“The Minister of Finance,” one of a series of over the top, mock portraits by Zimbabwean-born, Johannesburg-based artist Kudzanai Chiurai. The work was first exhibited as “Dying to be Men” and is currently on show in London (at the Victoria & Alibert Museum as part of a big show on contemporary South African photography) as “The […]
The video for “All the Same” by Vieux Farka Toure, son of Ali, from his new album, “The Secret.” The song features the singer Dave Matthews (born in South Africa). Yes him.
I first saw Kesivan Naidoo play at the Independent Armchair Theater in Observatory. I was living around the corner at the time. He played drums in Tribe, a band fronted by pianist Mark Fransman. Much has changed since then. Naidoo is now sought after and fronts his own bands. These include Babu and Kesivan and […]
Interesting concept. “Every issue AFAR Magazine chooses a destination at random – by literally spinning a globe – and sends a writer on a spontaneous journey. He/she travels without an itinerary, and relays the adventure in a first-person dispatch.” In this case, the magazine sent the comedy sketch artist (more famous for being a writer […]
An interview with Rich Blint, a James Baldwin scholar. Biggest takeaway: Baldwin lamented the fragile human impulse for categorization.
What's it like seeing your work on display, only to realize it's been taken over and remade by someone else to give a totally different meaning.
Last week the Congolese film “Viva Riva” won “The Best African Movie“* award at the MTV Movie Awards. That’s the kind of publicity African films can’t buy and should count for something when the film opens in New York City, Los Angeles and Portland (OR) this weekend. (It is calculated that foreign films make up […]
Some of the films in The Encounters Documentary Film Festival which kicks off its 13th year in Cape Town and Johannesburg today (till June 26), that I hope make it over here sometime: “When China Met Africa” “Forerunners” “Glitterboys and Ganglands“: “King Naki” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As12EhJnY8k&w=570&h=355] And finally, “Robert Mugabe: What Happened?”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X0nq5nGvPU&w=560&h=349] As a bonus, see also the 10-minute video for “Clap” also off “W.A.R.,” below. This is not your usual music video. This one is really a short film. I don’t want to say more about the plot except it is about police violence. And, even better, here is the live version of “Clap”:
Over the course of fifteen years (1994-2009), Elke Zuern has interviewed civic and social movement leaders, local government leaders, members of NGOs and other community organizations in South Africa. In her new book, The Politics of Necessity,* she compares these movements in South Africa to those elsewhere on the continent (Benin, Botswana, Nigeria), and beyond […]
An interview with the founders of a media center providing technical, artistic and vocational support to filmmakers in Freetown.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/24394476 w=580&h=324] The new music video for “Drip Dry” by the Johannesburg hipsters Dirty Paraffin. The video was shot and edited by the people known collectively as Cuss Monthly. H/T: Dylan Valley.
The trailer for the feature film “Short Cut” (to be directed by Norman Maake) about the quest of two brothers to escape a life of hardship and political turmoil in Zimbabwe and decide to travel to Johannesburg only to be forced into slavery in an illegal mine in a border town. As Maake explains: “They […]
I don’t know much about South African musician Fifi the Rai Blaster but I like this song, and the video. Watch out for more music put out by the Johannesburg label Iapetus Records.
I recently missed out on seeing a special screening (at BAM in Brooklyn) of “Restless City,” the new film by Andrew Dosunmu, “… the story of Djibril, an Africa immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City where music is his passion, life is a hustle, and falling in love is his greatest risk.” […]
Vanity Fair’s June issue has a profile. of Hillary Clinton. It contains tons of information about her working relationship with President Barack Obama, how she made up with Samantha Power, the Obama ally and Harvard professor, who referred to Mrs Clinton as “a monster,” speculates on Clinton running for President in 2016 (she still wants […]
Mayer Hawthorne featuring guitarist Dennis Coffey.
I reread that infamous 2010 New Yorker profile. of Gil Scott Heron earlier today. I was struck by the conclusion where Scott Heron tells reporter Alec Wilkinson about a novel he wants to write: I have a novel that I can write … It’s about three soldiers from Somalia. Some babies have been disappearing up […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozL1rmcI-eY&w=560&h=349] Linton Kwesi Johnson exhorting us to slow down a bit.