Mali’s on our mind. Mostly because of the confusion. Reports from Bamako abound, while there’s still very little information available from the north. Malian artists in the diaspora, it seems, are as confused. (Check Mokobe’s site for example.) Earlier this week, Tuareg band Tamikrest gave a shoutout to “our friend” Ben Zabo. (Is it true […]
The city's past and its predilections render neat formulations like Creole city and European city equally hollow.
This is Number 11 in my occasional series of posts highlighting the music of my hometown, Paris, also a center of Europe's African diaspora.
Coming on June 1 is Northwestern University journalist professor Doug Foster’s new book, After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Postapartheid South Africa. The book is published by WW Norton in New York City. The title is unoriginal (Financial Times’s Alec Russell had the same title) but should not take away from what I think will be […]
The popular Kudurista, Titica, is one of the the top stars of this growing Angolan dance music form.
One of our readers took our title literally.
Putting postcolonial Angola and postindustrial New York in visual touch.
They're making a film about "a love story set in Cape Town South Africa that chronicles the life of Leila, a young Cape Malay girl who falls in love with an American boy, Derek, who happens to be black."
In 1969, Gadalla Gubara and his friends, Ousmane Sembene, Timité Bassori and Mustapha Alassane came up with an idea: FESPACO.
How a music genre is selling Angola's oil boom.
One of my favorite MCs / hip hop producers, Damu the Fudgemunk. I always check for his new work. (Reminds me of Madlib.) The video, below, is from 2009’s Madvillian. And this link is to his latest work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bSkjLtJG-A
At the occasion of the recent publication of Senegalese philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne’s book ‘African Art as Philosophy: Senghor, Bergson and the Idea of Negritude’ (originally published in French in 2007) and listening to this interview where he speaks about his new book, ‘Bergson Postcolonial’, I intended to write a short post wondering why it […]
Kenyan artist Rabbit is working hard to get the word out about his new album Orutu Ya Masudi. The music video for ‘Yesterdays’ (and The Main Ingredient’s inspiration) will help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQb5qJRy0QY German singer-songwriter Joy Denalane (born to a South African father who’s a cousin of Hugh Masekela) recorded her song ‘Im Ghetto von Soweto’ twice. I prefer the original, less explanatory, German version (a tentative translation of which I’m including below) to the later English adaptation (rewritten for an international audience, I assume — it […]
The artist recognized early on that his sexuality constituted an obstacle between himself and his Nigerian background.
Londoner Szjerdene’s Blue Lullaby. Her music is produced by Glenn Nichols, while the video was made by Saul & Josh.
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 new series of documentaries explore the politics of leadership via an imaginative, malleable, deeply personal treatment of history.