Numero Magazine Puts

White Model in Blackface

for ‘African Queen’ Spread

(Pics)

February 27, 2013 by EURpublisher

*French fashion magazine Numero decided to celebrate African beauty in its March issue, complete with its featured model alongside the title, “African Queen.”

The model, however, is a white girl…in blackface. In fact, she’s in blackbody, with dark makeup covering all of her exposed skin.

Needless to say, social media lit up with reaction Tuesday.

“This is offensive and it is done in poor taste. It’s sending the message that ‘We celebrate African beauty … just without any Africans,” Kay Clarke wrote on Facebook.

Fashion blog Styleite pointed out this isn’t the first time Numero has “blurred racial lines.” In 2010 the mag published photos featuring white model Constance Jablonski also with darkened skin, wearing a series of afro wigs and posing with a black baby.

The “African Queen” spread in Numero’s March issue features blond-haired, blue-eyed Ondria Hardin, a 16-year-old model from North Carolina who looks like this when she’s not in blackface…

Ondria Hardin, shot by Raymond Meier for Teen Vogue (February 2012 issue)

via eurweb.com

__________________________

Fashion veteran

Bethann Hardison

on Numéro ‘African Queen’

blackface controversy

The "African Queen" spread, as discussed by Bethann Hardison, fashion legend. (Photos, left, Sebastian Kim, right, Getty Images)

__________________________

What Numéro Magazine’s

Apology For ‘African Queen’

In Blackface Actually Meant

By Danielle Young, Associate Editor

glennisha morgan:

kortney ryan ziegler,

transgender filmmaker,

talks movies, race

and advocacy

02/28/2013

To call Kortney Ryan Ziegler a Renaissance man would almost be an understatement. He’s an artist, filmmaker, writer, entrepreneur and human rights advocate, not to mention a prominent voice within the black transgender and academic community. With a doctorate in African-American studies, he often writes and speaks about queer people of color, media visibility, black sexuality, transgender activism, black male feminism and more.

In 2008, he released his noted film, “Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen.” Last year, he was nominated for a Transguys Community Award, and this year he’s been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding blog. Ziegler is also the founder of Who We Know, a paid fellowship focused on creating products and developing initiatives that economically empower the transgender community of color, and co-owner of Halmoni Vintage, a boutique in the Lake Merritt neighborhood of Oakland, Calif. He took some time out to chat with HuffPost Gay Voices about filmmaking, transgender advocacy and more.

What was the inspiration behind your film “Still Black”?
I was inspired to make it at the moment I made it because it was the beginning of the trans explosion, which I think is happening right now. There were a lot of films coming out mainstream and independent. For example, there was “Trans America” and “Trans Generation,” which is a TV show. All of these shows that were coming out didn’t have any representation of black trans people.

So I wanted to see that movie, and specifically I wanted to see a movie that centralizes the voices of black men, because it’s so rare. I wanted to see it. So I made it.

You specifically chose to do the film in black and white because you believe that being a transgender man of color isn’t just a black-and-white issue. How so?
Actually I tried to see the film as shades of gray. I really didn’t want to play with the idea that gender is this ridiculous spectrum. It’s not black or white; it’s shady. You can be this or that. You can be whatever you want to be. That’s what I really wanted to push as far as the aesthetic.

Gender is very fluid, and I identified that with the multiple camera angles that show different movements of the body and how we come to practice our performance. We really wanted to show that in the film.

http://www.stillblackfilm.org/

*

Do you plan to make more films?
Yes, I made work before and it was all short films. I have a narrative feature that is in development right now. It will have a black transgender man character. The premise of the film is a man who transitions in his late 20s and has to return home as this man and having to conquer that. It deals with what it means to be a man and transitioning as an adult.

You’re the first person to hold a Ph.D. in African-American studies from Northwestern University. It’s often taught in the black community that education is the key to freedom and success. Do you feel that getting your doctorate has made things more seamless for you?
No. Not at all. I think in terms of now having some type of cultural capital that I can navigate with is very helpful, but I don’t think it has made anything that much easier. Blacks aren’t seen as educated in the first place. I’m grateful that I went to school. For me, it’s a personal achievement demonstrating that I could do it. I thought it would, but it hasn’t made things easier.

You wrote a great piece for HuffPost about making race the center of transgender advocacy. How do you think the community can begin to break down its barriers?
Like I mentioned in the essay, more resources need to be given toward issues that affect people of color. I say that because I’ve gotten a chance to work with a number of advocacy organizations, specifically in California, and everyone is pushing for health care and don’t want to be discriminated against. That’s great and we should be doing that, but for people of color, it’s a very different experience. In terms of employment, it’s not only issues of gender; it’s also issues of race.

Also, the work that trans people of color are doing needs to be recognized by organizations. Not necessarily inclusion, but recognition. We use the word inclusion a lot, but why do we need to include? Include is not the right word. We need to recognize people for doing work. Trans people of color are doing work without the money and resources, with the drive or promoting visibility and showing our humanity.

You also stated in that piece that we have to take the necessary steps to destroy racist institutional barriers, but the responsibility shouldn’t be left upon communities of color. Where should society start with breaking down these racist institutional barriers?
I think we can come at it from different angles. Yes, there are people who don’t have houses. Yes, there are people who can’t go to the doctor. There are all of these ways. We need to talk about all of them and see how they are connected and distinct at the same time. Without addressing everything that is connected, we really don’t have a platform. Even recognizing that information is multifaceted is a starting point.

It’s often been said that the black community is very homophobic. How do you feel that the division or lack of understanding can be broken down inside of the black community?
I am a person who believes that black people are no more homophobic, transphobic or racist than anybody else. I believe that because in my life experience I’ve been blessed to encounter people in my family or loved ones who openly loved me and respected me. They may not have understood anything about who I am, but have respected and honored that they don’t understand. It’s not just family. It’s also people that I run into on a daily basis. We need to move beyond that narrative that black people aren’t as accepting because I think we really are.

