How it started
Funny how a life and love of entertainment can spring from such unusual circumstances.
At the age of 10, I dressed in my mother’s clothes, shoes, dress, and earrings. I know what you’re thinking — but hang with me for a bit longer here. My mother was admitted to the hospital and was not responding to the care being administered by its staff. Doctors were worried that she might never recover. My grandfather encouraged me to try and lift my mother’s spirits. That’s when the cross-dressing idea came to me. When my mother saw me in costume, tears rolled down her cheeks. She could see herself clearly in her son. Tears turned to smiles, and smiles turned to laughter. Filling her heart with joy began to cure where medical attention could not.
From this day onward, I set out to entertain the world. I had found my calling and nothing was going to stand in my way.
Throughout my childhood and teen years in Ghana (Africa), entertainment played an essential role in my life. I wanted to learn all about the craft in its many forms — and I wanted to study, live and learn through the lens of its gifts. Artform became lifeline. There were parties, concerts and more. I began to taste make and DJ along the way. I was always looking to entertain my friends and family. Traveling to England on holidays exposed me to the music scene in particular. Days spent at The Garage, the farms in North London and nightclubs in Brixton all made me appreciate entertainment still further.
As a high school freshman, I signed my first music deal with Magic and King T, a local rap group. I recorded a few tracks songs with them and even got some airplay on the radio. I completed a few other records with local groups, and I even got the chance to be featured on some tracks. Throughout high school, I was prominent in the entertainment scene. I was DJ, MC, artist, videographer, manager — whatever would make time in a boarding school less horrible than it was. One of my most proud accomplishments was getting the school to update their entertainment system with new speakers, CD players and a mixer. It was not easy to get the principal to invest in these things. I took persistence. NOTT was a group that I founded on campus that earned me the nickname Phubu da Dinosaur. These formative years were a great experience that laid an even stronger foundation for things to come.
After high school, I moved to the United States. I wasted no time in advancing my studies. I read business journals. I followed the U.S. entertainment industry closely, observing its mechanics and trend setting. On February 22, 2006, I founded Kontinental Entertainment and signed my first act to a one album deal. “Primary Hearing” by Jamal Langley (a.k.a. Mally Mall) was an immediate success and is regarded as one of the strongest hip hop albums to come out on the Northern Virginia area in recent years. We sold over 5,000 copies independently in the first three months.
Through the process of the mastering the record, I met Eric “9Davine” Townsend of SplashKit at one of his collaborator’s establishments, Cue Recording. An excellent musician and astute businessman, Townsend was formulating an independent music festival and looking for a partner in the venture. We quickly hit it off. Together, we created H3Festival in ear;y 2007 and staged it successfully at the top music venue under 250 seats in the United States (as rated by Paste Magazine) — Jammin’ Java (Vienna VA-USA). The festival was a unique blend of live entertainment that introduced the region’s top songwriting, poetry and comedy talent. Through this experience, we helped audiences to discover Dustin Conley (Buster Brown Band) and Edith Sodolo (a.k.a. Deja Belle). I co-produced Conley’s debut, 1.21 Jiggywatts Live! We introduced Sodolo to local guitar virtuoso Vinnie Parrish and helped the duet claim the grand prize in 2008′s Capital Star talent competition.
Kontinental is committed to growth into a top-notch entertainment company, bringing joy to hearts all over the world. Our broad view and embrace of diversely different styles of entertainment are what make us special. The coming years will be eventful for the company, as we expand our influence to new marketplaces.
Kontinental —OUR WORLD!
Nana Opoku
