“When you say ‘Black is beautiful’ you are saying, ‘Man you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being’.” Steve Biko Stories of freedom and liberation are not without their accompanying Ghosts — drenched in the blood, sweat and tears that our ancestors sacrificed as resistive offerings for our…
“The mission I pledge to carry out is personal, intimate as well as collective. It’s like a misunderstood song reaching my soul to be formulated by my art. A story that needs to be recounted. A duty to honour my legacy and uplift the voices of my ancestors…” Lafalaise Dion, 2022. As African people, the…
It’s an overcast, yet, warm Wednesday afternoon in Joburg and I’m on a call with President ya straata and Pitori Maradona, Focalistic. “A se trap ke pina tsa ko kasi”, he says responding to one of my questions as our conversation unfolds — and I think of something said by writer, archivist, isangoma and Ghostland…
From Nina Simone to Billy Holiday, Janet Jackson and Missy Elliot, the music industry has never known how to hold space for the work and abundant creativity of Black femmes — in the same way that the world has never known how to hold space for the lives and desires of Black women. “We don’t…
If we think of United States narratives of alien invasions, we could — with some imaginative effort — easily align a white and western dystopia with various fragments of the African diaspora. From violent domination, imposed languages and other elements involved in the colonising process. If the central dystopia in the imaginary of a country…
There are many ways to think about the body. When poet, artist and curator Anaïs Duplan speaks of ‘cosmic bodies’ he is advancing a unique turn. This cosmic corporality provides insight into how we might approach the body as an architecture….The body is an idea that is cosmic, which is to say, ‘inconceivably vast.’ Body: it is a…
My life has been saved by Black femmes, over and over again, like intimate friends of mine who gather me — the pieces I am — and give them back to me in all the right order. August marks Women’s Month in our country, a cutting pill to swallow especially when one is aware of the…
In 2012 short-form video sharing platform Vine was founded in the now social media golden age. Vine was a platform that allowed users to create 6-second videos and created many online personalities such as David Dobrik, Shawn Mendes and Liza Koshy. The platform at the time, was ushering in a new era of social media…
The past two years have been nothing short of spectacular for Nasty C. His track record speaks for itself. He has had multiple award nominated and winning albums, and is one of the most streamed artists in South Africa. He has also taken to the big screen – appearing in the Netflix Documentary, Nasty C…
Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word “love” here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace – not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the…
Sunday March 4, 2012. During the now extinct program Esquenta—which ran on the Brazilian Broadcast TV channel Rede Globo—presenter Regina Casé talks about tecnobrega. A Brazilian rhythm born in the northeastern region, more specifically in Belém do Pará and spread becoming popular throughout the country. Musical group Banda UÓ, which was famous at the time…
Hey Bonita, glad to meet ya For the cunning, stunning you, miss, I must beseech ya Hey, being with you is a top priority Ain’t no need to question the authority Chairman of the board, the chief of affections You got mine’s to swing in your direction Hey, you’re like a hip hop song, you…
