Africa Is a Country

'My Africa is in the dark'

'My Africa is in the dark'

By
Tom Devriendt

Malian rapper Mokobe ripped into French perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain’s comments about “hard working blacks” in his recent video, “Ca passe tout seul.” Now Burkinabé MC Art Melody takes on Nicolas Sarkozy and other “chefs d’états.”  That’s a sample of Sarkozy’s infamous Dakar speech at the beginning of the song about how Africans have “not fully entered into history.”

As for African leaders, Art Melody accuses them of only being interested in selling Africa “in the name of France-Afrique.” (Like Gabon’s Lord Ekomy Ndong did last year.) The video is above; part of the chorus is translated below.

The ebony is in the dark. The black is in the dark that has plunged us into the dark. My Africa is in the dark…

BTW, Art Melody also does up-beat songs. (Read This Is Africa’s feature on Art Melody.)

H/T: okayafrica.

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.