Some music videos take you by surprise. One such video is the brand new offering by the Senegalese band Takeifa, called “Supporter”. Takeifa is band of siblings from the Keita family headed by brother Jac. According to soundcloud fable, Jac Keita experienced his musical calling at the tender age of 11, begging his father for an […]
Post by Laurent Dubois* The Western-most tip of Africa seemed like as good a place as any to watch the Mali vs. South Africa quarter-final in the African Cup of Nations. On Saturday, I was at the Pointe des Almadies in Dakar, a tourist stop and hang-out with a beach carpeted with black stones and […]
I wasn’t familiar with the work of photographer Candace Feit before browsing the web recently, following up on the online presence of a South African organisation I hold in high regard. (The organisation/project/incubator is based in the village of Nqileni, which — this just a side note — has the most beautiful football pitch.) One […]
Why should it be a big deal if a French president gives a speech in Dakar? Lots of reasons. Rarely does anyone walk softly and carry a big stick in quite the same way that François Hollande did earlier this month. Hollande was walking softly—even talking softly—while in Dakar. Some five years after Nicolas Sarkozy’s […]
Guest Post by Jennifer Bajorek and Erin Haney The recent announcement of the Guggenheim Foundation’s new “Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative” bears all of the hallmarks of the present era. It is funded by a bank. It has the word “global” in its title. It claims explicitly to challenge “a Western-centric view of art […]
What is there to say about that other African election, the one in France? Sunday was the first of two rounds in this presidential contest, which is a lot more about Europe—specifically Brussels, but also Berlin—than it is about Africa. Still, it will have real effects on both shores of the Mediterranean and of the […]
Senegal’s new first lady, Marieme Faye Sall, represents a break with the country’s political history after independence. Madame Sall’s husband, Macky Sall, has just been elected as President of Senegal. Her significance lies in the fact that she is the first woman of Senegalese birth and ancestry to become First Lady of Senegal.
Senegal voted this weekend. Abdoulaye Wade is gone after 12 years. Macky Sall, once Wade’s protege and variously prime minister and minister of mining under the old man is now in charge. We hope to have a few post election analyses posts up in the next few days. Till then enjoy the exuberance of “the dancing man” filmed by Al Jazeera journalist Azad Essa in Dakar last night.
8 of 13 Senegalese opposition candidates trying to unseat Abdoulaye Wade in the upcoming presidential elections (including three former prime ministers under Wade, and no-longer-candidate Youssou N’Dour) gathered on Obelisk Square in Dakar last Sunday. The rally went peaceful, “crowds of color-coordinated supporters awaited while listening to political hip-hop anthems in Wolof.”
Senegal-born, Kuwait-raised musician and artist Fatima Al Qadiri just premiered her new EP, “Genre-Specific Xperience,” in New York. The project consists of 5 songs each with corresponding video. Above is “Vatican Vibes” which features “Gregorian trance.” As Jody Graf writes in Clustermag, Al Qadiri’s introduction to Gregorian trance “… came in the passenger seat of […]
