TGIF! with Vusa Mkhaya:

the Voice as Instrument,

Homecomings and

the Harmony of Ubuntu

I'm so happy to bring you this beautiful music from Vusa Mkhaya today. The founding member of award-winning vocal trio Insingizi last month released his first international solo release, Vocalism. A celebration of his favourite instrument, Vusa says, "Voices are, for me, the best and the first instrument. When I think of music I think voice."

 

All sorts of homecomings

Fusing elements of Zimbabwean and European tradition, the album at some point draws upon yodelling and Hungarian folk music and Vusa collaborates in part with local musicians in Bulawayo, where his career began. 

"In Zimbabwe we have a saying, 'a child belongs to everyone in the village'. This is how I felt working on Vocalism in Bulawayo. When friends came in and contributed some ideas, they did not see the album as Vusa's ‘child’, but as theirs too. My success is their success and my struggle is their struggle." 

Ubuntu at work! And a real homecoming:

"Bulawayo has all these great voices which have not been heard outside the city. I hope that the people that sing on the album will now be heard beyond the city of Bulawayo and Zimbabwe. I am really happy doing this here, and I will always [come back to] Bulawayo because this is the city that I love the most; I’ve been to so many cities around the world and, no offense to the other great cities that I’ve been to, but Bulawayo ‘does it’ for me, and I’m happy that, finally, we’ve come home."

Listen/watch to what he's talking about (click here if reading via RSS):

 

Ubuntu (click here if reading via RSS):

 

Watch the making of Vocalism (click here if reading via RSS):

 

Buy Vocalism on Amazon and iTunes, among other outlets. It's on my list for sure! Have a great weekend everybody.

Image via BBC News Africa (where you listen to Vusa talking about the joys of singing)

Free to Enter:

The £1,000 Tom-Gallon Trust Award

for Short Story (Commonwealth)

Deadline: 31 October 2012

A biennial award of £1,000, financed by a bequest made by Miss Nellie Tom-Gallon in memory of her brother. The award must be made to a writer of fiction who has had at least one short story accepted for publication, and who has serious writing ambitions.

The submitted story should be traditional, rather than experimental, in character, and the financial circumstances of the writer should be taken into account.

The next deadline for entries is 31st October 2012 (for award in June 2013).

CRITERIA FOR ENTRY

(i) The author must be a citizen of the United Kingdom, Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.

(ii) The author must have had at least one short story published or accepted for publication.

(iii) The story submitted must be in English and must not be a translation.

(iv) The story submitted may be published or unpublished.

HOW TO ENTER

Please complete the form and submit it with:

• One (and only one) short story (maximum length 5,000 words), published or unpublished and typed in double line spacing, with your name stated on the first page;

• A list of your previously published work including the publisher and date of publication;

• If you would like an acknowledgement, the return of your story, and/or to be notified of the winner please provide stamped addressed envelopes.

Please note that entries submitted by fax or email will not be accepted.

Download: entry form

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries: info@societyofauthors.org

For submissions:

send to Paula Johnson, Awards Secretary, Society of Authors, 84 Drayton Gardens, London SW10 9SB

Website: http://www.societyofauthors.org

 

Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award

Deadline:

November 15, 2012

Entry Fee: 

$3

Website: 

http://theformalist.evansville.edu/formalist.htm

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry is given annually for a sonnet. Rhina P. Espaillat will judge. Submit a sonnet with a $3 entry fee by November 15. Send an SASE or visit the website for complete guidelines.

The Formalist, Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award, 320 Hunter Drive, Evansville, IN 47711. Mona Baer, Managing Editor.

The $1,500/ £1,000

Pure Travel Writing Competition 2012

(worldwide)

Deadline: 31 October 2012

(Note: The competition is open to travelers worldwide aged 18 and over.)

Write and tell us about The place you didn't want to be. It could have been a long, tortuous journey, an embarrassing moment or a dangerous situation. Perhaps you were presented with food you'd rather not eat or a bed you'd rather not sleep in.

Make us laugh, cry, sympathise or cringe.

Entries should be between 350-750 words in length and your own original work. Please give your article a title. Entries that are shorter or longer, or contain copied work will not be considered. Please paste your text on to the email body, do not send attachments.

Entries should be sent to: competition@puretravel.com, with your name, e-mail and telephone number by Wednesday 31st October 2012. All entries will be posted on the PureTravel web site.

10 articles will then be selected by a panel and these pieces will be open for public voting until Friday 30th November 2012.

The three most popular will then be judged by a professional Travel writer and the winner announced on Friday 14th December.

THE JUDGE: JEREMY LAZELL

Jeremy Lazell worked for eight years as a trekking guide before turning to writing, a decision he's had plenty of time to regret while sleeping in a hammock 200ft up in the Borneo rainforest for the Sunday Times, all but drowning in Scotland while rafting for GQ, and hooking nothing but his own cheek while fishing in Belize for Food & Travel. Based at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, where he lives with his wife and three boys, Jeremy writes about 90% of his material for the Sunday Times Travel Section, specialising in adventure travel, family holidays, and whatever round-ups help pay the bills. He has also worked for Conde Nast Traveller and Esquire magazines.

