The promise of revelation
James Matthews has the distinction of being one of the first Black Consciousness poets and publishers in South Africa. He is the subject of a documentary by director Shelley Barry.
Culture
It’s time to drop the “world music” label
The progressive rock of The Brother Moves On is a great case study for why the category of "world music" is at best dated, and at worst problematic.
The World Carnival Sound
Once a month Hipsters Don't Dance will bless Africa Is a Country with their top 5 World Carnival tunes.
5 Questions for a Filmmaker–Akin Omotoso
Award-winning South African/Nigerian filmmaker Akin Omotoso is the director of the feature films “Man on Ground”
Walking With Wole Soyinka
Professor Soyinka's steps were smart and sure, not betraying his age and decades of struggle against the vilest rulers Nigeria has had.
Umlilo is young, black and queer in South Africa
The artist Umlilo documents their metamorphosis from a tortured outsider to a fully realized divine being.
Rap Songs About Weed
We went on a hunt for some South African rap songs about marijuana and emerged with a list ranging from Youngsta, Mothipa's Mpharanyana and Hymphatic Thabs.
Goma Rap: The 9th annual Salaam Kivu International Film Festival
When the M23 militia took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu in Eastern Congo,
Live from Grahamstown
The National Arts Festival, that celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014, is the second biggest arts festivals in the world.
The Goal is Clarity
When it comes to Israel and Palestine, for Americans, it doesn’t matter if the careful phrases contradict the most basic facts.
South African Hip Hop Series: Interview With Khuli Chana
On the morning of 28th October 2013 – a Monday – South Africa woke up to
Obituary: Nadine Gordimer
My first introduction to Comrade Nadine was through her writing during my student activist days in
South African Hip Hop Series: Ill Skillz In Five Videos
Cape Town’s self-proclaimed two dope boyz Uno and Jimmy Flexx are Ill Skillz. At the end
The small businessman who took on the bread cartel
The struggle over the price of bread in South Africa is the struggle for adequate nourishment, and securing the right of the poor to flourish.
Another lazy South Africa ad
A common thread that runs through many bad commercials, is that the people who thought them up were incredibly lazy and uncreative.
Kafka in Cameroon
Cameroon's police apparently interrogated Samuel Eto'o and took away his passport over the team's World Cup display.
This is not your conventional film about Liberia
Most films about Liberia are feature films or gritty documentaries focus almost perversely on the horrors of the civil war. Not "Out of my hand."
This Studio Of A Life
The life and times of the great South African hip hop producer, Nyambz,
There’s something about “ghetto pranks”
Youtube “ghetto pranks" are meant to expose poor black people as "naturally" and irrationally angry.
Relegating good intentions to the dustbin
The last third or so of Director Phil Harrison’s film about Irish multinationals in South Africa suffers from needless flattening.