Culture

Egypt unveils three multimillion-pound giant tourist projects

Published

1 year ago

April 25, 2023

The Egyptian government has unveiled three multi-million dollar giant tourist projects in a bid to expand its tourism potentials in the North African region.

The projects are located in Upper Egypt’s governorate of Minya which ranks third in archaeological and cultural value among the governorates of the country due to its distinguished location and archaeological sites that include all eras.

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Culture said in a statement on Tuesday that the development would see the tourist and archaeological areas in Minya Governorate take a quantum leap aimed at contributing to the preservation of the areas.

The projects, according to the ministry, includes the Ashmounin and Tuna al-Jabal to the Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Jabal al-Tayr, the Atonian Museum which is the third largest museum in Egypt, as well as the Tell el-Amarna Visitors Center and Museum, which includes 950 artifacts

“The Egyptian state has paid attention to revitalizing tourism.

“The state also developed and restored the Mallawi Museum, which is located in the heart of the city of Mallawi, at a cost of £7 million,” the statement said.

“The museum was reopened after the restoration of the building and the recovery of most of the stolen artifacts, in addition to the restoration of many holdings, and the development of four tourist areas including Tell el-Amarna, Ashmounin, Tuna al-Jabal, and the Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Jabal al-Tayr, at a cost of £11 million, and three projects are being implemented in the tourism and antiquities sector, with a total cost of £225 million.

“The Atonian Museum is the third largest museum in Egypt after the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Museum of Civilization. The idea of establishing the museum dates back to 1979 as a documentation of the history of the Pharaohs in Minya and the story of the city of Akhet Aton known as Tell el-Amarna.

“The Bahnasa region of the Bani Mazar Center, north of the Minya Governorate, witnessed the construction of 14 archaeological domes and the development of the visitor center and tourism services in the Bahnasa Islamic Antiquities area.

“This region is also witnessing a great tourist boom, whether from inside or outside Egypt, and the region is called the second Baqi, where about 70 of the companions who witnessed the Battle of Badr with the Prophet Muhammed, Peace be upon him, are buried along with the followers and the righteous.

“The Jabal Al-Tair region witnessed a great development during the last period after the region was included in the pilgrimage trips to the Vatican, where the project to revive the path of the Holy Family in the Jabal Al-Tair area in Samalout, north of Minya, was completed,” the ministry said.

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Culture

Legendary American music icon Stevie Wonder becomes full Ghanaian citizen

Published

23 hours ago

May 15, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Legendary American singer and songwriter, Stevie Wonder, is now officially a Ghanaian citizen after he took an oath of allegiance administered by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Wonder who was granted citizenship of the West African country on Monday which marked his 74th birthday, is one among a number of American celebrities who have decided to trace their family roots back to Africa.

While granting the icon the country’s citizenship with a certificate at a ceremony in the presidential palace, Akufo-Addo said it was a big honour to the country and Africa that such greats were coming back to the black continent.

He was also presented with a birthday cake with a Ghanaian flag iced on top.

After the ceremony, Wonder told the BBC that gaining Ghanaian nationality on his birthday was an “amazing thing” moment for him and his family.

The superstar was born and bred in the US state of Michigan but has long had an affinity for Ghana.

As far back as 1975, Wonder had openly expressed a desire to quit music and move to Ghana, a country he believed his ancestral lineage could be traced there while in the 1990s, he made frequent trips to the country as well as headlining a Ghanaian music festival where he again expressed a desire to set up a home there.

Wonder had, in an interview, confessed that his love affair with Ghana was ignited by the people he met whilst there including the late Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings, who in the 1990s hosted him at the presidential residence.

“I remember the late President Rawlings, who allowed me to be a co-pilot on a flight,” Wonder had said.

“I was able to fly with him from one end of Ghana to the other end. The north to the south, and it was amazing.”

Aside Stevie Wonder, other American-African celebrities who took up Ghanaian citizenship included writer, W E B Du Bois, who moved to Ghana and was buried there in 1963, while Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali all paid high-profile visits to the country to reconnect with their African roots.g

Culture

Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie fires shots at Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Asake in new single ‘Brag’

Published

3 days ago

May 13, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Ghanaian rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie, has sparked a new round of storm after he fired shots at Nigerian Afrobeats singers, Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Asake in his new single, “Brag.”

In the single which dropped on Friday, May 10, Sarkodie boasted about his 2016 sell-out performance at the O2 Arena, claiming he paved the way for the Nigerian acts.

The Ghanaian rapper said he laid the light for Nigerian Afrobeats top artistes and as such, they should be grateful to him and his pioneering role in projecting their careers.

The “Painkiller” hitmaker boasted about selling out the O2 in 2016, long before the Nigerian stars and created the platform they are now enjoying.

He went on to place himself in the same league as Grammy Award-winning Burna Boy and Ghanaian rapper, Black Sherif.

Sarkodie also stated that his main competitors in the music industry were American rappers Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, noting that he wasn’t on the same level as African rappers.

A line from the song goes:

“Wizkid came, I was already doing it, Davido started, I was improving it, then Odogwu came through Black Sherif & Asake.”

The release of “Brag” has however, elicited controversy and heated debates within the African music community, with fans weighing in on Sarkodie’s bold assertions and the perceived rivalry between him and the mentioned Nigerian artists.