Ryan wins Vodafone ICONS Street Edition

The 2013 edition of the Vodafone ICONS reality show came to a climax last Thursday with an 'unlikely' candidate, Ryan Henry Korsah, walking away with the mouthwatering prize package at stake.

Ryan, beat three other hopefuls - Marion, Kelvin and the crowd's favourite Buda - to win this year's show which was dubbed the Street Edition.

The prize package for this year was GH¢250,000 for the winner-takes-competition. The package included, a cash prize of GH¢50,00, a recording contract with Universal Records, a management contract, and a brand new a KIA Sportage.

With the four finalists managing to escape painful weekly evictions to reach the finale, they knew they had to put up an A performance on the night and they did just that.

The show kicked off with a joint performance of Black Eye Peas's smash hit I Gotta Feeling by the four finalists.

Impressive finale
After that impressive introductory performance, Buda hit the stage first with his individual performance. He performed Ma Kwan by his brother Kwaw Kese and Edem.

Hi performance set the tone for what the night install. Kelvin, wearing a traditional cloth followed with an exquisite performance of Moses OJ's Maye Se Mo Pen while Ryan, backed by six dancers, performed his rendition of Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It.

The only female in the finale, Marion hit the stage with that Lauryn Hill's That Thing. She brought her rap prowess to bear on the night giving clear indication that she was equally up to the task of doing what it takes to win.

The second round saw Kelvin taking up the mic to perform Kwabena Kwabena's Aso but it was Buda performance of Edem's Bra Fremi Fremi that got one of the judges for the night Appietus to commented that, "No size....whether you win or not, you are a winner."

Marion gracefully serenaded the judges and audience with Beyonce's If I Were A Boy while Ryan capped the second round of performances with Mario's I Choose You. That exciting performance marked the end of an award streak of attention grabbing showpieces.

After the second round of performances, two contestants - Marion and Buda - to the dismay of the judges and patrons at the National Theatre were evicted from the show. Miss Naa said "I am shocked" while Appietus said "I go go Supreme Court" [I will go the Supreme Court.]

The remaining contestants took turns to impress the judges and Ghanaians with their own songs. Kelvin performed Dying For Your Love while Ryan performed I Don't Care produced by Ephraim.

Ready for Ghana
After being crowned the winner, R&B and Afro-pop singer, Ryan, told Myjoyonline.com that, "God has blessed me right now. God has followed me through this journey and I thank everybody for what they have done for me."

According to him, he is ready for the Ghanaian music industry because he has already recorded several songs and "all I have to do is just to put them out so that people can see what I can do," he said.

A disappointed Kwaw Kese
Controversial hiplife musician Kwaw Kese popularly known as Abodam disrupted the declaration of the winner of the reality show during the live recording last Thursday by storming the stage.

For several minutes, the artiste protested at the eviction of his brother Buda from the Top Two finalists. Fans chanted his brother's name as he walked on stage urging them on.

His protestation brought the declaration of the winner and the show to an abrupt halt and the event only continued after he had left the stage.

Commenting on the incident, Uche Ofodile, Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone Ghana told Myjoyonline.com that "What we saw today was passion. There are people who are very passionate about contestants and unfortunately we don't control that, it's about voting. People are passionate about ICONS."

There were also impressive performances from T-Flow of Alkayida, and Ghana's fastest rapper Sarkodie.

The brand new Kia Sportage was officially handed over to Ryan at a short ceremony at the Vodafone Headquarters in Accra Friday.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Ernest Dela Aglanu (Twitter: @delaXdela / Instagram: citizendela)