Knowing society’s notions about masculinity in regards to black men, how do you grapple with that and expressing yourself as a black transman?
It’s very eye-opening. I don’t want to fall on that it’s-so-hard thing. I think it’s hard for everybody, no matter who they are. I’ve realized that the plight of being a black man in America is not what I understood it to be when I was not living as a black man in America. What I mean by that is just it’s really sad the way people fear me. Or the way that people see me and don’t see me. I’m very hyper-visible. At the same time, people are very intimidated by me and it has to do with my black masculinity.

I also use it as an opportunity to shape myself. I do shape the way that I move throughout the world in some ways to show a different reality of black masculinity. People who I meet now, unless I tell them, wouldn’t really think about it, and they treat me as they would treat any black man.

You once tweeted that someone who hosted a screening of your film posted pictures of you prior to transitioning. Can you explain how that is problematic?
It’s problematic because you can do a Google search, and for my name, probably 80 percent of the pictures that come up I don’t look like that right now. I have no problem with that, but for trans people who are public, it’s important to honor how they are now. It’s important because no matter who you are, it’s just important to use current photographs. It’s important for people to be mindful. And if you need to ask questions, it’s OK. Ask how a person wants to be represented. I think that’s an OK question to ask.

During the last season of VH1′s “Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta,” one particular cast member, Joseline Hernandez was repeatedly called a man and accused of being transgender and not a cisgender woman. As a transgender person, can you explain how this can be problematic and insulting to the transgender community?
I followed that story, and she eventually posted a nude photograph to prove herself. Not even just being cisgender or trans, being a woman of color and not really having control of your body anyway — that was also a part of the problem with Joseline. Specifically for trans people, it’s insulting for anybody to have to prove themselves. If they say that’s who they are, they are.

People need to also realize that gender isn’t just about genitalia.
Exactly.

Kortney Ryan Ziegler’s film can be purchased at StillBlackFilm.org, and his writing can be read at his award-winning blog Blackademic.

Kortney Ryan Ziegler, trans filmmaker.

Viral Video Shows the Extent

of U.S. Wealth Inequality

 

Charlie White

The issue of wealth inequality across the United States is well known, but this video shows you the extent of that imbalance in dramatic and graphic fashion.

The video, which started going viral on Friday and whose traffic continues to climb on YouTube — reflects the facts as seen from many different sources. We present it without comment, letting you, our readers, be the judge.

So, what do you think? Is the current state of wealth inequality good for the United States, or has it gotten out of hand?

 

Boil Water Advisory issued

for all of East Bank

of Orleans Parish

MARCH 03, 2013

NEW ORLEANS, LA-- A precautionary boil water advisory has been issued for all of the East Bank of Orleans Parish.

Sewerage & Water Board officials are still determining the cause of a loss of water pressure at the S&WB Power Plant.   

S&WB  is recommending that customers boil their water for one minute and let it cool down prior to consumption (including drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, bathing or preparing food).

Boil water for one full minute in a clean container. The one-minute boil time begins after the water has been brought to a rolling boil. (If there is a flat taste, it can be eliminated by shaking the water in a bottle or pouring it from one container to another.)

This boil water advisory will remain in effect until further notice for customers in the affected area. The Sewerage and Water Board will notify residents when the advisory is lifted.

>via: http://new.nola.gov/mayor/press-releases/2013/20130303-boil-water-advisoryiss...

__________________________ 

Water pressure falls across sections of New Orleans, city issues

boil-water alert

 

View the Slideshow >>

(Gallery by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com and the Times-Picayune)

By Andrew Vanacore, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
on March 03, 2013 at 9:33 AM, updated March 03, 2013 at 6:28 PM

A small fire at the aging power plant run by the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board cut electricity to the city's water distribution system for about 20 minutes on Sunday, causing a potentially dangerous drop in water pressure for the second time in six months and prompting city officials to issue a 24-hour boil-water alert for the east bank's 300,000 residents.

During an afternoon press conference, Marcia St. Martin, the board's executive director, said that no one was hurt in the fire, which began in the plant's boiler room at around 9 a.m. But she said the outage caused pressure to drop below what the federal government considers safe, given the potential for bacteria to find its way into the system.

"It took a few minutes to determine the extent of the damage," she said, "But within about 15 minutes we were able to identify the possibility of needing a boil-water advisory."

By then, residents had already taken to Twitter, checking in with reports of a brief but marked drop in water pressure coming out of the tap from Uptown to St. Roch and elsewhere.

There were the inevitable quips about the city's "third-world" status. Shoppers loaded up on bottled water and ice at grocery stores. And businesses across the city began another frustrating interval of improvising their way around tap water.

At the Ruby Slipper, a popular brunch spot with three different locations around town, employees began using bottled water for coffee and boiled water for the dirty dishes.

"The one thing you should be able to depend on from the municipality is that you have water," said owner Eric Weishaupt. "It's silly, but we're doing what we can." 

 

Boil Water Advisory New Orleans has issued a boil-water alert for the east bank. Samples are being taken throughout the city and a report will be issued once it is certain the water is safe. Residents across the city woke up to a drop in water pressure. Marcia St. Martin, executive director of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, said that a small fire at the agency's power plant on South Claiborne Avenue cut electricity for about 20 minutes and caused water pressure to dip below what the federal government considers safe.

Sunday's water troubles ultimately stemmed from a power plant on South Claiborne Avenue that first came online in 1903, and which was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina. The Sewerage & Water Board generates its own power, operating the plant and more than 100 miles of underground cables, because the overhead electrical grid used by the rest of the city can't be relied upon during heavy winds and storms.

The plant burns natural gas, generating steam and the pressure necessary to push water through the pipes. On Sunday, St. Martin said, that fire somehow got outside of the plant's boiler and did some damage, although just how much in dollars is not yet clear.

St. Martin said a team of workers was able to quickly switch to a different source of electricity and get pressure back up to safe levels fairly quickly.

She also noted that the decision to issue a boil-water alert was made within just a few minutes, an important point given the criticism city officials took last year for pausing more than four hours after a similar drop in pressure before warning residents.

