[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GWdGfKXK3U&w=500&h=307] A 9-minute excerpt from a new short video documentary (20 minutes in all) about the South African artist Thando Mama. (The film is directed by German filmmakers Thorolf Lipp and Tobias Wendl. The bulk of Lipp and Wendl’s film work focuses on African subjects; check out their Youtube page.) If you’re unfamiliar with Mama’s […]

Singer Rokia Traoré speaking truth to The Times of London: “… Some Europeans who love Africa love it for exoticism … Anything modern doesn’t interest them. I don’t know why they don’t realize that the traditional and the modern can exist alongside each other. I think they have an image of Africa which they don’t […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcY34CGzj20&w=500&h=295] The official video for the Nas-Damian Marley’s single, “As We Enter” off “The Distant Relatives” album, is finally online. * That’s a lyric from the song. [It seems the video has been taken down after a complaint by the record company. For real.]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_RXEJLx2Uw&w=500&h=307] I love the sample as well as the graphics in the video for “Supermagic” off Mos Def’s latest album, “The Ectastic.”

It’s worth the price of admission to hear Cornel West say of the conservative British author–with emphasis–“She has a diverse corpus and I like to devour every word of it.” And then he looks pleased with himself. (It’s from a series done by the Morgan Library & Museum in midtown Manhattan.) H/T: Teju Cole.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZX6gUoQGvw&w=500&h=307] By Keziah Jones, who has a new album, “Nigering Wood,” out this Spring, comparing his two favorite cities.

I first heard this track, “Love it Here,” in the video above, in February this year when the Toronto rapper, Ian Kamau, released his 3rd mixtape, “Volume 3: Love & Other Struggles” online for free download. I played the mixtape non-stop for about a week. I still wonder why I did not blog about it […]

Bill T Jones’ “Fela!,” the musical interpretation of the life of the Afrobeat king, is up for 11 Tony Awards–the most of any show this year–including Best Musical.  I haven’t seen any of the other shows up for contention, but I can attest to the brilliance of the show. From Jones’ direction, to the acting […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xktMnfb0Q0A&w=500&h=307] Janelle Monáe featuring Big Boi of Outkast, “Tight Rope.” James Brown is in the building.

From broadcaster Esther Armah‘s Facebook page: Thought for the Day. Idris Elba, 6 ft 2, Chocolate brown, a brother, an actor, formerly of The Wire, will play Norse blond Viking deity Heimdall called “the whitest of gods” in new film Thor by Kenneth Branagh, from Marvel comics. A brother playing a white God? Role choice […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np72mq3M-9s&w=500&h=307&rel=0] I like the flow of this Johannesburg band, Uju (formerly known as Sound Republic). Their first album is scheduled to come out this year. The incredible vocalist is Ntuthu Ndlovu. Good way to start the day.

Live video for “Daylight” by Canadian singer Zaki Ibrahim shot in central Cape Town as part of Taxijam, the “a series of intimate acoustic gigs shot in the back” of the minibus taxis common to South Africa streets. (Ibrahim’s father is South African.)