So drawn into the video (a plethora of faces, personalities and historic moments) Atlanta trio Algiers made for ‘Blood’, I forgot to pay attention to the lyrics the first time seeing it: http://vimeo.com/35896162

No that’s not a stadium rock concert, it’s the musical references in the introduction to a scenario report, “African Futures 2050,” from the South African ‘Institute for Security Studies’ think tank.* The report, published in collaboration with the Pardee Center for International Futures, was published last month. We finally got around to page through the […]

The Guardian reports: “Cash payments help cut HIV infection rate in young women, study finds: Research in Malawi finds girls who receive regular payments are able to resist attentions of older men and avoid infection.” The headline pretty much says it all … or does it?

Rumours are circulating on various Hollywood gossip and film blogs that Stringer Bell also known as Idris Elba — the East London boy made good in Hollywood — is next in line to play Nelson Mandela. Surfing on the mammoth success of his character in The Wire, his relatively popular series Luther on the BBC […]

Om Kalthoum, the late great Egyptian singer, stands in the studio of Khaled Hafez. Her eyes are closed, her mouth open in song or lament. There is not one of her, but six (including a shadow), laser-printed repetitively across a wide canvas. She has her trademark hair, evening dress, large earrings. One hand raised in emphasis. […]

Belgian band Zita Swoon, world-famous in their own country –I’m biased– recorded an easy listening album with the help of Burkinabé artists Awa Demé and Mamadou Diabaté Kibié. It sounds and looks exactly as I expected it to.