
Swart and Qubeka were responsible for South African Oscar entries Knuckle City and Sew The Winter To My Skin. Qubeka also directed Of Good Report, which won seven SAFTAs, including Best Film and Best Director, and Stillborn, which won the SAFTA for Best Short Film.
They’ve assembled an incomparable cast, with nine SAFTA winners – Bongile Mantsai, Hamilton Dlamini, Hlubi Mboya, Mothusi Magano, S’dumo Mtshali, Siv Ngesi, Thishiwe Ziqubu, Warren Masemola and Zolisa Xaluva – and all your faves, from Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa to Lemogang Tsipa, Faith Baloyi to Faniswa Yisa, Mandisa Nduna to Niza Jay, Richard Lukunku to Sello Maake Ka Ncube, Thabo Rametsi to Thando Thabethe, Thembikile Komani to Zikhona Sodlaka, and many more.
We caught up with the most ambitious filmmakers in Africa to find out more about Yellowbone Entertainment’s first Showmax Original, which is already topping the charts on Africa’s homegrown streaming service:
Where did the idea for Blood Psalms come from?
Qubeka: I was just always extremely curious about our continent. The question mark around the history of Africa, and where we come from, has been a great platform for us to be able to build this world.
Swart: I think Blood Psalms is a yearning more than anything else. It’s a look at a history that has never been depicted before, that we always wanted to see.
When is Blood Psalms set?
Qubeka: 11 000 years ago. Blood Psalms is an action adventure series that invites us into a world that no longer exists, a time before the Great Flood changed the world.
Swart: Blood Psalms draws from elements of a multitude of African mythologies and looks at various different tribes in Season 1 – the Akachi, the Uchawi, the Ku’ua, the Chini, and Great Nziwemabwe – as they migrated south from Kemet, which is now Egypt, and formed their cultures.
Qubeka: These tribes moved southward, running away from the calamity that was happening in Kemet and Kush, which is what we now know as northern Sudan. There are remnants even today that show that there was a great civilization and a great culture that comes from that space.
Which tribe do you focus on the most?
Swart: The tribal focus in season one is House Akachi, run by the eccentric King Letsha [four-time SAFTA winner Mothusi Magano].
Qubeka: We look at this world through the eyes of his daughter, a young Akachi princess by the name of Zazi [Bokang Phelane], as she goes on her own quest to find a sense of self in a rapidly evaporating world.
How do you feel about the inevitable Game of Thrones comparisons?
Qubeka: If they want to call it the African Game of Thrones, I’ll take that mantle on. If you love Game of Thrones, you’re gonna love this show.
But what we really want to do is create heroic archetypes for the African child. If you look across the entire landscape of cinema and television, there are no archetypes for the African child.
Swart: It’s a pioneering show that attempts to redefine our very perception of our identity as Africans. What we’re trying to do is to reclaim the continent’s history from an African perspective. The goal, for us, is to ensure that the golden thread of Africa’s stunning history really shines.
Qubeka: If we don’t start to project an image of how we see ourselves, someone else is going to do that for us.
There are very few references for Africa 11,000 years ago. Was this freeing or challenging? 
Swart: Building a world that doesn’t exist has been enormously creative. Doing something set 11,000 years ago has really given us all collectively the scope to just play.
But it’s also enormously challenging. Every single costume, every single piece of the set had to be conceived and made from scratch.
Qubeka: I’m very excited to see how audiences engage this world. There’s a lot of things that people are going to look at and be like, ‘What are you talking about? Did they have guns in that time? Do they have electricity?’ There’s all sorts of things that we challenge in terms of conventions, of what people understand of our glorious past.
Where did you shoot in the Eastern Cape?
Qubeka: So the Akachi Citadel actually sits above the Hole in the Wall but we shot parts of the Citadel in different locations. For example, the big dam in Graaff-Reinet is incorporated as the Citadel dam, situated at the back end of the city.
What I really loved about shooting in the Eastern Cape is that it just brought a whole other dimension to what we were intending to achieve.
The epic scale of places like Coffee Bay and the Valley of Desolation – just the size and scale of these places – makes you feel so insignificant, so small, so we’re able to get an essence of what it could have been like 11,000 years ago on this continent.
Why should audiences watch your show?
Qubeka: It’s a sweeping epic adventure that doesn’t hold back. It is definitely a large canvas, one that I personally have not seen from this continent. This thing is big.
Now streaming, first on Showmax
Shot in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West provinces, Blood Psalms is a Showmax Original in partnership with CANAL+, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, the Eastern Cape Economic Development Corporation (ECDC), the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the MultiChoice Innovation Fund, which supports South Africa’s most exciting entrepreneurs, enabling them to bring their unique, innovative and creative business ideas to life.
Showmax will drop new episodes of Blood Psalms every Wednesday until the end of November 2022.
Join Swart for an InstaLive on producing as part of the Showmax x Actor Spaces masterclasses at 6pm on Thursday, 29 September 2022 at https://www.instagram.com/actorspaces/.
Watch Layla Swart’s Showmax x Actor Spaces masterclass on producing:
Add Blood Psalms to your Showmax watchlist:
Watch the new trailer:
Join the conversation:
#BloodPsalmsShowmax
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‘Kuami Eugene is alive and receiving treatment’ – Lynx Entertainment issues statement

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Following news of Ghanaian musician Kuami Eugene’s involvement in a car accident, Lynx Entertainment, the record label representing him, has issued an official press statement. (more…)

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Ghana International Trade Fair Center on the eviction and demolition of Fantasy Dome

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The Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited has dismantled the “Fantasy Dome,” owned by Fantasy Entertainment, which has been on the trade fair site since January 2018, to pave way for developers to complete the ongoing “Ghana International Trade Fair Center Development Project.”

