Festac ’77
by Akin Adesokan Imagine, first, a priestess of Esu (Elegbara), the West African god of the crossroads and inspiration for the less tangible practice of hermeneutics. The woman, in her late sixties when the story begins, in August 1976, in a small village three hours by car north of Lagos, is also the mother of […]
Frantz Fanon’s Uneven Ribs
Taban Lo Liyong is the author of several books of poetry including Frantz Fanon’s Uneven Ribs and Another Nigger Dead. He has also published some collections of essays, the most recent being Images of Women in Folktales and Short Stories of Africa. He spoke to Sam Raditlhalo (circa 1997, when he was still a professor of […]
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.
Lindela (the winnie suite)
an excerpt from ‘Lindela (the winnie suite)’ by Dominique Malaquais car, maps, time. passports. visas. the king’s m-o-t-h-e-r-f-u-c-k-i-n-g english. we have all of it. and still we don’t find anything
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 […]