South Africa/ Mali: Theorizing Hip Hop

April 30, 2010, Harvard University -- Dr. Ingrid Monson, professor of African Music Harvard University, talks about hip hop--rap music that is--in Mali and the way it interacts with all the other musical cultures around it. She makes the point that artists in Bamako view hip hop as the diasporic child of the Malian griot tradition - she argues that the same messages you might hear in the other Malian musical traditions is also articulated, just over a different musical language, in Malian hip hop, even to the point of paying some kind of genuflection before you speak critically.

Mandela Mellon Fellow at Harvard U/University of Cape Town's Adam Haupt talks about Youth, Media and Social Change in South Africa. He points out that the introduction of hip hop to Cape Town, for instance, coincides with a kind of social activism--something we've also wondered about here--and with left leaning youth creating an alternate education system for themselves outside the formal system, and  how, like in America, that space has morphed into a non-corporate space populated by like minded hip hop group-NGO hybrids. He does not include the likes of Ben Sharpa and Terror MC in that grouping though. Thought they rep'd Cape Town?

joshonthestreet1 — May 20, 2010 — Unless you've been living under a rock (or have been consumed by American Idol), you know about the controversy surrounding the recent Arizona immigration law. I like playing the game of "flip the script," and wondering "what if" things were to play out differently? I think we turn out as better people, and our country is strengthened, when we stop to exam an issue from many perspectives. Enjoy.

Angelique Kidjo - I Got Dreams

Angélique Kidjo asks: 'Who are they to tell me what's African?'

No one – not school bullies, a repressive government, and least of all white music journalists – will tell Angélique Kidjo what to do. Will Hodgkinson meets the Beninese singer

• 
• • Will Hodgkinson
  • guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 April 2010 23.15 BST
  • Article history

Out of Africa, and Paris ... Angélique Kido. Photograph: Nabil Elderkin

Angélique Kidjo is railing against the European critics that have accused her of making "inauthentic" African music. "Who are they to tell me what is African and what isn't?" says Kidjo, her voice rising in indignation as she thumps the meeting room table of her record company's office, in a way that suggests it might well be a substitute for a music critic's head. "Did they grow up in Benin and hear the music I heard? No? Then shut up!"

While I quickly scratch out my next question about whether her music is truly African or not, Kidjo holds forth on slavery, women's rights in Benin, China's exploitation of African resources and pretty much every other socio-political issue affecting the continent today. But she never sounds more irate than when talking about critics of what has come to be known as world music. Having survived everything from abuse to political exile to racism, it seems that a bunch of white music journalists are small game for this tiny, 49-year-old woman, who is fast taking the place of the late Miriam Makeba as the great diva of African music.

We are in Paris, the city Kidjo fled to in 1983 after Benin's then-communist government made her recording career all but impossible, and she has been responding to ongoing criticism that her combination of traditional African songs and American soul dilutes an already threatened musical form.

The idea behind her latest album, Õÿö, was to represent the music she grew up with, which means covers of Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up and James Brown's Cold Sweat alongside the Togo singer Bella Bellow's signature song Zelie and the Benin lullaby Atcha Houn. Intended as a homage to her parents, Õÿö is a celebratory, joyous record. But it certainly doesn't fit in to the average westerner's idea of what constitutes African music.

"Since leaving Benin I've realised that my father was way ahead of his time," says Kidjo, as she reflects on the reality of her musical upbringing. "I took it for granted, thinking every kid in Africa grew up listening to James Brown and Otis Redding. Actually, we heard them because my father was open-minded. For example, he always said: 'You're going to school whatever happens, because otherwise you'll just be an assisted person.' This was so unusual – to want girls to have an education – that people used to call him a white man."

Kidjo's father, who worked for the post office, shared child-rearing duties with her mother, who ran a theatre troupe. "So-called friends would come over and say to him: 'How can you let your wife do this? Who wears the pants in your house?' And my dad's answer was always the same: 'Love cannot be a jail. I must give my wife freedom.' He was a very special man."

The influence of her father's attitude goes deep. Kidjo today runs the Batonga Foundation, a charity set up to give girls across Africa a secondary and higher education. And she claims that the western musicians she works with – Alicia Keys, John Legend and the inevitable Peter Gabriel are among the roll-call of past collaborators – are still frequently surprised when faced with an educated, forthright African woman. In an argument that initially sounds paranoid but gets increasingly convincing, Kidjo states that this is related to a worldwide denial of the legacy of slavery.

