Africa Is a Country

tom-devriendt

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Tom Devriendt

Tom Devriendt was an editorial board member of Africa is a Country before there was an editorial board.

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The Coloureds Comics

We sent 5 questions to South African comic (or graphic) artists Nathan and Andre Trantraal, known collectively as the Trantraal Brothers.

Mural Art in Woodstock

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

Stereo Wizards

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

Music Break

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

Music Break

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

Music Break

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.

Music Break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_u-AAIYUM Today is Senegal's independence day. Carlou D transformed himself from the rapper he was in Didier Awadi's band Positive Black Soul to the singer-songwriter (supporting for Youssou N'Dour) he is these days, and did so in style. Although we're still waiting for his new album 'Audiovisa' to come out, this song, 'Ligueye', should be on it.

(Re)construções

Lawrence Lemaoana is one of 13 South African artists selected by curator Daniella Géo for the exhibition "Reconstruções: arte contemporânea da África do Sul" [Reconstructions: Contemporary Art from South Africa] running until 15 May at the Brazilian Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (yes, that Oscar Niemeyer building). One day they'll organize an exhibition on contemporary South African art without the work of Goldblatt, Ballen, Kentridge or Mofokeng. One day.

Coming Out in Cameroon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnrHhRLFPqo One of the human rights activists featuring in the 2009 documentary Cameroon: Coming Out of the Nkuta is Alice Nkom. The film sketches the daily struggle of young gays and lesbians in Cameroon. Nkom was in The Netherlands this week to talk about their fight. For a longer talk by Nkom (in French), here she is speaking at conference late last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHLw6wb9sBo

Music Break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4EriPgiXV0 I like this video for Sayon Bamba's song 'L'excisée' (from her album Dougna). Born in Guinea she resides in Brussels these days. A message doesn't come much clearer than this.

The Zimbabwe Alliance

"The Zimbabwe Alliance is a funder/advocate partnership to promote a vibrant civil society and a successful democratic transformation in Zimbabwe. The alliance is non partisan and does not accept corporate funds." Nothing here we are not in support of, so we figured we'd share this promotional video for the Zimbabwe Alliance, recorded by Nomadic Wax's Magee McIlvaine. http://vimeo.com/20987027

Music Break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNynEnPMagA Remember the Belgian-Congolese project Héritage? It took them a while to record a video for one of the featuring songs. The two singers on this track are Stefy Rika and Nina Miskina. You'll recognize the infamous Africa Museum's diorama in the first part. It gets interesting halfway through.

Movies that matter

If you can’t make it to Stockholm next week, visiting The Hague might be a good alternative. The Movies That Matter Festival has also planned some promising premieres (and I'm relying more on the trailers than on the film festival's site descriptions). Three films I hope to see there are. First up, Surprising Europe, a “documentary about a disappointed immigrant, who wants to show his fellow-countrymen the true face of Europe.” More on the film's website. The Mobile Cinema "... follows the mobile cinema crew members as they travel through inhospitable areas of Congo, to screen their much-awarded Fighting the Silence and change people’s attitude towards rape." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Caorb7NF_2s And a documentary about rapper Sister Fa: Sarabah

Subjected to female genital mutilation as a child, the Queen of Hip Hop now campaigns to protect Senegalese girls from a similar fate. In the film, she returns to her native village to try to put an end to this centuries-old tradition through music and education.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPPX4cnEIUQ A full list of the featuring films can be found here. -- Tom Devriendt