Thinking about ways that Africa is represented by NGO’s and other international organizations (reference: various posts at Africa is a Country), it was nice to run into this project put together by UNICEF that seeks to find new ways of representing crises in Africa.
If you’re unfamiliar with my musical work, OkayAfrica.com recently did a profile on me for their web TV series.
Stan Douglas. "A Luta Continua, 1974" (2012)
The photographer Stan Douglas’s new project “Disco Angola,” a work in progress, is on display at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York until April 28, 2012. The New Yorker announced the show in Goings on About Town with the image above. What’s amazing is that Douglas has not been to Angola, though from what I read in this interview with Monica Szewczyk he has done a good bit of studying up. [Read more...]
For over two decades, West African Muslims from the Murid Sufi Brotherhood come together at the annual Cheikh Amadou Bamba Day march in Harlem, New York. Scholar Zain Abdullah calls it “a major site where they redefine the boundaries of their African identities, cope with the stigma of blackness, and counteract an anti-Muslim backlash”. Mamadou Diouf (in his preface to ‘A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal’) considers Bamba’s message an “unfinished prophecy”. Above and below are photographs Marguerite Seger took during the parade in July 2010.* [Read more...]
At the MoMA, the Millennium Magazines exhibition aims to show a “survey of experimental art and design magazines published since 2000 [exploring] the various ways in which contemporary artists and designers utilize the magazine format as an experimental space for the presentation of artworks and text.” The list of magazines on view is long and while it is true that it represents “a broad array of international titles”, it is also true that most are US- or Europe-based — with a few exceptions, Chimurenga being one of them. The exhibition runs until May 14.
So I released an album this week, and shot my first ever music video for it as well. This is my personal reflection on Sorie Kondi’s original message, integrating footage from his video, and my own from New York and Freetown. I hope you enjoy.
Without a doubt, my favorite group of recent times has to be NYC outfit Das Racist. Dismissed by some as nothing more than stoner rap, to me they are a fresh new voice in hip hop. Two of the members are of Indian descent and they play around with “brown” identity in America, and perhaps globally. With lyrics like: “They say I act white, but sound black / but act black, but sound white / but what’s my sound bite supposed to sound like? ” they are able to challenge racial perceptions while at the same time not taking themselves too seriously.
Boima Tucker
It would be difficult for me to write this post without revealing my excitement at discovering the talents of Sierra-Leonean, American, Atlantian, New Yorker filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu. After seeing her work, it almost seems like films that I had been wishing into existence my entire life have suddenly materialized. I selfishly (reppin’ Salone) cheer Nikyatu on as her emergence in the public spotlight has come as an answer for many unrealized personal visions.
By Keziah Jones, who has a new album, “Nigering Wood,” out this Spring, comparing his two favorite cities.
