http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnWWGNL5_lo I don't know much about South African musician Fifi the Rai Blaster but I like this song, and the video. Watch out for more music put out by the Johannesburg label Iapetus Records.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTa28a8QKo4 I haven't heard Michael Kiwanuka's debut EP yet, but this song is promising, to say the least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBTGzx9yOk Not only is Edgar Pieterse (from the African Centre for Cities) a prolific writer (read his recent City Futures, the African Cities Reader and Counter-Currents -- these last two as an editor), he's also a good speaker. This talk at L.S.E. dates from earlier this year. "Pieterse argues for a new way of thinking about African cities to accompany (the) surge of interest (from architects and planners, academics, development agencies and urban think-tanks) and to replace traditional views of African cities as sites of absence and neglect."--Tom Devriendt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYQlMcPSkRs New video for South African Tumi and The Volume's 'Asinamali'. You know what 'Asinamali' stands for, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s921SaPiIIg Voltz's reading of Johannesburg. A first track and video from his upcoming album 'Revolt'.

Finally a teaser for the film "Skoonheid," by Cape Town director, Oliver Hermanus, is now online. Billed as the first Afrikaans film to compete at the Cannes Film Festival, the film also finally screened earlier today at Cannes. That means the first mainstream reviews are in. They're mixed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJyV6DtLNEA Here are some excerpts from the reviews as well as links: Jordan Mintzer in Hollywood Reporter:

A closeted homosexual has the hots for his brawny nephew in Skoonheid, a plodding South African drama that feels like a short film stretched into a feature, and fails to find its rhythm despite a decent lead turn from Deon Lotz. Basically a one-idea, one-plot-point movie that tries to provide grandeur via ineffective widescreen cinematography, writer-director Oliver Hermanus’ slim exploration of repressed desire and sexual angst will be of most interest to LGBT fests and distribs ... though Lotz has a strong screen presence, it’s not enough to make Skoonheid the parable on stilted South African machismo that it was surely meant to be.

Lee Marshall in Screen Daily:

The film’s dramatic tension lies not in the explicit content of many of the scenes but in the set of the protagonist’s mouth and his alert, needy but downcast eyes; or in little details in the corner of the scene, often out of focus - a mixed-race couple on the beach, a happy gay couple flirting in a gay bar where Francois sits drinking, filled with self-hatred - or the archive newspaper cutting on the wall of a restaurant that reads FREE AT LAST. It’s still a testing ride for the audience, and Hermanus doesn’t quite know how to end the film; but his is a refreshing new voice in a territory known up to now more for its township dramas, at least on the international festival stage.

Melissa Anderson at Artforum's blog

An overcooked, protracted tale of a married, self-loathing, dangerous top, the twenty-seven-year-old South African director’s sophomore film is vying for the second “Queer Palm” (the inaugural award went to Gregg Araki’s Kaboom last year) ...

The Belgian film critic, Patrick Duynslaegher:

What makes this portrait of a seemingly happily married but tormented gay man original is the fact that the tensions of his double life are deeply rooted in the reality and the mentality of contemporary post-apartheid South Africa, thus linking his self-loathing to the conservative and racist ideology of (the) country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m88dMUreOLU Based in Pretoria, MsSupa shot and edited the video for her 'Dreams' herself, she tells us. She's not pulling any punches.

http://vimeo.com/22851785 L.A. singer Jimetta Rose (whom you might know from her guest vocals on Shafiq Husayn's debut album "Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka") at this year's Rose Parade. It's a Nappy Nation out there.

Although the effect of blending the music by Shabazz Palaces and the images of documentary-in-the-making Tough Bond escapes me, for now, I am looking forward to seeing the end results (both of the documentary and the Shabazz Palaces first full album Black Up). Shabazz Palaces sure know how to pick their directors. http://vimeo.com/18653167 Remember the video for their 'Belhaven Meridian' by Kahlil Joseph: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMZKPaSF0GE Kahlil Joseph, who in his turn also shot a magnetic short film for Brazilian musician and actor Seu Jorge (featuring a cover of Roy Ayers's 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' and Kraftwerk's 'The Model'): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4kgEyYfq_o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjvUMr1-AAU Apparently Akala is "second generation black Caribbean and half white Scottish." He also has some things to say on a different kind of stage. H/T: Mikko Kapanen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKy4wFat5UE What's happening in (Cape Town's neighborhood) Woodstock that makes local hipsters flood the place? The speed at which parts of this area are gentrifying is dazzling. But hipsters also shoot nice images. Cue: shaky cam and hyper-bright colors. -- Tom Devriendt

http://www.vimeo.com/21968906 Electronic rap duo and "stereo wizards" Dirty Paraffin at the Faraday Muthi Market in downtown Johannesburg for the cover shoot of the South African online lookbook/zine Cuss. The video and the shoot were done by photographer Chris Saunders. You might remember them from their appearance in The Fader's Pitch Perfect series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5hvSTsYTGk Or from their own work, of course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrjuMSWuFW4

The South African newspaper Mail&Guardian has a YouTube channel which makes browsing through their occasional video reports accompanying the on-line and printed news a lot easier. The videos include Q&A's, political news talk, lectures, press conferences, music  and concert reviews. Go here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzDSmgAsQUY Nodding my head to this tune by Congolese artist Pathy Patcheko, a former member of Papa Wemba's band Viva la Musica. 'Tchaku' is a first single from his self-titled solo album. -- Tom Devriendt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulJx1XXQw4U I could listen to Tamikrest all day long. This is a new song from the Malian band's album Toumastin. Now, my knowledge of Tamashek is non-existent, but something tells me the song title means "children of Tinariwen". Whether they're referring to the band they were brought up with or the actual deserts, I don't know. Anyone care to translate? -- Tom Devriendt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrIAi1Xwxt0 Brussels rapper Brams aka L'Insatiable (born in Cameroon) has been working on some promising collaborations lately. This one, 'Stop Look & Listen', with wandering hip-hop artist Juba Zaki (hailing from Crown Heights, Brooklyn) being a case in point.

http://vimeo.com/14834791 South African guitar duo Warongx are two of several artists portrayed in The Creators documentary. Above is an excerpt. By the same makers of the great Invisible Sessions.