LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Tyla releases debut album after Grammy win

SOUTH African singer-songwriter Tyla releases her self-titled debut album, fresh off her win at the Grammy Awards last month. The 22-year-old found success last year, reaching the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard's Hot 100 chart and top 5 in Britain with amapiano hit "Water", a genre fusing house, jazz and log drums that emerged in South Africa. She describes the 15-track "TYLA", which features collaborations with the likes of U.S. rapper Travis Scott and Nigerian singer Tems, as "a melting pot of all the influences" she had growing up. "Pop, R&B and then obviously amapiano and Afrobeats because that's…

Mar

2024

By DANIELLE BROADWAY

‘The Color Purple’ cast tops NAACP Image Awards

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

WHILE "The Color Purple" actor Danielle Brooks didn't take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars last weekend, she and cast members took home the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Motion Picture. On the red carpet, Brooks told Reuters that out of all her accolades, she's most grateful to the NAACP Awards for acknowledging "The Color Purple" team with several nominations. "If nobody gonna see us, I'm glad that our people see us," she said, referencing the film's lack of nominations throughout the 2024 awards season. While Hollywood has made progress on diversifying talent and storytelling since the 2015 outcry…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Sandboarding makes a post-COVID comeback in Namibia desert town

LIFESTYLE

SET against miles of mesmerizing sand dunes, Namibia's seaside resort town of Swakopmund is seeing a boom in sandboarding, buoyed by a near-doubling of the numbers of cruise liners docking at nearby Walvis Bay last year. Lying between the 80,000 square km (31,000 square miles) Namib desert and the sea, Swakopmund is drawing tourists back, three years after lockdown brought Namibia's visitor numbers - previously around a million a year - to a standstill. Many of them are tempted by the thrill of this extreme sport, which involves sliding down sand dunes standing up or lying down on a board…

Mar

2024

By KAT STAFFORD and ALEXANDRA SARABIA

Beyoncé makes her mark on country music, shining light on genre’s Black roots

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

TEXAS native and singer-songwriter Denitia was deeply moved when she heard the first notes of Beyoncé's hit country song, "Texas Hold ‘Em." But it was more than the exhilarating, catchy thrum of the banjo at the start of the song that caught Denitia’s attention: It was an overdue acknowledgement of the rich history of Black country music artists and their legacies. "Beyoncé's success in country music is shining a light on a history of Black folks in country music, in our creation, our contribution to the genre, in our being listeners and avid audience members of country music," said Denitia,…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

The Continent Live debuts ‘First Class Vol.1’: A New Era in African Music

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE Continent Live, an innovative incubator for emerging musical talent, proudly announces the inaugural release of the year, “First Class Vol.1". In March 2023, the company orchestrated a two-week music songwriting camp, uniting fifty artists, twelve producers, and five songwriters. in a groundbreaking collaborative venture. The result: over seventy complete songs that celebrate the diverse and rich talent flourishing across Africa. STREAM/LISTEN HERE A selection of these tracks, handpicked for their quality and originality, will be released sequentially over the year. “The Continent Live: First Class Vol. One,” the initial offering of this series, marks the start of an exciting…

Mar

2024

By CHRISTINE LUCIA

Abdullah Ibrahim: South Africa’s master pianist is going on a world tour at 90

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ABDULLAH Ibrahim, South Africa’s most distinguished pianist, was born on 9 October 1934 in Cape Town. This year marks not only his 90th birthday but also the start of a world tour. Christine Lucia has studied Ibrahim’s work and published research articles about him. We asked her why he is so important. CHRISTINE LUCIA, Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University Who is Abdullah Ibrahim and what shaped him? Abdullah Ibrahim is the finest jazz pianist-composer that South Africa has ever produced – even in such a jazz-rich country. He is the country’s equivalent of the US jazz star Duke Ellington, because his…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Oscars 2024: panned by Trump, host Kimmel quips, ‘Isn’t it past your jail time?’

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

HOLLYWOOD'S biggest stars gathered to celebrate the year's best accomplishments in film at the annual Academy Awards. Here are some takeaways from the 96th Oscars ceremony. TRUMP REVIEWS KIMMEL Late in the show, Jimmy Kimmel read aloud from a scathing online review of his performance as Oscars host, revealing at the end that it was written by former U.S. President Donald Trump. "Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars," Trump posted on his Truth Social social media platform, also criticizing the show as "Disjointed, boring, and very unfair." Talk show host Kimmel, who's long feuded…

Mar

2024

By FLORENCE MARTIN

Four Daughters is a Tunisian masterpiece – what makes the film groundbreaking

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

FOUR Daughters is the story of a Tunisian family torn apart by an extremist Islamic group. It’s won several major documentary awards and was nominated for a Best Feature Documentary Oscar. This makes its director Kaouther Ben Hania the first Arab woman ever to receive two Oscar nominations. FLORENCE MARTIN, Dean John B. Van Meter Professor of French Transnational Studies, Goucher College Ben Hania has blazed a trail with powerful and politically poignant films featuring women and is the subject of several studies by North African cinema expert Florence Martin. We asked her to tell us more. Who is Kaouther…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Bobi Wine: The People’s President – a gripping Oscar-nominated film about Uganda’s fight for freedom

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Bobi Wine is a pop star in Uganda who uses his music for political protest and social activism. Born Robert Kyagulanyi, he became a member of parliament (MP) in 2017 and has gone on to lead a popular opposition movement in the face of state violence and repression. His political journey is now the subject of a documentary. JULIA CAIN, Lecturer in Screen Production and Film Theory & Practice, University of Cape Town Bobi Wine: The People’s President is one of the five films nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2024 Oscars in the US. All five are…

Mar

2024

By RUTH SACKS

Congo Style: how two dictators shaped the DRC’s art, architecture and monuments

LIFESTYLE

WHAT kind of art is left behind by totalitarian regimes? A new free-to-read book called Congo Style: From Belgian Art Nouveau to African Independence explores the visual culture, architecture and heritage sites of the country today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It does so by exploring two now-notorious regimes: King Leopold II’s rule (1885-1908) of Belgium’s Congo colony and Mobutu Sese Seko’s totalitarian Zaire, established when he seized power in a military coup in 1965 after five years of political upheaval. We asked artist and visual culture scholar Ruth Sacks five questions about her book. RUTH SACKS,…