LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

May

09

2026

All aboard the Gautrain Couture Express

BEAUTY AND FASHION

NOBODY told the commuter at Park Station that Thursday morning that he would become an accidental front-row guest at one of the most unexpected fashion moments in South African history. He was just trying to get to Sandton. He had a nine o'clock. He had a cortado in one hand and mild existential dread in the other. What he did not have - what none of us had - was adequate preparation for what David Tlale had planned for the Gautrain. Because on 6 May 2026, South Africa's sleekest, most reliable, most WiFi-having public transit system became something it had…

May

07

2026

By NIKITA HEAVEN, BIRD STORY AGENCY

A new rhythm for Kigali as rap takes the stage

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ANGELL Mutoni, known by her stage name as Angell, stands before a wall-length mirror in a rehearsal studio in Nyamirambo, running through the final lines of her performance. She looks confident and professional. Chin lifted, shoulders squared, eyes locked straight ahead. The verses spoken out loud land flawlessly. "I've been told that I look like I'm not nervous," she says. "But deep inside I am," she said, taking a break from the intense delivery. Nyamirambo is where Kigali generates its creative energy. The neighbourhood has produced some of Rwanda's sharpest rap talent, and Mutoni knows every corner of it. This…

May

06

2026

By MEL HERVE, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Lens Queen Breaking Barriers

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE roar inside the stadium rises and collapses in waves. On the sidelines, photographers adjust their positions as the ball moves fast across the pitch, their shutters clicking in bursts to keep up with the speed of the game. In the stands, young men are singing, blowing whistles, and dancing, their energy levels rising and falling with every attack and counterattack, turning the match into a dynamic wall of sound and colour. Among the photographers tracking the action from the edge of the pitch is Béatrice-Nicole Kouadio. Camera raised, body angled slightly forward, eyes moving before the play fully unfolds,…

May

05

2026

By JOSHUA KUMBANI and MARGARITA DÍAZ-ANDREU

Rock art, dance and ritual: what we learned from paintings in Zimbabwe

CULTURE

ROCK paintings are found throughout Zimbabwe. They were made during the last 10,000 years by hunter-gatherer groups and later by farming communities. These came to the attention of the ERC Artsoundscapes project, based in Spain, in 2021. The project brings together experts in archaeology, ethnography, psychology, and acoustic engineering to explore how humans understood sound in prehistoric times. Our team has studied some of the rock art of South Africa in which dance scenes are depicted, and we have begun work on documenting and analysing similar rock art in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s rock paintings are concentrated in the country’s eastern provinces,…

May

05

2026

By TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU

Uganda’s Bobi Wine on the books (and songs) that shape his politics

LIFESTYLE

ROBERT Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, is a Ugandan music star and political leader currently in exile. Framing his movement as a “people power” struggle by young Ugandans for democratic transition, he is a vocal critic of the regime. After a disputed election in January won by long-time ruler Yoweri Museveni, his home was besieged by soldiers, and he managed to escape with the help of his supporters. He fled to the US. Before politics, Bobi Wine was known as a musician. He is one of East Africa’s major artists, having built a huge fan base with his…

Apr

27

2026

By The African Mirror

The king never left the stage

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

LET us begin with a confession. When Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba - the man the world knew simply as Papa Wemba - collapsed on the stage of the Festival des Musiques Urbaines d'Anoumabo in Abidjan on the evening of 24 April 2016, many in the crowd initially assumed it was part of the show. Because with Papa Wemba, you never quite knew. He was that good. He was that theatrical. He was, in the fullest and most literal sense of the word, extra. Ten years later, the Head of State of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, made…

Apr

25

2026

By ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT

Ferre Gola brings the soul of Kinshasa to the City of Gold – and the continent holds its breath

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THERE is a sound that rises from the banks of the Congo River at dusk - a sound as wide and ancient as the river itself. It is the sound of rumba, of soukous, of guitars that seem to speak in tongues, of voices that carry grief and celebration in the same breath. For generations, that sound has defined the heartbeat of Central Africa. This May, it arrives in Johannesburg. Ferre Gola - Le Padre, the patriarch of a new Congolese golden age - will step onto a Joburg stage for the first time in his storied career. The date…

Apr

24

2026

By JOVIAL RANTAO

Join us on a journey along the Garden Route in South Africa, voted the best in the world

TRAVEL

CLOSE your eyes. Go on - close them properly. No cheating. Now imagine the world's finest road trip designers sat down with an embarrassingly large budget, borrowed God's colour palette, raided the continent's best forests, invited the Indian Ocean to show off a little, and then - just to rub it in - sprinkled in some of the warmest, most irrepressibly alive communities on Earth. That is the Garden Route. And it didn't need to try quite so hard. And yet, here we are. CHAPTER I · THE BEGINNING Mossel Bay Greets You Like an Old Friend Who Owns the…

Apr

24

2026

By CHRISTOPHE PREMAT

6 African thinkers who help us understand the world – new book

LITERATURE

WHO counts as an intellectual? In many traditions, the figure of the intellectual is tied to the search for truth, social critique, and public engagement. From the Dreyfus Affair (a political scandal in 1894 in France that mobilised writers and thinkers to defend justice) to postcolonial debates, intellectuals are those who intervene in society, not just to interpret the world, but to challenge it. In the African context, this role takes on particular urgency. Intellectuals on the continent and in the diaspora have long navigated a complex terrain shaped by colonial legacies, political constraints, and global inequalities. They are not…

Apr

17

2026

By The African Mirror

Grammy-nominated R&B queen Tamia headlines Epic Women’s Month tour in South Africa

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SMOOTH as Cape velvet and fierce as a Joburg sunrise, Grammy-nominated R&B superstar Tamia is set to set South African stages ablaze this August, headlining The Biggest Women’s Month Celebration Tour Experience - a glittering ode to sisterhood, soul, and unapologetic power. The tour’s itinerary is locked and loaded: 6 August at Grand Arena, GrandWest in Cape Town; 7 August at Durban ICC in KwaZulu-Natal; and 10 August at SunBet Arena, Time Square in Pretoria. Tamia, whose honeyed hits like "Officially Missing You" and "Imagination" have amassed billions of streams, promises a sensory explosion of live vocals, high-energy choreography, and…