CULTURE & SOCIETY

The music industry is booming across the African continent and it is attracting major international players. In recent years, the world's three largest record labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group have all entered the African market.

The African Music Festival 2022 will take place from Thursday, 4 to Sunday, 7 August at the Schlossplatz in the south-western German town of Emmendingen. After two years of small formats, it is possible to organise a large festival again this summer, of course within the framework of the current rules regarding Covid-19. The festival programme covers 4 days, with …

There’s plenty that’s unique about Africa — from being the world’s warmest continent to being home to more than 1.2 billion people spread over 54 countries who speak more than 2,000 different languages. With this rich cultural heritage, there’s a multitude of stories to be told from, and about, the continent and its people. That’s why in May, Netflix is …

The legendary Jazz label Blue Note Records and Universal Music Group Africa have announced the creation of Blue Note Africa (www.BlueNote.com), an exciting new imprint dedicated to signing Jazz artists from across the African continent, bringing them to a global audience, and promoting a cultural exchange of ideas that transcends borders. Blue Note Africa will launch this Spring with the …

"There is still a feeling that everything that's local is primitive"

Bantoo, a new innovative digital platform is launched for the growing Afro-Caribbean market, is being launched today——– Top African and Caribbean influencers and entrepreneurs have joined the Bantoo (www.Bantoolink.com) movement as proud Ambassadors of the new digital platform and communication tool Bantoo that is being launched worldwide on 8 March 2022. “As an African citizen and entrepreneur, I’m very proud …

Cologne-based journalist and contributing editor to The African Courier, Tina Adomako, reviews Lagos – Life in Suburbia. She describes the experience of reading the novel, originally published in 2019 but whose German translation came out just last December, as akin to watching a Nollywood soap opera —– Ajayi Crowther Street in Lagos is home to the established middle class. This …

A new library in honour of Theodor Wonja Michael will be opened on Saturday 19 February in Cologne as part of activities marking this year’s Black History Month. The Theodor Wonja Michael Library was set up by the Afro-Diasporic association Sonnenblumen Community Development Group e. V. Michael, who died in October 2019 at the age of 94, was one of …

The umbrella organisation for Nigerians living in Germany has announced its partnership with the organisers of the annual Nollywood Film Festival. “Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) Germany e.V. is delighted to announce its partnership with Ehizoya Golden Entertainment e.V. to deliver the 20th Nollywood Film Festival Germany (NFFG), holding on 29-31 July in Frankfurt am Main,” the group said in …

Fashionomics Africa, an initiative of the African Development Bank, has launched its second online competition, offering $6,000 in cash prizes, mentoring, new branding packages and other support for winning African designers of sustainable and circular fashion. Fashionomics Africa, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, Parsons School of Design, strategic consulting and communications agency BPCM, and the Ellen MacArthur …

The shortlist contains a dynamic group of creatives from across African 13 countries—– Netflix, the world’s largest streaming service, and UNESCO have announced the 20 shortlisted candidates who will go forward in the short film competition ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’. It was also announced that the quality of submissions received resulted in one extra candidate being added to the list, making …

With more than 250 restaurants representing 191 countries all gathered in a place, the Expo 2020 Dubai has rightly been described as the largest gathering of the global culinary community. Beyond showcasing delicacies from various parts of the world, a cardinal aim of the food hall at the Expo, according to Simon Wright, Founder and Chairman of TGP International, the …

The Johannesburg-based writer, filmmaker and photographer Lidudumalingani is the new curator of the African Book Festival in Berlin. Taking place from 19th-21st August 2022, the event will once more bring together the stars of contemporary African literature in the German capital. In 2016, winning the Caine Prize for African Writing propelled Lidudumalingani to literary stardom. Shortly after he was awarded …

Women and mental health in Africa: as part of its signature Heal by Hair program, the Bluemind Foundation unveils a report of cross studies between African women and their hairdressers Lomé, Douala, and Paris, November 22, 2021,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 66 million women suffer from depression and anxiety disorders in Africa, and …

InterKontinental, the Berlin-based literary agency and association for the promotion of African and Afro-diasporic literature, has announced the founding of its own publishing house. InterKontinental, which runs a bookshop exclusively stocked with African and Afro-diasporic literature in Berlin, has obviously responded to the difficulties of writers of African descent finding publishers for their work in Germany or German translators for …

Asamor is an incredibly versatile Cameroonian artist based in Germany. He hails from Lebialem, South West region of Cameroon. With a well-lettered background at the University of Bonn where he spent time at the department of music, he has proven his ingenuity by infusing Makossa and Bangwa rhythms to produce a unique genre and eargasmic “Abanda Kossa”. Asamor’s music career …

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has described the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between Nigeria and Germany in Abuja on Wednesday, as a major step toward the repatriation of hundreds of Benin Bronzes from Germany next year. The Minister, who spoke when he received the German government delegation that came to Nigeria for the signing of …

300,000 young Nigerians are to be trained in Film, Television and Motion Production courtesy of a partnership between KAP Academy and MasterCard Foundation —- In a landmark partnership announced on Monday (11 October 2021), 300,000 young Nigerians will be trained in film, television, and motion picture production over the next three years. The scheme will be implemented by Lagos-based KAP …

Netflix and UNESCO have partnered to launch an innovative short film competition on ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ across sub-Saharan Africa. Winners of the competition will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a $75,000 production budget to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022 as an “Anthology of African folktales”. One key aim of this …

The city of Bad Dürkheim, the heartland of the wine-producing region of southwest Germany, and its Carnival Society “Derkemer Grawler” have named Togbe Céphas Bansah as the Golden Winemaker 2022. The Ghanaian traditional ruler is being honoured for “realising many aid projects and thus in fact improving the living conditions of his people”, the Carnival Society said in a press …