The trailer for the documentary, “Kinshasa Symphony,” about the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra and Chior. The orchestra, named for a Congolese resistance leader, is based in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital.

The film, co-directed by Claus Wischmann and Martin Baer, premieres next week at the Berlin Film Festival.

I have been following the bands exploits online since the first photographic projects and clips of the Symphony appeared. I am definitely looking forward to its US premiere.

Via Solo Kinshasa

Part 1, above, of the Dutch TV documentary film, “Staying Alivein Joburg.” The film is limited in its focus–its primarily a walk through inner city Johannesburg ahead of the 2010 World Cup. We get no sense of life in the city’s richer, and whiter, northern suburbs. But it is definitely a must see and a thousand times better than the hysterical nonsense published on the World Cup in the British media, whether R W Johnson’s rants about withcraft in the London Review of Books, journalists confusing Cabinda with South Africa, the nonsense reported on Channel 4 or Louise Taylor’s fictions on the The Guardian’s website.

Above, is the part 1 (the documentary was broken into parts on Youtube). Then watch part 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Stephen Smith, the former African editor of Le Monde, writes in the London Review of Books (a publication not known for its sober coverage of Africa) that “Francafrique”–the corrupt French-African alliance with its strongmen (like the life president of Congo Brazzaville, Denis Sassou Nguesso, writing shotgun with Nicolas Sarkozy in the picture above), arm sales and resource extraction in Africa (to the benefit of French companies)–is coming to an end.

I hope, for the sake of Africa, that he is right.

What is (American) National Down Syndrome Society saying with this advertisement that has been running in major print magazines to promote its work? That everyone can live out their dream to act like colonial colonial explorers complete with pit helmet?

And even if the intention was to appropriate or invert problematic histories by featuring a person of color–the model is an Indian-American, Sujeet Desai, who sounds like a great guy incidentally–why the colonial motive?  Who thought this up?

I don’t get it.

The Wall Street Journal

The most recent work of the French-Algerian photographer.

Video profile of US photographer Pete Muller who talks about a trip to northern Uganda, and some of the thought process behind his pictures. He was interviewed by the Washington DC based journalist Nico Colomband.

Links to Muller’s photography and new blog from Southern Sudan.

On Saturday, February 20, record company Nomadic Wax is hosting “A Night of African Hip-Hop Film, Conversation and Live Music featuring Meta and the Cornerstones” at the 92Y Tribeca. The evening opens with a screening of the film “FangAfrica,” which chronicles the the hip hop festival in Ouagadougou, the capital in Burkina Faso. That’s followed by a panel discussion on the intersection of  technology, digital media and its impact on the African Continent (I’m a panelist, btw). A performance by Senegalese-born Meta (above) and the Cornerstones ends the evening.

More information here.

Last week Congo’s government announced it would pledge $2.5 million to relief efforts in Haiti.  As Texas in Africa noted, pledging is not the same as actually handing the money over. Just ask the Western governments. (Incidentally to those worried whether Congo can afford to do that, that money is apparently small change compared to the money lost to government corruption. Earlier Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade, who fancies himself a world leader, invited Haitians to move there on land to be donated by his government.  When his people complained, he scaled back the original offer.

Now comes the news (I hope it is not a hoax) that Somali pirates have expressed willingness to part of their loot captured from transnational boats to Haiti.  Oh, and the pirates can talk.

Leaders of these groups have declared they have links in various places around the world to help them ensure the delivery of aid without being detected by the armed forces of enemy governments.

The “pirates” typically redistribute a significant portion of their profits among relatives and the local population.

A Somali “pirate” spokesperson said: “The humanitarian aid to Haiti can not be controlled by the United States and European countries; they have no moral authority to do so.

“They are the ones pirating mankind for many years.”

Via Green Left Weekly

A group of celebrities (among them Jessica Biel, Lupe Fiasco and Santigold) decided to climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about the global clean water crisis.  Okay, so they’re a group of B-List celebrities, but the idea sounds good. They finished the climb last month.  The idea was simple: The celebrities get media attention and in turn the fickle mainstream media talks and write about the water crisis. Right?

Except as, Leah Lamb writes at Current TV, in the videos they post online we hear a lot about the state of their bowels and knees without once mentioning water issues.

Watch for yourself.