Posts in category arts

The Grenfell Tower fire is definitely a tragedy, which has taken the lives of many people including emerging and talented Gambian artist Khadija Saye. The tragedy has claimed 79 people so far, among them Khadija and her mother who lived on the 20th floor of the building. Khadija’s work is currently exhibited at the Venice Biennale and had attracted a number of top gallery directors. Her death at the age of 24 is a painful loss considering how she portrayed the Wolof culture in her works.

The Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF) is a week-long hub for publishers, booksellers, writers, schoolchildren and booklovers alike. However, this celebration cannot mask the fact that there are structural problems in the Nigerian publishing infrastructure that go beyond the printing of books.

The revolutionary idea of Negritude turns 82 this year and the ‘trois pères’ of the movement, Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon-Gontran Damas, will be celebrated as literary heroes. But perhaps it is time, as Edwige-Renée Dro writes, to remember the ‘mères’ of the movement and resurrect them from obscurity.

Nigeria’s Romeo Oriogun was announced the winner of the The Brunel International African Poetry Prize, in a unanimous decision by the judges. Oriogun received £3,000. Romeo’s win came as a surprise to him. The Brunel International African Poetry prize received 1,200 submissions out of which only 10 made the shortlist. We wish him the best in his literary career.

Kenya hosts some of the continent’s most amazing cultural events, which attract many visitors from across the world. Today we profile the country’s most celebrated cultural festivals.

Nigerian filmmaker Faraday Okoro on the 18th of April won a grant of $1 million for his proposed film “Nigerian Prince.” The NYU film school graduate will shoot his film in Nigeria. The film is expected to premiere in 2018 at the Tribeca Films Festival.

Social media was inundated with the images of the works of immensely talented Ghanaian sculptor Kumi Samuel, carvings remarkably good that they resemble living beings. This Is Africa caught up with the artist, whose Facebook page is @SculptureMadeinGhana.

When two seasoned African jazz musicians come together to play music, what you end up getting is an unforgettable musical experience. Mozambican saxophonist, Moreira Chonguiça collaborated with Cameroonian jazz maestro Manu Dibango in a 10 track album that took five years of discussions. The album titled M & M was released at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival on the 31st of March. The songs are a remarkable mix of well known old jazz standards with an African twist.

The Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF), one of the largest jazz festivals in Africa kicks off today in South Africa. The festival will feature South African, African and international artists. Affectionately referred to as “Africa’s Grandest Gathering”, the CTIJF will run for two days with a mix of jazz performances from stars including Manu Dibango (Cameroon), Jonas Gwangwa (SA), Judith Sephuma (SA), Kamasi Washington (USA), and Andra Day (USA), among others.

Today we bring you the highlights of the recently concluded Pan-African Film and Television Festivals held biennially in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. This year there were over 1000 applicants with great films from the continent featured in one of the biggest festivals on the continent.