"I sang on a hip-hop track in Germany recently with an African-American rapper," says Kidjo, who has a tendency to combine personal recollection with political reflection. "We were doing these TV shows, and he said to me: 'How come you speak English so well?' He thought I was going to have a bone through my nose. He believed all Africans still lived in mud huts. That is the image of us they teach in American schools."

I suggest this can hardly be the case in a country with an African-American president. "Even today African-American schoolchildren will be told: 'Your people sold you. We just bought you to save your ass'," she continues, eyes flashing. "Slavery, a crime against humanity, is being denied and that is why people remain so ignorant of Africa. The Jews have rightly ensured that nobody will ever forget the Holocaust. But there has been a concerted effort to remove slavery from the minds of the people."

Kidjo's fighting spirit might well have come from her decision to be a singer in a country where that profession is ranked alongside prostitution. "When I was a little kid, everyone thought my singing was cute. Then I became a teenager and it was hell on earth," she says, looking as if she's about to burst into tears, albeit in a rather theatrical way. "One day after school I heard someone shout 'Prostitute!' A boy threw a stone at me and suddenly everyone was rubbing sand in my hair, spitting at me. I came home, shaking from head to toe. My grandmother sat me down and cleaned and braided my hair, and I told her I didn't want to sing any more. She said: 'Are you going to let stupid people tell you what to do with your life? Do what you have to do.' To this day that advice is what has kept me going, and what has guided me."

Kidjo is now a huge star in Benin. But she claims that the country's perception of musicians as layabouts and ne'er-do-wells is still there. "The problem we have in Africa is that unless you are a traditional musician telling the stories of your people through songs, you have no respect in society," she claims. "Being in a band is not considered a job. As soon as you hit the stage, if you're a boy, you're a junkie and if you're a girl, you're a prostitute. And it's worse now that everyone has access to television and the internet. How do you convince a mother to let her girl sing when she sees videos of pop stars almost naked, mimicking the sexual act?"

At Kidjo's first major concert, staged in Togo and funded in part by her father's retirement pay, she got into trouble for refusing to sing songs praising Benin's communist party. She continued to refuse to toe the line, and her decision to leave Africa came after appearing at a concert staged for government officials. "It was so bad," she says, holding her head in her hands. "These men, the age of my father, were looking at me like I was a piece of meat. After that I decided that I would either get out of the country or commit suicide." Banned from touring, she fled to Paris under the pretence of attending a cousin's wedding. "I was only allowed to leave because the customs officer at the airport was a fan of my music," she remembers. "For the next six years I couldn't speak to my parents because their phone was tapped. It was hell."

She survived by cleaning, babysitting, and working in a hair salon. "I did every job under the sun apart from selling drugs and being a prostitute," she says. "I worked as a backing singer and used the money to pay for music lessons at a jazz school. On the first day, two white girls said to me: 'You're African, right? Jazz is not for African people.' But that's where I met my husband, and that's where my career really started."

As the interview winds to a close, I suggest that, given everything she has been through, Kidjo has got to a point in her career where she can dictate the terms by which she does things. She disagrees. "My whole career has been dictated by the songs I love," she says, concluding the subject of conversation by folding her arms. "Will I collaborate with someone famous if it means doing a song I don't like? Hell, no! That has not made my life easy. But that's the way it is, and that is the way I am."

>via: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/29/angelique-kidjo-oyo

“The Last 72″ Writing Contest

What would you do if you were told you had only 72 hours to live?

Share your real stories and be a part of a life-changing social experiment!

Everest Productions together with The Fountain: Magazine of Scientific and Spiritual Thought, are searching for 13 winners who will get to appear in a brand-new TV series, receive up to $5,000 in cash prizes and more.

Live life like it really matters. Send your 1,000-1,500 words entries to contest@last72.com

“SHARE YOUR STORY NOW!” DEADLINE: JULY 30, 2010.

VISIT THE “GUIDELINES” PAGE FOR DETAILS

Contests

New for 2010: Bananagrams® Writing Contest - $500 in Prizes for Poetry and Prose
Open from May 1-September 1, 2010

  Complete Contest Guidelines:

Format: Writers must use all seven words from the 21-letter Bananagrams® grid displayed on this site, below. Writers may use words more than once. Words can be changed from singular to plural when necessary, but writers may not change words to a different tense or form (for example, "book" could be changed to "books," but not to "booking" or "bookie.") Prefixes are allowed (for example, "re-book.")

