Music, book and film reviews from the last 3 months
Black Panther: Wakanda forever and The Woman King have sparked interesting debates both in the African American community and in African countries. Colonialism, Pan-Africanism and slavery are the backgrounds of the two Hollywood films. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever by Ryan Coogler from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a sequel that reflects the pain and chaos…
Read moreFor over fifty years he has been the voice of this ethnic group of Ethiopia and has garnered considerable popularity. He had disagreements with Haile Selassie and with Mengistu. He died last November in Dire Dawa. Although he left Ethiopia in the 1980s and stayed away for about twenty years, Ali Birra continued to be…
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Religion, philosophy, legends, imperial politics, and folklore – these are the ingredients of one of the most popular celebrations in China associated with the New Year of the Asian giant. The Lantern Festival. This year’s Chinese New Year begins on Sunday, January 22 with the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit. It will continue…
Read moreIn May, with their song ‘Stefania’, they easily won the latest Eurovision Song Contest and caught the attention of the world. Then, Kalush Orchestra is a new phenomenon, having been founded as recently as 2019 by rapper Oleh Psjuk together with some friends. The group takes its name from its birthplace, Kaluš, a city at…
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Through his cartoons, Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro) has been campaigning against apartheid since the 1980s. He has written 28 books and publishes a daily cartoon in the South African Daily Maverick. We went to meet him Order prevails in Zapiro’s bright and pleasant creation space. Smiling and apologizing when his dog’s barking interrupts the conversation, for…
Read moreMexican folk art is present in all aspects of community life. During the civil (and Christian liturgical) year, no less than 120 traditional religious feasts are celebrated. The greatest of all is the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Almost all the religious festivals that take place throughout the year provide a theme and a…
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Soweto Theatre is a community space where new generations of artists are forged from historical memory A captivating shade of red dominates the modern building, which expands into geometric and irregular shapes, next to the mythical Jabulani amphitheatre. It was there that Zindzi Mandela read the speech “My father says …”, it was 1985, when…
Read moreThe meaning of the rites of passage in Africa culture. ‘The funeral rites express the solidarity of the living with their dead relative; in some way, the relatives and the whole village accompany the dead and help them reach their destination’. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, during funeral rites those who lift the coffin…
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Through circus art, Kine Circus helps boys and girls in danger of exclusion to find themselves and have a life plan. “Kine in Amharic has several meanings, including ‘secret’. With our art, we try to convey a message. We talk about the problems that surround us and how to solve them, using the language of…
Read moreA heart that beats to the rhythm of Africa Paul Van Haver was born in Etterbeek, a small town near Brussels, in 1985. Yet his story really begins only nine years later, in Rwanda, where his father, an architect of Tutsi ethnicity, was killed that year during one of the most terrible genocides of the…
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‘City of Lights’, as Rabat, the administrative capital of Morocco, is called. The name is not prosaic, but full of symbolism to describe a city undergoing a complete metamorphosis that tries to show its mastery while maintaining a balance between tradition and modernity. We visit the city. In recent years Rabat has made an effort…
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Victoria Falls is one of the best known and most spectacular sights in Africa. Its history is lost in the mists of time. We visited this majestic and mysterious birthplace of the rainbow A 1,737- meter-long crack in the ground blocks the way to the Zambezi, which falls with an impressive drop of up to…
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Determined to protect his homeland from mining, Batmunkh Luvsandash’s activism resulted in the creation of a 66,000-acre protected area in Dornogovi province in April 2022,…
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Once upon a time, there was a girl of enchanting beauty. Her name was Nyanjira. She had soft, smooth skin and a very sweet smile that…
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During his pontificate, Pope Francis has placed young people at the centre of his pastoral attention, recognising them as key players in building a better future.…
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