AfricaIs aCountry

Africa is a Kickstarter

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

Africa is a Kickstarter

By
Boima Tucker

http://youtu.be/YXI1kUk6Uqk

Two music related Kickstarter campaigns deserve your attention.

The above video is from The Nile Project, a campaign put together by Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis, and Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero. Meklit and Mina, based in San Francisco, are raising money to complete an international music collaboration based around the cultures of the Nile River. They’ve already lined up an impressive series of events including a floating band, a TED X event, and a world touring show, but they need your help to begin on their scouting trip to recruit musicians. Visit their page to donate.

Already almost funded is the Radio Tanzania project, focused on the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation in Dar es Salaam. In conjunction with Tanzania’s celebration of their 50th year of independence, the state radio station is digitizing their archives to preserve Tanzanian cultural and political history. The campaign will also help fund a documentary about the preservation process including interviews with historical Tanzanian cultural figures.

And if you’re still looking for something to give to, don’t forget that Sorie Kondi is still trying to get to SXSW in Austin, Texas!

About the Author

Boima Tucker is a music producer, DJ, writer, and cultural activist. He is the managing editor of Africa Is a Country, co-founder of Kondi Band and the founder of the INTL BLK record label.

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.