I Sing the Desert Electric
A short film of electronic based music across the Sahel region: Mauritania to Northern Nigeria and in-between.
6452 Article(s) by:
Ladan Osman
Ladan Osman is the author of Exiles of Eden (2019) and The Kitchen-Dweller’s Testimony (2015). She lives in Brooklyn.
Now or never
Apart from a heavy Senegalese presence, this Music Break, No.37, includes some other favorites of this site: Petite Noire, Laura Mvula, Rachid Taha and newcomer, Napoleon Da Legend.
The TEN CITIES Project: Club Culture and Dance Music
“In Africa today, musicians keep in touch with global pop culture via the Internet and program
Makerena on Marikana
A conversation with South African artist Masello Motana on pop stars, politicians and personhood.
Whose Commemoration
The trouble with the official Dutch commemoration of the abolition of slavery. It leaves out the descendants of victims altogether.
Egyptian Graffiti and Gender Politics
An interview with Soraya Morayef, who is documenting the graffiti scene in Cairo, Beirut, Libya and Palestine.
5 New Films to Watch, N°21
5 new documentaries this week. Crop: Talking About Images is a film directed by Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke. The
Egyptian women won’t be blamed for sexual assaults
Also, dispelling the myth that all Arab men systematically oppress and victimize Arab women.
Tsofa: A documentary film about Congolese immigrants in Romania
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahvRbLEnGj4 Congolese (Brazzaville) filmmaker Rufin Mbou Mikima has uploaded* his latest documentary "Tsofa" to YouTube. The
Zimbabwe’s Tortured Rule of Law
On Sunday, March 17, a day after the Constitutional Referendum, Zimbabwe arrested Beatrice Mtetwa, leading human
The ‘digital music in Africa’ bandwagon
What The New York Times forgot to tell you about the explosion of digital music in Africa.
Oy & The Art of Translating Between The Stage and The Studio
Africa is a Country has been a fan of Ghanaian-Swiss audio experimentalist Oy's live performances for
The Dutch Media Drama
Why is a photo of an empathetic group of young Dutch Moroccans visiting a concentration camp being used to illustrate so many stories in which Moroccans are a “problem”?
Africa 3.0
Another month, another special Africa issue. This one is by French weekly newspaper Courrier International (part
Bebo Valdés: 5 films to remember him by
It is hard to underestimate the importance of pianist Bebo Valdés' contributions to Cuban music. "Bebo", who passed
Weekend Music Break, N°36
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBZY46-hb8 Not too long ago, a new video by Amadou & Mariam would have made a
Chinua Achebe The Writer Lives On
To my ear Achebe’s voice is always measured even at its most defiant.
The passing of Chinua Achebe
Comparisons between Chinua Achebe and Nigeria’s other great writer, Wole Soyinka, will increase, now Achebe has passed.
Welcome to Mali
France’s intervention never offered a real solution to any of Mali’s problems, but created a set of problems to the ones this country would otherwise have faced.
5 Films to Watch Out For, N°20
Born in a small township near Gondar in northwest Ethiopia, Yityish Aynaw recently became the latest