ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT - The African Mirror

Feb

23

2021

Not one more time: Dance music duo Daft Punk split

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

FRENCH electronic music band Daft Punk have announced they are splitting up, industry title Variety quoted their publicist as saying on Monday, ending a 28-year collaboration that spawned dance hits including "Around the World" and "One More Time." The group, known for performing while dressed as robots in metallic helmets, posted a video on YouTube entitled "Epilogue," with an image that flashed on screen bearing the dates 1993-2021. Variety quoted their publicist, Kathryn Frazier, as saying they had split, but without providing details. Frazier's firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Daft Punk were a duo of…

Feb

23

2021

By The African Mirror

The Elsa Majimbo, Valentino collaboration

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOCIAL Star Elsa Majimbo has secured another “bag”, this time with top Italian brand Valentino. Valentino announced on Twitter that they were to collaborate on a ‘special project’ with Majimbo and that the details on the collection would be released soon. “Valentino is proud to announce a special project with writer, actor and comedian Elsa Majimbo (@ElsaAngel19), culminating into a soon-to-be-released collaboration,” the fashion house announced on its social pages. The 19 year-old comedian took to her own social pages to announce the news. “I am SO proud and excited to announce my entry into high fashion…

Feb

22

2021

By The African Mirror

The South African play that’s tackling the scourge of the street drug whoonga

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE drug whoonga has plagued South African communities for at least a decade, yet only gained significant public attention when it appeared more visibly in the inner-city and surrounding suburbs of Durban, the major city in the country’s KwaZulu-Natal province. DYLAN MCGARRY, Senior Researcher in Educational Sociology at the Environmental Learning Research Centre, Rhodes University Also known as nyaope, whoonga is a street concoction of B-grade heroin, rat-poison (strychnine) and various other chemical components. It’s most commonly sprinkled into a hand-rolled cigarette and is easily accessible and sold more cheaply than other street drugs. Withdrawal, known as “arosta”, is reported…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Celebrating African Comedians

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IRENE WANJIRU THEY say 'laughter is the best medicine but if you laugh for no reason, then you need medicine!' Comedians in Africa have tickled millions with their jokes, building a niche for themselves, with some becoming overnight celebrity millionaires. Among them are a growing number of rib-cracking women... The face of comedy is changing in Africa. Populations in a majority of African countries are proud of their national comedians, whether they are on TV, radio or online. ore and more people are earning a living from it. Satirical puppet and cartoon shows have broken new ground and significantly, more…

Jul

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Who’s hot: Santrinos Raphaël, “gem of Togolese RnB”

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AMET BAO THE darling of Togolese youth audiences may not be well known internationally but this artist is young enough that he can happily wait for that fame to come. Certainly, regional recognition has already come the way of the 21 years young West African. His name? Santrinos Raphaël. For Santrinos Raphaël, it all started with the 2018 hit, “Engagement” which allowed him to make a remarkable entry into the world of Togolese showbiz. With more than 905,000 views on YouTube, the song has been instrumental in the career of the young crooner. It won him a number of trophies…

Jul

10

2021

By The African Mirror

Set in Chad, Cannes film ‘Lingui’ explores abortion struggles

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE director behind "Lingui", a Cannes Film Festival entry about a teenager's battle in Chad to get an abortion, said he hoped the story would resonate well beyond the African country, including in places like the United States where there are vocal anti-abortion movements. Mahamet-Saleh Haroun said he was inspired to explore the issue after reading stories about babies abandoned or killed by their young mothers in Chad, where abortion is only allowed in specific cases where a woman's life is in danger. "Speaking to women, it turns out that these are struggles they have been going through for so…

Apr

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Banky W and Adesua Etomi heal from their twins’ loss

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO BANKY W and actress Adesua Etomi have gone through a long journey of healing and faith as a family. The Nigerian couple opened up about Adesua Etomi’s miscarriage, in a featured episode of The Waterbrook Series. "So we got pregnant and we got pregnant with twins. And we had gone for the scans, we had seen the heartbeats. At this point very few people knew what happened," Etomi said. Adesua Etomi explained in the web series that during a routine visit to a doctor with her husband, the doctor had noticed the lack of heartbeats and knew immediately…

Apr

07

2021

By The African Mirror

My name is Thandiwe Newton

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO BRITISH actress formerly known as Thandie Newton has announced that she now wishes to be (correctly) called Thandiwe Newton. Newton told British Vogue in an interview that her professional name had been misspelled in Hollywood after her name was incorrectly spelled in the 1991 film ‘Flirting’. Joining a growing list of other celebrities who have also told the public that their names were spelled or pronounced incorrectly, like Anne Hathaway and Saoirse Ronan, Newton said that she is now on a mission to reclaim the correct spelling of her name. "That’s my name. It’s always been my name.…

Apr

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian icon Fela is long overdue for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SCROLLING through the comments made on YouTube on Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s music, one comes across remarks such as: “The greatest unknown musician who ever lived”, “Why isn’t Fela’s music more widely known?”, “His music beats everything I’ve ever heard before” and “Why am I so late to this?” SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town The truth is that during Fela’s extraordinary lifetime, the Nigerian’s notoriety as an engaged citizen fighting for social justice was what usually attracted attention – and not his music. His public persona as a cultural renegade, an incorrigible iconoclast…

Jul

06

2021

By The African Mirror

DJ cop shows South Africa the other side of that blue uniform

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

JAMAINE KRIGE “I see them as twins and I love them both,” Constable Lucky Matome laughs as he describes juggling his two lives; one, a kwaito music artist, the other that of a policeman in the South African Police Service. “When you have twins you cannot say one is more beautiful than the other, because they are different but identical, and they are both your children. Like twins, I must treat them equally and give them equal attention, so that one does not suffer because of the other,” he said. His police work is important and it allows him to…