By Marlon Burgess I’ve convinced Marlon Burgess, Cape Town-born musician and graduate student who recently moved to New York City, to occasionally contribute regular blog posts to Africa is a Country (my theory about strength numbers refers). He agreed to write a review of young jazz pianist and bandleader Kyle Shepherd‘s debut album, “Fine Art:
Archive for May, 2009
Kyle Shepherd’s “Fine Art”
Posted in Music, tagged Abdullah Ibrahim, Cape Town, jazz, Kyle Shepherd, Marlon Burgess writings, Music, piano, review on May 29, 2009 | 2 Comments »
how the New York Times covers Africa
Posted in media, tagged Africa and US media, how The New York Tmes covers Africa, news coverage of Africa, press, Ryan Briggs, The New York Times on May 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Blogger Ryan Briggs (he is a PhD student in international relations, with a specialization in international development, at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC) is working on a project to analyze New York Times coverage of nine African countries from 1981 to 2008. He has published some of his results on his website, like [...]
the empty lakes
Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged civil war, Congo, Delphine Schrank, DRC, elephants, John Hopkins University, resource war, The Atlantic on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In a video report (above) and print article reporter Delphine Schrank (for The Atlantic) “… visits the empty lakes and scattered elephant bones left behind by the DRC’s ongoing violence.” You can also watch short interview clips on the website of the International Reporting Project (they paid for the trip).
slum citizens
Posted in politics, tagged Abahlali baseMjondolo, Dara Kell, Dear Mandela, film, politics, slum dwellers, South Africa, video on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Filmmakers Chris Nizza and Dara Kell have been in South Africa since mid-April on their first production shoot for the feature documentary film ‘Dear Mandela’ (the feature expands on a short film they shot last year). They post regular production updates about the shoot online. Like most recently when they quickly uploaded a short video [...]
metropolis tv
Posted in television, tagged Dutch, football, gays and lesbians in Africa, humor, Metropolis TV, Netherlands, protest, sexuality, television, video, VPRO on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I recently discovered Metropolis TV, a project of the Dutch public television station, VPRO. An online project with 50 correspondents (a mix of film makers and video bloggers) from around the world, it consists of short video inserts (2 to 7 minutes each; all programs have English subtitles) that you can watch on the website. [...]
blogs I like, no. 2
Posted in blogs, tagged Blogs and Blogging, blogs I like, Easily Distracted, history, intellectual culture, Timothy Burke on May 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
“Disciplinary boundaries” are often rigorously policed in the United States. Historians talk to historians. Political scientists to political scientists. And so on. Academics generally write in the jargons of their disciplines or, worse, their “sub-disciplines.” With a plethora of academic journals catering to the increasing specialization, academics now write more and more to smaller groups [...]
James Matthews is 80
Posted in Books, tagged Cape Town, James Matthews, poetry, poets, South Africa, writers and writing on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Poet and novelist James Matthews turned 80 today. Here‘s a link to a short note I wrote on the occasion of his 79th birthday. If you can read Afrikaans, here‘s a link to piece in Cape Town’s “Die Burger” by reporter Heindrich Wyngaardt. [The picture, above, by photographer Michael Hammond accompanied the Wyngaardt story.]
‘history is written by the winners’
Posted in Africa is a Country, politics, tagged advertising, censorship, colonialism, design, History is written by the winners, history writing, television, war on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This image above was part of a now-abandoned, award-winning print media campaign to promote a television channel. The slogan ‘History is Written By the Winners” is printed in the top right-hand corner. The logo of the company is blocked out. The inscription, which is too small to see, reads: Iraqis killed under Saddam regime: 300,000 [...]
Ventersdorp north
Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged Arthur Kemp, British National Party, Chris Hani, European elections 2009, far-right, racism, South Africa, white racists on May 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Next week (between June 4 and 7) European voters go to the polls to elect representatives for the 736 seats of the European Parliament. Polls indicate that traditionally centrist (and Pan-European parties) will take the bulk of the seats. 72 of these seats will be contested in Britain. And there, the far-right, racist British National [...]
‘Africa as muse’
Posted in Africa is a Country, art, tagged art, galleries, New York City, Signs Taken for Wonders on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
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