LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

May

01

2021

Book Review | 69 Jerusalem Street

LITERATURE

KARABO KGOLENG LINDIWE Nkutha has small feet. For the longest time, she coveted a pair of All Star takkies but she couldn’t find a place that sold them in her size. One day, her partner – raised in Pretoria – suggested they go to Marabastad to look for them. They found the shoes in Marabastad’s Jerusalem Street, a place that evoked for her an atmospheric combination of Diagonal, Bree and Noord Streets in Johannesburg. Anyone familiar with these streets knows they are sites of enterprise, bustling with crowds of diverse people on different missions, hooting taxis and the obligatory dodgy,…

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

“My Octopus Teacher” wins Africa’s only Oscar at historic night

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SOUTH Africa's first ever Netflix original documentary, "My Octopus Teacher", has won an Oscar. The film, directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, won in a strongly contested category at the 93rd Academy Awards held in Los Angeles today. In her acceptance speech, Ehrlich said: In many ways this really is a tiny personal story that played out in a seaforust at the very tip of Africa, but on a more universal level I hope that it provided a glimpse of a different type of relationship between human beings and the natural world." "Nomadland", the story of van dwellers in…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Tems, Wizkid and more nominated for BET Awards

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO NIGERIAN starlet Tems has bagged her first British Entertainment Television (BET) Award nomination. The singer, real name Temilade Openiyi, has been nominated alongside six other artists for BET”s Best New International Act: Viewers Choice, which is usually awarded during the pre-show airing of the BET Awards. Previous winners of this award include South Africa’s Sho Madjozi, Zimbabwe’s Shasha and Wizkid, who has had the most wins in the Best International Act category as an African artist. Tems rose to the top of the music charts with her debut EP, For Broken Ears, but is popularly known for her…

Jun

11

2021

By The African Mirror

The magnificent Mabi Thobejane, master South African drummer

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

WINTER chokes the highveld in Johannesburg, South Africa, and takes from me, from our entire culture, a mighty mountain. Gabriel Mabi Segwagwa Thobejane, the diminutive tower of rhythmic power, has left us: a man who did not so much play the drums, but became The Drum. DAVID COPLAN, Professor Emeritus, Social Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand He reportedly suffered a stroke at the age of 74 and passed on 3 June 2021. Even though he was both master and a creator of South Africa’s indigenous sonic archive, Mabi, as we all came to call him, was also a showman and…

Jun

10

2021

By The African Mirror

Adut Akech named global Estée Lauder ambassador

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO ADUT Akech has become one of Estée Lauder’s newest global faces. The South Sudanese-Australian model was named ahead of Estée Lauder’s new campaign launch for the summer. She joins the likes of Ana de Armas, Anok Yai, Bianca Brandolini D’Adda, Carolyn Murphy, Grace Elizabeth, Karlie Kloss and Yang Mi. The supermodel captured the world’s attention when she debuted in the 2017 Saint Laurent S/S show, and now at the age of 21, she is living the dream as the face of a brand she didn’t think would be part of an iconic brand such as Estée Lauder. “I…

Jun

10

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Coolest kid’ Elsa Majimbo covers Native

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IT’s Elsa Majimbo’s world and we’re all just living in it. The online sensation has been revealed as the digital cover star for Native’s June issue, in a feature that sees the “coolest 19-year-old on the planet” in eccentric braiding styles and colourblock-styled outfits. Titled “Into Elsa’s Multiverse”, Native magazine chats to Majimbo on her massive rise online, her conversations with the likes of Olympian Usain Bolt, Rihanna and Naomi Campbell; and how she has been using her newfound fame to carve a space for young, rising African women like herself. View this post on Instagram A post shared by…

Jun

09

2021

By The African Mirror

During lockdown, South African students wrote a book about ‘a world gone mad’

LITERATURE

SOUTH African student voices have largely remained unheard in formal discussions around COVID-19. A pandemic that should not be put to waste, COVID-19, on some podiums, is seen as laying the groundwork for germination of seeds of change. PEET VAN AARDT, Coordinator: Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN) & Lecturer: Academic Literacy, University of the Free State BRIAN SIBANDA, Lecturer/Researcher: Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of the Free State, University of the Free State The students in this collection of stories by the Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN, a project within the Academy for Multilingualism at…

Apr

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Cardi B files papers to secure ‘Bardi Beauty’ rights

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER RAPPER Cardi B is making “money moves”, to quote her single ‘Bodak Yellow’. According to TMZ, the rapper’s company Washpoppin Inc. has taken legal steps to secure the rights to the phrase “Bardi Beauty”, which could potentially be used across a variety of the rapper’s merchandise and other products. Cardi’s company originally filed the papers on April 16, but news reports only surfaced when her company updated the court documents which both TMZ and Complex viewed. The listed products from the application to secure the rights to the phrase include cosmetics, fragrances, hair care preparations, non-medicated skin…

May

12

2021

By The African Mirror

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

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

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

08

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…