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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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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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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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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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 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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For Valentine’s Day, BlackBerry® in South Africa is running a competition in which one can win a matching BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone hamper for yourself and your loved one. To do so, go to Channel24 (<- click here) and vote for the person you would want to have as your BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger) contact on your BlackBerry® [...]
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Written September 6th, 2009 I have always sought pastimes that allow me to escape from the trials of reality, albeit temporarily. From books, film to music and games, I’ve been known to shut myself off from the real world for extended periods of time. In fact, a strategy game called Age of Empires nearly killed [...]
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For those who engage with me on twitter, you’ll know that I am a Liverpool FC supporter and have been for as long as I can remember. The last year or so has been difficult as a Reds fan, made worse by the way Roy Hodgson had us playing this season. Kenny Dalglish has come [...]
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When I was in high school, I regularly participated in creative writing competitions where we had to write essays around particular topics. In my final year of high school, we used to write a 7-page essay a week for English class. The world changes. On January 26th, 2011, two sisters from Panama, Cristina Sales Ancines [...]
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Written September 29th, 2009 This is a mini-rant. Social media has become all-consuming. We live our lives in the public space, randomly sharing our private moments with a world we don’t necessarily know. It started with email, moved to MySpace and found a home in Facebook. Friends you hadn’t seen for years and people you [...]
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