LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Apr

05

2023

Can you use digital wallets when travelling around Africa?

LIFESTYLE

DIGITAL wallets have become an increasingly popular payment method around the world, offering a convenient and secure way to make transactions without the need for physical cash or cards. But what about when you're travelling around Africa? Can you use digital wallets to make purchases and payments in different countries across the continent? This is an excellent question, and it is one that we intend to answer in this article. Let’s get right into it and take a look at whether or not you can use digital wallets when travelling around Africa. Not All Digital Wallets Will Be Accepted in…

Apr

04

2023

By The African Mirror

Amapiano Awards: South Africa’s dance music scene spreads its joy across the world

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IN 2019 amapiano began to dominate South Africa’s dance floors to such an extent that, by 2021, the first South African Amapiano Awards were held to mark the rise of the country’s most infectious new music export. In 2022, the South African dance music genre continued to expand its galloping worldwide reach. The annual awards are now an established event in South Africa’s music calendar. Author SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town Amapiano is a soulful mix of grooves, sonic textures and moods that can be by turns hectic, smooth, melodic or…

Mar

30

2023

By The African Mirror

The astonishing life and music of Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, the Ethiopian nun who’s died at 99

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AS the Ethiopian pianist Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou approached the age of 100, fans and music critics from the US to Ethiopia, Israel to Europe have been eagerly rediscovering her work. But the Addis Ababa-born pianist, who has died at the age of 99, has been a source of fascination to connoisseurs. Especially after a disc in the iconic Ethiopiques series (issued by Buda Musique) was dedicated to her work in 2006. Author ILANA WEBSTER-KOGEN, Reader, SOAS, University of London The classically trained musician was associated with the jazz genre and spent her life in a convent. She will remain in…

Mar

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Noni Jabavu was a pioneering South African writer – a new book shows how relevant she still is

LITERATURE

NONI Jabavu was the first black South African woman to publish memoirs and one of the first African women to pursue a literary career abroad. She left the country as a teenager to pursue an education and returned intermittently throughout her life. She returned to South Africa in 1977 to research her father’s biography. Some of her best-known work became the witty, insightful and politically charged columns she wrote for the Daily Dispatch newspaper. But this pioneering figure had been all but forgotten until writer and academic Makhosazana Xaba and historian Athambile Masola focused their attention on her life and…

Mar

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Africa music revenues record over 30% growth

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

BIRD STORY AGENCY THE viral nature of African tunes is not only creating a broader audience for African artists but also unleashing an unprecedented revenue boom. The fastest-growing market region in 2022 was Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report. Growth in the region, which recorded a 34.7% rise in music sales, was largely driven by a booming music market in South Africa, where sales were up by more than 30% year-on-year. This is according to a report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents over 8000 record company members worldwide, including all three major labels,…

Mar

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Toyin Falola: 3 recent books that explain the work of Nigeria’s famous decolonial scholar

LITERATURE

TOYIN Falola, distinguished professor of history, is one of Africa’s most accomplished intellectuals. Born Oloruntoyin Falola in 1953 in the Nigerian city of Ibadan, he grew up in a sprawling, polygamous household that practised Islam, Christianity and ancient Yoruba spirituality. Author SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town This confluence of multiple worldviews and religions reflects in his thinking and in his massive academic output. Falola has produced something like 200 books in all areas of the human and social sciences and travels widely to deliver lectures at conferences and public events. Africa…

Mar

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Bowscapes review: album celebrates new traditions in South Africa’s ancient bow music

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MUSICAL bows are among the oldest instruments in southern Africa. Musicologists think the “ping” a bowstring makes when an arrow is released inspired early hunters (as far back as the Khoi and San nations) to use it for music-making in ritual and, later, other contexts. Author GWEN ANSELL, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria The passing, in 2022, of South Africa’s bow virtuoso Latozi “Madosini” Mpahleni reminded South Africans of traditional bow music’s significance in the region’s intangible cultural heritage. When you pluck, strike or stroke the string of a musical bow, you get not…

Mar

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Ghana’s plan for a grand new national cathedral is controversial – but will it attract pilgrims and tourists?

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

FREDERICK DAYOUR and FRANCIS KOFI ESSEL THE building of Ghana’s spectacular $400 million national cathedral designed by famed architect David Adjaye has stalled amid an economic crisis. The plan has drawn sharp public criticism but the president says it will be a significant tourist attraction and should go ahead. We asked two experts: Frederick Dayour heads his university’s department of tourism and hospitality where Francis Kofi Essel lectures in tourism. Essel is also a registered tour guide with intimate knowledge of Ghana’s religious sites and their tourism potential. What will be on the proposed new site and who will visit…

Mar

29

2023

By The African Mirror

The world’s first Islamic art biennale shines a light on African artists

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale is underway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Biennales are large and prestigious international art exhibitions held every two years.) This important new event for the Muslim world features numerous African artists. And the biennale’s artistic director is Sumayya Vally, a South African architecture professor and principal of Counterspace design studio. A rising star in the art and architecture worlds, Vally was intent on creating the biennale to connect with the diverse experiences of being Muslim through ritual, practices and philosophies. The Conversation Africa asked her five questions about the biennale. Author SUMAYYA VALLY, Honorary Professor of…

Mar

28

2023

By The African Mirror

Gloria Bosman: a personal reflection on the loss of a South African jazz great

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

WE have no idea what we have just lost. None. Prolific singer, composer and educator Gloria Bosman, who passed away on 14 March 2023, was someone I could only describe as South Africa’s most interactive artistic archive. Interactive not because she housed so much knowledge about the unique relationship between music and South Africans as a people, but also because she transmitted this knowledge to others at every opportunity. If you ever found yourself in the same room with Gloria, you were in for a lesson of a lifetime. Author NOMFUNDO XALUVA, Senior Lecturer, South African College of Music, University…