City Hall put the alert out at about 9:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Back in October, the same power plant experienced a mechanical failure while crews were swapping out some of the boilers. Pressure briefly dropped from its normal 68 pounds per square inch to about 20 psi. But since pressure never reached the federal threshold of 15 psi, which would prompt a mandatory alert, city officials took time to consult with the state Department of Health and Hospitals, as protocol dictates. But because the city ultimately did warn residents to boil tap water, residents questioned why the alert took so long to reach them.

This time, St. Martin said, pressure did drop below 15 psi, so there was never a question of whether or not to put out a warning.

Once pressure drops that low, there is a danger that cracks in the pipes, where water is typically leaking out, could allow water from the ground to seep back in, introducing bacteria that could cause illness.

For now, the city is recommending that residents boil their water for a minute and let it cool down before drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, or preparing food.

Boiled water is not necessary for other household purposes, according to the city, although some important caveats apply: "Bathing or showering should be avoided by people with open wounds or who are immunocompromised," and for anyone who does hop in the bath, they should "minimize the time spent in the water and be sure to keep your eyes and mouth closed."

New Orleans Health Commissioner Karen DeSalvo said the city is collecting samples and will let residents know when the water supply is certified as safe.

In the long-term, city officials hope to eliminate these types of episodes with a considerable investment in sewage and water upgrades. Back in December the New Orleans City Council voted to impose a steep increase in residents' monthly water bills. The hike is expected to bring in $583 million in revenue to pay for infrastructure repairs and a bigger staff tending to the city's pipes. On top of that, the city is planning to use another $141 million in federal hazard mitigation money on upgrading the power plant.

St. Martin said the first phase of that job will be awarded to a contractor later this month, and when it's done, "all of that work will stabilize the power plant."

 

1784: Jean Saint Malo,

New Orleans Maroon

June 19th, 2012 Headsman

On this date in 1784,* Jean Saint Malo was hanged in the New Orleans square that’s since been christened Jackson Square, after American president Andrew Jackson.

Saint Malo, the namesake of a 19th century fishing village that formed perhaps the first Filipino settlement in the U.S., was the leader of outlaw settlements of escaped slaves who found refuge in the French colony’s bayous.

“Prior to the sugar boom,” writes Daniel Rasmussen in his well-received American Uprising, “New Orleans was a poor, multi-cultural city with very few social controls.”

The lines between slavery and freedom were not clearly drawn, and slaves frequently escaped into the swamps to form maroon colonies. There was a history of armed resistance in these areas that drew on French, Creole, and Kongolese traditions. These insurrectionary traditions shaped the lives of the slaves and represented an alternative political culture to that of the planters.

As testimony to that hazy line, Saint Malo had widespread support not only from the escaped slaves who joined him, but from those that remained on plantations. The communities were linked by blood and by trade; attempts to send creole militias out to hunt the maroons tended to founder on the draftees’ fear of retaliation by the kith and kin of their targets.

According to Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Saint Malo’s prosecutor complained that slaves would grumble, affront their masters, leave land uncultivated … and that owners dared but few disciplinary measures lest they disappear into the swamps.

“Malheur au blanc qui passera ces bornes” (“Woe to the white who would pass this boundary”), was the declaration attributed our man, burying an ax dramatically into a tree outside his largest village, Ville Gaillarde. (The maroons lived in permanent settlements.)

It took several years, several tries, and more than several casualties for Louisiana planters to finally bring Saint Malo’s maroons to heel. And when they did — well, the dirge recorded from a fellow maroon (as related in Creole New Orleans: Race and Americanization) describes Malo’s fate.

Alas, young men, come make lament,
For poor St. Malo in distress!
They chased, they hunted him with dogs,
They fired a rifle at him.
They dragged him from the cypress swamp.
His arms they tied behind his back.
They tied his hands in front of him.
They tied him to a horse’s tail.
They dragged him up into the town.
Before those grand Cabildo men.
They charged that he had made a plot
To cut the throats of all the whites.
They asked him who his comrades were.
Poor St. Malo said not a word!
The judge his sentence read to him,
And then they raised the gallows tree.
They drew the horse — the cart moved off
And left St. Malo hanging there.
The sun was up an hour high
When on the levee he was hung.
They left his body swinging there
For carrion crows to feed upon.

* Coincidentally, June 19 would later become Juneteenth, marking the end of slavery in the United States at the conclusion of the Civil War.

photo by Alex Lear

 

 

 

 

 

 

We_Take_Turns_On_Top.mp3

Download Often_We_Take_Turns_On_Top.mp3

Often We Take Turns On Top

     (a sonnet for my baby)

 

 

often we take turns on top

in our marriage no one is relegated to the bottom

each of us has a vehicle plus our own lives

to live & deep love we share with numerous others

 

i cook fresh food improvising without recipe

you like firm avocado, coconut cookies, yellow

grits slow simmered to a buttery thickness, after dinner

you clean the carpet while i do the dishes

 

with sagaciously selected colors, your careful eye has

subtly curated our space into a dwelling place divine

here a delicious quiet permeates the atmosphere

sometimes we talk, other times we listen

 

to music or revel in the silence of mutual contentment wherein

my heart is your sacred shelter & your smile my holiest shrine

 

—kalamu ya salaam

 

------------------------------

Musical composition: "Coming On The Hudson" by Thelonious Monk

Kalamu ya Salaam – vocals

Stephan Richter – clarinet

Wolfi Schlick – reeds

Frank Bruckner – guitar

Mathis Mayer - cello

Georg Janker - bass

Michael Heilrath - bass

Roland HH Biswurm - drums 

Recorded: June 14, 1998 – "ETA Theatre" Munich, Germany

WATCH:

Fela Kuti Live In Paris From 1984
  Laurie Tuffrey , March 1st, 2013 

Previously unreleased footage of Kuti and Egypt '80, ahead of new best of and a wholesale reissuing of the Afrobeat master's back catalogue

Next Monday, March 4, sees the release of the new best of, The Best Of The Black President 2, by Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti via Knitting Factory Records. In anticipation of the release, we've got an exclusive first look at this ace recently-discovered and previously-unreleased footage of Fela and his band Egypt '80 playing the Paris Zenith in 1984 - watch above.

