Africa: Prime Video Cuts Funding in Africa, Middle East

[ad_1] Stakeholders have described it as a sad development for the African film and television industry. Amazon Prime Video is undergoing a strategic shift in its international operations, directing its attention towards European original content, Variety is reporting. The platform has decided to downsize and reduce funding and resources allocated to Africa and the Middle East, concentrating on its European originals. By implication, the streaming platform would no longer fund original content from Nigeria and halt the commissioning of new […]

January 22, 2024 3

Entertainment

South Africa: Soul Brothers – the Story of a Band That Revolutionised South African Music

[ad_1] Biographies of important South African musicians often fall into two categories: they either emerge from PhD or other university-based research, or are the fruit of dedicated digging by a fan or family member. The first kind benefit from institutional resources and support; the second from community knowledge of personal details that may be documented nowhere else. Because of that very scarcity of a public record, the first kind might miss many parts of the story that can't be checked […]

January 20, 2024 2

Entertainment

Africa: From Besting Tetris Ai to Epic Speedruns – Inside Gaming’s Most Thrilling Feats

[ad_1] After 13-year-old Willis Gibson became the first human to beat the original Nintendo version of Tetris, he dedicated his special win to his father, who passed away in December 2023. The Oklahoma teen beat the game by defeating level after level until he reached the "kill screen" - that is, the moment when the Tetris artificial intelligence taps out in exhaustion, stopping play because its designers never wrote the code to advance further. Before Gibson, the only other player […]

January 19, 2024 2

Entertainment

Africa: The Shame and Pleasure of Masturbation – Poor Things Gets Girls’ Early Sexual Feelings Right

[ad_1] This piece contains spoilers for Poor Things. Poor Things can be described in one word: polarising. Yorgos Lanthimos' film follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a scientist's experiment created from a woman's body and a child's mind. It won two Golden Globes and received a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. Yet others walked out of the Venice screening during its many sex scenes, one which depicts a father teaching his two sons the birds and the bees by […]

January 19, 2024 1

Entertainment

Africa: The Afro-Semitic Experience – ‘Unity in the Community’

[ad_1] The Afro-Semitic Experience is a six-piece ensemble of Jewish and African-American musicians dating back to the late 1990s, when Hartford-based pianist and vocalist Warren Byrd and bassist David Chevan met at a jam session. A quarter-century later, their trademark blend of original soul, jazz and gospel creations continues to deepen. On January 19, their new album Our Feet Began to Pray drops on Reckless DC Music. These 14 grooving, soulful tracks are made to order to calm the turbulent […]

January 19, 2024 2

Entertainment

Nigeria: Breach of Contract – Court Dismisses Davido’s Preliminary Objection

[ad_1] A Delta State High Court sitting in Effurun has dismissed the preliminary objection by Nigerian-American singer, David Adedeji Adeleke, popularly known as Davido and his company, Davido Music Worldwide Limited, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear and determine the breach of contract suit against him by Brownhill Investment Company Limited over the annual 'Warri Again Concert'. Trial judge, Justice Nduka Obi, also dismissed another objection by Davido Music Worldwide and Israel Afeare, challenging the jurisdiction of the […]

January 18, 2024 2

Entertainment

Ghana to Participate in ‘Reconnecting Afro Root’ Carnival in Salvador

[ad_1] Ghana will from February 9 to 14 participate in this year's Reconnecting Afro Root Carnival at Salvador, Bahia in Brazil. To be held on the theme 'Reconnecting with our Roots,' the carnival is aimed at bringing together blacks of African descent for cultural exchanges and development of partnerships within the business community. Ghana's participation in the global event would be led by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in partnership with the Ghana Embassy […]

January 18, 2024 2

Entertainment

Africa: The Best African Books of 2023

[ad_1] Once more, African writers from the continent and diaspora have provided us some literary gems. Our top novels of 2023, in no particular order. Ghost Season -- Fatin Abbas A soul stirring and important novel that brings together the stories of five characters on an NGO compound in a remote border town between northern and southern Sudan. All from different backgrounds and walks of life, they grapple with their personal issues amid a backdrop of violence as conflict rages […]

January 17, 2024 2

Entertainment

Rwanda: Is Rwandan Hip-Hop Dead or Has It Evolved? What Industry Players Say

[ad_1] When You Talk About Hip-Hop as a genre of music in Rwanda, the first thing that comes to mind is Tuff Gang, a group of young men who became prominent in the early 2000's, bringing to the fore the likes of Jay Polly, Bull Dog, Fireman and others. Like their peers in the U.S, where the hip-hop subculture and art movement originated, Tuff Gang members and other hip-hop artistes in Rwanda, focused on talking about society issues through lyrics […]

January 16, 2024 2

Culture and Entertainment