LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Dec

05

2023

Dionne Warwick, Billy Crystal, Queen Latifah reign at Kennedy Center Honors

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

WASHINGTON celebrated singer Dionne Warwick, comedian Billy Crystal, Bee Gees member Barry Gibb, rapper and actress Queen Latifah, and opera star Renée Fleming at the Kennedy Center Honors, the top U.S. honour for achievements in the arts. President Joe Biden lauded the work of the five performers during a reception at the White House before the show. "The performing arts are more than just sound and scene. They reflect who we are as Americans and as human beings," he said. The show kicked off with a tribute to Warwick, 82, a pop music star since the 1960s who has sold…

Dec

02

2023

By BERNARD MUHIA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

This former lecturer is helping young African filmmakers produce better stories

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

WHEN Thomas Bundi realised that Africa could be better represented on the big screen, it took him a while to work out how to help. Then came an opportunity - and he jumped at it. "We represent ourselves the way we want to be seen, and the film is a very good cultural diplomacy tool," Bundi, a film producer and lecturer who works online, in partnership with Jenge Kulture, a Kenyan NGO. In 2017, Bundi was working as a lecturer at the Africa Digital Media Institute and the African Film and Television Talent Training Institute when he noticed that a…

Dec

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Opera in Cape Town: critics trace how a colonial art form was reinvented as African

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MANY people thought that classical opera in South Africa – regarded as a Western, colonial art form that was the preserve of white people during apartheid – would die with democracy in 1994. Instead, the opposite happened. Black singers emerged as the new stars and the format of opera began to be Africanised for new audiences. Critics mapped this transformation as Cape Town established itself as a hotbed of the new opera. One such critic was Wayne Muller, who became an academic and wrote a PhD on the view of these changes. Now he has a book on the subject…

Dec

09

2023

By LINDA NG’OMBE AND CHIKONDI PHIRI, BIRD STORY AGENCY

This Drama Queen has seen it all. Now she’s living her best life – and helping others do the same

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

RASHIDA Nyirongo is a busy woman. She juggles studio commitments, which take up around 3 hours most weekdays, with a life full of advocacy and community-oriented engagements. Her regular work on Radio Maria Zambia, Feel Free Radio, Breeze FM and Smooth Radio have helped ensure that the woman known as the Drama Queen of Chipata is a familiar voice for millions of listeners in eastern Zambia. She is also a voice for the downtrodden. Nyirongo's current work seems a far cry from her early childhood dream of getting an education and working in a bank. But her parents, who have…

Nov

28

2023

By The African Mirror

Good Jew, Bad Jew: new book explores why the West views brutality against Ukrainians and Palestinians differently

LITERATURE

IN a recently published book Steven Friedman, who has written extensively on the political and social aspects of apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, explores the racist underpinnings of the west’s responses to Israel’s war in Gaza. This is an extract from the book, Good Jew, Bad Jew. STEVEN FRIEDMAN, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani sees a link between the violence of the coloniser and the slaughter of Jews and Slavs by the Nazis. The racial theories of Houston Stewart Chamberlain and others who claimed the Aryan race was superior meant that Jews and Slavs,…

Nov

30

2023

By ESTHER MUSEMBI AND FISKE NYIRONGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Missla Libsekal is a Global Ambassador for African Contemporary Art

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT, MULTIMEDIA

DRESSED in two shades of black and flipping through Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina’s How To Write About Africa; Ethiopian writer, curator, researcher and activist Missla Libsekal was in her element as she took a break from her work on Art X Lagos, one of the continent's premier art events. "These kinds of events offer Africans on the continent and in the diaspora to be in dialogue with each other. ART X really does provide a space for that to actually happen, for somebody like myself to be invited and participate in the conversation," Libsekal shared. Libeskal has been working to…

Nov

24

2023

By The African Mirror

South African politicians vs judges: new book defends the Constitution

LITERATURE

IN 1994, South Africa became a democracy founded on a supreme constitution. The Constitution’s preamble affirms the nation’s quest to establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights. The Constitution clearly envisioned political accountability and judicial review of executive and legislative actions. But, almost three decades on, this vision is increasingly under virulent criticism by populist politicians. ANTHONY DIALA, Director, Centre for Legal Integration in Africa, University of the Western Cape Dan Mafora’s new book, Capture in the Court – In Defence of Judges and the Constitution, likens the rising rebellion against judges and the…

Nov

25

2023

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Music streamers collaborate with telcos to widen Africa reach

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

WITH African superstars taking to global music stages and a growing army of young mobile subscribers - consisting largely of Gen Z’s - among the most ardent African music fans. homegrown and foreign streaming platforms are pushing hard to build their presence in a growing market. Until recently, one of the biggest challenges for streamers has been high data costs and few payment options. But there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Streamers are now increasingly partnering with mobile operators to overcome expansion hurdles, offering incentives like free access to premium content and attractive offers on data…

Nov

24

2023

By The African Mirror

NBA Africa’s first original docuseries “Born & Bred” premieres on NBA App

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

NBA Africa has announced that its first original documentary series “Born & Bred” has premiered on the NBA App. The five-part series tells the stories of five current and former NBA Academy Africa prospects from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Sudan through exclusive footage and interviews with the prospects, family members, friends, and coaches. “Born & Bred,” which features Nigeria’s Rueben Chinyelu, Egypt’s Seifeldin Hendawy, South Sudan’s Khaman Maluach, Senegal’s Khadim Rassoul Mboup, and Angola’s Aginaldo Neto, spotlights each prospect’s basketball journey, including the communities where they were raised and the moments that have shaped them as players and…

Nov

23

2023

By ATIENO ODERA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

This runway model is campaigning against gender-based violence in the fashion industry

BEAUTY AND FASHION

ENTERING Watamu town in Kilifi County, north of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, it is immediately apparent that an awareness of gender-based violence is widespread. The ‘RED CARD CAMPAIGN FASHION SHOW’ advertised loudly on a billboard at the town's entrance displays an image of international runway model Sharon Okubo. The RED CARD campaign is a symbolic call-out to get the wider society to get involved in penalising gender-based discrimination and violence. Started by the non-profit African Renaissance and Diaspora Networks (ARDN), Okubo is an ambassador for the campaign, working closely with models and designers who are survivors of gender-based violence.…