The new best of collection forms a second volume to 2000's The Best Of The Black President, taking in 12 10-minute-plus tracks, opening with 1975's 'Everything Scatter', which you can listen to below. The standard 2CD edition - pre-order here - comes with an intro by Akon, and the deluxe edition comes with a DVD featuring Fela's set at Glastonbury in 1984, which you can pre-order here.

The release marks the beginning of a mammoth remastering project by the label, which will see Kuti's entire 50 album-strong back catalogue rereleased between this month and September, each with in-depth notes by Afrobeat historian Chris May. Watch this space for more on the reissues, stay tuned to the official Fela Kuti and Knitting Factory websites for further updates.

 

Paris DJs Soundsystem

- Dis Is Good For You -

Tropical Grooves and

Afrofunk International

(Digital compilation, Paris DJs)

Posted on Thursday 25 October 2012

 

"Dis Is Good For You - Tropical Grooves and Afrofunk International" is the first compilation coming out on the newly-launched Paris DJs label, gathering old cats and newcomers from the worldwide Afro/Tropical scene. Dwelving into the minds and hard drives of their international network of artists and producers for a whole month, Paris DJs have carefully selected 13 tracks of current, modern, 21st century Afrofunk, Afrobeat, Ethio-Jazz, Reggae and Soul, and even mixed most of those from separate parts themselves, raising the production level to their high quality standards of warm, spatialized, heavy sound…

Buy on Bandcamp

 

Paris DJs Soundsystem - Dis Is Good For You - Tropical Grooves and Afrofunk International 

 (Digital Album/Limited CD & Poster) Paris DJs PARISDJS008, 2012-10-25

<a href="http://parisdjs.bandcamp.com/album/dis-is-good-for-you-tropical-grooves-and-afrofunk-international" _mce_href="http://parisdjs.bandcamp.com/album/dis-is-good-for-you-tropical-grooves-and-afrofunk-international">Dis Is Good For You - Tropical Grooves and Afrofunk International by Paris DJs Soundsystem</a>

Tracklisting :

01. Grant Phabao & The Jays - The Going Is Tough (Adrian Quesada Remix) 04:41

02. Grant Phabao, Carlton Livingston & The Lone Ranger - (A Message To You) Rudie 03:30

03. Kaleta - Thank God We Are Africans 06:35

04. Franck Biyong & The Diamane Bantu Messengers - Fe Bain 05:03

05. ©© Les Frères Smith - Yègellé Tezeta (My Own Memory) 04:58

06. Lee Fields & The Expressions - You're The Kind Of Girl (Grant Phabao Remix) 04:03

07. Grant Phabao & Afrodyete The African Goddess of Love - Feelin' You Feelin' Me 05:38

08. Muyiwa Kunnuji - Everything That Has Breath 07:02

09. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ogun feat. Franck Biyong, Nicolas Baudino, Zakari Frantz 04:12

10. Super Hi-Fi - March of the Frogs (Myles Boisen Mix) 04:47

11. Pyramid Blue - African Jungle 03:20

12. Kraked Unit feat. Joseph Cotton & Oghene Kologbo - Soul Shakedown Party 04:49

13. Soul Sugar - Bon Esprit (Alternate Mix) 03:48

Links :
Buy it on parisdjs.bandcamp.com

Paris DJs : parisdjs.com | bandcamp | facebook | juno | pinterest | soundcloud | twitter | youtube

Artwork by Ben Hito

Press Release :
"Dis Is Good For You - Tropical Grooves and Afrofunk International" is the first compilation coming out on the newly-launched Paris DJs label, gathering old cats and newcomers from the worldwide Afro/Tropical scene.

Paris DJs started 7 years ago as a new online media for all things 'black music', from Afro to Funk, Jazz, Reggae, Soul, Latin to Hip Hop. The mixes section quickly became legendary, with nearly 400 episodes of thematic podcasts of old and new school grooves, all properly annoted, illustrated and mastered, covering the whole African Diaspora and gathering a worldwide audience with millions of downloads.

The collective revolves around the duo of Djouls and Grant Phabao, an artistic director/webmaster/music archeologist partnering with the best sound engineer and roots music producer in Paris, with the help of movie soundtracks producer Loik Dury, journalist and book publisher Nicolas Ragonneau and graphic designer Ben Hito. They decided in June 2012 to launch the Paris DJs label, starting with an Afro/Tropical/Reggae compilation assembling the most interesting players from the worldwide scene.

Dwelving into the minds and hard drives of their international network of artists and producers for a whole month, Paris DJs have carefully selected 13 tracks of current, modern, 21st century Afrofunk, Afrobeat, Ethio-Jazz, Reggae and Soul, and even mixed most of those from separate parts themselves, raising the production level to their high quality standards of warm, spatialized, heavy sound.

In the same way as archeological labels such as Soundway, Sofrito or Analog Africa, all heavily featured on Paris DJs' blog with exclusive mixes and record reviews, Paris DJs are also heavy diggers, searching relentlessly through record racks, p2p and blog downloads to excavate gems from the past and bring back forgotten legends. But not stopping at vinyl treasures and tracking down artists and producers from back in the day, Paris DJs have one feet deeply rooted in the past, and the other actively in the present. A few hundreds might remember their "Atomic" party in 2009 with the first-ever European show from Ghanean guitarist/producer Ebo Taylor, with the Poets of Rhythm/Whitefield Brothers as their backing band…

Three years later Paris DJs' experience through the digital age has been one of discoveries and enthousiasm, meeting a lot of musicians and people, exploring many music trends through numerous collaborative recordings. Labels such as Truth & Soul, Ubiquity or Tru Thoughts have already released some productions coming from the Paris DJs studios and many seeds have been planted, with albums from Franck Biyong & The Diamane Bantu Messengers, the Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra, The Jays, The Silvertones or Oghene Kologbo scheduled for the coming months.

