Zena Edwards

 

For the Love of Music…

and Poetry

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Zena

If you don’t know, get to know – Jazz Verse Box. It’s the brain child of Jumoke Fashola and last month I was invited to be part of a Jazz Verse Box Event with a special twist of being part of the Brit Jazz Festival. I was billed long with Charlie Dark, Soweto Kinch, Sh’maya  and Hollie McNish but COLLABORATED with world class musicians – Simon Wallace on Piano, Winston Clifford on Drums and Davide Mantovani on Bass – who made my poems come aurally to life for me, in the moment,  in the true Spirit and Style of Conversation.

Loved it!

 

'Ghana's Bob Marley'

spreads message of

brotherhood

August 23, 2011 -- Updated 1241 GMT (2041 HKT)

'Ghana's Bob Marley'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Rocky Dawuni is a reggae musician and spokesman for social causes

• Dawuni is the creator of the annual Independence Splash festival in Ghana

• He works to raise awareness on issues like clean water, HIV/AIDS and education for girls

 

 

Every week CNN International's African Voices highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera.

 

(CNN) -- Dubbed "Ghana's Bob Marley," reggae sensation Rocky Dawuni is known not only for bringing his upbeat vibe to audiences across the world, but also for promoting social issues through his extensive humanitarian work.

The acclaimed singer-songwriter first fell in love with reggae at a young age when he heard a Ghanaian military band play a Bob Marley song.

He was instantly hooked. "I remember totally being drawn to the words and also the message and the intentions of the music," he told CNN's Isha Sesay.

Now based in Los Angeles, Dawuni has recorded five albums and performed alongside global stars such as Stevie Wonder on some of the world's biggest stages.

Crafting songs through education

But perhaps his most impressive feat so far has been the creation of the Independence Splash festival in Ghana, an annual event that attracts thousands of music lovers and also raises awareness for a series of social causes, including provision of clean water and education for girls.

An edited version of the interview follows.

CNN: Can you describe the first time you ever heard reggae and the feeling it created in you?

Rocky Dawuni: The first time I heard reggae music was (in) Michel Camp, which is a military barracks in Ghana where I was born.

There was a military band called Hot Barrels which used to ... do covers. I was interested in music, so every time I used to hang out at their rehearsal. And then one time, they started playing covers, Bob Marley, and I remember totally being drawn to the words and also the message and the intentions of the music.

It was really love at first sight. And since then I also realized that my calling too was in that direction, using music as that tool to articulate all that I see around me.

CNN: When did you first realize you could sing?

RD: Right from the onset, because our environment in Africa, everything is music. When a child is born, everybody's singing, when there's celebration, everybody's singing. So at that time, I just joined in everywhere and I realized that I could ... make up melodies, I was like, this could be an interesting path for me. Then I started growing in my confidence, I started researching about it and then it just took off from there.

CNN: You grew up being motivated by spreading a message -- how was that received as you were playing your first concerts?

RD: The thing that I believe about messages is that you have to understand that the message is always higher than the messenger. So you always have to put the message in such a way that you don't become preachy, because we're all on this journey together, everybody who's part of this human family.

Me having that platform doesn't mean that it makes me a person that can be able to point people in the right direction -- I just open options and I create the environment, and that environment creates dialogue. And it's just like, when we start talking amongst each other, we'll figure it out. So I believe in the subtlety of the message.

CNN: Which is more important to you, critical acclaim or commercial success?

RD: All of it has its place, but in the long run, my intention ... is that I want the music to be in the hands of everybody, so I don't look at it more as a commercial thing, I look at it in terms of the message and the communication.

I want everybody to experience what I have experienced, I want to communicate with everybody. I want everybody to feel and understand what message I'm trying to carry across.

I want everybody to be part of this new brotherhood of all of us. I call it the brotherhood of all of us because everybody is part of it. It doesn't matter what your background is, what's your religion, what's your cultural background, what's your gender. It doesn't matter. We are all together in this world. We are sharing the same space, we are breathing the same air.

