AfricaIs aCountry

Fela! wins on Broadway

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Fela! wins on Broadway

By
Sean Jacobs

Bill T Jones’ “Fela!,” the musical interpretation of the life of the Afrobeat king, is up for 11 Tony Awards–the most of any show this year–including Best Musical.  I haven’t seen any of the other shows up for contention, but I can attest to the brilliance of the show. From Jones’ direction, to the acting of the leads Sahr Ngauajah and Lilias White, the set, the music and the dancers, and the  Well done. (I won’t get drawn into debates again about the show’s premise or omissions, whether ridiculous charges of minstrelsy or revisionism about Fela’s backward sexual politics.)

Well done.

Watch the announcements on The Tony Awards website just to hear actor Jeff Daniels–announcing the nominees–mangling the show’s title: “Feel-laa.”

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Reading List: Barbara Boswell

While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

An annual awakening

In the 1980s, the South African arts collective Vakalisa Art Associates reclaimed time as a tool of social control through their subversive calendars.

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.