As members of the last generations of consumers of physical objects linked to music, Paris DJs wanted to exist in that story, to anchor some of their groovy vibes in the real world. And if Grant Phabao's heavy 70s sound is all over this compilation (he mixed 10 out the 13 tracks before mastering the whole piece), the idea is not only to bring vintage warmth to people's earphones and speakers with a retro-futuristic musical experience through the African diaspora, but also to stores, offices and bedrooms' walls with a poster worthy of the psychedelic 70s thanks to the talent of illustrator Ben Hito!

"Dis Is Good For You - Tropical Grooves and Afrofunk International" will be available as a digital release, with a limited edition, hand-numbered/signed poster and CD combo coming out in november 2012.

TRACK BY TRACK INFO :

01. Grant Phabao & The Jays - The Going Is Tough (Adrian Quesada Remix)

We first discovered Adrian Quesada through his releases with Austin latin funk bands Brownout or Grupo Fantasma, and through the unique afro'n'latin vibes of Ocote Soul Sounds, his project with Martin Perna from Antibalas. In 2010, Paris DJs published a special introductory mix about him, "Adrian Quesada's Spring Reverb", following the release of his (new) Echocentrics project on Ubiquity Records. Grant Phabao already did 7 remixes of some Adrian Quesada productions: 3 for Ocote Soul Sounds, 2 for Brownout (including one just finished from the new album "Oozy"), and 2 for The Echocentrics (just released on Ubiquity Records). On the other side of the Atlantic, Adrian Quesada remixed some of Grant Phabao Jamaican productions, starting with this reggae one drop from Channel One veterans The Jays, dressed with deep latin-funk grooves for a rare Jamaica/Texas meeting rather unheard until then. We can only hope this remix swap axis between Austin, Texas and Paris, France will lead one day to a collaborative album project between those two psychedelic groove masters...

Credits :
Written by Lloyd Forest / Composed by Fabien Préaux
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Recent releases :
Brownout - Oozy - CD, 2012 / Nat Geo Music
Brownout - Flaximus / I Won't Lie - limited 7 inch, 2012 / Kept Records
Grant Phabao & The Jays - Don't Sell Your Soul / Zion Holy Place (Jazz Version)- Limited 7 inch, 2009 / T.I.M.E.C.
Grant Phabao & The Jays - Stepping Up In Time - Digital album, 2012 / Paris DJs (coming soon)

Links :
Grant Phabao : official | bandcamp | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud | youtube
The Jays : video interview | myspace | parisdjs |
Kaleta & Zozo Afrobeat - Felabration - upcoming album feat. Sidney Mills of Steel Pulse (currently mixing)

Links :
Kaleta / Zozo Afrobeat : official | discogs | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud | twitter | youtube

04. Franck Biyong & The Diamane Bantu Messengers - Fe Bain

Franck Biyong is a Cameroonian musician, composer and singer, creator of the "Afrolectric" sound fusing Afrobeat, Electro-Funk and Avant-garde Jazz. In 2010 he started collaborating with Grant Phabao, which led to "Fe Bain", the first single extracted from his (upcoming) 8th album "Ki I Ye Yi" ("The one who doesn't know knows" in Basaa language). It's a rare treat in the current Afro revival, swirling Jazz chops on a unique and mesmerizing Central African groove, with deep vocals from Désiré Nkouandou Njopam.
"Fe Bain", also know as "Fai Mbu", is a frantic cover of a track produced by Manu Dibango for great Cameroon singer & trombonist Francis Ndom, for the 1982 "Fleurs Musicales du Cameroon" compilation. You'll hear in "Fe Bain" a true anthology of rhythms and melodies whose source is none other than the forest of central Africa (the Bamenda ethnic group), and especially a large range of the new trends of the modern African sound, presenting the typical eclecticism of music from this country that other Africans rightfully name “Africa in miniature”. "Fe Bain" was mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao.

Credits :
Composed by Francis Ndom
Arranged by Franck Biyong
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Recent releases :
Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ogun feat. Franck Biyong, Nicolas Baudino, Zakari Frantz - limited 7 inch, 2012 / Volcom Ent.
Franck Biyong & The Diamane Bantu Messengers - Fe Bain - Digital single, 2012 / Paris DJs
Franck Biyong & The Diamane Bantu Messengers - Ki I Ye Yi - Digital album, 2012 / Afrolectric Music
Franck Biyong & The Diamane Bantu Messengers - C.F.A. Music - Digital single, 2012 / Paris DJs (coming soon)

Links :
Franck Biyong : official | believe | facebook | itunes | myspace | soundcloud | twitter | youtube

05. ©© Les Frères Smith - Yègellé Tezeta (My Own Memory)

©© les Freres Smith is a 13 piece afrobeat / afrofunk / ethiojazz / globalgroove orchestra from Paris, with whom we've first started collaborating many years ago when they builded up a backing-band with Grant Phabao for Israeli funkster Kutiman first live show. They came back to us for the mixing and mastering of their first album, "Contreband Mentality" - which objectively speaking is one hell of a grower, heavily recommended to all Afro 70s lovers. ©© Les Freres Smith had an unreleased Mulatu Astatké cover left in the vaults from the sessions of their first album, still unmixed. A really funky and energetic take on the Mulatu classic, we couldn't pass on that and offered Grant Phabao services to mix this new track, unreleased elsewhere.

Credits :
Composed by Mulatu Astatqé
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Recent releases :
©© Les Frères Smith - Contreband Mentality - 2xLP, 2011 / Cafe Creme Contreband Corporation, CD/Digital / Comet Records
Elvis Martinez Smih - Music Is he Weapon Of The Future - Free MP3 download, 2012 / Paris DJs

Links :
©© Les Freres Smith : discogs | bandcamp | facebook | flickr | myspace | youtube

06. Lee Fields & The Expressions - You're The Kind Of Girl (Grant Phabao Remix)

We must admit we tried convincing Truth & Soul Records in Brooklyn that they should release Grant Phabao Jamaican productions. What those cats did with the original Soul from Lee Fields or Charles Bradley was what Grant was doing with The Lone Ranger's Rub-A-Dub or Carlton Livingston, The Jays or The Silvertones' reggae. After a while DJ Akalepse came back to us offering to do a reggae remix of Lee Fields. The New York label never had done any remixes and loved this reggae take on Lee Fields' sunshine Soul. The track is available as a free mp3 on truthandsoulrecords.com, and we're happy to also have it featured in this compilation of Afro/Tropical/Soul rarities and exclusives, hoping people will like it and more cross-Atlantic collabs may happen.

