Music Break
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=932nXiUN-dY Nice video for “Bienvenue au Cameroun”, a track by Cameroonian (yeah) artist Ayriq Akam.
Blog
'I wanna be a Nigerian so freaking bad'
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzbvPa5npmo&w=560&h=349] UPDATE: This video, “I wanna be a Nigerian so freaking bad,” by a group of American high schoolers focusing on Nigeria in an AP Comparative Politics class, is a minor Youtube hit. The song is a tongue in cheek rip-off of “Billionaire” by Travis McCoy and Bruno Mars. Why Nigeria? “Our teacher has gone […]
Music Break
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTRmpJ_EpJE Dub Colossus member Samuel Yirga “plays one night a week in Addis’s only jazz club/coffee bar, where the way he mixes Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock with Ethiojazz has won him a cult following.” He says: I take traditional music and turn it around, and people in Ethiopia are starting to listen to the […]
Music Break
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih4zoQGlOf8&w=560&h=349] Mikey AKA Kesse Babe, from Nigeria’s Project Fame reality TV show, comes with a very nice Twi-Pop, Roots Reggae tune. I was able to visit Mikey’s studio recently in Accra. The young R&B singer has a great voice and a lot of talent. Keep a look out for more from him.
'Afropolitans'
If in London next Friday. Press Statement from the Victoria and Albert Museum: On 24 June the V&A presents Friday Late: Afropolitans, a free evening of music, workshops and performance celebrating African photography, fashion, and style. The evening will host the first UK show by South African house musician Spoek Mathambo and band. Mathambo will […]
"… new trends in Africa and the Diaspora"
At the margins of this year’s Art Basel (15-19 June) and curated by Christine Eyene, FOCUS11 presents a group of African artists in the city of Basel, Switzerland this weekend. The selected artists (“reflecting new trends in Africa and the Diaspora”) are Nirveda Alleck (above is “Suspended Thought,” a 2006 photocollage by Alleck), Natalie Mba Bikoro, […]
June 16th
With the 35th anniversary of the June 16, 1976 uprising by high school students in South Africa on our minds today (the uprising that started out in Soweto, triggered by the enforced instruction of black students in Afrikaans, ushering in a new era of resistance both inside and outside South Africa against white racism and economic exploitation), […]
Music Break
Real World Records has just released (this past Monday) the new album “In Trance” by JuJu, a collaboration album between Brit Justin Adams and Gambian Juldeh Camara. This is the song “Nightwalk. Thoughts?
The oil complex
Video of a worthwhile lecture (recorded in February this year) by Berkeley geographer Michael Watts breaking down the workings of the oil industry.
Ali Bongo loves America
Gabon's unsavory Life President came to visit the US. Probably to discuss oil deals. He became collatoral damage in the US right's media war against Barack Obama. So less time to focus on Bongo. So a win for him then.
New Documentary Films
A clip from Ann Buford’s new film, “Elevate,” about four high school athletes recruited from Senegal to play basketball at upscale prep schools in the US. Then there’s “The Redemption of General Butt-Naked” directed by Eric Strauss and Danielle Anastasion. From the film PR: “… Once a brutal warlord who mercilessly slaughtered men, women, and […]
Music Break
TV On The Radio‘s Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone join Tinariwen for this song. BTW, Tinariwen is touring the US this summer. (They’re playing New York City on July 20.)