Africa Is a Country

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Africa Is a Country

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Asking for a friend

The big questions that animated our friend this week: Facebook, thanks for the 'Paris Safety Check.' Can we have one for Baghdad, Beirut and Borno too? Why is a public execution with a sword worse than an indiscriminate drone attack? Why weren’t the recent suicide attacks in Baghdad and Beirut and Borno also an attack on humanity? Are the #Parisattacks really the "worst peacetime attack in France since World War II," as BBC reported? Where are the good analyses on the pro-Igbo protests in Nigeria? Did you know that Angolan transgender kuduru artist Titica won the “African Feather of the Year” award in South Africa for defending the rights of the LGBT community? Is Yannick Bolasie's Youtube channel (including clips documenting his arrival at the airport in Kinshasa and from the pitch in Bujumbura right after a 3-2 away win in a World Cup qualifier) the best thing ever? Does anyone want to doggedly overthrow Paul Theroux's supposedly self-amassed obstacles to write his biography? I mean, his "writing" is already enough? Why is France24 taking advice from FW de Klerk (who as recently as 2012 still defended Apartheid) on immigration? Why does Stellenbosch University (where English will become the only means of instruction) suddenly care about coloured Afrikaans speakers? What if black people inverted South Africa’s township tours? How can a non-musician discuss the future of music from anything other than a consumer point of view? If you're in San Diego for the annual meeting of the African Studies Association on Friday night, why not come to our book launch? * That's The Maribyrnong Six in the image above. BTW, we wish our friend Binyavanga Wainaina a speedy recovery.

Asking for a friend

This week's 20 questions from our friend: Can Idris Elba's acting save the Netflix movie 'Beasts of No Nation'? Why do African national teams do so well in FIFA age group competitions (Nigeria and Mali play each other in the Under 17 World Cup Final today in Chile) but fail so spectacularly at senior level? (A former Mexico coach--they lost to Nigeria in the semifinal--has a theory.) Will the child refugees who are the subjects of this New York Times Magazine/Google 'real time' storytelling app be able to see it? Who will win Uganda's presidential election in 2016? You know that President Paul Kagame can technically rule Rwanda until 2034? Think about it: North West Kardashian will be 21 and D'Banj will be 54. Is Africa's best footballer Yaya Toure mad at John Obi Mikel? Will the Italian newspaper La Republica at some point explain to the rest of us why it decided to make a blackface film? Is Bono also your go-to person on global poverty and Ethiopian history? What is Nigerian Senator Patrick Obahiagbon saying? Who should we blame for the pitiful state of commercial rap music? Is Drake Zambian? Is "Our Brand is Crisis" (the fictionalized movie version with Sandra Bullock of the revealing 2006 documentary film) as bad as we assume it is? Why is Fareed Zakaria still allowed to make stuff up? Does the  movement have its own soundtrack? Have you gotten your copy of "Apartheid Israel: The Politics of an Analogy"? What was NPR thinking? Who believed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (Order of the Blackface) when he pretended to know very little about his country's deep historical ties to South Africa? Did the City of Johannesburg take Burning Spear's advice about social living literally? Why do US public representatives take their foreign policy advice (on the Democratic Republic of the Congo) from Nicole Ritchie and Ryan Gosling? Don't we all miss Brenda Fassie right now?

Africa is a Radio: Episode #13

Africa is a Radio show for October 2015. Sean and Elliot are on a break from the show, so Boima fills in with some new tunes from around the African Diaspora, with special shout outs to the South African student protesters, and young Afrobeats artists in the UK.
Tracklist VVIP - Skolom feat. Sena Dagadu
Aewon Wolf - Sukumani 2.0 feat. Mashayabhuqe KaMamba
Pablo Vittar - Open Bar
Maffalda - Fuck Your Feelings
Ifé - 3 Mujeres (Iború Iboya Ibosheshé)
Leka el Poeta & Master Boy - Ella Queire Hmm Hmm Hmm
Atumpan - African Wine
Olami Still - Call on me
J Hus - Dem Boy Paigon
Mazi Chukz - SOS feat. Baseman & Ezi Emela
Khuli Chana & Patoranking - No Lie
Ace Harris - Drop feat. R. City, Lloyd Musa, and Yung Muse
DJ Flex and DJ Dotorado - Bando Remix
Aero Manyelo - DNA Test
Big Space - Long Ride
Olatunji - Ola

Africa is a Radio: Episode #12

Discussion on this episode of Africa is a Radio features a report back from Sean Jacobs on his recent trip home to Cape Town, a discussion on Kagame's Rwanda and its relationship to the international courts, and finally a visit to the Americas centering in on Charleston, South Carolina and the Dominican Republic. The music selection from Chief Boima touches on all these corners of the world and more.

Stream Africa is a Country’s live concert partnership with Coffebeans Routes, this Thursday

As we announced earlier this month, Africa is a Country is teaming up with Coffeebeans Routes in Cape Town to bring you a live concert series called "If you can't see me, are you really there?" The first edition will happen this Thursday at 19:30 Cape Town time. Visit the site at that time (use the previous link to calculate your own time) to participate live, and read up on what Coffeebeans Routes has to say about the first act below!

