Sean Jacobs Note from a friend who closely watches the South African political scene: Below [the link follows] is a JZ [Jacob Zuma] post-Durban posting [the ruling party, the ANC, held its policy conference there last weekend], on Baobab, The Economist‘s Africa blog. Am I wrong to scratch my head at everyone claiming JZ emerges […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH_WxJVxHcw&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Allison Swank Just as Nelson Mandela went underground as the Black Pimpernel in 1961 to evade the white apartheid government, in this TV ad for  a popular South African fast food chain, this white Afrikaner family goes underground in 1994 to escape Mandela’s black government–what?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtg4nu5C-SI&w=500&h=307&rel=0] This is hipster stuff you can dance to at least. “Boomslang” (literally tree snake) by LV and Okmalumkoolkat.  The latter is one half of the new South African band, Dirty Paraffin.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB3MSIRmBD0&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Sean Jacobs This is worth remembering. In 2004 the Liberian footballer George Weah was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the Espys. (For those who don’t care: that’s sports channel ESPN’s versions of the Oscars.) This is the man who scored the greatest goal of all time and the only African player to […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM6hPuui-l8&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Next Tuesday (September 28th)  and Wednesday (September 29th) London jazz group Portico Quartet–their sound has been referred to as “post-jazz” influenced by “… Steve Reich, Miles Davis, Philip Glass and Toumani Diabate.“–play New York City (@ Joe’s Pub on Tuesday and Coco 66 in Brooklyn on Wednesday).  There’s more here.

Sean Jacobs Forbes Magazine–fresh from its cover story last week about Barack Obama’s “Kenyan, anti-colonialist tendencies” which he inherited from his “Luo tribesman father”–gets back to its normal business: reminding us who has real power. Its annual list of the world’s wealthiest people was published this week. As usual they published two lists: the 400 […]

Sean Jacobs Earlier this week the Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi addressed a public lecture on “leadership” at Columbia. Meles is in town for the UN’s talk fest slash summit on the Millennium Development Goals this week. Meles has been in power since 1991, wins elections with 99% of the vote, fills his jails with […]

“Days of Fire” by Nitin Sawhney featuring Natty (his mother is from Lesotho, btw) performed in 2008 with the London Undersound Orchestra. The song is based on Natty’s first-hand accounts of the July 2007 underground train bombings.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqWFUXYqFUU&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Spoek Mathambo, the part-time Johannesburg-based “… Post-Apartheid, Post-Hip Hop Posterboy,” is interviewed by BSTV during his first ever visit to New York City.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3mHMWO_-mM&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Nigerian superstars P-Square doing “Do Me.” This is not your average world music band.