Credits :

Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Recent releases :
Lee Fields & The Expressions - Faithful Man - CD/LP/Digital, 2012 / Truth & Soul Records
Lee Fields & The Expressions - Faithful Man - 7 inch, 2012 / Truth & Soul Records
Lee Fields & The Expressions - You're the Kind of Girl (45 edit) - 7 inch, 2012 / Truth & Soul Records

Links :
Grant Phabao : official | bandcamp | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud | youtube
Lee Fields : discogs | facebook | myspace | parisdjs
Truth & Soul : official | bandcamp | discogs | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud | twitter | youtube

07. Grant Phabao & Afrodyete The African Goddess of Love - Fellin' You Feelin' Me

The story goes like this: in 2006 a few days after the release of Grant Phabao's first reggae 12 inch "Message To You Rudie", we got a call from DJ Soulist who had booked L.A. funk band The Breakestra for one of his What The Funk parties. He was coming out from Le Silence de la Rue record store in Pari with Miles Tackett, leader of the band, who had bought our single! A few years later when the band came back to play in Paris, we hooked up with Miles, offering him to come and record with Grant Phabao at Paris DJs' studios. He remembered the reggae production he had bought and pointed us directly towards his soul singer, Afrodyete. The woman is a gem to work with, we only saw each other twice, and each time resulted in some new recording, with songs she wrote right on the spot! "Feeling You, Feeling Me" is one of those, some seriously soulful vocals over one of Phabao brand new Afrofunk riddims. A 4-track Afrodyete/Grant Phabao EP is scheduled for the end of the year…

Credits :
Written by Afrodyete
Composed by Fabien Préaux
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Recent releases :
Breakestra - Dusk Till Dawn - CD/2LP/Download, 2009 / Strut
Coming soon :
Grant Phabao & Afrodyete The African Goddess of Love - Itchin' 4 Your Love EP - Digital single / Paris DJs (coming soon)

Links :
Grant Phabao : official | bandcamp | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud | youtube
Afrodyete : official | discogs | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | twitter

08. Muyiwa Kunnuji - Everything That Has Breath

Olumuyiwa Kunnuji aka Muyiwa was a trumpet player for Fela's Egypt 80 and more recenly for Seun Kuti's Egypt 80 band. He composed and started recording this track in Lagos, Nigeria, and then went to Grant Phabao to do the mixing. Tony Allen agreed to play on it, approving Phabao's understanding of the real afrobeat, and this first track from what we hope will be a long a fruitful solo career for Muyiwa is an epic take on the genre.

Credits :
Written and composed by Olumuyiwa Kunnuji
Additional production by Grant Phabao
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Links :
Muyiwa Kunnuji : discogs | facebook | myspace | reverbnation

09. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ogun feat. Franck Biyong, Nicolas Baudino, Zakari Frantz

This first extract from Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra's album (scheduled for early 2013) is a heavy Afrofunk monster, full of massive horn breaks that torns dancefloors apart. Zakari Franz from he Souljazz Orchesra and Nicolas Baudino from Franck Biyong's Massak band are the guests killing it on the saxophones, and this announces one hell of a ride for the album that's currently in preparation…

Credits :
Composed by Fabien Préaux and Nicolas Baudino
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Recent releases :
Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ogun / CSC Funk Band - Cathers Mitt - limited 7 inch, 2012 / Volcom Ent.
Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - first album, early 2013 / Paris DJs (coming soon)

Links :
Grant Phabao : official | bandcamp | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud | youtube

10. Super Hi-Fi - March of the Frogs (Myles Boisen Mix)

Brooklyn-based, two trombone-fueled afro-dub purveyors Super Hi Fi already released 2 astonishing singles on Electric Cowbell, check the ranting reviews on ParisDJs.com… Myles Boisen from Oakland's Guerrilla Hi-Fi gives the dub treatment to their "March of the Frogs" afro-prog-dub masterpiece. You're gonna be amazed.

Credits :
Composed by Ezra gale
Publishing : Ezra Gale/BMI

Recent releases :
Super Hi-Fi - Dub To The Bone - CD/LP/Digital, 2012 / Electric Cowbell (coming soon)
http://www.indiegogo.com/superhifi
Out Now :
Super Hi-Fi - Single Payer - 7 inch, 2012 / Electric Cowbell
Super Hi-Fi - We Will Begin Again - 7 inch, 2012 / Electric Cowbell

Links :
Super Hi-Fi : official | myspace | facebook | soundcloud | soundliberation

11. Pyramid Blue - African Jungle

In the beginning there was the Afro Soul Toasting All Star, a band created by Oscar Martos, launched at the same time the Soul Toasting recording studio, in Madrid (Spain). This band's main objective was to produce rhythms and grooves based on the diverse stylistic schools, like Africa, New Orleans, Philadelphia, or Kingston. We played their superb track Be A Looser in the mythical 21st Century Afro Extravaganza 4 hours/50 tracks mix. Oscar has since then started a new project, called Pyramid Blue, who's released their first 45 on Enlace Funk at the end of the summer 2011, African Jungle. Influenced by artists and bands like The Heliocentrics, The Budos Band and Mulatu Astatke, this 9-piece ensemble might just be the most important spanish Afrofunk band today. They blend Afrofunk with Ethio-Jazz (jazz from Ethiopia) and Afrobeat (afrofunk & soul from Nigeria)… and you can hear hints of Tango in there too! It's quite a very influenced and unique sound at the same time, and we're very glad to ba able to feature this track in our first compilation.

