Can’t stop looping “Weeping,” the anti-Apartheid tune recorded in 1987 by Cape Town group Bright Blue. Perhaps I was trying to drown out Hollywood’s latest attempt to rewrite South Africa’s recent political history with “Invictus.” (For me “Weeping” is up there with Abdullah Ibrahim’s “Manenberg” as anthems of the anti-apartheid struggle).
The video, above, was directed by Nic Hofmeyr:
David Smith, The (UK) Guardian’s South African correspondent, recently attended a match between South Africa’s two biggest clubs, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates (Nelson Mandela is a fan of the latter team; not of rugby).
His verdict: Smith loves the fans (no fighting or hooligans), but he does not like the football.
There’s been more reporting (see clip from Rachel Maddow’s show above) and commentary here in the US (though mainly from progressives in the media) about the connections between American Christian groups, mainly The Family, and the Ugandan government decision to initiate its Anti-Homosexuality Law that criminalizes gay sex.
Lots of catching up. First up, check out the photographs of South African Russell Thokozani Kana.
* Second, Nas and Damian Marley, whose got a new album, “Distant Relatives,” coming out next year are joined by a great group of rap pioneers to talk about the African origins of hip hop and reggae [Livestream]
Femi Kuti speaking on politics and Afrobeat; interviewed in San Francisco earlier this year.
Yes it is that time of year. “The Best of 2009″ lists. Spin Earth, the web-based project of music magazine, “Spin,”(it relies on “300 cultural correspondents in 75 major cities spanning all continents”) has published a list of “the top documentaries.”
Two films about African music made the cut: “Fokofpolisiekar” about the postapartheid Afrikaans punk-rock group by the same name, and “Three Chords, Four Countries, One Revolution: Punk in Africa,” a film about punk music in Apartheid South Africa. I have not seen either of these and I understand the second film is not even completed. Anyway here are the trailers:
Nice short insert from Dutch TV station, Metropolis TV (the inserts are produced by local correspondents) of a young Ethiopian Rasta–a descendant of a Jamaican family who had moved to a small town 250 km outside the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on land given to them by Emperor Haile Selassie-gives what amounts to an introductory lecture of his faith.
As you may have figured out my now (from my earlier post), I don’t particularly like the idea behind “Invictus.” I’ve seen it to and had to prevent myself from walking out of the theater a few times for its historical inaccuracies, banal “rainbow” politics, and reducing South Africa’s political transition to being dependent on an outcome of a rugby march. Not surprisingly, most critics love the film in which Matt Damon saves South Africa and gets whites absolved for Apartheid by winning a rugby match. Although there are exceptions, like Ella Taylor in “The Village Voice.”
Here are some excerpts:
The New York mainstream press is all over Bill T Jones’ musical “Fela!,” which recently opened in the city. Everybidy wants the show to succeed in a downmarket. “The New York Times” has done a few pieces– a preview and a review, while “The Village Voice” published a long piece by one of its music writers, Rob Harvilla, who also wondered alout about Fela’s political legacy:
