CULTURE & SOCIETY

InterKontinental Verlag has been honoured with the 2023 Berlin Publishing Award (Berliner Verlagspreis). The publishing company is a subsidiary of InterKontinental, the Berlin-based literary agency and association for the promotion of African and Afro-diasporic literature. The Berlin Publishing Prize 2023 was presented to InterKontinental Verlag as well as two others, Edition Tiamat and Lukas Verlag, on 5 November during a …

Adire Carnival, the Nigerian Cultural Festival that holds annually in the Austrian capital city of Vienna, has received an important endorsement from one of the most influential traditonal leaders in Africa. Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ọjájá II), the Ooni of Ife, has expressed his support for the Carnival, organised by the Egbe Omo Oduduwa Austria. He was speaking in his …

Our Editor-in-Chief, Femi Awoniyi, was at the live concert of the Afro-Brazilian legend Mateus Aleluia last week and he narrates what he describes as an unforgettable experience Mateus Aleluia gave a live concert during the week in Berlin. Accompanied by a percussionist, the Afro-Brazilian musician appeared with his daughter Fabiana on piano. It was such a lean lineup, but the …

Once again, a selection of current feature, documentary and short films by African filmmakers will be screened in the German capital city. The occasion is the annual festival ‘Afrikamera – Latest Cinema from Africa’, holding from 14–19 November with the theme Urban Africa – Urban Movies: Future & Utopias. True to its theme, Afrikamera 2023 presents a selection of futuristic …

Africa’s most populous nation will display its diverse cultures in Frankfurt on 5 August in the German city of Frankfurt am Main. The 2nd Nigerian-German Cultural Carnival Frankfurt (NGCCF), according to a spokesman of the organisers, promises to be a major event in the financial city. “This year’s will be bigger, merrier as last year’s, with many activities taking place,” …

The 23rd edition of the African Music Festival takes place from 4 – 6 August 2023 at the Schlossplatz in the south-western German town of Emmendingen. Under the motto “Tribute to Mama Africa”, Afrikaba Kulturkreis e.V. has once again put together an exciting festival programme. The various African-origin musical styles and cultures, including salsa, reggae and Afro world, will be …

From 14 to 24 September 2023, the Afrika Film Festival Köln (AFFK) will celebrate its 20th edition with about 85 historical and contemporary films from 20 African countries and the worldwide diaspora. The patron of this year’s festival is the Senegalese director Dyana Gaye, who will give an insight into the TIGRITUDES programme, a film series exploring the challenges and …

Austrian-Nigerian singer, songwriter, and recording artist Rose May Alaba has expressed her interest to collaborate with the Ghanaian recording artist King Promise. During an interview with Hitz 103.9 FM in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday she said: “I love King Promise. He has a very sweet voice. I love his voice. I am looking forward to that. I am still looking …

School teacher Christine List writes on her experience taking her pupils to the African past in a literature class. The high school students read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart for the project. List narrates her pupils’ mixed impressions of the literary voyage It had been four weeks since the students have been studying Africa in their geography project. During the …

Kenako Afrika-Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. And it’s doing it in a big style! In addition to its activities on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, its traditional venue, from 20 to 30 July, there will also be a Kenako Kids Festival, organised in cooperation with FEZ Berlin, the largest non-profit child, youth and family centre in Europe. Kenako Kids at FEZ-Berlin, …

Five years after the release of ‘Luyando’, Zimbabwe’s most celebrated musical export have returned with their long-awaited follow-up album ‘Tusona: Tracings in the Sand’, released on 7 July by Munich-based Outhere records. Like anywhere in the world Africa’s musical output has become more and more producer based. Mokoomba, however, are the living proof that Africa’s great guitar band heritage is …

The Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN) will launch its German branch on 26-27 May in the city of Kassel. Among others, the Executive Council of the group will be unveiled and its programme of activities in Germany will be presented during the 2-day event, which will also feature a networking session and discussions on business …

The biggest African festival in Germany’s federal capital is 10 years old this year and its organisers have rolled out a programme to celebrate the anniversary in a big way. In addition to the Kenako Africa Festival on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz (20 – 30 July 2023), there will also be a Kenako Kids Festival (27 June – 2 July 2023) in …

This year’s season of African music and culture in Germany is taking shape. Here are the Top Festivals you don’t want to miss before summer ends in 2023:———————————- Africa Festival Würzburg 26 – 29 May / Würzburg The International Africa Festival has been existing since 1989 and is the largest and oldest festival for African music and culture in Europe. …

Ade Bantu (right) and Harry Belafonte/Photo: Courtesy of Ade Bantu Tributes are being paid across the world to the African-American entertainer and rights icon Harry Belafonte, who died in New York on Tuesday at the age of 96. Ade Bantu, the Afro-German musician and rights activist who once met Belafonte, has penned a moving tribute to the Black singer, actor …

The 14th edition of Arab Film Festival Berlin (ALFILM), taking place from 26 April to 2 May 2023, offers a programme that is more diverse than ever with over 43 feature films, documentaries and short films. The festival presents films from across the Arab world, from Casablanca to Damascus, via Algiers, Tunis, Cairo, Gaza, Jaffa and Beirut. The Guest of …

Vienna-born artist Rose May Alaba is set to make waves in the African music scene with her latest single set to drop on 28 April. The talented singer, who is the younger sister of football sensation David Alaba, grew up in Austria, surrounded by different genres of music, but it was her Nigerian roots that eventually caught her attention. She …

Multiple award-winner Angélique Kidjo has added another title to her laurels. The African singer won the 2023 Polar Music Prize, often called the Nobel Prize of Music, on Tuesday. She was honoured with the award alongside Britain’s Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, and Estonian composer Arvo Part. The Polar Music Prize is an annual Swedish international award founded in …

The accompanying single cover, by award-winning Ghanaian satirical artist Bright Tetteh Ackwerh–depicting the main presidential candidates (of the recently concluded presidential elections) wining and dining together, while the struggling masses gather around them begging for alms BANTU, a band based in Lagos, Nigeria, has dropped a new music “Wayo And Division” to warn citizens of Africa’s most populous country against …

Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has rejoiced with a Nigerian woman, Tracy Eboigbodin, who won the ‘MasterChef Italia’, an international Cooking Contest, in Italy recently. In a statement issued in Abuja by the Commission’s Head of Media and Public Relations, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Ms Dabiri-Erewa described Eboigbodin’s victory as well-deserved and a product of hard work and …