Credits :
Composed by Oscar Martos

Recent releases :
Pyramid Blue - African Jungle - 7 inch, 2011 / Enlace Funk

Coming Soon :
Pyramid Blue - Pyramid Blue - CD/LP/Digital, 2012 / Lovemonk (coming soon)

Links :
Pyramid Blue : facebook | kudos | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud

12. Kraked Unit feat. Joseph Cotton & Oghene Kologbo - Soul Shakedown Party

Guitar legend Oghene Kologbo began performing with the revolutionary Afrobeat master Fela Kuti at the end of the 60s, and went on to record more than 50 sides with Africa 70. He played the hypnotic tenor guitar lines, but often recorded bass and rhythm guitar too. In 2005, Kologbo began working with the Afrobeat Academy, Berlin’s heaviest afrobeat ensemble who are now playing and touring with Ebo Taylor. After their 2007 'Remember Fela Kuti' collaboration album, Kologbo started recording a new album in Paris with Loik Dury, former Radio Nova programmer in France and famous movie soundtrack producer. This Bob Marley cover, extracted from the sessions of this new album, features Jamaican deejay Joseph Cotton duetting with Kologbo shouts, and American soul/folk masters Robert 'Chicken' Burke and Nowell Askins (The Duke & The King).

Credits :
Written and composed by Bob Marley
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao

Recent releases :
Oghene Kologbo - Africa Is The Future - 2013 / Kraked (coming soon)

Links :
Kraked Unit : official | facebook | soundcloud | twitter | wikipedia | youtube
Joseph Cotton : discogs | facebook | myspace | wikipedia
Kologbo : discogs | facebook | myspace | parisdjs | twitter

13. Soul Sugar - Bon Esprit (Alternate Mix)

Soul Sugar is a soul-jazz combo reminding the best years of Blue Note Records (among others), led by keyboard maestro Guillaume Metenier, one of our really long-time collaborators who was in electronic dub duo Seven Dub when Grant Phabao was the sound engineer of the Pro-Zak Trax label way back in the 90s… They released a first album a few years ago on UK label Freestyle Records, and will be back late 2012 with the follow-up, a really classy affair from the first tracks we heard...

Credits :
Composed by Guillaume Metenier

Recent releases :
Soul Sugar - Hands On EP - Limited CD, 2012 / Soul Sugar

Links :
Soul Sugar : facebook | myspace | parisdjs | soundcloud | twitter | youtube

 

Author: Djouls

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One Day. One World. One Billion Stories

Telling the story of those who tell the story

 24 Hours In World Journalism 

 

6am 11 March - 6am 12 March, 2013 (GMT)

 $10,000 in Awards 

 

Dear Colleagues Worldwide

As one working journalist to another, I'd like to invite you to take part in a new project, 24 Hours In World Journalism. It's about telling the story of those who tell the story.

Please write a simple chronological snapshot of your day as it unfolds, giving a personal narrative and timetable. Enrich it with your ideas and reflections.

Help me – and other journalists around the globe – understand why your day is unique. What do your stories reveal, about you as well as those around you? Do you work for love or money? What do your family and friends think? Do you need to be bold or brave? Do you ever regret being a journalist? Is it the only job you've ever wanted? Why is it different, interesting, even addictive?

   Describe how you are tackling your stories – your interviews, thoughts, dilemmas, crises and successes – all the things which we as journalists go through in one 24-hour period? Enrich it with personal matters and reflections, your colleagues, home and social life.

I am sure you will approve of the project's aims – journalistic excellence, the promotion of freedom of expression and the recognition of journalistic courage and integrity. In pursuit of these ideals, $10,000 will be awarded to contributors, as detailed below*. 

It may also raise individual public profiles internationally.  

   Recently my book, 24 Hours In Journalism, became a finalist in the British Journalism Awards 2012 and was voted one of the 40 ‘best books about journalism’. I am now using the same format – tracking one 24-hour period – to portray our work on a larger, more global scale.

   I sincerely hope you will participate. 

   Last year – 2012 – was the deadliest on record for journalists, increasingly threatened by tyrants, religious fanatics, organised crime, militias, oligarchs, lawyers, politicians and many others who hate the truthful headline, broadcast and blog.    

   With your help, this project will show journalists reporting on Somali gunmen and Mexican drug smugglers, on African warlords and Chinese crime bosses. It will roam from Bollywood to Hollywood, from Teheran to Washington, from Rio to Beijing and everywhere in between. It will travel through the earth’s time zones to reveal how the media – newspapers and magazines, TV, radio and the internet – operate in this age of globalization. It will journey with war correspondents under fire. It will invade newsrooms. It will sit next to editors. It will explain why journalists succeed brilliantly and, occasionally, tragically.

   It will also deal with human interest, health and family, love and motherhood, showbiz and fashion, travel and shopping, politics, work and sport – all human life – and describe the power of the photograph and the video. 

   You may choose to write about the gentler, funny side of your working life. There are no restrictions.

   The date and time for this 24-hour project: 

   Start:   6:00 (6am) Monday, 11 March, 2013. 

   Finish: 6:00 (6am) Tuesday, 12 March, 2013. 

   These times are UK/Greenwich Meantime (GMT). It means the project begins in, for example, Los Angeles at 22:00 Sunday 10 March ... Mexico City at midnight ... New York at 1:00am Monday 11 March ... Rio 4:00 ... London 6:00 ... Kinshasha 7:00 ... Istanbul 8:00 ... Nairobi 9:00 ... Moscow 10:00 ... Kabul 10:30 ... Karachi 11:00 ... Delhi 11:30 ... Bangkok 13:00 ... Shanghai 14:00 ... Tokyo 15:00 ... Sydney 17:00 ... 

   Please synchronise according to your own time zone – http://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/#!cities=136.

   All I can say with confidence is that it will be the 82nd birthday of Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul. At the other end of the working spectrum, there are the foot soldiers – like the vast majority of us – who will be pursuing our regular or irregular reporting beats in London or Lagos, Mogadishu or Mexico City, Shanghai or Chicago, Mumbai or Moscow, Delhi or Damascus, Tripoli or Tokyo, Havana or Harare, Baghdad or Beijing ... and digging up stories, some to amuse and entertain, others to cause mischief, because that is what journalists do. 