All the entries to the competition will be loaded onto the PureTravel web site for you to enjoy, as per our Terms and Conditions.

PRIZES

The winner will receive £1,000 or US$1,500.

The 2011 winner Sam Clark wrote: "The money came in a few days ago. You were right, it is a good start to the New Year. The 1,500 dollars is going to my next adventure down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. On my bike trip I was following Lewis and Clark's route across North America, and this trip is tribute to John W. Powell's descent down the Grand. The money came just in time to make the next adventure possible. Thanks so much!"

In 2012, that could be you!

The winning article will also be published in "Geographical" magazine, the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society. To see the 2010 winning entry in print, please look at our PureTravel blog..

As part of their support, Geographical is offering a subscription discount to those interested in travel writing. The magazine is a useful resource of information on the world and features excellent travel articles.

Entries will all be posted on the PureTravel web site. Your name will be published with your article, please tell us if you wish to have this withheld. Please note that the e-mail/phone number is for our use only and will not be published online.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

1. The competition is open to travelers worldwide aged 18 and over, with the exception of employees of PureTravel and Geographical magazine, their immediate families, agents, or anyone else associated with administration of this promotion.

2. Closing date for receipt of all entries is 31th October 2012.

3. There is one prize consisting of a £1,000 cheque, or US$1,500. The winning article will be published in "Geographical" magazine.

4. To enter, send your article of between 350–750 words, to competition@puretravel.com with your name, email address and telephone number. Please paste your text on to the email body, do not send attachments. Alternatively, you can also enter via post by sending your entry to: PureTravel Travel Encounters Competition, Realworld Travel, The Royal, 25 Bank Plain, Norwich, NR2 4SF.

5. The initial shortlist of 10 will be selected on merit by a panel of judges appointed by PureTravel, including at least one independent judge (i.e. not an employee of either company). The winner will be selected by one independent judge.

6. Online voting will start on the Friday 9th November 2012 and finish on Friday 30th November 2012. To vote you must register for the free PureTravel.com newsletter. Your registration e-mail will be your voting signature. Only one vote per person. Please note that there is an opt-out of this newsletter on every issue.

7. The winner will be informed by Friday 14th December 2012 and the result published on the web site.

8. PureTravel will have the right to publish all entries on its web site. Geographical magazine will have the publishing rights on the winning article. Articles will be removed from the PureTravel web site on request once the competition is over.

9. Entries limited to one per person.

10. E-mail addresses will be only be used by PureTravel for their own newsletter which can be opted out of. They will not be disclosed to any other parties.

11. There is no alternative to the prize offered and the prizes are non–transferable.

12. If for any reason a winner is unable to take the prize as offered, the Promoter reserves the right to award the prize to the next best entry.

13. The judge's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

14. The winners agree to participate in any reasonable publicity required by the Promoter.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: competition@puretravel.com

Website: http://www.puretravel.com

 

Watch 6-Minute Viral

Sci-Fi Short Film

That Has Hollywood Abuzz

Over Feature Film Potential

 

by Tambay A. Obenson

October 16, 2012

It's not the surest path to get Hollywood studio attention, but, in recent years, several filmmakers have made short films that went viral (some we featured), and got Hollywood's attention. A few of those shorts have gone on to become feature length films.

Here's the latest one that, according to several reports, has Hollywood on the hunt.

Titled True Skin, it's a 6-minute sci-fi film directed by Stephan Zlotescu‘s, whose manager says that “industry response has been insane,” five days after the full film was uploaded to the web, and attracted some 230,000 plays in that short time.

“Within hours of release, we were receiving calls from major studios and financiers,” he added, and that they're in “active negotiations.”

Ultimately, they want to adapt the short film into a feature film, saying that they believe it has the potential to be a franchise, broadening beyond cinema, and into video games and more.

And this won't be the first time Stephan's manager, Scott Glassgold, has gone down this path. He and his company (IAM Entertainment) specialize in pitching movies via viral shorts as a different approach to the traditional “submit-screenplay-and-pray-for-a-miracle” approach that most first-time feature filmmakers rely on. 

Two years ago, IAM Entertainment drew Hollywood's interest with a fake trailer for an English-language version of a Serbian sci-fi movie titled Technotise. Currently, Avatar producer Laeta Kalogridis, is developing a live-action script for that project.

So is this one worthy of all the hype? Would you want to see a feature-length version of this? Watch and decide:

TRUE SKIN from H1 on Vimeo.

No Justice For All:

US Private Prisons

Rake In Profits

Oct - 13 | Posted by: admin 

I received an awesome graphic that illustrates the American prison spending and incarcerationrates.

It highlights the failed “War on Drugs” and the fact that the number of people in private prisons has grown by 120% while costing taxpayers $1,600 more per year. Federal, state and local governments are spending an astounding $75 billion per year on incarceration.

Take a look at the graphic and share your comments below.

<br />Created by: OnlineCriminalJusticeDegree.com

 

Kenya’s #purplezebra Spring

October 19, 2012

By Dan Moshenberg 

Political springs, as in social movements that topple and/or transform political regimes, occur when the youth of a nation get on the move. And that may be what happened in Nairobi this past Monday. A harbinger of spring. 

