10 Paragraphs of Music Criticism
Kodwo Eshun discusses selected paragraphs of music criticism, taking in Kim Gordon’s Art Forum essays, Philip Brophy’s 100 Modern Soundtracks, writing by Dave Tompkins and more, from Off The Page 2011 at the Playhouse Theatre in Whitstable. Talk: Kodwo Eshun discusses ten paragraphs of music criticism from Sound and Music on Vimeo.
N’Dombolo: the postulation of the post-Zaïko generation
Manda Tchebwa N’dombolo? First and foremost, an artistic secretion (the magical respiration of an entire generation of young Congolese), the Wenge generation’s most emblematic creation, a form of humour and a playful ape-like mimicry. The outpouring of Kinshasa, city of dreams, city of turmoil.
P.A.S.S. HARARE
From 9 – 12 November, the Pan African Space Station (PASS) landed in The National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) in the centre of Harare. In collaboration with visual artist Kudzanai Chiurai, who launched his first ever solo exhibition in his home country titled ‘We Need New Names’, Chimurenga installed the PASS studio as a public research platform towards a […]
Searching for Rotimi- A Letter From London
Rotimi Fani-Kayode died 29 years ago (21 December 1989), in exile, after moving to England at the age of 12 to escape the Nigerian Civil War. Today, the combination of raw emotion and transgressive physicality in his photographic portraits and compositions, and his exposes the tensions created by sexuality, race and culture, is as relevant […]
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 […]