History will break your heart
An interview - captured on film - with Cape Town-born artist Kemang Wa Lehulere about his work.
Culture
Five things that can’t be ignored about development photography
Here's two: Cultivate solidarity, not pity. And, showing suffering should be specific. Study up.
Arthur Ashe and the Military Coup
In 1976, the American tennis star, Arthur Ashe, went to play in a tennis tournament in Lagos and promptly found himself in the middle of a coup by Nigeria's military.
Weekend Music Break No.80
Africa is a Country is now on Break for the weekend, so here is some Music we’ll be relaxing to over the next couple of days: In this week’s selection: Stocktown directs a 360 degree interactive clip from the top of a roof in downtown Addis Ababa for the band Ethiocolor; An appeal for support, gives the world a […]
The Cape Town Beat Scene
Ts'eliso Monaheng meets with Cape Town's beatmakers, including the celebrated jazz bassist, Shane Cooper, known as Card on Spokes.
For Love of God
In the work of the novelist, Okey Ndibe, the influences of the United States, especially that everything is available for a price, is everywhere in Nigeria.
A more complete narrative about global hip hop
An interview with documentary filmmaker, Adam Sjöberg, on the choices he made for his film, "Shake the Dust," about documentary.
Morocco joins the miniskirt wars
In Morocco, the real story is once more that of women organizing, pushing back and pushing forward, creating new spaces precisely where others try to shut them down.
New Music Series #RespecTheProducer – Battlekat On Working With Flabba
This article is part of a series of articles on music producers throughout the African continent called #RespecTheProducer. Check out daily updates on tumblr and follow the Instagram account. Tongogara “Battlekat” Ntlokoa was the most sought-after producer of his era. As in-house soundcrafter for Outrageous Records, he oversaw production duties on a handful of the indie label’s releases, […]
Weekend Music Break No.79
An abbreviated music break for the weekend of July 4th, 2015: Joey B and the Akwaaba Sound System do an impressive live interpretation of his international hit “Tonga”; Blitz the Ambassador has a new track “Shine” produced by Soulection crew member IAMNOBODI; Kwaito continues it’s resurgence with “Mr. Party”; Iba One from Mali declares […]
What about this cartoon
What happened when an Argentinean cartoonist took inspiration from an iconic moment in African-American struggle, replaced the black athletes with monochrome white figures to make a point about gay rights.
Why is Facebook asking me how to pronounce my name?
Facebook has decided my name is weird and hard and I have to prevent awkward situations by teaching my “Friends” how to say it.
Echoes of Zaire: Popular Painting from Lubumbashi, DRC
In the 1970s, a Congolese painter named Tshibumba Kanda Matulu began to paint a history of what was then Zaire. This history, as the anthropologist Johannes Fabian pointed out when he collaborated with Kanda Matulu on a book some years later, was “not just a story, but an argument and a plea.” History is of […]
Cameras and the Indian Ocean
In 1883, the Sultan of Zanzibar, Barghash bin Said, commissioned a camera obscura room in the tower of his new palace, the House of Wonders. Royal family members were early enthusiasts and collectors of photographs, part of a fervor that swept the Indian Ocean’s urban enclaves. It may be surprising to realize how quickly photography became an indispensible […]
African films in Colombian cinemas
How would Colombian audiences react to films from Africa?
Loit Sols & Churchil Naude, live from Coffebeans Routes in Cape Town!
Here it is, your live stream of “If you can’t see me, are you really there?” concert series from Coffeebeans Routes headquarters in Cape Town. Select the audio or video stream below to join the festivities: LIVE VIDEO STREAMING by Ustream LIVE AUDIO ONLY STREAM ON Mixlr
Dance culture is as strong as ever
Here's Hipsters Don’t Dance "Top World Carnival Tunes" for June 2015.
Osekre’s ‘Afropolitan presents’ spoken word poet Taylor Steele
In the lead up to his summer event series in New York, Osekre ran down his experience as a struggling musician in the city that never sleeps. ‘Afropolitan presents’ will take place again at Meridian23 this Friday, June 26th in New York. For it, we are featuring a post from another one of the participating artists, this time […]
Setting Liberia’s political pot onto a full boil
Takun J stirs the Liberian streets with calls for justice and accountability.
Stream Africa is a Country’s live concert partnership with Coffebeans Routes, this Thursday
As we announced earlier this month, Africa is a Country is teaming up with Coffeebeans Routes in Cape Town to bring you a live concert series called “If you can’t see me, are you really there?” The first edition will happen this Thursday at 19:30 Cape Town time. Visit the site at that time (use the […]