MICHAEL & MANDELA TO RECEIVE AWARDS

Michael Jackson and Nelson Mandela to attend Kora music awards ceremony Former president Nelson Mandela and pop star Michael Jackson will be among the guests of honour at this year's Kora All Africa Music Awards at the Sun City superbowl in the North West on Saturday. Executive producer of Kora All Africa Music Awards Ernest Adjovi said last Sunday said: " I am honoured and elated that the Kora Awards has the opportunity to host two persons of such immense stature in their respective lives. "It can only add to the already multi-talented Africans of all hues who are attending and participating in this year's awards ceremony." Mandela would attend the ceremony in his capacity as the patron of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, to whom Jackson would hand over a cheque. Also, Adjovi said the ceremony would be held under the patronage of Namibian premier Hage Geingob. It is the fourth year that the awards were being held. The awards, which celebrate African music and culture across the globe, would be broadcast to more than 350 million viewers in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Several top musicians would perform at the event including Patience Dabany of Gabon, Femi Kuti, O'Renschi of Ivory Coast, Kadja Nin of Burundi, Musical group Bisso Na Bisso of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as South Africa's Brenda Fassie. Source: Offbeat 24 news