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.
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.
Recent demonstrations in Sudan’s capital Khartoum over road conditions and traffic signals have led some observers in the West to speculate about the possibilities of a Egypt-style revolution there (see FT, BBC and Al Jazeera English, for example; Sudan-specific blogs, like Making Sense of Sudan, are silent on the protests). For our sake, I asked a […]
Watch out for Toumani Diabaté’s cousin, Sona Jobarteh.
“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 […]
I love this track, “It Would Be,” by Cape Town’s Alleycat (government name: Enslin Grootboom) featuring fellow rapper, T100. The song is Cape Town for real: riding the Jamaican riddim, the transplanted patois and the stripped-down video. (Artists in Cape Town rarely do bling unlike their Johannesburg counterpunts.) I also recognize the milieu: The music video […]
Seun Kuti, Fela's son, and for some the true heir of his father's musical legacy while charting his own part, has a new album and a lot of opinions.
The 46-minute video of the 2010 BBC World “Debate” with the unfortunate title: “Is Homosexuality Un-African?” The show was recorded in Johannesburg, South Africa. Via My Big Debate.
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.
In memory of Cameroonian artist Goddy Leye (1965-2011).
“There are three myths about technology,” [according to] Harish Hande, founder of SELCO-India, a “social enterprise” that has sold solar lighting systems to 112,000 households in India. “One is that poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies. Another is that poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies. And a third is that social ventures cannot be run […]
I like the young producers and reporters at Radio Netherlands Worldwide‘s Africa desk. From the informed irreverence of What’s Up Africa to the kind of reporting below by Serginho Roosblad on the show “Bridges with Africa.” And not just because I make an appearance.