Senegal - The African Mirror

Jun

15

2024

Senegal has a rich history of traditional music – how it lives on in modern music

CULTURE

SENEGAL has a rich history of traditional music – and this lives on as it influences the West African country’s modern music today. As a cultural researcher, I set out to explore the social and cultural significance of both traditional and modern music in Senegal. I was able to interview 20 musicians, a mix of traditional and modern, who live and perform in the capital city of Dakar as well as other smaller cities and villages. I define modern Senegalese music as using modern, more Western instruments such as the electric and bass guitar, keyboard and drum set. Traditional Senegalese…

Jun

13

2024

By ANNA PORCUNA-FERRER, LAURA CALVET-MIR and VICTORIA REYES-GARCÍA

Senegal’s remote Bassari people talk about climate change, and how their local knowledge is key to coping strategies

ENVIRONMENT

THE Bassari people, a farming community of about 20,000 people, live in an area between Senegal and Guinea. During French colonial rule, the Bassari lost part of their communal land to a national park and were subjected to poll taxes and forced labour. Senegal achieved independence in 1960 and in 2012 the Bassari area was declared a world heritage site, a change that bolstered small-scale tourism. Today, the Bassari peoples’ main livelihood comes from rainfed smallholder farming, supplemented by activities such as petty trade, crafts, wage labour, artisanal gold mining, and gathering honey and wild edible plants. They have limited…

May

30

2024

By NQOBILE DLUDLA and SUPANTHA MUKHERJEE

AWS, Orange to offer cloud computing in Morocco, Senegal

NEWS

AMAZON Web Services (AWS) plans to offer cloud computing in Morocco and Senegal using its AWS Wavelength platform in partnership with Orange (ORAN.PA), the firms said. This will be the first time the services will be available in any country without physical AWS infrastructure such as data centres, with Orange set to house the services in its data centres. Increased demand for faster computing from banks, telecom firms and healthcare firms is attracting cloud operators to Africa, where the cloud market is expected to grow by 15% yearly to reach $18 billion in 2028, according, to data platform Statista. Data consumption is also…

May

23

2024

By LLIANE LOOTS

The mother of African dance at 80. Why Senegal’s Germaine Acogny is so influential

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AFRICA’S most celebrated dancer and choreographer, Germaine Acogny, turns 80 on 28 May. I have had the privilege of meeting the Senegalese artist, learning from her, and interviewing her as part of my ongoing research into African contemporary dance. This is a hymn to an African woman who has inspired not only African dancers but a global community of artists to think differently about who they are, their bodies, their skin, and indeed the way they move. In a continent plagued by legacies of colonisation, racism and patriarchy, Acogny has risen up as a female artist who has defied stereotypes…

May

18

2024

By The African Mirror

UN rights chief warns of catastrophe in Sudan’s al-Fashir

NEWS

THE U.N. human rights chief said that he was "horrified" by escalating violence near Sudan's al-Fashir and held discussions this week with commanders from both sides of the conflict, warning of a humanitarian disaster if the city is attacked. Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in al-Fashir without basic supplies amid fears that nearby fighting will turn into an all-out battle for the city, the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the western Darfur region. FILE PHOTO-Volker Turk United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights attends the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland February 27, 2023.…

May

12

2024

By The African Mirror

A letter from two leading African authors to the president of Senegal

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

YOUR Excellency President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye Allow us to introduce ourselves to you before getting to the heart of whatwe have to say. We are Ngugi Wa Thiong’o from Kenya and BoubacarBoris Diop from Senegal. Both novelists and essayists, our best-knownbooks are respectively Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language inAfrican Literature. (1986) and Murambi, le livre des ossements (2000), about thegenocide perpetrated in 1994 against the Tutsis in Rwanda. But the mostimportant thing to emphasize with regard to the motivations behind thisopen letter is that we have not exclusively published works in English andFrench – the languages of…

May

11

2024

By BIRD STORY AGENCY

How BAL’S Sahara conference action is unfolding in Dakar

BASKETBALL

AS BAL’s Sahara Conference gets underway at the Dakar Arena in Senegal, the first round saw professional basketball clubs from Senegal, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Tunisia vying for direct playoff berths. Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers are topping conference standings with a commanding third consecutive victory in the group stage. Their latest triumph, an 84-63 win over Tunisia’s US Monastir, follows a hard-fought 86-82 triumph against Rwanda’s Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) and a 77-68 victory against hosts AS Douanes in the tipoff match. With an unbeaten record in hand, the Hoopers head into the second half of the group stage with confidence beginning…

May

10

2024

By NGOUDA DIONE and ZOHRA BENSEMRA

Plane skids off runway in Senegal, injuring at least 10

NEWS

A plane with dozens of passengers skidded off a runway before takeoff at Senegal's main airport, injuring at least 10 people and bringing the facility temporarily to a halt, the airport and Senegalese transport ministry said. The Blaise Diagne airport said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the accident, which occurred around 0100 GMT as the Transair-owned Boeing 737-300 (BA.N) chartered by Air Senegal was preparing to fly to Mali. Night-time videos shared on social media showed passengers running away from a plane whose left wing appeared to be on fire. The aircraft was at a standstill in long…

Apr

26

2024

By NGOUDA DIONE and ZOHRA BENSEMRA

I thought I would be next – survivor of migrant sea disaster

NEWS

ADFIFT on the Atlantic Ocean, the migrants from West Africa resorted to drinking seawater to quench their unbearable thirst. Then they started dying one by one. Disposing of the bodies became a daily trial for those still alive on the brightly painted wooden fishing boat. “I thought I would be next, that one morning, I too would be dead and in the sea,” said Birane Mbaye, one of 101 men and boys who set off from a fishing village on a wild stretch of Senegal’s coastline last July hoping to reach Europe. They never made it. Back home in Fass Boye,…

Apr

27

2024

By The African Mirror

Senegal delays Dakar Art Biennale by six months

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE Senegalese authorities have delayed the Dakar Biennale devoted to African contemporary art, pushing back the start of the capital's prestigious month-long event to November from May, organisers said on Thursday. The 15th edition of the biennale was due to kick off on May 16, but the Youth, Sports, and Culture Ministry said the postponement was necessary due to the determination of newly elected authorities to wait for optimum conditions. The event will now run from November 7 to December 7, it said. In a statement shared on the biennale's official social media channels, the ministry also cited "the constraints…