[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzbvPa5npmo&w=560&h=349] UPDATE: This video, “I wanna be a Nigerian so freaking bad,” by a group of American high schoolers focusing on Nigeria in an AP Comparative Politics class, is a minor Youtube hit. The song is a tongue in cheek rip-off of “Billionaire” by Travis McCoy and Bruno Mars. Why Nigeria? “Our teacher has gone […]
Video of a worthwhile lecture (recorded in February this year) by Berkeley geographer Michael Watts breaking down the workings of the oil industry.
“Nigeria is the world’s 8th largest producer of crude oil, yet remains one of its poorest nations — an estimated 70 percent of its 150 million residents live below the poverty line. The environment is paying a steep price as well. An estimated 500 million gallons of oil have spilled into the delta — the […]
Benedicte Kurzen’s often graphic images of the recent (April 16) presidential elections in Nigeria and its aftermath–the elections were won by Goodluck Jonathan. At last count, more than 200 people were dead and nearly 40,000 people displaced in post-election violence. The full series here
Could "Sakawa," a form of internet scamming popular in Ghana, be a means by which to make to sense of contemporary life there?
[vodpod id=Video.5972910&w=500&h=411&fv=videoId%3D897337827001%26amp%3BlinkBaseURL%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.newyorker.com%252Fvideo%253FvideoID%253D897337827001%26amp%3BplayerID%3D673564960001%26amp%3BplayerKey%3DAQ%7E%7E%2CAAAAAF1454s%7E%2CQH_ygumSKiVg91q-ZwBlqWe1HcfbhDds%26amp%3Bdomain%3Dembed%26amp%3BdynamicStreaming%3Dtrue] Writer Teju Cole— he has a new novel, “Open City”–talks and writes about identity and immigration to The New Yorker.
A reader: $1 billion for an election and you’d think ballots would be delivered, on time, and at the right places. Now it’s April 9 for parliamentary polls, April 16 for presidential elections and April 26 for governorship and state assembly polls, if [election commissioner] Attahiru Jega is to be believed. To keep up with […]
Last December I met the impressive Omoyele Sowore, founder of Nigerian online news site, Sahara Reporters. I was chairing an independent media panel in Brooklyn ahead of the World Social Forum in Dakar. Sowore was one of the panelists. Based in New York City, Sahara Reporters have broken a number of big stories, including events around […]
Probably to deal with the stresses associated with next month general elections scheduled for next month–there’s a real threat of terrorist violence and vote rigging is widespread–Nigerians (online especially) are having too much fun at the expense of First Lady, Patience Jonathan, who has a history of mangling her words. An audio recording has emerged […]
Part promotion, part video profile of “Mania,” a new Nigerian magazine billed as a first of its genre for that country. Not sure about that. (There must have been and are fashion magazines in Nigeria?). Also not sure if the magazine is out yet. Great video though. The video is directed and edited by Joel […]
[vodpod id=Video.5675225&w=500&h=411&fv=] Amoeba is a landmark record store in Berkeley (on Telegraph). Now they have branches in San Francisco and LA. They also hosts live concerts with artists, like Nneka above (we get a 38 minute set out of her), or Asa, Bassekou Koyate and Ngoni Ba, The Noisettes, etcetera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBAFe_TnVsc No more “Down on My Knees.” Nigerian-German singer Ayo‘s new–well at least one month old–single of her upcoming March 2011 release, “Billie-Eve,” is all empowerment.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM4tQ_w__RM] The new video for Nigerian Afrobeat funkster Bantu‘s tune “I’m Waiting.” It’s part of the soundtrack of the new film,”Relentless” (set in Lagos) directed by Andy Okoroafor. The single/video features Nneka. Via Emma Arrogundade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwrpX3wMD2o The music video for a new song by Nigerian rapper/R&B singer D’Banj featuring Snoop Dogg that went online yesterday. The usual quota of hired cars, half-dressed models and money rolls follow the two showmen. The song title is a form of high poetry: “So Endowed.” Is this male fantasy, “The New Black Atlantic“? Commenters […]
Africans are like the man in the Igbo proverb who does not know where the rain began to beat him and so cannot say where he dried his body.
Nollywood film posters in a store window on Nostrand Ave. in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Photo: Boima.
For the final assignment of a class I teach on Media and Africa at The New School I asked students to make short video profiles of African immigrant experiences in New York City. Most, if not all, of the students had never blogged before, nor filmed, much less edited something for public viewing. None of […]
On the usefulness of WikiLeaks and the self-destructive personality of its founder, Julian Assange.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4riYn1SozWo&w=500&h=307&rel=0] The young Lagos, Nigeria-band Che and the Continuous Highlife Evolution’s striking “Civil War.” As the band puts it on their Facebook page, “… Some people in Africa have known only civil war all their lives; while for many other Africans the daily life is as difficult, as tough, as unpredictable and dangerous as if […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFRVmtz1GA&w=500&h=307&rel=0] South African artist Lesego Rampolokeng, who grew up in Soweto, performing his “Fela Sermon” live in Barcelona in 2003. (If you want to appreciate the full Rampolokeng, I can recommend his album “End Beginnings” with the Kalahari Surfers, released in 1993.) Via Chimurenga Magazine.