LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

May

02

2023

Amma Darko uses fiction to portray the real plight of women and street children in Ghana

LITERATURE

AMMA Darko is one of Ghana’s leading novelists, known for exploring gritty social issues and the lives of women. There is much to be unearthed in the childhood narrative of deprivation and danger that she tackles in her 2003 work Faceless. Authors PULENG SEGALO, Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair, University of South Africa THERESAH PATRINE ENNIN, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Cape Coast Faceless is the story of an investigation into the death of a young girl called Baby T, a child sex worker whose naked body is found dumped behind a marketplace, beaten and mutilated. During the progression…

Apr

29

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s hidden jazz history is being restored album by album

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IT'S fitting that Johannesburg is among 12 cities featured in the 2023 Unesco International Jazz Day, themed “jazz journey around the world”. The day, established in 2011 to celebrate the role of jazz in “uniting peoples across the globe”, is now marked annually on 30 April in close to 200 nations. It would have been hosted by Cape Town in 2020 had COVID-19 not intervened. Author GWEN ANSELL, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria Even so, many jazz lovers elsewhere may be aware of the long history and uniqueness of South Africa’s jazz legacy through…

Apr

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Guinea book festival hopes to turn the page on low literacy rate

LITERATURE

SOULEYMANE CAMARA GUINEA'S national sports stadium buzzed with people seeking a different kind of workout this week, as minds flexed and stretched in pursuit not of muscle gains, but literary enrichment. The 15th edition of Guinea's "72 Hours of the Book" festival unfolded in venues across the capital Conakry, bringing together a wide array of writers, publishers, and readers from the West African country and across the continent. The annual three-day event is aimed at celebrating books and promoting literacy in a nation where over half the population is illiterate, according to World Bank figures, and access to libraries is…

Apr

28

2023

By The African Mirror

Slavery’s historical link to marriage is still at play in some African societies

CULTURE

GOVERNMENTS and religious institutions regulate marriage. Such regulations are heavily laden with specific moral ideas and cultural taboos. There are heated debates around what counts as “proper” marriage: should polygamy or monogamy be preferred? What should be the minimal age for marriage? Despite these debates, all contemporary societies see marriage as a sacrosanct institution that deserves legal protection. Not so slavery. Author BENEDETTA ROSSI, Professor of History, UCL Today slavery is abolished in all countries. But 250 years ago various forms of slavery would have been legal on all continents. During the period of legal slavery, marriage and slavery were…

Apr

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Nollywood could see a major boost from Nigeria’s new copyright law – an expert explains why

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

NIGERIA has finally updated its 2004 copyright law, bringing it into the digital era – where the entertainment industry has been for decades already. Before the late 1990s, it was difficult even to get telephone services in Nigeria. And it was very expensive for private enterprises to make films. Since then, digital technology has unleashed a multitude of ways to receive information and entertainment. Author SAMUEL SAMIAI ANDREWS, Professor, University of Gondar With the arrival of digital technology, all a filmmaker needed was a simple video recorder and a group of talented creatives. Thus modern Nollywood – the Nigerian film…

Apr

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Tender Photo: the newsletter that’s creating a new conversation about African photography

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

NIGERIA'S Emmanuel Iduma is many things: writer, editor, publisher, critic and photographer. In 2022 he combined these skills to introduce a newsletter, Tender Photo, sent to subscribers twice a week. It has since become an important platform for African photographers, writers, critics and curators. Published on Substack, it has become so widely popular that it was a featured publication on the online newsletter support site. Author TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU, Junior Research Fellow, University of Oxford Iduma is the author of three books: I Am Still With You, a memoir on the Nigerian Civil War; A Stranger’s Pose, a travelogue; and The…

Apr

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Moffat Takadiwa’s landmark exhibition uses found materials to comment on Zimbabwe’s colonial hangover

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MOFFAT Takadiwa is a Zimbabwean artist famous for creating work from found materials. His exhibition Vestiges of Colonialism, curated by Fadzai Muchemwa, opened at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe on 16 March. This is the 40-year-old Takadiwa’s first solo show in Zimbabwe in a decade. Having exhibited around the globe, he’s best known for his sculptures made from consumer waste and urban residues such as toothbrushes, computer keyboards and cheap perfume bottles. Author LIFANG ZHANG, PhD candidate in Art History, Rhodes University As an art historian focusing on contemporary Zimbabwean art, I have been researching the artist’s work for the…

Apr

27

2023

By DORCAS BELLO AND SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

From notebooks to Netflix: Azzez Korede, the Nigerian filmmaker reimagining African folktales

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

"I started writing fiction stories at the age of ten. And even though I didn't continue, it was enough to help me understand I loved storytelling," says Azzez Korede, whose evocative short film, "Halima's Choice," launched on Netflix in March, after earning her a well-deserved place among the six victorious filmmakers of the groundbreaking 'African Folktales, Reimagined' competition. Despite thwarted ambitions to study theatre arts at university and a subsequent career in mass communication, Korede never gave up on her early storytelling ambitions, which began with stories penned in a personal notebook. And her subsequent career, it turned out, provided…

Apr

22

2023

By The African Mirror

Ghetto Kids: what’s behind the moves of the Ugandan dance troupe that stormed the world

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

A group of young dancers from Uganda, Triplets Ghetto Kids, went viral across the world when they earned the “golden buzzer” mid-performance on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent. The golden buzzer sends a shower of gold confetti onto the stage – sending the contestants straight through to the show’s final rounds – and it had never been pressed in the middle of a performance before. Author FRANCESCA NEGRO, Associate research scientist, Universidade de Lisboa In fact, the dance group have been an internet sensation for some years already. They dance with contagious positive energy to hit songs with steps…

Apr

22

2023

By GWLADYS FOUCHE

‘Art is continuous resistance’: Sudanese cartoonist draws to bring hope, truth

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IN his living room in Norway, while the TV broadcasts pictures of the violence back home in Khartoum, Khalid Albaih does what he has become known for in the Middle East and beyond: draw cartoons. His latest, entitled The Dog Fight, depicts the two main Sudanese foes, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, as dogs fighting over a piece of meat in the shape of Sudan. "Art is needed in times like this because it is important to show people art is about hope, art is about showing there is a different way to talk…