The magazine as Tumblr


Globetrotter is one of those vaguely defined, international, cosmopolitan culture and fashion magazines. With connections to Chicago, Lagos, and Jakarta, the magazine consists of an eclectic pastiche of commentary on various international trends organized into four sections: Art/Design, Movements, Style, and Music. The publication is the brainchild of Kennedy Ashinze and published through his company, Fuse Creative Agency. The articles contained in Globetrotter’s first issue cover a seemingly incongruous mix of topics.

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Photographer Gregory Chris: Shooting Nneka, Meta and Just a Band


A few weeks ago I sent an email to established French photographer Gregory Chris (see his website) and asked him about featuring his photographs of African music stars on AIAC. He kindly obliged and also responded to questions. Photographer Gregory Chris shot African music stars Nneka, Meta (of Meta and the Cornerstones) and Just a Band in and around New York City. “I wanted to shoot the artists in the streets of the city, in the neighborhoods where they live, their favorite places, inside their homes, in a place they feel comfortable. Basically, I wanted to shoot them as they are.”  The photographs were made a few months ago while he was spending time in New York City. A South African magazine, One Small Seed, had asked him to do something for them and he decided on making photographs of “African artists living in New York City.”  Below we feature some of the photographs and Gregory’s descriptions of how he came to shoot the specific artists, what he tried to convey. First up is Nneka.

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The 19th New York African Film Festival: “Relentless”


“Relentless” is fundamentally a film about Lagos. About how director Andy Okoarafor sees it. In Okoarafor’s rendering, Lagos is a hard, inhospitable city, where people look stressed out, always hustling. They’re always on the move. But Okoarafor also has loves this city. At the film’s heart is the strong-jawed lead character Oba, played by Gideon Okeke, who spends most of his driving and walking around the city–its clogged highways, in its churches and beach bars.  He is a former peacekeeper, back from Sierra Leone, where his wife, a local woman, was brutally murdered by rebel soldiers. Emotionally scarred, he returns to Nigeria where he now runs a security company protecting politicians and other important people. On one of his wanderings, he saves a prostitute (played by singer Nneka Egbuna) who fell off a bridge–she was pushed by people who want her dead.  She wants Oba to help her find her friend, another prostitute, who has gone missing after entertaining some politicians and generals. Oba realizes that his new clients may be involved.

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Friday Music Bonus Edition

Our weekly round-up of new (and a little less new) music videos. First, this great video for ‘I Am An African,’ the first single of Dutch-Ghanaian artist Papa Ghana’s EP ‘I Am An African.’ (The song came out last year).

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The Africa is a Country guide to #SXSW


There’s a lot going on for music fans at SXSW 2012. Plenty of AIAC favorites will be there, and fans of UK Bass, Cumbia Rock, Panabaynian Dancehall, neo-Jazz&B-Hop, Dubstep, MoombahtonDutch House/BubblingSouthern Rap former jailbirds, Hyphy/Mobb Music, Norteño, Classic New York Rap, Baile Funk, #OWS Rockers/Beatmakers, Balkan Beat Boxers, Afro Colombian, 3Ball, Chicano Rock meets Staten Island Rap, New York Rockers, and/or Dancehall will not be disappointed. There’s a host of “African” artists as well.

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2011′s Music Video Picks

Inexplicably absent in this year’s fashionable blogs’ and magazines’ year-end lists are videos by African artists, or those videos recorded somewhere in Africa. I’ve picked ten which I think stood out. South Africans Pieter Hugo and Michael Cleary directed and shot the video for Spoek Mathambo’s ‘Control’ in Langa, Cape Town. We took issue with aspects of it when it came out in February, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t striking:

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Music Break / Nneka

Nneka‘s “Soul is Heavy” from her new album.

Extras: Part 1 and Part 2.

Music Break

Nneka--a AIAC favorite–performing an acoustic version of her song, “Do You Love Me Now?” for the French website, NowPlayingMag.com.

 

Music Break / Nneka

Music Break

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.

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