New humorous, but sharp, web series on “the African experience in America” wants to “refute negative portrayals of Africans in the media” and simultaneously work “as a window into the lives and traditions of individuals from different parts of the continent of Africa.”
The idea that because the coup happened, it's no longer worth taking positions on it is wrong-headed and dangerous. We should ask why, and why now.
Senegal voted this weekend. Abdoulaye Wade is gone after 12 years. Macky Sall, once Wade’s protege and variously prime minister and minister of mining under the old man is now in charge. We hope to have a few post election analyses posts up in the next few days. Till then enjoy the exuberance of “the dancing man” filmed by Al Jazeera journalist Azad Essa in Dakar last night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhyqJb0VZtQ What better way to start the week than with some a cappella soul courtesy of South African singers Buhlebendalo Mda, Luphindo Ngxanga and Ntsika Fana Ngxanga (better known as ‘The Soil’).
Five for the weekend. I haven’t done this in a while. First up Philadelphians Chill Moody (rapper) and Cody Kahmar with the music video for “My Eyes”:
That first line is one by Tunde Adebimpe (joined by fellow TV on the Radio musician Kyp Malone) from his collaboration with Amadou & Mariam on ‘Wily Kataso’. The second line is the title of Spoek Mathambo’s latest single (and music video):
A few things are worth saying about the mutiny and the coup that rocked Bamako over the last few days.
A new series of documentaries explore the politics of leadership via an imaginative, malleable, deeply personal treatment of history.
Remember when famed DJ and tastemaker, Diplo, got mad at Africa is a Country’s Boima for a post Boima did about global dance music and cultural appropriation? (Click here for the post and scroll down for Diplo’s outbursts). Anyway, Okayplayer’s Eddie ‘Stats’ Houghton (check out his Large Up blog btw) got the two to sit […]
In the DRC, city life isn’t foremost defined by the image of the child soldier (contrary to what some campaigns would have you believe) but rather by that of the street child. Seen by many as a superfluous presence, a residue or a waste, street children become easy victims of gossip and accusations while at the same time, as a relatively new phenomenon, they are also hard to explain, ultimately turning into something of a danger and a threat that, according to all too many citizens, needs to be dealt with and ideally removed from the stuttering and improvisational city logics.
In Durban, South Africa, “shackdwellers are taking their municipality to court. The government evicted poor residents from their homes … [in order to allow the construction of a road] … and threw them into transit camps, where they live ‘like a fish in a tin’, waiting for more permanent housing that never comes. [One of […]