Publishers of Mode Men Magazine recently announced that plans are in top gear for another bumper edition of its annual awards, Black Night. Revealing the activities scheduled for its fifth season, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, publisher of the male-oriented magazine said it would definitely be a night of comedy, fashion, music and many more goodies.
“This year, as usual, we will have an auction. We are a company that has a heart and for us, it is not just about the good times and celebrations. It is also about giving back. Every year, we have an auction and we raise money. We visit an orphanage after and we are able to donate whatever we have got and a little extra from our purse. In the past, we had auctioned a Thierry Henry autographed picture, a Grammy plaque signed by a Grammy award winner and several other items.”
For this year’s auction, Balewa revealed, there would be a limited three litter magnum donated by the house of Hennessey. “It will be autographed by Charles Hennessey who is the grandson of Richard Hennessey, the owners of the Hennessey brand. We will also be having football memorabilia which will be signed by real footballers. We have got a few other people giving us things that we will auction at the event and the money will go to charity,” he divulged.
The Black Night event, according to Balewa, serves as an opportunity to encourage new artistes and designers. “Normally we have one or two established artistes and a few new ones. This year, because it is our fifth anniversary, we are having five prominent artistes and then maybe we will have a few new people to be able to showcase their talents.
The good thing is that we always have producers and record label owners among our guests and we are proud to say that we have some of them signed on to record labels as a result of events that we have held. It is also an opportunity for new designers to showcase their works. We all know that fashion is getting big in Nigeria. This is our opportunity to just push new people. Mai Atafo, who won our designer of the year in 2010, will be showcasing alongside four other young designers.
Meanwhile, artistes billed to perform at the event include, MI, Ice Prince, Praiz, Sage the poet, Silver Sadih and Femi. It holds at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos on Friday, April 22.
