The Transformation of K’naan
How a political song about the aftermath of the Cold War, refugees and statelessness was defanged, first for FIFA and then for Coca Cola.
Culture
Representing Fela
The New York Times' chief theater critic, surprise, misses the point about the musical, "Fela!"
The Bubu King
Janka Nabay is the premier exponent of Sierra Leone's frantic and frenetic Bubu Music.
The Wrong Answer
The nonsense that foreign journalists, who don't understand Afrikaans or the language's creole cultural history, write about Die Antwood.
Abuse of Patriarchy
South African feminist academic, Pumla Gqola, takes on all the whataboutisms thrown up by Jacob Zuma's defenders.
Out of Italy
We join forces with the Italian news aggregator Afronline. That and other "Africa" references from this week.
Martin Scorcese namechecks Ousmane Sembene
Scorcese not only restores prints of African cinema classics, he also counts Ousmane Sembene as one of cinema's greatest directors.
What Obama means to Black Americans
Black America want better schools, better jobs, cheaper health care, lower taxes, smaller prison populations, stronger labor unions.
The Music of Alex van Heerden
Van Heerden was a fixture in Cape Town's jazz and alternative music scenes. His music is now available for purchase online.
Mos Def and the Battle of Algiers
What is that sample of Arabic during Slick Rick’s verse on Mos Def's "The Auditorium"?
Superheroes of History
Batman watches Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro addressing US media in an imagined black-and-white 1959 photograph.
Structures fit for animals
A selection of news items, videos, music from and drive by commentary before I shut down for December 2009.
Fela Kuti was an AIDS denialist
Fela's AIDS diagnosis and denialism was fairly well known and an open secret.
Blood on the chair
Platon, the New Yorker staff photographer got many of the world's leaders to sit for portraits. A number of African leaders obliged.
The Carnival at the Cape
The historian John Edwin Mason's photographs of Cape Town's New Year's Carnival.
You can now trust Nigerians
Recently advertising and the movies in the West have have been hard on Nigerians. Even when they mean well.
House music
Since it is Friday, I might as well put up a few music videos.
Let Robeson Sing
Manic Street Preachers pay homage to the greatest American of the first half of the twentieth century, Paul Robeson. The music video by Nigerian Andrew Dosunmu is a tribute too.
The New Black Atlantic
What does it mean when a Tanzanian rapper joins a cypher on BET, the US entertainment TV channel on its biggest night - during prime time - and rhymes in Swahili.
Family ties
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting news piece on the growing migration by Portuguese workers to Angola.