Deadline: Opens May 1, 2010, at midnight; Closes September 1, 2010, at 11:59 p.m.

Word Count: Stories up to 1,400 words; poems up to 21 lines

Entry fee: $7 per story, 3 for $20

Entries will be accepted by email only; payment by PayPal. Writers are asked to pay with PayPal first, then submit their work online.

Send all contest entries to newportreviewcontest@gmail.com. Manuscripts should be sent in Word or Rich Text Format.

• Please underline or bold-face the contest words in your manuscript.
• Please format manuscripts so that the first page is a cover sheet with the writer's name and complete contact information, including email and phone, but do not include the writer's name on the text itself.
• Writers may submit a total of six entries.
• The contest is open to all writers ages 13 and above, except writers who have close personal affiliations with Newport Review, its editorial staff, contest judges or advisory board. Past contest winners and those who have been published in past issues of Newport Review are eligible to enter.
• Winners will be notified and posted on our blog and web site.
• Questions about contest rules (NOT entries) may be addressed to edit (at) newportreview.org.

Guest judges are poet John Landry and fiction writer Jincy Willett.

$500 in prizes, along with publication and Bananagrams® game sets, will be awarded.

Two First Prizes (Story and Poem): $200, Bananagrams®, and publication in Newport Review

Two Second Prizes (Story and Poem): $50, Bananagrams®, and publication in Newport Review

Honorable Mention (Stories and Poems): Bananagrams® and publication in Newport Review

Prize-winning poems and stories will be published in Newport Review. Other poems and stories may also be considered for publication. All entries may be used by Bananagrams® for promotional purposes.

Contest winners will be announced in November, 2010, on this site.

Your words are below. As we say in Bananagrams-land: SPLIT!

BANANAGRAMS CONTEST WORDS

 

Spire Contests

Spire Annual Spring Chapbook Contest - Now Open

$500 + 20 copies and publishing contract.

Blind-judging. 21-30 pages, one poem per page. Name on cover page only with address & title. Manuscripts with a unifying theme preferred. (see general contest information on the bottom of this page)

Send w/SASE and $20 fee to:

Spire Press, 217 Thompson St., Ste 298, NY, NY 10012

Deadline Extended to June 30.

 

 

Sign-up for our mailing list to receive the winner annoucement via email:

Register for Spire Press email updates  

 

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Spire Press Annual Full-length Poetry Contest.

This contest was cancelled for 2009.

Congratulations to the winner of the 2007 Full-length Poetry Award:

Christina Olson, Before I Came Home Naked

 

General Contest Information

The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) community of independent literary publishers believe that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. Intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree (1) to conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; (2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and (3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.

All Spire contests are judged anonymously. white student readers are sometimes employed, at least one permanent editor reads through all manuscripts. If a guest judge is not announced, the final decision will be determined by the publisher. In the event that the guest judge or publisher has a conflict of interest stemming from the recognition of a finalist’s manuscript as the product of a student, friend, or financial contributor (in excess of $50), a neutral party will be contracted as a new judge and announced with the winner. Recognition of previously published authors is not considered a conflict of interest in absence of a personal relationship. Previous publication will not be considered in judging, but may be considered in later publication decisions.

It is necessary to charge a fee for contest entries due to the difficult funding and sales environment faced by poetry publishers. Contest fees rarely cover the costs of publication and all of our staff is composed of unpaid volunteers. That said, if you are a low-income writer, defined by the eligibility guidelines of the Federal Food Stamp Program or other significant hardship, contest entry fees may be waved with permission by emailing editor@spirepress.org or contacting the editor by mail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: The Poetry of Rita Dove

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First Aired: 4/16/2007
28 minutes

Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the U.S. and recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, is one of the most honored figures in modern American literature. Among Dove's many honors is the 1993 NAACP Great American Artist Award. (#4149)

<p>BOUNCING CATS film trailer from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.</p>

FILM SYNOPSIS

Uganda has been called one of the worst places on earth to be a child. In the South, children face the threat of poverty and disease. In the North, these threats are enflamed by a brutal, mindless war inflicted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.) that has divided families, displaced millions, and led to the abduction and mutilation of tens of thousands of children resulting in the deterioration of identity and culture.