Rocky Dawuni still grounded in Ghana

 

CNN: Every year you put on a concert called the Rocky Dawuni Independence Splash, talk to me about it.

RD: Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to be independent. So I realized that Ghana's independence day, its importance was not only a matter of celebrating the day, its importance was that this day could be a day we could use to reflect on where Africa is. And right now ... Ghana has really taken the leadership role when it comes to having democratic institutions, stability and even economically.

So Ghana has really been able to do all things that I feel ... we need to share with the rest of Africa as we were the first independent country. So I felt that the concert was a means to start this celebration whereby all Africa comes and in doing so, there's the music and there's also all the dimensions of us interacting with each other.

So every year, no matter where I am, I go back and then have this event and then also I started using it for social causes.

We've worked on everything from water issues to girl child education issues, to hand washing, sanitation issues, HIV/AIDS.

For me, I feel that my talent, whatever God has given me, my abilities that God has given me, is for me to utilize for that purpose.

Where Are All

The Good Single

Black Men

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<p> Via: Best Black Dating Sites

“Case Depart” French Star

Thomas Ngijol Says…

“African Americans Have

No Fight Anymore”

 

Via Shadow And Act

"When I see some black Americans I see the end of the world. Lil Wayne is a sign of the end of the world to me. Blacks here started as slaves, move to independence and success but now you’ve crossed the line. Obama killed rap. You don’t have a cause anymore. African Americans have no fight anymore. In the music videos, all you do is party. Everyone says they’re rich, in the club poppin’ bottles.”

That’s what writer and star Thomas Ngijol of the controversial French comedy Case Depart, a film we’ve covered extensively here on S&A, said to Chloe Hilliard for Loop21.com when asked what he thought of African Americans during an interview to promote the movie. The flick transports two modern day, half brothers back to the slave era. Fabrice Eboué , who co-stars as Ngijol’s brother, co-wrote the script as well.

Grossing more than $15 million already, it’s the number one comedy flick in France. Ngijol, who’s been a stand-up comedian and actor for the last ten years, makes it clear what the film is about saying it isn’t about slavery…”It’s about not very intelligent people with an identity problem. Black men who blame the system.”

Of course, it was only a matter of time that Ngijol made a request to clarify his above quote which I’m sure was due to all the backlash he received. He later stated…”First, I respect and love African-Americans. They inspire me in my work and I have nothing but love for people who fight for their rights.. I respect black culture but it’s just funny to see the evolution from slave to bling bling. Second, I love hip-hop and Lil Wayne but it’s just sad that the industry doesn’t have a lot of other alternatives in the spotlight. I came in peace so please spread that to your reader. Thanks.”

Read the full interview at loop21.com

I think Thomas Ngijol conclusions are right if he only consumes the daily images of African Americans you see on TV in Europe. On the TV, Black America is Hip Hop, basketball and crime mixed with urban culture. But as a Black man he knows that Black people are often misrepresented, so the only thing I can hold against him is that he should have been more reserved in his opinion.

See post on Afro-Europe: French comedy about slavery - “Case Départ” (“Where it begins”)

 

 

 

__________________________

'Case Départ' Star

Thomas Ngijol

talks race, culture and hip hop

BY CHLOÉ A. HILLIARD
10:16 AM Aug 25th, 2011

Citizenship Denied:

The Latest in the

Cherokee Freedmen Saga

By Brian Daffron September 8, 2011

AP / In late March, freedmen rallied supporters at the state capitol in Oklahoma City.

• 
  

The late Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller wrote in her autobiography the following words: “The truth is that the practice of slavery will forever cast a shadow on the great Cherokee Nation.”

The repercussions of slavery are still being felt within the Cherokee Nation, as a five-year legal battle between the Cherokee Nation and the descendants of freed Cherokee slaves ended on August 22, with the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruling against freedmen who had sought to have their status as citizens of the Cherokee Nation validated.

The ruling upheld a 2007 Cherokee Nation Constitutional amendment that requires the nation’s citizens to have at least one Indian ancestor on the Dawes Rolls, the primary document used to determine Cherokee Nation eligibility. That amendment was passed after the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that the freedmen could qualify for tribal citizenship.

This latest ruling immediately revoked the citizenship of approximately 2,800 non-Indians, whose enrollment had been reinstated by a Cherokee Nation District Court four years ago. This ends the membership of Cherokee Nation members who are descendants of freedmen or of intermarried whites who had been granted Cherokee Nation citizenship.

The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court’s vote was 4-1. In the majority decision written by Chief Justice Darrell Matlock, the court said it does not have authority over the will of the people.

Principal Chief Smith has alienated the freedmen.

 

One of the main legal arguments of the freedmen was based on a treaty between the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. government in 1866, after the end of the Civil War. Article 9 of that treaty states that the Cherokee Nation abolished slavery by 1863 and that “all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as all free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion, and are now residents therein, or who may return within six months, and their descendants, shall have all the rights of Native Cherokees.”

According to the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruling, “The Cherokee Freedmen were never afforded citizenship in the Cherokee Nation by the Treaty of 1866. A fair reading of the Treaty of 1866 indicates that it was an expression by the parties that the freedmen would be treated as equals to the citizens of the Cherokee…. The freedmen at that time gained citizenship status in the Cherokee Nation by the Cherokee people’s sovereign expression in the 1866 Constitutional Amendment to the 1839 Cherokee Nation Constitution.

“It stands to reason that if the Cherokee people had the right to define the Cherokee Nation citizenship in the above mentioned 1866 Constitutional Amendment they would have the sovereign right to change the definition of Cherokee Nation citizenship in their sovereign expression in the March 3, 2007 Constitutional Amendment.”

The Court’s ruling sparked outrage from some and brought relief for others. “I think it’s a huge injustice,” said Marilyn Vann, Cherokee Freedmen and president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes Association. “Number one, the freedmen people have citizenship based on the 1866 treaty. Our ancestors helped build up the tribe. [Citizenship] was something promised by the U.S. government and the tribal government, just as every nation that has enslaved or [colonized] people has brought those minorities into their society. Ancient Rome; the U.S. with the blacks in the Deep South; Romania, which enslaved Gypsies—they’ve all done it. That’s only the right and proper thing to do.”

Taylor Keen, who was a Cherokee Nation council member at the time of the 2007 vote, openly supported and still supports the efforts of the freedmen. In a 2007 interview with Indian Country Today, he talked about how his father, the late Ralph Keen—who was the first Chief Justice for the Cherokee Nation when its tribal government was reorganized under a new constitution in the 1970s—told him that it was paramount that the freedmen be a recognized part of the Cherokee Nation. Taylor Keen says he is now concerned that what he calls “a Jim Crow law” could jeopardize federal funding and recognition for the Cherokee Nation.

The Cherokee Nation argues that it is one of the most diverse tribes in the nation because of the Dawes Roll Indian ancestor requirement. Diane Hammons, the Cherokee Nation Attorney General, points out that there are multiple racial groups who now have Cherokee ancestry. “The Cherokee Nation is among the most diverse of Indian tribes with thousands of citizens who share African, Latino, Asian, Caucasian and other ancestry,” says Hammons. “African Americans with an Indian ancestor on the Dawes Rolls have been, and will continue to be, citizens of the Cherokee Nation.” At the same time, she cited the importance of the tribe to determine who exactly can be members. “There is nothing more integral to a tribe’s right of self-governance than its ability to define its own membership.

“Now the nation will be going about the business of implementing the court ruling,” Hammons says. “It may take a little while to figure out how to properly, and fairly, implement the ruling. In the next few days we’ll know more and will notify the people affected.”

The removal of the freedmen could have an impact on the election on September 24 for principal chief; the race is between three-term incumbent Chad “Corntassel” Smith and Bill John Baker, who has served on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council for 12 years.

The two have run against each other several times, and each election was decided by a razor-thin margin, so taking the freedmen out of the voting pool has the potential to cause a major shift in the September 24 election. About 44 percent of the 2,800 freedmen are registered to vote and, according to Vann, support for Smith is a long shot. “I will say this: Mr. Smith has certainly not done anything to endear himself to the freedmen people,” she said. “I don’t see anything where the Chief of the Cherokee Nation has done anything—I mean Mr. Smith—has done anything except exploit the freedmen issue for his own purposes.”

Smith wrote and spoke publicly in support of the 2007 constitutional amendment to remove freedmen from Cherokee Nation citizenship rolls if they had no documentable Indian blood. “Cherokees are Indians,” he wrote in a March 9, 2007 Indian Country Today editorial. “They are the indigenous and aboriginal people of this land and there is a commonality of history, language, heritage and culture. It finally came to a point that non-Indians were claiming to be Cherokee when, in fact, they are not. So the vote was an affirmation of identity as Indian for those voting.”

Smith provided written answers to questions from Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN) about whether or not this latest decision by the Supreme Court would impact this election. “The process has worked its way through the courts and we have to respect what our Supreme Court has decided,” he wrote. “The citizenship issue is important to our people, but I don’t think the decision will have an impact on the upcoming elections.” The rest of the response from Smith focused on his accomplishments in office.

Baker also declined to be interviewed for this story; instead, he sent a statement that was similar to Smith’s in regard to the ruling, adding that he would abide by any future Supreme Court decisions. “I have said from the beginning that this is in the hands of the court,” Baker’s statement said, “and I will abide by that through this ruling and the others that are bound to follow.”

Which leaves the freedmen out in the cold. Taylor Keen’s brother, Ralph Keen II, was the attorney for the freedmen in this case. In a statement to ICTMN he said that he was “disappointed and saddened” by the Supreme Court’s ruling. “Now, because the Cherokee Nation justice system has failed them, Cherokee Freedmen will have no option but to resort to the federal courts or the halls of Congress for the vindication of their rights.”

“It’s a blemish on Cherokee history,” Taylor Keen says about the Nation’s treatment of the freedmen, “and it’s going to be a tough one to unwind.”

To read about HUD denying Cherokee Nation funding in the latest Freedmen issue, see ICTMN’s story here.

__________________________

Cherokee Nation

Expels Slave Descendants,

U.S. Government Threatens

to Revoke Funding

Hugh Masekela

Music Break / Hugh Masekela

September 15, 2011

by Sean Jacobs

I’m going old skool today. In 1984 Hugh Masekela’s single “Don’t Go Lose It Baby” (off the album “Techno Bush”) reached number two for two weeks on the dance charts. I don’t think it has anything to do with his football skills (from the 1:36 mark in the music video for the song that looks like it was shot in Botswana).

H/T: Antoinette Engel

__________________________

Miriam Makeba with Hugh Masekela

- Soweto Blues 

Watch - A Day In The Life

Of Misty Copeland

(Doc Short)

Nice short (22-minute) profiling Misty Copeland - one of 3 African American female soloists for the American Ballet Theatre in 2 decades; As of 2008, she’s been the only African American woman in the dance company for her entire American Ballet Theatre career; there hasn’t been a male African American in the company since 2005. I figure it’s only a matter of time before she’s in the movies… maybe Black Swan 2. She’s black after all :) (thanks Emmett):

tambay posted

Fall 2011 Story Contest

 

Our fall contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We’re looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.

 

Prior winners and finalists in Narrative contests have gone on to win other contests and to be published in prize collections, including the Pushcart Prize, Best New Stories from the South, the Atlantic prize, and others. View some recent awards won by our writers.

 

As always, we are looking for works with a strong narrative drive, with characters we can respond to as human beings, and with effects of language, situation, and insight that are intense and total. We look for works that have the ambition of enlarging our view of ourselves and the world.

 

We welcome and look forward to reading your pages.

Click here to submit your work.

 

 

Awards: First Prize is $3,250, Second Prize is $1,500, Third Prize is $750, and ten finalists will receive $100 each. All entries will be considered for publication.

 

 

Submission Fee: There is a $20 fee for each entry. And with your entry, you’ll receive three months of complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.

 

All contest entries are eligible for the $5,000 Narrative Prize for 2012 and for acceptance as a Story of the Week.

 

Timing:  The contest deadline is November 30, 2011, at midnight, Pacific standard time.

 

Judging:  The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine. Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by December 31, 2011. All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions. The judges reserve the option to declare a tie in the selection of winners and to award only as many winners and finalists as are appropriate to the quality of work represented in the magazine.

 

Submission Guidelines:  Please read our Submission Guidelines for manuscript formatting and other information.

 

Other Submission Categories: In addition to our contest, please review our other Submission Categories for areas that may interest you.

Click here to submit your work.

 

 

Colonnade Writing Contest     Our contest is simple but competitive, and takes place quarterly. Winners and runners-up will be published once a year in our literary anthology, Colonnade. Here's the deal: This year, 2011, the Colonnade Writing Contest invites fiction authors from any genre to submit their best previously unpublished work to compete for a place in our yearly anthology, Colonnade. Any genre of fiction is acceptable, so long as it's fiction. The result is an internationally distributed collection of the best stories of the year by authors who have the ability to stand out from amongst a diverse pack. The deadlines for each quarter are March 31st, June 30th, September 30th, and December 31st. Each quarter's submissions will be judged as an independent group. The one winner and two runners-up from each of the four quarterly groups will be announced on these dates: April 15th, July 15th, October 15th, and January 15th. Quarterly first place winners will receive a $100 cash prize. The runners-up and the winners will each be eligible for publication in that year's issue of Colonnade, our yearly anthology. Out of these twelve best stories of the year one story will be chosen as the Colonnade Story of the Year and will be awarded $500 in cash and two complimentary copies of Colonnade. Keep reading for submission instructions...       8   Contest Winners & Other Announcements Congratulations to Mark Wagsaff of London and his short story titled The Inhuman Fashion, this quarter's $100 prize winner. So many great stories made it very difficult to pick favorites. I suppose that means we enjoy doing things the hard way.   The results for the Second Quarter of the 2011 Colonnade Writing Contest are as follows:   1st Place: The Inhuman Fashion by Mark Wagstaff   1st Runner-up: The Kambala Buffaloes by Leo Madigan   2nd Runner-up: Pushcarts & Highballs by Benjamin R. Hostetter   3rd Runner-up: One of a Million Things by Micheal Gunter   The winner and runners-up have been notified and are eligible for inclusion in our yearly anthology, due for publication in January 2012.   If you missed this quarter's deadline don't panic. Simply send us your piece by September 30th for another chance to win. Submission guidelines below.

The submission guidelines: Entry fee: $12 per entry (make checks and money orders payable to CJM Books, or use the PayPal button below for all major plastic cards) Each story must be: Fiction Typed on 8.5" x 11" paper (hard or electronic) using Microsoft Word (or compatible), with 1.25" margins, double-spaced, 12 point font size, and Times New Roman font No more than 10,000 words, and previously unpublished. (Authors keep all rights to their work, and are offered one-time, non-exclusive publication in Colonnade.) At the end of each quarter we'll pick a winner and two runners-up for publication and yearly reward eligibility. So if you miss a deadline, take your time and send us your best the following quarter! Each story will be judged objectively in each of the following categories: Character development Story structure and plot Grammar, punctuation, and spelling Style, voice, and form Reader impact (the only subjective category, to offset cross-genre nature of competition) You may submit more than one story, however each author is only allowed one story as a winner per year. So go ahead and submit a bunch of stories, but once one of them wins the others become ineligible. (Hard copies will not be returned unless a SASE is included with submission.) Contestants must be 18 years or older and stories must be written primarily in English. Employees of CJM Books, editors of Colonnade, contest judges, and their immediate family members are not eligible for contest entry. On a separate cover page, to prevent bias during judging, please include the following information: Name Mailing address Phone number Email address Brief 1-3 sentence author bio Word count Title Genre Brief 1-3 sentence overview of story Once we receive your submission you will be notified via email (or by phone if necessary). Quarterly winners and runners-up will be announced on this page, via email, or by phone (if necessary), 14 days after the quarter's deadline. The year's Best Story will be announced via email or phone upon the release of that year's Colonnade. Please follow these submission guidelines carefully. Failure to do so may risk disqualification. Entering the contest does not ensure publication in our anthology Colonnade, but by winning one quarter, or by placing second or third runner-up you will become eligible for publication. You may decline publication at any time during the contest, even after your story has won. We will not ask you to give up more than one-time non-exclusive anthology rights to your work, unless agreed upon under different terms than those listed in these contest guidelines and rules. Mail your submission and entry fee to: CJM Books PO Box 565 East Rochester, NY 14445 Attn: Writing Contest For electronic submissions please click the PayPal button below to begin the process. Have your file(s) ready to go! (Note: From PayPal, you will be directed back to CJMBooks.com to complete the contest entry. If you experience problems during any of this please email us.) Printable Colonnade Writing Contest Submission Guidelines I know at least one more person who writes stories! For all inquires and queries, call or write: Phone:  585-201-8666 Email:  contact@cjmbooks.com