The dismantled facility will be available to its owners for it to be relocated.

The tenancy agreement between owners of the Fantasy Dome and the Trade Fair Company Limited expired on 31 December 2023. Since then, all efforts by the management of the Trade Fair Company Limited to get “Fantasy Entertainment” to remove the “Fantasy Dome” from the Trade Fair site has proved futile.

The CEO of Fantasy Entertainment has stated in a Saturday March 17th interview that he has an injunction, but the Trade Fair Company Limited has VEHEMENTLY DENIED any such injunction. In fact the company states that it has not been served with any court processes and no injunction was served on the day of the demolition.

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Ironically, access to the portion of the site where the “Fantasy Dome” is situated at the Trade Fair site is vital for developers to construct the power and water infrastructure for the project as well as the drainage system to serve the new Ghana International Trade Fair Center. The dome has hampered the progress of these works for approximately 12 months.

To this end, the Trade Fair Company Limited on Saturday, 16 March 2024, embarked on an exercise supervised by the Ghana Police Service with support from the National Security Ministry to take down the “Fantasy Dome” in order for construction works on the Trade Fair site to proceed freely.

Brief background

The Ghana Trade Fair Company (GTFCL) was established by an Executive Instrument (EI) in 1960 as a project to facilitate Ghana’s post-independence trade and industrialization drive.

The Executive Instrument 10 acquired a 239.92-acre land for this purpose and to showcase Ghana’s exports with the view to attracting investors into its fledgling economy.

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From its origins in 1960, GTFCL has metamorphosed into a limited liability company strategically positioned to promote and facilitate trade in Ghana.

There have been attempts by successive governments to revive the company through various public-private partnership initiatives. These attempts have focused on redeveloping the entire center under various themes. The current redevelopment project is considered as a core part of President Nana Akufo Addo’s vision to position Ghana as a trade hub for West Africa.

The new Ghana International Trade Fair Center Development Project, when completed, would have a convention and an exhibition center, a technology hub, retail mall, commercial offices, hotel accommodation, and public realm spaces.
Infrastructure works and construction of the major exhibition center are now underway.

It is under the Akufo-Addo government that the company was revived to successfully undertake an aggressive redevelopment of the site. The management and board of directors of the company under this government have worked tirelessly to turn the company into a commercially viable business today and have secured funding from development partners to develop the site.

The new GTFC

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The new Ghana International Trade Fair Center Development Project, when completed, would have a convention and an exhibition center, a technology hub, retail mall, commercial offices, hotel accommodation, and public realm spaces.
Infrastructure works and construction of the major exhibition center are now underway.

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Kuami Eugene Survives Car Crash, Sustains Injuries

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Multiple award-winning Ghanaian singer and songwriter, Eugene Kwame Marfo, professionally known as Kuami Eugene narrowly escaped a near-fatal accident when his car rammed into a tipper truck on the night of Sunday, March 17, 2024. (more…)

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Ghana’s Blitz Bazawule’s ‘The Color Purple’ dominates 2024 NAACP Image Awards

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“The Color Purple” a film directed by Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule dominated at the 55th NAACP Image Awards on Saturday night, taking home four accolades including outstanding motion picture. (more…)

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Mix Master Garzy’s 2MG Music foundation inspires hope through music on Ghana’s Independence Day

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Ghana Independence Day holds great significance for the nation, but for 2MG Music Foundation, it became a day of deeper meaning as they embarked on a journey of compassion at Orthopedic Training Centre in Nsawam.

Benjamin Garzy Mensah, popularly known as Mix Master Garzy is the Founder and CEO of 2MG Music Foundation, an NGO based in Ghana which is also affiliated with the 2MG Music record label.

Their inspiring mission of “Touching Lives through Music: was definitely achieved at the OTC Camp. On Ghana Independence Day, the music foundation arrived at the hospital loaded with instruments, ready to uplift spirits and bring smiles to the patients.

As the musicians played, OTC came alive with the soothing sounds of music. Children had the chance to showcase their talents through dance and song, creating a fun filled inclusive atmosphere. Performing artists rallied to show their unwavering support for the event such as Niashun, Akua Music and Mr Drew and the Band Masters who held the fort for the live entertainment.

The music served as a welcome distraction for the OTC members, reminding them of joy and resilience amidst their physical challenges. Each song imparted a message of hope, showing them, they were not alone in their journey towards healing. Beyond melodies, they forged connections and touched hearts, leaving a lasting impression on children, families and staff. Inspired, they pledged to continue spreading joy through music.

In commemorating Ghana Independence Day at OTC, 2MG Music Foundation embarked on a meaningful journey of compassion and solidarity. Through music, they brought smiles and hope to all, reminding us of the importance of supporting one another in times of need.

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K.K. Kabobo passes on after battling liver disease

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News reaching Ameyaw Debrah Media is that Renowned Highlife musician, Kwabena Kwakye Kabobo, professionally known as K. K. Kabobo has passed on to glory. (more…)

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