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FIRST CONCERT – LOIT SOLS & CHURCHIL NAUDE The Coffeebeans Routes concert series “If you Can’t See Me, Are You Really There?” opens on Thursday the 25th of June with a goema rymklets folk hip hop collaboration between acclaimed published poet and performer Loit Sols, and Afrikaans hip hop artist Churchil Naude aka Kroeskop, Koos Kombuis’s favourite rapper. This is their first live collaboration. The show comes on the tails of Churchil’s debut album release, Kroeskop vol Geraas, and their studio collaboration on the Wasgoedlyn project. Goema is what connects Loit and Churchil. Goema, the geographically distinct, historically unique, rhythmically inflected, culturally outerclass, irreverent, scatological and deeply spiritual indigenous masala. Brandishing a Khoekhoegowab language dictionary, Loit points to the Khoesan etymology of Goema: “Goma”, meaning the hide of an ox. The drum, says Loit, is not a drum without the stretched hide. Goema is also derived from the Indonesian “Gumum” meaning murmur, indicative of the drumbeat of dissent among the Cape’s West Indies slave ancestors. Drum. Bush Telegraph. Language. Goema – sameness and difference.  Visible and invisible. Loit is a poet, musician, graphic designer, performance artist, Goema lexicologist, and now also radio presenter – he has just started a weekly slot on Radio Sonder Grense, RSG, on Friday mornings 0745 – 0800. Born in Retreat in 1957, he started writing at age 8, and taught himself music starting at age 21 with a guitar. He has performed variously, locally and internationally, including the Winternachten Festival in the Netherlands, Stellenbos Woordfees, Infecting The City Cape Town, and the Riddu Riddu Festival in Norway. He has two published anthologies: his debut being My Straat En Anne Praat-Poems (1998), and Die Faraway Klanke vanne Hadedah (2006). His recorded music & poetry include: A Moment In Cape Town, Sierjis Kak-Praat and the Goemarati Compilation. Churchil is a hip hop artist and carpenter. Fine woodwork is his day to day. As he says about hip hop as an income, “daasie geldie, there’s no money. You do it because you have a passion. That’s it”. Loit says the same about being a poet. Churchil has been an MC since the mid 1990s, starting out in English. “I’ve got albums full of English material, but it was the discovery of Koos Kombuis’ album Elke Boomelaar’s se Droom that woke me up to my mother tongue as ‘great’, as the tongue that I had to use”. Churchil has collaborated widely in South Africa, recording with a number of his own musical mentors, including Anton Goosen, who he grew up hearing on the radio and TV (check out their video below, Boy from the Suburbs). The Loit Sols Churchil Naude session will be intimate, just the two of them with guitar, voice and harmonica. If you're in Cape Town, book your tickets here. If you can’t be there, catch the live stream with us!

Africa is a Radio: Episode #11

Africa is a Radio has a Football (is a Country) focus this week. Things have been moving so fast in FIFA's controversial world that this show is a bit behind on the latest news. But we think you will enjoy the discussion anyway. Also included is a brief discussion around today's UEFA Champion's League Final. And, a new segment in our show is an interview series we will have with various public figures. Our first interviewee is Kenyan author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. The audio included in the show is only a brief excerpt, so visit the blog later on this week to get the whole thing. Of course, as always, the show includes a selection of tunes from across the African continent and its diaspora. Stream it here via Mixcloud, and download the archive from Groovalizacion.

Africa is a Country teams up with Coffebeans Routes to present a Cape Town concert series.

This month we will be kicking off a special partnership with Coffeebeans Routes to bring you a concert live from Cape Town on the last Thursday of every month. This concert series is  a celebration of Coffeebeans Routes 10th year of existence. The organization is a cultural tourism company that just received an award for their dedication to "engaging people and culture" in the Cape Town region. Says founder and creative director Iain Harris: “We would like to share with the city and the world some of the best examples of music performance and composition that Cape Town has to offer.” Read more about the organization's history, and their intimate connection to the Cape Town music landscape on their blog. The first concert will be Thursday June, 25th 2015, and it will feature Loit Sols in collaboration Churchil Naude. It's a fascinating partnership between Loit, a goema rymklets folk singer, and Churchil an Afrikaans hip hop artist. The show comes on the tails of Churchil’s debut album release on 24 May, Kroeskop vol Geraas, and their studio collaboration on the Wasgoedlyn project. If you're Cape Town you can join the festivities live. But if not, you can also just tune in here at Africa is a Country where we will be live streaming each concert. And look out for deeper profiles on all the participating artists here on Africa is a Country.

Hamba kahle, Raphael Tenthani

Tributes are pouring in from around the world for Raphael Tenthani, who has died in a traffic accident aged 43. Known to BBC World Service listeners for his excellent reporting from Malawi, and to all Malawians as "The Muckraker" for his fearless column in the Sunday Times, Tenthani was a scourge of corrupt political elites and a fierce defender of press freedom. Over at Nyasa Times, Thom Chiumia paid tribute to his colleague and friend. Malawi and Africa has lost a pillar of strength, and a brave and compassionate voice. We must protect our journalists. Rest in power, Muckraker.

Africa is a Radio: Episode #9

In this edition of Africa is a Radio, the Africa is a Country team discusses the Nigerian Election results, #CadaanStudies, the Garissa Attacks in Kenya, and South African Cricket. Plus music from all over Africa and beyond.