The Invention of Africa by Franco & T.P.OK Jazz
– Ntone Edjabe A few years ago, while researching the political history of Congo/Zaire/Congo via the country’s music archive, particularly through the output of Luambo Makiadi aka Franco, we turned to the legendary record collection of “Jumbo” Donald Vanrenen – a scholar of late-style rumba and early soukouss (a sound he helped construct via various A&R gigs […]
Traditional Intellectuals
by Koketso Potsane Art has always been used to make statements about what is happening. In his article “Reciprocal Bases of National Culture and the Fight for Freedom,” Frantz Fanon argues that extreme ways of colonial domination always disrupts [in spectacular fashion] the cultural life of a conquered people. This is made possible by the laws/rules […]
Dislocations in the Congolese World of Sound
“Dislocation” is how Congolese rumba historians describe the incessant splinterings that are part of the story of every major band – in a music system where the “first to leave” holds the place of pride. Between 1997 and 2008 the group Wenge Musica lived through 18 dislocations – almost twice a year, starting with the […]
They Won’t Go When I Go
A Manifesto/ Mediation on State of Black Archives in America and throughout the Diaspora by Harmony Holiday The ashes a black mother scattered into the lap of a seemingly indifferent police chief, her daughter’s remains in ash and shackle, the ashes of her daughter who had been killed in jail either by neglect or force, […]
No Pass, But Nine Passports
In her 30 years of exile, Miriam Makeba redefined pan Africanism – performing and speaking around the world, informing the Black Power movement, forwarding the liberation struggle, and participating in events that shaped public cultures on the continent and around the world. She was a woman with nine passports and honorary citizenship in 10 countries. […]