The Society of Southwestern Authors

2011 Writing Contest
 

DEADLINE: October 31, 2011

 

Categories: Short Story - 2,500 words max Personal Essay/Memoir - 2,500 words max Poetry - 40 lines max

 

 

Mail entry form + 4 copies of each entry to: SSA 2011 Writing Contest, P.O. Box 30355, Tucson, AZ 85751 Late entries will be returned unopened. Be sure your entry is post marked no later than October 31, 2011. For confirmation of receipt of entry, make sure we can read your e-mail address. You need not attend the Awards Luncheon to receive your award. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS/CONTEST RULES PLEASE READ CAREFULLY TO AVOID DISQUALIFICATION

 

Prizes Awarded In Each Category:

 

1st: $250
2nd: $125
3rd: $75
Honorable mentions: $25

1st place through Honorable 
Mention winning stories 
printed in The Story Teller

Commendation - non-monetary
only author's name and submission
title will be printed in The Story Teller

 

EVERYONE WILL GET JUDGES COMMENTS!

 

 

 

1. "Entry" means one individual piece of work. Send four (4) copies of each entry.

2. Multiple entries are accepted. Each entry must be accompanied by an official entry forms (copies are okay) and $15. You may send one check or money order to cover all entries.

    

3. Entries must be double-spaced on one side of white, 8 1/2" x 11" (or A4 or similar) typing or copy paper, with one-inch margins, using 12-point Times New Roman or Courier font, in black ink only. Poetry stanzas may be single-spaced. This contest does NOT accept e-mail submissions.

4. The title of the submission must be in the upper left-hand corner of every page.

5. Consecutive page numbers must be in the upper right-hand corner of every page.

6. The total word count (strictly observed) of each entry must be in the upper right-hand corner of page 1 only.

7. DO NOT put your name on any part of the manuscript. DO NOT include a cover sheet.

8. DO NOT include artwork of any kind.

9. Staple the pages of each copy of each entry. DO NOT use paper clips.

10. Entries must be postmarked on or before October 31, 2011. Entries post marked later than October 31, 2011 will be disqualified and returned to sender unopened.

11. Use regular mail. Certified or Special Delivery mail will be returned to the sender unopened.

12. All entries must be your original work and previously unpublished. NO simultaneous submissions.

13. Entries will not be returned. For confirmation of your entry, enclose a stamped, self-addressed post card.

     

 

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE December 18, 2011 AWARDS FORUM.

Winners will be notified by December 1, 2011. If you have not been notified that you are a winner, you may market your entry elsewhere. All winning entries will be published in the 2011 edition of SSA's The Story Teller. After December 18, 2011, the names of all winners and the titles of their entries will be posted on the SSA Website.

 

For more information, please email info@ssa-az.org

Entry forms can be printed from the link below.
Additional forms are also available by sending a stamped,
self-addressed envelope to SSA Writing Contest Entry Forms,
PO Box 30355, Tucson, AZ 85751.

 

PDF entry form   |   Credit Card Payment/PayPal

Free PDF Reader Download   |   previous winners