Negar Azimi, in Frieze Magazine, on what the ascendency of ‘political art’ means for art’s actual engagement with politics in the industrial north:

http://youtu.be/Wd6NxkKCVI8 I am not cool like Theophelius London. I don’t wear nice, patterned shirts. Solange Knowles* doesn’t want to hang out with me. But sometimes I fly overseas. * Bonus fact: My 5-year old is cool: Solange is her favorite grown-up singer.

Rob Boffard writing in The Guardian: Hip-hop in South Africa faces the same problems all music faces – how do you reach as wide an audience as possible? But it has additional posers unique to this country – can you rap in any of South Africa’s 11 languages and still be relevant to all your […]

I received my copy of this year’s Commonwealth Prize winner Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love in the mail the other day. Not that I don’t like its cover (or the book), but this is just silly. And here’s why: Some of us (in Canada, Great Britain, South Africa and India) also know 2008 Commonwealth Prize […]

http://vimeo.com/10523895

This coming Friday Maal and British playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah will begin their UK tour of “Tales of the Sahel.” Maal and Kwei-Armah “… will spend the six performances talking, the conversation interspersed with songs from Maal and his two accompanying musicians.” Preview in The Financial Times

The video for Dutch singer Ntjam Rosie’s song “In Need” featured in the latest episode of online series, What’s Up Africa!

The Johannesburg filmmaker Cedric Sundstrom has been working on a documentary film on the history of cinema in South Africa.  The South African-based movie review show “The Admiral and Akin” has put the trailer of Sundstrom’s film online. (That’s it above.) They also interviewed him on the show. You can only see the the episode […]

The video for Gil Scott Heron and Jamie X’s “I’ll Take Care of U,” from the album ‘We’re New Here.’ The video posted on Youtube on International Women’s Day, “tells the story of Nisa Rodriguez, a 19-year old boxer and single mother from the Bronx, New York, as she works for a spot on America’s […]

Anyone who makes songs about politicians eating all the money–what else do they do?–gets our vote. South African rock-reggae band, Tidal Waves (see also our earlier post) will be touring in the U.S. the next two weeks. Only in the American South, apparently, but don’t miss them if you’re around and you’re in for some […]

Correction: You don’t have to be a football fanatic, be a supporter of the English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur or–for some of this blog’s readers–care whether the club has African players on its books–they have*–but you will enjoy this piece of animation of English player Gareth Bale’s goals earlier in the club’s Champions League […]

We’re allowed to talk about the 2010 World Cup until 2014. Later today our man, historian of African soccer, Peter Alegi, will deliver the keynote address at the 7th Sports in Africa Symposium at Ohio University. Since few of us are in Athens, don’t panic: The whole thing–including Peter’s keynote–will be webcasted live here. Here’s […]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikxZvvETnPE Not sure what to make of the video. The video was filmed “in Africa.” Kage Sparks, who calls himself “the African Street Ambassador,” and whose family hails from Kenya and Tanzania, has his “tribe riding for me.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wTtUqxklzs Another of those pending posts. The video for “Flying High” for the British rapper Chipmunk who is also variously known as “the UK’s Justin Beiber.” I don’t think that’s a compliment. The video was shot in South Africa. A throne, grass skirts, references to “The Lion King,” etcetera. It is in Africa.

The artist Dawn Okoro (take the link to her blog) on her most recent work: I’ve just completed a set of drawings [colored pencil, ink, and watercolor on paper; the one above is ‘Woman in Igbo Print Dress’] … This drawing is called “Woman in Igbo Print Dress.” The pattern on the dress is inspired […]