I can’t say I was completely bowled over by Dinaw Mengistu’s first novel, “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears,” about an Ethiopian immigrant in gentrifying Washington D.C. (Some of my friends loved it though and most literary elites here raved about it: The New York Times Book Review, for example, deemed it one of “the […]
When the Johannesburg Art Gallery bought one of Mr. [Gerard] Sekoto’s paintings in 1940, they had to hire him as a janitor so that he could see his own art on display—circumventing the law outlawing black people from entering the country’s museums. Now considered one of the most important 20th century South African artists, Sekoto […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKLxfP3xju0&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Since we’re on the topic of Cote d’Ivoire, here’s Ivoirian veteran underground rapper Manusa’s “Dans Mon Pays,” a blistering critique of life under Laurent Ggagbo’s regime. This not Drogbacite. “No dancey … happy, nice melodies, [or] very uplifting” music here.
If you have seen the 1987 movie La Vie est Belle (Life is Rosy), you probably remember the aspiring musician Kourou (played by Papa Wemba) getting himself in some trouble in this scene. Here, in the latest single Enfants du pays taken from the album Crise de Nègre, Pitcho and his man DJ Aral masterfully […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gxhLiNypVU&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Though “Blessa,” the latest single from the Carolina singer Toro Y Moi ((government name: Chad Bundick) is getting some buzz, I prefer last year’s “Tamalek” (in the video above) more. Take a listen.
Charles Taylor’s trial at the International Criminal Court is verging on the trivial.
Vickie Remoe has expanded Sierra Leone's presence on the web beyond the views of expatriates in the country.
Allison Swank If you thought that a children’s film could escape the exaggerated eye roll of this cultural critic, then think again. I found the 2005 animated film Madagascar, to be as problematic as any live action adult flick – if not more – so simply for the fact that it’s promoting a “West and the […]
When sleepless I often find myself browsing through time and space, moving from Johannesburg’s CBD to Ouagadougou’s boulangeries and back to Maputo’s fish market, watching the streets in Accra, Bamako and Cairo. Over at City One Minutes they’re steadily building a kaleidoscopic library of city lives – each life divided into twenty-four one minute portraits, […]
Die Antwoord's magnetism (or repulsion) lies in the way they combine clichés about race with those of gender and sexuality.
Cricket is gloriously multilayered, with strategy and tactics available in abundance.
Two years later, Barack Obama's election as US President still influence cultural production on the continent.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX6vbHWUyhQ&w=500&h=307&rel=0] The video for the remix of the song “Champion,” the tune by Nigerian reggae fusion artist, Pype, this time featuring other Nigerian heavyweights Dagrin, Vector, Naeto C, Sasha and GT.
Nigerian director and producer, Ade Adepegba, speaking ahead of the new film festival, Nollywood Now–apparently the first entirely dedicated to the genre–that takes place in London from 6-12 October: Nigerians are the largest group of Africans living in the UK, and the majority of them live in London … Nigerian films still hold their strongest […]
It is through popular culture that the initial connections with homeland and diaspora will begin to make an impact on the consciousness of younger generations of Africans.
[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=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.
“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.