LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Jan

18

2025

Showmax’s Tyla event livestream to test Africa’s streaming future

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE live streaming of Tyla's homecoming event on Showmax on Saturday (January 18) symbolizes a major shift in both the streaming and creative industries in Africa, according to academics and industry insiders. Tyla Laura Seethal, known simply as Tyla, is a 22-year-old South African singer who has claimed 24 awards from 77 nominations, including a historic 2024 Grammy win making her the youngest African soloist to be feted. Recognized by Billboard and celebrated globally, she’s hosting a homecoming event this Saturday, January 18, in Pretoria, South Africa, before kicking off her nationwide tour. In a press statement on January 10,…

Jan

17

2025

By AKINWUMI OGUNDIRAN

Nigeria’s Ọ̀ṣun Òṣogbo festival celebrates the power of a Yoruba goddess

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE Ọ̀ṣun Òṣogbo festival is the most important annual event in Òṣogbo, south-west Nigeria. It draws thousands of devotees and tourists from across Nigeria and worldwide. The festival is a devotional event and a civic ritual dedicated to Ọ̀ṣun, a principal female deity in the Yorùbá pantheon. Ọ̀ṣun is the deity of femininity in Yorùbá cosmology and rules over the river named after her in Nigeria – River Ọ̀ṣun. Her spirit is believed to reside in any freshwater. She is associated with the authority of motherhood, purity, fertility and sensuality. She is also the patron deity of Òṣogbo, a Yorùbá…

Jan

16

2025

By DIRK MATTEN

‘Squid Game’ Season 2 is a dystopian reflection of capitalism’s dark side

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE second season of Squid Game, Netflix’s most-watched show of all time, has been eagerly awaited by many. The first season featured players participating in a series of deadly children’s games to win prize money. The new season, which is also on track to set another Netflix record, takes a deeper look at the economic context and constraints surrounding the surrealistic games. More than a third of the season takes place outside the actual game setting, highlighting the dystopian life circumstances that drive participants to enter the deadly competition in the first place. In many ways, Squid Game Season 2…

Jan

14

2025

By Mpho Rantao

Kaytranada Thrills Jo’burg at Milk and Cookies

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IN early January 2025, Cape Town and Johannesburg played host to one of the year’s most anticipated events: the Milk and Cookies Festival. The first leg in Cape Town featured South African acts followed by Kaytranada, who performed at Ostrich Farm. After the large positive outpouring from the first leg, Kaytranada expressed his excitement for the Johannesburg leg, where he had been told where the real party was. Whoever told him that was correct despite the inclement weather that soaked attendees. Held at Huddle Park, the festival’s South African debut went off with a muddy but groovy set by the…

Jan

07

2025

By JESSICA FALCONI

Mozambique’s long struggle to build a nation – four novels that tell the story

LITERATURE

MOZAMBIQUE’S long history of nation-building is still unfinished. The country is still pursuing a cohesive national identity, stable institutions, and economic foundations that would unify diverse groups. This is crucial to foster harmony and political stability. Nation-building in Mozambique dates back to the last decades of Portuguese colonial rule, in the 1960s. At this time, it was mainly driven by resistance movements and anti-colonial struggles. As nationalist groups emerged, they aimed to unify diverse ethnic groups and overthrow colonial powers. A sense of shared identity was fostered through the fight for independence. But after independence in 1975, new challenges to…

Dec

30

2024

By SINENHLANHLA MEMELA

South Africa’s modern rondavels: family homes may be changing, but traditions remain

LIFESTYLE

THE Mbhashe area of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province is a landscape of hills, fields and river valleys leading to the Indian Ocean. All along the ridges are the homesteads of the Xhosa people who have lived here since before colonial times. In years gone by, all these homes would have been round buildings (“rondavels”) plastered with mud and thatched with local grasses. Today, many are built with bricks and cement and roofed with zinc. Some houses are rectangular, with decorative pillars, verandas and flat roofs. South Africa’s history of labour migration saw generations of people forced to leave these…

Dec

27

2024

By ROWLAND CHUKWUEMEKA AMAEFULA

Nigerian TikTok star Charity Ekezie uses hilarious skits to dispel ignorance about Africa

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

YOUNG African voices are gaining popularity on social media the world over, using these platforms for comedy and political debate – and often for political debate that’s also funny. One of the new generation of TikTok celebrities in Africa is Charity Ekezie, a Nigerian humourist and journalist. She’s gained 3.3 million followers on TikTok (and 570,000 on Instagram). Her skits poke fun at the world’s perceptions of the continent as backward and barbaric. Rowland Chukwuemeka Amaefula is a theatre and performance scholar who has analysed Ekezie’s TikToks, her sarcastic brand of humour and how she uses social media as a…

Dec

10

2024

By GWEN ANSELL

Rashid Vally: South African visionary whose indie record labels shaped the jazz scene

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SOME record labels create huge market and financial clout. Some stay much smaller, but punch way above their weight in terms of their impact on the spirit of a country’s music. For South Africa, one such label is As-Shams/The Sun, whose founder, Rashid Vally, passed away on 7 December aged 85. In the era of intensely repressive white minority rule, Vally became the first South African of colour to establish his own independent record label. His releases gave a platform to musically experimental and often politically outspoken artists, including pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. Their work implicitly and explicitly challenged the regime’s…

Dec

22

2024

By GIBSON NCUBE; BIBI BURGER, CARL DEATH; DEIRDRE C. BYRNE; NEDINE MOONSAMY and PETER J. MAURITS

6 best African sci-fi and fantasy books to read this holiday

LITERATURE

SCIENCE fiction, fantasy, horror and other forms of speculative fiction are breathing new life into African writing. International awards, TV deals, new publishing imprints, a growing fanbase and academic studies are adding to the interest. So what are the best sci-fi and fantasy novels, short stories and anthologies to add to your wishlist? We asked six scholars who specialise in African sci-fi and fantasy to pick. Avenues by Train by Farai Mudzingwa Gibson Ncube Reading Zimbabwean writer Farai Mudzingwa’s Avenues by Train (2023), one cannot help but think of those moments when we find ourselves suspended between stations, neither here…

Dec

07

2024

By THEMBELA VOKWANA

The empire sings back: the deep history behind South African soprano Pretty Yende’s triumph

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AMONG the global music stars invited to perform at the grand reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is Pretty Yende. The South African soprano was also one of the invited artists at the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III. Like the Notre Dame reopening, coronations are not events that take place often. What makes the moment special is not just singing for a new king or restored landmark, but the rareness of the occasion. Thanks to these events, millions of global television viewers experience Yende’s soaring high notes, stage presence, musicality and star quality for the first time.…