ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT - The African Mirror

Jun

28

2021

Cardi B reveals pregnancy no.2

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER RAPPERS Cardi B and Offset are expecting again. Cardi B made the announcement during her featured performance with her husband and his group Migos’ on stage at the Black Entertainment Awards (BET). The rapper wore a black jeweled jumpsuit with the crystals designed to surround her swollen belly as the rapper performed. Cardi B at the 2020 BET Awards. Picture: Twitter The announcement during a live show makes it the second time that Cardi has announced her pregnancy to the world. While expecting the couple’s first child, Kulture, Cardi made the announcement while performing on US comedy…

Jun

24

2021

By The African Mirror

The woman redefining African dance

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

TATENDA KANENGONI CLASSICAL ballet instructor Soukaina Marie-Laure Edom is determined to give women space at the heart of African dance. Since 2014 she has run the only institute offering professional dance training in Zimbabwe, and her work is beginning to have a profound effect on dance right across the continent. AfriKera Dance Theatre Hub is situated in the very heart of Harare, a throbbing nexus of sound and energy. From soft classical ballet melodies to rhythmic African drums, sound pours out in a steady stream and there is seldom a moment when dance students are not utilising the space to…

May

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Lady Gaga, Glenn Close join Prince Harry and Oprah for mental health TV series

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

BRITAIN's Prince Harry and U.S. chat show queen Oprah Winfrey will premiere their television documentary series on mental health issues later this month, with singer Lady Gaga and actress Glenn Close among those contributing. "The Me You Can't See" series, co-created and produced by Harry and Winfrey, will feature stories from high-profile guests and others across the world about mental health and emotional well-being issues, Apple TV+, the streaming service which will air the programmes from May 21, said on Monday. Winfrey said the series aimed to spark a global conversation, and replace the shame surrounding mental health with wisdom…

Jun

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal’s famed jazz festival returns after pandemic delay

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

COOPER INVEEN ON a small island where the Senegal River meets the sea, hundreds of mask-wearing jazz enthusiasts listened to French-Senegalese vocalist Awa Ly sing the blues for uncertain times. "Once you touched the sky and you went down," she crooned. "Use your inner senses and you'll figure it out, like a dream you can't remember." Last year COVID-19 halted Saint Louis' jazz festival for the first time in its 29-year history. This year it was back, bringing much needed life to the Island of Saint Louis, a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for its colonial architecture and pastel-coloured houses.…

Jun

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Usain Bolt and Kasi Bennett welcome twin boys

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO OLYMPIC runner Usain Bolt and partner Kasi Bennett have welcomed two new members to the family, elevating their eldest daughter, Olympia Bolt’s, role to big sister. Bolt celebrated Father’s Day with a post on Instagram where he shared the news with a photo of his family from a photo shoot, including their one-year-old daughter, and first glimpses of their newborn twins named Saint Leo and Thunder. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Usain St.Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) His partner, Bennett, posted her own tribute to the Olympic sprinter, sharing more footage from their family photoshoot, calling…

May

08

2021

By The African Mirror

The #JerusalemaDanceChallenge showed how Pan African styles can be forged

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

A year has passed since an Angolan dance troupe called Fenómenos do Semba released a video of themselves dancing in a courtyard in Luanda to the South African hit song Jerusalema by Master KG. FRANCESCA NEGRO, Associate research scientist, Universidade de Lisboa With over 16 million YouTube clicks, the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge swept the planet as social media users posted their own versions of the dance. Its success has inspired me to offer some further reflections on the importance of the cultural meaning of this dance and its contribution to the creation of a Pan African aesthetic. How Angolans celebrate The dance…

Jun

19

2021

By The African Mirror

The Late Night, Mogadishu

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

JAAMAC JAAMAC MOGADISHU was once known as The Pearl of the Indian Ocean, famous for its architecture, culture and nightlife. A civil war and more recently an Islamic insurgency interrupted that. Now, with elections looming, nightlife is returning to this former Indian Ocean entrepot. At the Late Night restaurant, there's a palpable sense of hope, served up, along with each plate of Jabaati, by the manager himself. It is almost midnight and along Mogadishu's central Maka-Al-Mukarama boulevard, late-night restaurant patrons are coming and going. Three-wheeled "tuk-tuks" throng the area, dropping off customers or waiting for new ones. Judging by their…

May

03

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s romcom revolution and how it reimagines Joburg

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

NETFLIX went live in South Africa on 6 January 2016. The arrival of the subscription-based content streaming service was a game-changer for the country’s film and television industry, as it had been for other countries. PIER PAOLO FRASSINELLI, Professor, Communication and Media Studies, University of Johannesburg At about the same time – in 2015 and 2016 – there was another turning point for South Africa’s film industry: the arrival of a new, commercially successful genre, the black romantic comedy. For the first time, the country’s black filmmakers were able to make an impact at the box office – and go…

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

“My Octopus Teacher” wins Africa’s only Oscar at historic night

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SOUTH Africa's first ever Netflix original documentary, "My Octopus Teacher", has won an Oscar. The film, directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, won in a strongly contested category at the 93rd Academy Awards held in Los Angeles today. In her acceptance speech, Ehrlich said: In many ways this really is a tiny personal story that played out in a seaforust at the very tip of Africa, but on a more universal level I hope that it provided a glimpse of a different type of relationship between human beings and the natural world." "Nomadland", the story of van dwellers in…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Tems, Wizkid and more nominated for BET Awards

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO NIGERIAN starlet Tems has bagged her first British Entertainment Television (BET) Award nomination. The singer, real name Temilade Openiyi, has been nominated alongside six other artists for BET”s Best New International Act: Viewers Choice, which is usually awarded during the pre-show airing of the BET Awards. Previous winners of this award include South Africa’s Sho Madjozi, Zimbabwe’s Shasha and Wizkid, who has had the most wins in the Best International Act category as an African artist. Tems rose to the top of the music charts with her debut EP, For Broken Ears, but is popularly known for her…