LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

May

2021

Thuso Mbedu, Barry Jenkins speak about making slavery drama ‘The Underground Railroad’

LISA KEDDIE “MOONLIGHT” director Barry Jenkins switches to the small screen for an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Underground Railroad", a project the Oscar winner says he feared from the start. The 41-year-old read a copy of Colson Whitehead's harrowing tale before its 2016 release, and was enamoured by its young protagonist, Black slave Cora, and her quest for freedom from a Georgia plantation. FILE PHOTO: Director Barry Jenkins attends the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. February 4, 2019. REUTERS/David McNew/File Photo Set in the 19th century Deep South, the 10-part series, released on…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Snoop Dogg takes executive role at Def Jam

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

RAP superstar Snoop Dogg is joining the legendary hip hop label Def Jam Recordings as executive creative and strategic consultant, the U.S. company has announced. Def Jam, owned by Universal Music, has been home to some of hip-hop's most pioneering artists, from Public Enemy to LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. Its current roster includes Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Kanye West. Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, professionally known as Snoop Dogg, will be based in Los Angeles and report to Universal Music Group Chairman and Chief Executive Sir Lucian Grainge and Def Jam interim Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Harleston. As…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Scientology Volunteer Ministers sterling role during the Cape Town runaway fires

RELIGION

WHEN runaway wildfires hit Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town recently, destroying property and displacing thousands of people, many volunteers answered the call to assist with major humanitarian exercise that followed. So did ministers from the Church of Scientology. A team from the Scientology Volunteer Ministers (SVM) battled thick smoke and unbearable heat, working side by side for hours with firefighters to extinguish the fire. Other members of the SVM brought much-needed supplies to university students' displacement sites, trauma counselling to firefighters and more to assist. The fires caused extensive damage to the University of Cape Town, which…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

From apprentice to fashion icon: Ivory Coast’s Pathe’O, 50 years on

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

LOUCOUMANE COULIBALY WHEN 20-year-old Pathe Ouedraogo left his Burkina Faso village in 1969 in search of a better life in neighbouring Ivory Coast, his dream was to return with a bicycle and a transistor radio to prove he had made it. He was too thin to work on a cocoa farm, so took the chance to learn how to make clothes instead - a decision that propelled him to fashion stardom. "The most accessible job at the time was to be an apprentice tailor," said Ouedraogo. The man mostly known as Pathe'O is now celebrating a 50-year career during which…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Black feminist writers in South Africa raise their voices in a new book

LITERATURE

DESIREE LEWIS, Professor of Gender Studies, University of the Western Cape GABEBA BADEROON, Associate Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and African Studies, Penn State IN the third decade of the new millennium, despite many publishers still seeing black women’s writing as having a limited market, readers have far more access than before to publications by writers from the global South. In particular, the perspectives of black women are certainly more visible in the public domain. Yet gaps and erasures – based on intellectual authority, financial resources and visibility in the knowledge commons – mean that it’s still easier…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Former minister’s memoir is a candid critique of South Africa’s political economy

LITERATURE

A new book by Rob Davies, a former South African Trade and Industry Minister, provides a candid and detailed insider’s account of the evolution of the country’s post-apartheid political economy. MILLS SOKO, Professor: International Business & Strategy, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand He makes it clear from the outset that this is a memoir and not an autobiography. But, as one reads on, it becomes obvious that it is impossible to separate his personal experiences from the momentous events that have shaped democratic South Africa. The book’s fourteen chapters cover topics as varied as the apartheid context, the…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

German archbishop offers to resign over Church’s sexual abuse ‘catastrophe’

RELIGION

THOMAS ESCRITT and PHILIP PULLELLA ONE of Roman Catholicism's most influential liberal figures, Germany's Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop of Munich, saying he had to share responsibility for the "catastrophe" of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades. His offer, which Pope Francis has yet to accept, follows an uproar among the German faithful over abuse. Last week, the pope sent two senior foreign bishops to investigate the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany's largest, over its handling of abuse cases. "I have to share responsibility for the catastrophe of sexual abuse by officials of the Church over…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

‘It means everything’: Mary J. Blige inducted into NYC’s Apollo Walk of Fame

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MARY J. Blige has nine Grammy Awards, eight multi-platinum albums, two Academy Award nominations, and now, the singer-songwriter has a plaque on the Apollo Theater's Walk of Fame. Blige, also known as the queen of hip-hop soul with millions of fans across the globe, was inducted into the Walk of Fame on Friday just outside the legendary theater in Harlem. Wearing a sparkling green and black jumpsuit, Blige personally thanked her fans and announced a release date of June 25 for a new documentary that celebrates the 25th anniversary of her second album "My Life." This was a return home…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Rihanna by Rihanna ‘ – on Vogue’s cover

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO RIHANNA has graced yet another one of Vogue’s sought after covers, and got captured in the best way - through her own eyes. Rihanna posed as the cover star for Vogue Italia’s June issue, rocking an edgy, minimalist aesthetic in a photoshoot that was directed and styled by the singer herself, for the issue titled “The Do-It-Yourself issue”. "Rihanna By Rihanna!" Vogue Italia explained on social media. "When for our Do It Yourself issue Rihanna Did It Herself photographing and styling her own cover." Rihanna for Vogue Italia. Picture: Instagram/badgalriri "On set Rihanna played simultaneously the artist and…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

10 African fashion influencers you should follow

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO IT is no secret that Africa is home to some of the world’s most fashionable, both in the creation and wearing stylish garments. One of the most riveting aspects about Africa’s multi-ethnic landscape is that it brings about so many ideas and concepts to conventional fashion terms and inspirations. Africans, like other indigenous groups around the world, have the ability to make their own traditional attire to be a visionary fashion art piece, styled in their own way. Influencers like to (and effortlessly do ) mix their own style signatures with global fashion trends, to which some of…