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Kojo Baffoe

The Future Of Soul Music Is The Past

August 28, 2011 Music

When one looks at / listens to the soul and R&B music that has been released in the last year, one cannot help but notice how much seems to be drawn from and inspired by eras of old. Melodic, rich and soulful, artists like John Legend & The Roots went the whole way, releasing an album primarily of covers of songs by everyone from Bill Withers to Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. R. Kelly, with the album Love Letter, finally showed us why he is considered by some one of the greater songwriters in the last 15 or so years and Raphael Saadiq continues to pay musical homage to the musicians that inspired him with an expansion on the Motown sound of his previous album.

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Foo Fighters Garage Tour Documentary

August 8, 2011 Music

Rock group The Foo Fighters led by former Nirvana member Dave Grohl have – over a 16 year career, built a dedicated and passionate following that reaches across the globe, often transcending race, nationality and gender. As homage to the people that have helped them reach the heights they have, they ran a competition in the US where fans could win a private concert in their garage. They had eight winners and, as part of the Garage Tour, they also filmed a 40 minute documentary giving insight into the journey as well as themselves. How many people can say they had their favourite band play in their house?

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Wanlov – A Fokn African Gypsy

August 8, 2011 Music

With his latest album, African Gypsy, Ghanaian / Romanian musician Wanlov embraces all aspects of his heritage, musical and culture, bringing them into the music in unique and creative ways whether it is in terms of instrument, language or attitude. A lot more of the Romanian in him is reflected in the album which could also be attributed to the fact that he produced the whole album except for one track, which was done by often-time collaborator Kweku Ananse – who produced his first album Green Card. Witty, intelligent and insightful, Wanlov, lyrically, builds layers that can be missed if one doesn’t engage fully. It is often easy to get lost in the humour and lose connection to the social-consciousness and awareness in his content. Definitely worth a listen.

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National Start Something Day Campaign

August 2, 2011 Competitions

Sanlam’s National Start Something Day is an initiative to encourage South Africans to stop procrastinating about the things they’ve always wanted to do and actually start something. We spend too much time lamenting the what-ifs and could-haves and this initiative is a great platform to actually do. As part of the campaign, there is a competition – run on the NSSD site and Facebook page – where someone could win R50,000.

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Mandela Day, The Cheesekids Way

July 10, 2011 Social

Our future will be determined by how many of us picked up the mantle of responsibility and did something, without expectation, simply out of the recognition that we all have a part to play, in one form or another. Cheesekids is an organisation that was started a couple of years ago as a platform for those in slightly more privileged positions, whether through work or background, to contribute to the upliftment of society as a whole. In celebration of Nelson Mandela Day, the organisation, with sponsors like Old Mutual, organised for 6700 young people to go to community projects as their 67 minutes of service.

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Taking Pretty Pictures

July 5, 2011 Lifestyle

I was invited to take part in Sanlam’s National Start Something Day campaign. I went into the very long list of ‘want to dos’ and decided to try my hand at photography, in particular learning how to use a D-SLR camera. I enrolled at the College of Digital Photography for a Fundamentals of Digital Photography course. For the first two lessons, we learned about ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture, White Balance and Light.

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Museke Online Africa Music Awards

July 4, 2011 Music

Museke, an online portal for African music, started the Museke Online Africa Music Awards (MOAMAs) in 2010 and, in 2011, they have worked to improve the reach, size and administration of these awards as part of the journey to become the pre-eminent Africa music awards.

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I Just Started Something …

May 30, 2011 Lifestyle

Life is fascinating in its habits. How often have you had a moment, when it felt like everything was coming together perfectly? Or when you meet – and really connect with – someone and you discover you’ve been in the same spaces for years but never met. It is like the universe is saying … [...]

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Sandbloom Serves Music For The Soul

May 5, 2011 Music

US artist / musician Kevin Sandbloom embraces the extent of his creative ability with music that is soulful and stripped down to its bare essence. From R&B and soul to folk, he does not limit himself. And to watch him live, building beat, melody, sound with guitar and voice is amazing. I saw him by chance at the Nuyorican Poetry Café in New York and left with two of his albums. He is about the creation of good music, as opposed to dumbing down or selling oneself short. His cover of Sade’s Is It A Crime is simply beautiful.

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Has It Come To This? (CP)

April 3, 2011 Lifestyle

We seem to celebrate mediocrity and this has carried over into much of what the mass media pushes as great music. To find great, classic music, one has to look beyond what is thrown at us and seek out the gems outside mainstream.

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Sony Ericsson Opens New Foursquare Horizons

March 31, 2011 Sport

There are so many different platforms, social networks, groups, etc, all designed to bring us closer and make us more social. When foursquare came on the scene, I just didn’t see its purpose … in the same way I didn’t really get twitter. After a chat with a friend and colleague about 6 months ago [...]

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A Fokn Boi from No 1 Mango Street

March 12, 2011 Music

M3nsa is a UK-based Ghanaian artist/producer M3nsa has, after years of working in the industry producing for the likes of hiplife godfather Reggie Rockstone and performing with artists like Nneka, The Roots and The Gorillaz, finally released a solo project No. 1 Mango Street. Coming off the back of his film and album – Coz Ov Moni – with Wanlov, childhood friend and other half of the group Fokn Bois, M3nsa’s album wonderfully marries his influences, whether it is hip hop, Twi and Pidgen English and Ghana, and is a sign of what happens when African artists are able to create balance.

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The Media Decides? (CP)

March 12, 2011 Lifestyle

The influence of the media and entertainment on society is unquantifiable even as those sectors endeavour to reflect society. They guide the discussions through what they put out. In Africa, we have often talked of how it is the West that determines the perception of us. This is not totally the case. The power bases on the continent – like South Africa and Nigeria – do so as well through the programming created on and for channels like MTV Base and Channel O. Because these spaces, based in SA, determine what is put out as being representative of Africa, can we comfortably say, this is the full picture?

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