In Mozambique, Stewart Sukuma is everywhere. This singer, producer, TV host, and commercial pitchman is one of Mozambique’s better-known faces. Sukuma’s music blends an Afro-pop-inspired sound with the Afro-Latin Marrabenta genre of his beloved Mozambique. His latest hit, “Xitchuketa Marrabenta,” pays homage to the classic Mozambican rhythm which was preserved through the war for independence from Portugal by artists such as Fany Pfumo, Wazimbo, and Ghorwane.
Last year we were introduced to Shangaan Electro – a new (to us) genre of South African dance music – via Honest Jon’s excellent compilation. Now, from Nozinja Music, the Tshe-Tsha Boys bring you their awesomely-titled LP, You Tube Top Hits, featuring more of their 180BPM+, hyper-kinetic digital beats - as well as their bumping masked, orange jumpsuit-ed, rainbow-wigged costumes. Both a dance and a type of music, Shangaan Electro grows out of the traditional sounds of Shangaan people of South Africa and Mozambique, and replaces the music’s traditional instrumentation with midi sounds – marimba beats, toms, and live guitar are played through a keyboard. The Tshe-Tsha Boys, who often pull audience members into their frenetic performance, are on tour this summer in Europe – but we’re hoping they’ll dance their way Stateside soon.
Gonçalo Mabunda is stockpiling an arsenal. The Mozambican artist collects guns—discarded, buried and rusted, left over from his country’s brutal 17-year civil war, which ended in 1992—and assembles them into striking sculptures. Repurposing the deactivated weapons to build furniture, human figures, even musical instruments, Mabunda comments on the state African politics, corruption and power—and the resilience of the African people. By transforming objects of violence into artwork, he imbues a nation’s collective memories of a horrific past with inspiration for a positive, beautiful future. Follow me after the jump to see where Mabunda has exhibited his work, and for another photo! Read More
The Side Eye: The DNA Project + Africa Is Listening
We found this little gem through the good folks at Africa Is A Country. A South African production company, Egg Films, created this video for “The DNA Project,” a local “not-for-profit company committed to advancing justice through the expanded use of DNA evidence in conjunction with a national DNA criminal intelligence database.” The aim is to discourage people from meddling with crime scenes, but that message was lost on us due to the overall whackness of the ad (seriously, don’t even know where to begin). We agree with AIAC when they say it plays perfectly into the fear-riddled white South African state of mind. Read the full post here.
These are all things we learned from a recent New York Times opinion piece about how Africans listen better than westerners written by Swedish author Henning Mankell. Dude lived in Mozambique off and on for 25 years and is now the authority on what “Africans” do and don’t do. Mankell clearly learned his generalization techniques from Binyavanga Wainaina’s essay, ”How To Write About Africa.” We were particularly side-eyed at the suggestion that African literature has not already burst onto the ‘world scene’ - where has dude been? We’re packing up Chimamanda Adichie‘s “Half of a Yellow Sun” and Chris Abani‘s “Graceland” to ship to his cave right now. We appreciate the sentiment that it’s now “Africa’s turn,” but don’t announce it in The Times as if it’s news to folks.