CULTURE & SOCIETY

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, has announced the further expansion of its Def Jam Africa division into three new markets within French-speaking Africa; Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Cameroon, effective immediately. Def Jam Africa launched in May 2020, as the first label dedicated to representing the best hip-hop, Afrobeats and trap talent in Africa, and follows …

ONE, MTV Base, Mandela Foundation pair up with 10 African Artists in Song to Fight COVID-19 Ten of Africa’s biggest musical artists are uniting to record “Stand Together”, a rallying call to all Africans to unite against COVID-19. With artists from seven African countries, the song is a powerful reminder that no one is safe from COVID-19 until everyone is …

Award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is mourning her father who died after a brief illness recently. Taking to Facebook on Saturday (4 July), she lamented that she couldn’t travel to Nigeria from her US base due to the international travel ban as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to stand by her extended family in the period of mourning. Professor …

Bloggers from the global community of people of African descent will gather via Zoom on 19-20 June for the 2nd Afro-Bloggers Convention. The event, organised by Afrobizgermany.com, an online platform that projects the Black community in Germany to the outside world, is aimed at bringing Afro-bloggers together to discuss issues that are important to Africa and its global diaspora community. …

Now available across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Messenger Kids enables kids to safely video chat and message with family and friends when they can’t be together in person. The app also Giving parents supervision over their children’s online activity JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 10, 2020/ — Today, Facebook (www.facebook.com) is rolling out Messenger Kids, a video chat and messaging app that …

Tens of thousands of people joined Black Lives Matter protests across Germany on Saturday despite coronavirus containment measures that discourage such large gatherings. Even though many wore masks, but social distancing rules were impossible to observe as protesters rally across 26 towns and cities in Germany to protest racial discrimination and police brutality. The passion of participants about racism was …

Nigerian reggae singer Majek Fashek has died aged 71. His manager, Omenka Uzoma Day, confirmed the news on Monday via a short video on Instagram, saying the “the legend has gone to be with the Lord, but this time we should all celebrate him”. https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6vrA9gzOr/?utm_source=ig_embed The reggae singer and guitarist, whose real name is Majekodunmi Fasheke, was born in Benin …

Seven is a special number. It’s said that 7 is the number of completeness and perfection (both physical and spiritual). It is therefore an important occasion when an organisation clocks that figure. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Organisation for African Unity, eighty representatives of African-German organisations, representing the 54 African countries, came together in Berlin on 24-25 May …

Legendary Nigerian drummer and co-founder of Afrobeat, Tony Oladipo Allen, died suddenly at the age of 79 in Paris on Thursday. The musician had suffered a sudden heart attack and was taken to hospital where he gave up the ghost, his manager, Eric Trosset, announced. Allen was a founding member of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s very first band and he’s credited by …

The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen was founded in 1954 and is not only one of the oldest short film festivals in the world but also one of the major international platforms for the short form. Every year in spring the festival takes place in Oberhausen with this year marking the 66th anniversary. The Corona pandemic has however put a …

Fresh, powerful highlife band Santrofi from Ghana first appeared at festivals around Europe in the summer of 2019, from Roskilde to Sines and WOMAD. They also stunned their audience at WOMEX 2019 in Finland. Their long-awaited debut album ‘Alewa‘ is finally out now on Outhere records (available on all formats: LP/CD/digital). The album brings a new wave of fresh highlife …

Can African writers in the Diaspora simply be writers who write as they are inspired without checking if they are stepping beyond boundaries? Should writers have any geographical or ethnic boundaries at all?  These are questions that African writers, who seemingly have to fulfil the conventional expectations of readers on what they’re supposed to write about, are confronted with. Using …

Award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie dissects the complexities of race, class and hair in her novel Americanah, writes Michael Nnaji*. Born and bred in the Nigerian university town of Nsukka, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie already has two universally acclaimed novels, Purple Hibiscus and Half of A Yellow Sun, and the collection of short stories The Thing Around Your Neck, as …

Beatrice Onyele’s “Chikwe: es bleibt ein Traum” represents a significant contribution to the growing body of work now known as “Migrant Literature”.

The businessman, who is based in Duesseldorf, talks about his title, what it means, the responsibilities it entails for him, among other issues, in an exclusive interview.

Nigerian singer Niniola has launched the music video for her latest single “Fantasy”, which was originally released in February. The video features Grammy nominee and Afrobeat icon Femi Kuti The track, produced by Kel-P, features rich vocals from Niniola, and classy saxophone riffs and horn arrangements from Femi Kuti. “I used to watch videos of Fela Kuti and Femi Kuti, …

Africa’s literary giant Chinua Achebe died aged 82 on 21 March 2013. In celebration of the memory of the world-renowned Nigerian novelist, we republish here his speech in Frankfurt’s St Paul’s Church on 13 October 2002 after he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. It’s one of his most important and enduring messages to Africans and the …

Afro-jazz legend Manu Dibango is dead. The family of the Cameroonian singer and saxophonist announced his death at 86 of the new coronavirus on his Facebook page on Tuesday (24 March). “It is with deep sadness that we announce to you the loss of Manu Dibango, our Papy Groove,” a statement on his official Facebook page read. Dibango’s agent Thierry …

Our contributing editor Alexander Macbeth writes on how the Ghanaian novelist focuses on the experience of women from their perspective, exposing how male authors have long neglected the true desires and challenges of the continent’s women. Amma Darko’s tales of wise grandmothers, resilient daughters and strong-willed victims, often caught in difficult circumstances, have made her a favourite on both sides …

African Diasporas is a scholarly examination of the Afro-German literature through a comparison with African-American literature and the role it has played in the creation of a Black community in Germany. Literature has been the chief tool of people of African descent in Germany in their efforts to reclaim their African heritage and carve an identity for themselves. Through a …