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| Kefee |
It was a sombre mood as
over 100 members of the Nigerian entertainment industry gathered recently in
Lagos to strategize on ways and means of giving late singer, Kefee, a befitting
burial.
The meeting,
SHOWBIZPLUSng gathered held in Surulere and was hugely attended.
Some of the notable
faces at the meeting were, Nikki Laoye, Anny Ibrahim, Tosin Martins, DJ
Gosporella, Emem Ema, Wamilele, Princess, Tee-Y Mix, Perry Martins, Praise
Machine, Mudi, Righteousman, Nene Soul Diva, Victor Gospogroove, Gordons,
Sammie Okposo and representatives from Kefee’s family.
All the speakers noted
that the death of Kefee has affected the Nigerian entertainment industry and the
world over and not just the gospel music community in Nigeria.
“Kefee was a major
contributor to the development of entertainment in Nigeria and the industry
will be there for her even in death. We are going to bury her as a queen and it
would be nice for us to work together to make her burial a grand affair. It
would also be nice to use this opportunity to get our acts together as Gospel
artists and entertainers in general because that is what Kefee would love,’’ he
said.
Also speaking, Tosin
Martins, suggested that activities in honour of Kefee should extend beyond the
immediate burial plans to include a more robust an annual memorial symposium
and other events which promote the interests and passion of Kefee for
posterity’s sake.
A committee called the
‘Kefee Memorial Committee’ (KMC) was thus constituted to plan the various
events which would hold in Lagos and Sapele, the hometown of the late singer.
The members of the
committee are: Sammie Okposo, Nikki Laoye, Commorade Rex Anighoro, Momodu Inu
Noah, Tosin Martins, Anny Ibrahim, Joan Paul, Aity Dennis-Inyang, Emem Ema,
Gbenga Akintokun, Tee-Y Mix, Tim Tehilla, DJ Gosporella, Praise Machine, Victor
Gospogroove, Princess, Perry Martins, DJ Direal and journalist, Chilee
Agunanna, who was Kefee’s publicist
The committee would plan
towards befitting burial events in Lagos and Sapele and some of the proposed
activities were a symposium and Service of Songs tagged ‘An Evening With Kefee’
in Lagos.
There would also be a
documentary of the singer’s life and times; performances of her songs by other
artists; Kefee memorial merchandise and a tribute concert in Sapele.
Kefee’s husband, Teddy
Don-Momoh, monitored the proceedings of the meeting from the U.S. where he is
preparing to fly home the body of his wife.
He once again pleaded
for the privacy of the family to be respected in these trying times.
He observed that some of the stories written about Kefee
since her death were mostly untrue and cited the reports of a pregnancy which
didn’t exist and the story that her body had been flown home as very
insensitive and mischievous.
He also stressed that some reports that claimed that he was stranded
in the U.S. and soliciting for financial help through a bank account were lies.
Teddy said that, customarily, he would have to return home
to Nigeria first, to be on ground to receive the body of his wife which would
then follow afterwards.
He said he was finalising the required paperwork before
Kefee’s body could be flown from the U.S. to Nigeria and once those were done,
more details of the burial plans would be released.
Teddy said that Kefee’s family had requested that she be
buried in their hometown, Okpara-Inland, Ethiope East local government, with a
celebratory service in Sapele afterwards and that he was comfortable with that.
Those, according to him, were the only definite arrangements
for his wife’s burial so far.
Kefee whose real name was Irikefe Don-Momoh (nee Obareki)
was a well-liked Pop-Gospel artist who had been active in the entertainment industry
for the past ten years. She was born on Feb. 5, 1980 in Sapele, Delta State and
was known as the Branama Queen, in reference to her debut hit track and album,
‘Branama’. She also scored a hit with the track, ‘Kokoroko’, featuring Timaya
and had four albums to her credit— ‘Branama’ (2003), ‘Branama 2’ (2005), ‘A
Piece of Me’ (2009) and ‘Chorus Leader’ in 2013.
A Condolence Register has been opened for the singer at her
restaurant, Branama Kitchen, at 11 Ajose Str., Mende, Maryland, Lagos.
Signed,
Chilee Agunanna (chileik@yahoo.com)
Publicist.
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