Music, book and film reviews from the last 3 months
Plants have been a source of effective therapeutic agents for various diseases. Globally, there is a growing interest in the development of drugs of plant origin. Lantana camara (Family Verbenaceae); common name lantana, is one of the plants known to have great therapeutic potential. It is an erect or subscandent, vigorous shrub which can grow…
Read moreWearing a mask is essential when faced with a virus like Covid-19. The notion of human protection from disease by the use of masks is a practice that goes back thousands of years in the traditions of great civilisations all over the world. A glance at African cultures. In Africa, various traditions have used masks…
Read moreEvocative music, blending ancestral melodies and pop rhythms. “I hear our ancestors encouraging us to find our Promised Land and challenge injustice.” The Shona People of Zimbabwe love the mbira, a Sub-Saharan musical instrument. The mbira is a small wooden tablet (often about the width of two hands beside each other) on top of which…
Read moreThe Dream Catchers Academy is an organisation that helps street children. To give them some dignity and a future. Lagos is the biggest city in the whole of the African continent and one of the most densely populated in the world. It is so big that other ‘cities’ have formed within Lagos itself. In the…
Read moreVital in traditional medicine for the treatment and management of various disease conditions. The ash is used for oxytocic action, and externally, the ash is applied for the treatment of scabies. The Yje plant possesses potent sources of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents. Articles about the use of plants as a source of medicine for the…
Read moreHis name is Steven Umoh but in the world of music, he is known by all as Obongjayar. One of the rising stars of new African music, he is one of the best-known personalities on the contemporary Nigerian scene. His style ranges from funk to electronic, mixing melodies, rap and talking, modernist soul and Afrobeat.…
Read moreA visual Mexican artist collects arms used during violent times in his country and transforms them into works of art, to demonstrate how human beings have more powerful arms to convey their message in the form of images, literature, thoughts and words. Originally from Jalisco, one of the Mexican states situated in the western part…
Read moreHis eighties hit Yeke Yeke made him one of the prime artists of nascent world music. The singer and musician Mory Kanté has died aged seventy after a long illness. Originally from Guinea, he was known all over the world especially for his hit, Yeke Yeke, launched in 1987. That piece of music, containing ethnic…
Read moreIt is used to treat different allergies and help various antioxidant-associated health benefits. Globally, a number of plants are used as tea with lots of nutritional and health benefits. One of such plants is Aspalathus linearis (Brum f) Dahlg which belongs to the plant family Fabaceae. It is an erect to spreading, highly variable, shrub…
Read moreA victim of the Coronavirus, in Paris, on 24 March 2020. The Cameroonian saxophonist and composer, best known for his soul/funk single, ‘Soul Makossa’, Manu Dibango left his mark on a long period of Afro Music. On his arrival in Marseilles in 1949 as a sixteen-year-old, the new music of the African continent was still…
Read moreThe ancient pre-Hispanic city of Uxmal and its three surrounding sites: Kabhá, Labná and Sayil admirably demonstrate the social and economic structure of late Maya society. One of the great mysteries of humanity is the sudden disappearance of the extraordinary Mayan civilization at the end of the eleventh century which would contribute so much to…
Read moreA mixture of Anatolian pop and oriental folk, gypsy resonances and western sounds. A committed voice denouncing the incoherences of its land. Anatolia is a peninsula that forms part of modern Turkey. What the ancient Romans called Asia Minor has been the cradle of a number of civilisations, from that of the Hittites to those…
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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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