  Write a snapshot of your day as it unfolds hour by hour. Write the document in the first person. Add colour and dialogue. Give your motivation, your hopes and fears. Reports from photographers and videographers – including paparazzi – are very welcome. 

   Length: 500–1000 words. But you decide. Make it longer if you wish.

   Write in your native language if you prefer.  Send it as a single document, after that period has ended.

   Please email to: 24hours2013@hotmail.co.uk

   Thank you in anticipation,

   John Dale 

  What top media commentator Prof. Roy Greenslade says in the Guardian, London: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/feb/15/newspapers-national-newspapers

 

 

 *$10,000  Awards

    John Dale Publishing Ltd (JDP Ltd) will award a total of $10,000 (ten thousand US dollars) to 7 individual contributors as follows: one award of $5,000; one of $2,500; and five of $500 each; plus a further 5  contributors will be sent a free copy of the book, 24 Hours in  World Journalism (working title), and a further 5 contributors will be sent a copy of the book, 24 Hours in Journalism (2012 edition). 

    In allocating these sums, account will be taken of each contributor's working conditions in terms of journalistic opportunity, freedom and personal risk; the awards are intended to encourage and empower good journalism, promote freedom of expression and to recognise journalistic courage, integrity and ideals, as well as increase public enlightenment.

     The awards will be announced within 28 days of the publication, electronically or in print, of the full, completed book, 24 Hours in World Journalism (working title). The judge's decision will be final. In the unlikely event of non-publication, the process will be declared null and void, no money or books will be awarded although some ex-gratia payments may still be made at JDP Ltd's discretion.

     All submissions grant JDP Ltd the right to publish them in edited form in the proposed book, electronically and in print, and in any extract and adaptation based upon this book, but otherwise copyright will remain with the originator. 

    Independent verification of these awards will be made by the law firm, Lloyd Brennand, of High Street, Brentford, Middlesex, United Kingdom TW8 8AH. 

    More details at http://www.24hoursinjournalism2013.com

 

    For guidance, you can read (free) how the previous book was edited by clicking here: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/24-Hours-in-Journalism-ebook/dp/B008L2V7PG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1357134140&sr=1-1 

    Please email 24hours2013@hotmail.co.uk.

 

    More details at http://www.24hoursinjournalism2013.com

Guardian (UK) article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/feb/15/newspapers-national-ne...

 

Call for Papers - The Congolese Diaspora in Belgium: Imaginaries and Postcolonial Relations in the Artistic Field

27Feb2013

Deadline: 25 March 2013

In 2010, Belgium (via its institutions, the media and civil society) celebrated the 50th anniversary of Congolese independence with a certain glorification of Belgo-Congolese relations. Yet, Belgium is far from having fully entered a postcolonial era of self-criticism. Despite the indisputable postcolonial historiographical renewal of the 1990s, the dominant ideology appears as permanently caught up in the paternalistic myth of a glorious and civilising colonial mission. The public apologies that followed the commissions of inquiry that brought to light the violence of the colonial power (e.g. Patrice Lumumba, genocide in Rwanda) did not put an end to the colonial disputes, as illustrated for instance by the controversies surrounding the inauguration of a street or a statue in Lumumba's memory.

Moreover, the colonial question does not simply boil down to territorial and temporal otherness since, as Congolese people living in Belgium constitute a minority group of migrants, one can only observe how they are considered as other and are subject to social and racial discrimination. The fact that Belgium is no longer Congolese migrants’ preferred destination (they now prefer places such as France, Africa, or Asia) is most relevant in this context. Recent demographical data report heavy unemployment in Belgium among this community despite its high level of education. If figures can partly explain the new geographical diasporas, they do not account for the social relations from which this postcolonial paradox emerges.

In view of the social, racial and territorial distancing practices against Congolese people, and the migratory policies which never took their arrival and settlement into account, one is tempted to assert that these discriminations are structural and consequently embedded in Belgian society as a whole. Although this hypothesis cannot not be confirmed because of a lack of empirical work in the field, we would like to submit it to the artistic field.

If in the literary context the Jean Muno prize awarded to Koli Jean Bofane for his novel Mathématiques congolaises (2008) marks the beginning of an acknowledgment of Congolese literary expression and memory, the hype around David Van Reybrouck’s Congo : une histoire (2010) and the debates it initiated nevertheless reiterate the persistence of Belgo-Congolese conflicts regarding the colonial and postcolonial history of the Congo. Beyond these two well-known, if differently established, figures, how are the literary field and the other artistic fields such as visual arts, cinema, painting, comics, and hip hop developing? In what ways have the post-colonial relations between the two countries fuelled modes of creation, promotion and visibility for these artists? How has this artistic field come into being and developed? To what extent and in what ways do these artistic expressions participate in a (de)construction of the national narrative ? Are these expressions to be considered within a continuum or are they breaking with the imaginaries and the representations of Belgium within the Congolese diaspora? Last but not least, how do the Belgo-Congolese relations emerge and materialize in the diasporic imagination? Those are the questions that will be discussed within the context of this conference that will gather researchers from various disciplines.

The questions and topics that could be addressed include, but are not limited to:

• The place of Belgium within the diasporic geography in religious, cultural (like Sape) or institutional settings (university, NGO, etc.)

• Representations of Belgium created during temporary migratory periods in Europe (holidays, professional stays, migrations, etc) or within a dynamics of return.

• Comparative perspectives on the Belgian (post)migratory situation within the Congolese diaspora.

• Colonisation and the Belgo-Congolese colonial dispute through a diasporic lens and in the Belgian and Belgo-Congolese artistic expressions.

• Identity questions in the literary texts written by Congolese diasporic artists in Belgium.

• Cultural memory of the Congolese diaspora: the Congo as a source of inspiration for Congolese people living in Belgium.

• Congolese diaspora and intermediality: comics, graphic and visual arts, music, museums. What messages for what audiences?

• Ghettoization and hybridity within the Congolese community of Belgium.

Abstracts of 250 words should be sent to congolesediasporaconference@gmail.com by March 25th 2013 with a bio-bibliography.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: congolesediasporaconference@gmail.com