Four hundred or so young women marched, shouted, hooted, danced, chanted, filled the streets of Nairobi. They carried a banner that read, “50% of all positions allocated to women should be reserved for women under 35 years. Give women an opportunity for fair representation through nomination rules of political parties.”

The women wore purple to symbolize their demands for fair and balanced appointments. They were a rolling democratic action. They were … a purple zebra. As Youth Agenda has explained, “Young women (Purple) in appointive and elective positions in political parties should appear as many times as the white on a zebra…#purplezebra”.

The #purplezebra emerges from many sources. The new, improved Constitution of Kenya (pdf) provides more rights and protections to women, children and youth, both defined as vulnerable citizens. In particular, the Bill of Rights of Kenya’s recently passed Constitution specifies the State’s responsibilities to women, children, youth, minorities and marginalized groups, and elders. The Constitution also mandates that no gender will have more than 2/3 of elected or appointed positions. This does not limit women to 1/3 but rather ensures that at least 1/3 of elected and appointed positions will be women. It’s a definite step forward, which of course relies on implementation.

The young women of Kenya have looked at the results thus far, and kept their eyes on the prize. In a country in which 70 percent of the population is 35 years or younger, age matters. Or at least it should. And Kenya is that country right now, and all predictions and projections suggest that it will continue to become younger and younger again.

This means, for women like Susan Kariuki, Chief Executive Officer of Youth Agenda, the group that brought the women who came from all political parties and structures together, the women in office must be from the 70%, the 35-and-under super majority. This means that restrictions, such as fees, must take into account the high levels of unemployment and underemployment of young women and address them accordingly. This means that the Parliamentarians as well as the appointed officials are on notice: don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall, there’s a purple zebra coming to do more than rattle your walls.

#purplezebra on Twitter.

Fresh Milk-Barbados just shared its new promotional video. This beautiful 5-minute video, shot and edited by Sammy Davis, explains the Fresh Milk mission and goals. It also shows the team and interviews some of the artists are involved and/or have benefitted from the group’s efforts to help upcoming talent.

See video here:

For more information, see http://freshmilkbarbados.com/2012/10/19/fresh-milks-promotional-video/

Cuba: An African Odyssey

Posted by Black Acrylic on Oct 16, 2012

<p>Cuba, an African Odyssey - trailer from Song Pham on Vimeo.</p> 

Film Africa is coming to London on the 1-11 November with an amazing selection of films and documentaries. One of the documentaries I am looking forward to finally seeing is Jihan El-Tahri’s Cuba: An African Odyssey. Cuba played a significant role in African liberation movements during the Cold War by undermining flawed US backed military operations on the continent and challenging the oppressive South African apartheid government. In her book Cuba in Africa, Pamela S. Falk reveals that Cuba was involved in seventeen African countries and three insurgencies. For African leaders such as Angola’s Agostinho Neto, Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara and the Congo’s Patrice Lumumba, the Cuban Revolution symbolised aspirational freedom and Cuba was an ally against Western neo-colonialism. Although brief and unsuccessful, Che Guevara’s miltary involvement in the Congo was in retaliation against the CIA supported assassination of Patrice Lumumba.

 

Cuba did not only support military operations in Africa, but in 1960 started to receive students from Guinea-Bissau, Congo and Mali. By 1999 more than 28,000 African students had graduated from Cuban institutions and more than 76,000 Cubans had been deployed in Africa. Africa also benefitted from Cuba’s medical internationalism. For example, Cuba sent doctors to Algeria during the independence war against the French. In spite of growing discontent at home for Cuba’s growing involvement in Africa, Fidel’s long term vision was to secure loyalty across the continent and minimise the imperialistic influence of Europe and America. Before actually travelling to Cuba I knew nothing about Cuba’s involvement in Africa in the early years of the Revolution. It’s no coincidence that when I met older Cubans in UNEAC who had travelled to Africa, they were ex-military and had served in Angola and fallen in love with a beautiful African women along the way. Documentaries like Cuba: An African Odyssey are crucial in drawing attention to under documented aspects of contemporary history.

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Freddy Ilanga:

Che's Swahili Translator

Director: Katrin Hansing, Spanish with English & French subtitles, 24:00 minutes, 2009
 

In April 1965, Freddy Ilanga, a fifteen-year-old Congolese youth, became Che Guevara’s personal Swahili teacher and translator during the latter’s secret mission in the Congo to train anti-Mobutu rebels. After seven intense months by Che Guevara’s side, the Cuban authorities sent Freddy to Cuba. During his early years, Freddy thought that his stay in Cuba would be temporary. However, 40 years passed, during which time he lost all contact with his family and homeland. That is until 2003, when he received an unexpected phone call from Bukavu, his home town. His family had finally found him…

‘Che’s Swahili Translator’ is a documentary about Freddy Ilanga, an African man whose life was abruptly transformed through a chance encounter with one of the great icons of the 20th Century, and which has predominantly been determined by the power struggles of the Cold War and the Cuban Revolution. It is a story about migration and displacement and the high human costs of exile and family separation.