Digital and mobile devices can bring huge improvements to the health and lives of the very poorest. Vanessa Zainzinger takes a look at the organisations attempting to bridge the technological divide Last month, the non-profit organisation Worldreader held a video contest. The first price was a trip, but instead of the five star hotel one […]
The Sway Machinery: The House of Friendly Ghosts Vol. 1 (JDub Records)
Reviewed by Eric Saeger Timbuktu-born singer – actually a superstar in his country – Khaira Arby joins the Brooklyn-based Jewish world-beaters in this outing, the inspiration for which sprang from the band’s journey to play a festival in Mali. The result is an infectious, intricate mixture held together coherently by Arby, who, aside from his […]
Monster’s Ball: Trouble in the Congo
Greg Houle reviews Jason Stearns’ troubled history of the Congo Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa. In one of the final chapters of Jason K. Stearns’ significant new book Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War […]
Coast Guards: Laurent Gbagbo and the French
US Senator James Inhofe equates French involvement in Côte d’Ivoire with a history of colonialism. Greg Houle argues why he’s wrong For somebody who constantly boasts about his knowledge and understanding of the African continent, US Senator James Inhofe (R – Oklahoma) sounds shockingly naïve when addressing the recent events in Ivory Coast which has […]
Imaginary World: An Interview with Sade Adeniran
Nigerian author Sade Adeniran self-published her first novel, Imagine This, and went on to win the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Novel. She took time out from working on her second book to tell Mary-Claire Wilson how she did it, what inspires her and why she prefers Mills & Boon Imagine a self-published book by […]
How I Work: Nuno Cera
Futureland is a photographic and video portrait of the effects of rapid urbanisation Futureland #17 – Shanghai, China, 2010. Ink jet print, 110 x 145 cm © Nuno Cera and Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon, reproduced with thanks Nuno Cera’s project Futureland catches the process of rapid urbanisation in the act. Between 2008 and 2010, the […]
From Mali to Paris: Donso
Malian pop meets Daft Punk electronica with Krazy Baldhead’s Donso project It is no surprise that Pierre-Antoine Grison should gravitate to African music. His 2009 album The B Suite (put out under the name Krazy Baldhead)was a beguiling mix of tricky time signatures and polyrhythms. Originally from Marseille, Grison made his name as part of […]
Kafka’s Other Trial
Perhaps Josef K will get to testify in the ongoing wrangle over Kafka’s manuscripts in an Israeli court. The Czech author instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy his papers, instead two-thirds eventually made its way to the Bodleian Library via Kafka’s niece. The remainder ended up, after Brod’s death in 1968, with Esther Hoffe. […]
Vusi Mahlasela: Say Africa (ATO Records)
Reviewed by Eric Saeger Mahlasela, a David Ortiz-lookalike African singer-songwriter and inspirational anti-apartheid voice, has become a cause célèbre among the ATO crowd and beyond to Josh Groban and others who’ve recorded with him with the aim of spreading his messages. Say Africa, Mahlasela’s 7th album since 1992, finds him parked comfortably in Dave Mathews’s […]
Voices of Nigeria: An Interview with E.C. Osondu
Nigerian writer E.C Osondu won the 2009 Caine Prize, otherwise known as the African Booker, for his short story Waiting. An anthology of his stories, Voice of America, has been published to widespread critical acclaim. Here, he speaks to Mary-Claire Wilson from his home in Rhode Island, where he is assistant professor of English at […]
Branching Out: Peepal Tree Press
Peepal Tree Press is dedicated to expanding the Caribbean library and keeping it in print. Spike interviews its founder Jeremy Poynting Working out of the Burley area of Leeds, Peepal Tree Press has been a vital hub of independent publishing for just over 25 years. Founded by Jeremy Poynting to specialise in Caribbean writing, the […]
