CULTURE & SOCIETY

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 …

Deejaying used to be a male-dominated affair.  Not any more as women are gradually joining the fray. Philly Ojalla aka DJ Aisher, as she is popularly known by her fans, is giving male DJs a run for their money. She stole the show at the Battle of the DJs contest in 2016 in Frankfurt, pulling the biggest crowd to the …

A book about the migration experience of a young African shows how the search for the Golden Fleece could end in disaster Illegal in Berlin is the story of Tony, a 26-year-old university educated man, who leaves his native Nigeria, abandoning a job as an engineer with an oil company, to seek the realisation of his dream of a better …

This is a book with the express intention of examining German culture through the eyes of foreign residents. If it was to be authentic and representative, it would have to involve people who had settled, lived, worked and experienced life in Germany in all its possible variations. It would have to talk about how they perceive their new country and …

The Senckenberg Library of the University of Frankfurt runs a web-based library for Africa. The Internet library on sub-Saharan Africa ilissAfrica (www.ilissafrica.de) offers useful material on African history and culture, with special emphasis on the German colonial history in Africa. In an exclusive interview with our correspondent Muhammed Faisal Garba, the librarian of ilissAfrica, Nadia Cohen, talks about the objectives …

Historic 1963 album recorded on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on 23 August 1963, during The Great March on Washington, sees its first-ever digital release Los Angeles – March 6, 2020 – The Great March On Washington – one of the most significant recordings made during the civil rights movement of the 1960s – is now …

Netflix has announced its official presence in Nigeria. The streaming giant announced the arrival of Netflix Naija with a new Twitter account on Tuesday, 26 February. An analysis of the likely impact of the development on the Nigerian film industry by News Agency of Nigeria. Netflix has been wooing Nollywood stylishly for a while now; from streaming Nollywood movies from …

Berlin Critics’ Week, an independent event about film criticism which yearly takes place during the Berlinale festival in Berlin, showed two films on Sunday (23 February). One of the films is The Lost Okoroshi, the second feature of Nigerian director Abba T. Makama, while the other is the Brazilian entry Seven Years in May by Affonso Uchôa. Set in the …

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) included 29 Nigerian English words in its January 2020 update. As the world’s foremost historical dictionary of English, the OED documents 600,000 words through 3.5 million illustrative quotations from over 1,000 years of history across the English-speaking world. Among the words, typically used by Nigerians, included in the latest edition of OED are Buka, Danfo, …

Kenyan Hollywood actress Lupita Nyong’o paid a short visit to Nigeria at the weekend to attend an event organised by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning Nigerian writer. The purpose of the event was for the Oscar-winning actress to intimate the Nigerian creative community with her screen-adaptation of Americanah, a novel by Adichie. HBO Max, a division of Warner Media Entertainment, …

The Netherlands has returned a ceremonial 18th century crown that had been stolen from Ethiopia in 1993. Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Ms Sigrid Kaag, personally handed over the crown to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed when she called on the Ethiopian leader in Addis Ababa on Tuesday (18 February). The crown, which has depictions of Jesus Christ, …

The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) is accepting proposals to support initiatives in Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Possible target areas include journalism, justice reform and the rule of law, the democratic practice and more. Proposals must promote investigative journalism and free, quality and independent media. The amount of funding …

In this short story, Berlin-based legal scholar and creative author Nelly Sarpong writes on a fictional encounter with a racist at a train station, revealing how difficult it is to react in a situation where the dignity of a Black person is under assault. ——— It was 5: 45 pm, I was packing up and getting ready to leave when …

 The Union of Ghanaian Associations in Germany (UGAG) elected a new National Executive Committee at its recent bi-annual conference held in Kassel. The conference, attended by representatives of local Ghanaian associations from all over Germany, chose the following 7-member National Executive Committee officials: Mr. Akwasi Opoku Edusei – President; Mr. Alexander Okai Anane – Vice-president; Mr. Aaron Hooper – General Secretary; Mr. Paul …

Bob Marley, who is considered one of the world’s greatest artists of all time, would have been 75 years old on 6 February. His family and recording company have released a year-long commemoration programme, MARLEY75, featuring special releases, live performances and new music videos plus rare and unreleased material from the Marley family vaults and private collection. The Marley family, …