LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Dec

12

2023

Madagascar is not a movie, and Marie Kolo is making that clear

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

“OUR national anthem is not, I like to move it,” declared Marie Kolo, her words echoing a deep-seated desire to uplift the true image of her country, a far cry from the animated jungles and dancing lemurs of Hollywood's creation. In the island nation, Kolo's name has become emblematic of climate activism, social entrepreneurship and ecofeminism. Her fight for years now has been for the identity of Madagascar and its people as part of the diverse and rich tapestry of Africa. "When I talk about my country, some people don't even know where it is," she lamented. "They ask if…

Dec

09

2023

By The African Mirror

Afrobeats and Nollywood are shaping Africa’s gaming industry

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

GAME developers are blending music soundtracks from the continent and replicating narratives from African films in a bid to increase their cultural appeal among gaming enthusiasts. Popular West African music genres, Afrobeats, and the Nollywood film category are emerging as favourites, with game developers from the continent and beyond looking to tap into their extensive consumer appeal to drive downloads and revenues. A new report by Nigerian gaming studio, Maliyo, explains that this could fuel the gaming industry in Africa because “entertainment and culture are closely knit factors that influence social behavior and norms." “Over a relatively short period of…

Dec

06

2023

By KATE OKORIE, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Ina-Maria Shikongo deploys her art to protect the Okavango Delta from big oil

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

"THIS piece is for Ken Saro-Wiwa," said Ina-Marie Shikongo, pointing to a textile collage shaped like an inverted dome hanging above the grey sofa where she was seated, surrounded by other artwork referencing the earth's warming climate. In a world often muted by diplomacy, Shikongo stands out as a defiant burst of unapologetic activism. Since 2020, the Namibian climate activist has used her art to fight a looming environmental threat to the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta. Shikongo and other activists have made their presence felt at COP28, hosted by the United Arab Emirates' most populous city, and her work is a…

Dec

05

2023

By ESTHER MUSEMBI, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Interview: Acclaimed Zambian writer Mubanga Kalimamukwento on lifting the veil around stories of children during the HIV/AIDS pandemic

LITERATURE

MUBANGA Kalimamukwento is a Zambian human rights lawyer and award-winning writer who has written extensively about the intimate lives of characters facing unimaginable challenges during the AIDS epidemic in Zambia. Her latest but unfinished novel earned her a place as a 2023 Miles Morland Scholar, a scholarship scheme which aims to give African writers of both fiction and non-fiction the financial freedom to complete an English-language book. The following is an extract of a longer conversation. In your first novel, the Mourning Bird, you choose to write from the perspective of a child; why did you choose to do this?…

Dec

05

2023

By JEFF MASON and JASPER WARD

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…