CULTURE & SOCIETY

Yoruba celebrate Ankara Day with fanfare in Salzburg, Austria

The Egbe Omo Oduduwa Salzburg (Yoruba Community in Salzburg), Austria, celebrated the Nigeria Cultural Festival in grand style at the weekend.  The event, tagged Yoruba Carnival, was marked in collaboration with the entire Nigerian Community in Austria. The event was attended by guests from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, among others. The members of Yoruba associations in Munich and …

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New Music Release: #NuNairobi – Kenya’s music hub

Outhere Records, a Munich-based label, has announced the release of a new album by artists from Kenya’s tech city Nairobi. “#NuNairobi – Kenya’s music hub is more than a music compilation,” Outhere Records said in a press release. “It is also a map and a website that introduces some of the most important bands and musicians that helped to reshape …

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Africa glows in Dortmund

AfricanTide Union hosted a commemoration of the Africa Day on 24-25 May in the western German city of Dortmund. This year marks 56 years since the day was conceived in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia at the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union). It is celebrated annually on the 25th of May.   The theme of the …

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Universal Music signs exclusive agreement with Tiwa Savage, one of Africa’s biggest stars

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, has announced an exclusive global recording agreement with acclaimed Nigerian singer songwriter Tiwa Savage, one of Africa’s biggest stars and an artist whose success spans music, fashion, film and television. Under the agreement, her future music will be released internationally through UMG’s operations in more than 60 countries worldwide. Projects …

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Don’t miss these African Festivals in Germany!

The annual season of African music and culture in Germany is in full swing. Here are the Top Festivals you don’t want to miss before summer ends: ———————————- Afrika-Festival Stuttgart 12 – 14 July / Stuttgart, Erwin-Schöttle Platz   Music, Fashion Show, Workshop, Film, Market, Culinary Pleasures etc, On stage we show you what Africa has to offer in music, …

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Casting Call for Africa Fashion Week Amsterdam 2018

Organisers of the Africa Fashion Week Amsterdam (AFWA) have opened the casting call for the 2018 event, which will be held on 21 January. Casting calls are similar to job interviews. Runway model castings are normally held in a space that allows each model to walk prior to being chosen for a fashion show. It also involves a short interview …

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Book: How colonisation drives today’s African migration to Europe

As I write this article, 49 migrants, mostly Africans, are stranded at sea. They had been rescued in the Mediterranean by the humanitarian organisation Sea Watch about two weeks ago but no European country is ready to allow the migrants to disembark at its port. Last year, about 112,000 migrants found their way irregularly through the Mediterranean to Europe while …

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Can Netflix lift Nollywood to new global heights?

Distribution of Nigerian movies on Netflix started around 2015. Alessandro Jedlowski, a scholar at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, takes a look at the global streaming giant’s intervention in the Nigerian film industry and predicts what long-term impact this could have on the worldwide marketing of Nollywood. Global streaming service Netflix set its eyes a few years ago on …

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First-ever African Christmas Market opens in Berlin

Main features of the Christmas season in Germany are the charming fairs that decorate the country during this time of year. From traditional handicrafts and quirky ornaments to tasty local delicacies and sweet-scented mulled wine (Glühwein), there’s absolutely nothing you can’t find in a German Christmas market. This year Berlin will host the first “Afro-Lux Christmas Market” on 8-9 December. …

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World’s largest Museum dedicated to Black Civilisations opens in Dakar

A new museum dedicated to the art and culture of people of African descent opened in Dakar Thursday (6 December). It was the realization of a 1966 dream of Senegal’s founding president, Léopold Sédar Senghor to exhibit in one space the richness of Black civilizations and history. Declaring the Museum of Black Civilizations (Musée des civilisations noires) open, Senegal’s President …

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Reggae added to UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage List

The UN cultural agency has recognised reggae as an intangible cultural heritage worth protecting for its “contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual”. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recognised reggae music as a cultural treasure …

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Femi Kuti to rock Berlin and present new album

Femi Kuti and his band, the Positive Force, will rock the German capital city on Saturday 17 November in what organisers have promised will be a show to remember. The eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who started his musical career in the band of his father “Egypt 80”, will be performing live in Berlin for the first time …

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Gents Club Berlin celebrates first anniversary in style

Gents Club Berlin celebrated its first anniversary with a big get-together in the German capital city on Saturday, 3 November. Members of the socio-cultural-humanitarian association and their families joined by invited guests turned out in beautiful, colourful attires to mark the first birthday of the club, founded by a group of Nigerians. It was an evening of good music, supplied …

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Bloggers connecting the African community in Europe meet in Berlin

A community of African bloggers is slowly emerging in Germany with a growing number of bloggers who share their personal experiences for others to learn from, creating a veritable platform for information exchange. A Berlin meeting brought them together for the first time last Friday. Femi Awoniyi reports. African bloggers gathered in Berlin on 2 November for the first Afro-Bloggers …

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Afro-Bloggers Convention to hold in Berlin

Bloggers from across Africa and its Diaspora will gather in Berlin on 2 November for the first “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 “The impact of blogging in our community”. The one-day event features discussions, workshops and …

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Film festival shines spotlight on Horn of Africa in Berlin

‘AFRIKAMERA – Latest Cinema from Africa’ presents, from 13 – 18 November, a selection of current feature and documentary films from the Horn of Africa, a region associated more with political, social and military conflicts than its cinema culture. The fact is however that the cinema can look back on a long tradition in the region. Ethiopia was the first …

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