Bouncing Cats is the inspiring story of one man’s attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda using the unlikely tool of hip-hop with a focus on b-boy culture and breakdance. In 2006, Abraham “Abramz” Tekya, a Ugandan b-boy and A.I.D.S. orphan created Breakdance Project Uganda (B.P.U.). The dream was to establish a free workshop that would empower, rehabilitate and heal the community by teaching youth about b-boy culture. Based in Kampala, Uganda, B.P.U. has recently expanded to include permanent classes in Gulu, Northern Uganda. Abramz teaches classes three times a week to more than 300 kids from all parts of the country. Many of the children are homeless, victims of war and poverty, and few can afford proper schooling yet they walk from miles away to attend the B.P.U. classes. As Abramz says, “This is where many people’s pride is. It’s a skill that no one can take away from us.”

Crazy Legs, one of the founding members of the seminal Rock Steady Crew visited Uganda after receiving an invitation from Abramz to teach b-boy classes. What he discovered upon his arrival was both heartbreaking and inspiring. Traveling throughout Uganda, from the southern slums to the war-torn North, Crazy Legs encountered a passion for hip-hop and desire to learn amongst the most squalid conditions.

Bouncing Cats follows Abramz, Crazy Legs, and Breakdance Project Uganda on a journey to use hip-hop culture for positive social change. The film features narration by Common and interviews with Mos Def, Will-I-Am, and K’Naan.

The Film

GO HERE TO VIEW VIDEO

More than three decades ago, Vietnamese refugees began to settle in Versailles, a then-isolated community in eastern New Orleans. By the early 2000s, this working-class enclave was home to 8,000 residents. But although the community had accomplished material successes, it remained divided between older immigrants and American-born youth. Many Versailles residents felt like perpetual outsiders in greater New Orleans, ignored by the local government.

A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES is the incredible story of this little-known, tight-knit community in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When the storm devastated New Orleans in August 2005, Versailles residents rebuilt their neighborhood faster than most other damaged neighborhoods in the city, only to find themselves threatened by a new toxic landfill slated to open just two miles away. Forced out of Vietnam by the war 30 years ago, many residents felt their homes were being taken away from them once again.

By January 2006, more than half of the neighborhood has been rebuilt, financed by friends and family, with little help from the government. Community leaders put together an ambitious redevelopment plan for Versailles, including its own senior housing, a cultural center, and a community farm and market. But New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin exercised his emergency power to open the Chef Menteur landfill — mere miles from Versailles — to dump toxic debris disposal from Katrina without an environmental impact study.

Outraged, Versailles fought back. Residents protested at City Hall and crowded public hearings by the hundreds, making the Vietnamese community’s presence felt in New Orleans for the first time. Legal battles are waged at the state and federal level. Tired of being passed around, the community decided to go for broke, staging a protest at the landfill to shut it down. As elders and youth fought side by side — chanting in English and Vietnamese — Versailles finally found a political voice that could no longer be ignored. As neighborhood priest Father Vien Nguyen says in the film, “Now, no one would dare speak about rebuilding New Orleans without mentioning our community, because they know we are back. They know we are here.”

Update

Filmmaker S. Leo Chiang provided an update in April 2010 on what some of the people featured in A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES have been doing since filming ended:

Father Vien Nguyen remains the pastor for Mary Queen of Vietnam Church. The church now offers English and Spanish masses for the non-Vietnamese residents in New Orleans East.

Mimi Nguyen left New Orleans after nearly three years as a legislative aide for New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard Lewis. She now lives in Houston.

	Related Links and Resources A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES: The Movie Website Meet the people featured in the film and learn more about their neighborhood. A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES Facebook Page Get the latest film news and info on screenings. Mary Queen of Viet Nam Community Development Corporation This community organization promotes diversity and improves the quality of life in New Orleans East. Its work encompasses health care, environmental and agricultural concerns, education, housing, social services, economic development, and culture and the arts. Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans This youth-led community-based organization in New Orleans supports Vietnamese American and underrepresented youth through services, cultural enrichment, and positive social change. The New York Times: A New Landfill in New Orleans Sets Off a Battle Read a May 2006 article about the neighborhood’s fight against the Chef Menteur landfill.

Read about the making of A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES >>

Get the DVD >>