It seems it’s been about a month since my last post. Wow! How timees fly when you’re running around. I guess I’ve been neglecting my duties here on Annansi Chronicles, but hey there’s much more to life than posting to blogs. Some readers might not have missed me since we communicate regularly online, but I’m sure many of you were beginning to think I’d abandoned Annansi Chronicles. Not true! Here’s some updates of what’s been going on:
The Africa 2.0 panel at South by Southwest Interactive went pleasantly well. Besides getting to finally meet a few of my fellow African bloggers/entrepreneurs/innovators, SXSW was one of my best conference experiences to date. The energy, people, and information was well worth the effort of organizing the panel. For a roundup of what went on read my review at the newassignment.net website. Also read Erik, and Uduak’s perspective. The panel was well attended and we got to talk to some really great people. Thanks to the SXSW crew especially Hugh and Christine for allowing us a great opportunity. Below is some video of an interview I did with Sunny Gault of Veoh TV’s Viral channel right before the panel. In the video I talk about the topic of Africa and technology as well as the work I’ve been doing as a board member of the African Film Commission.
Being the No. 4 sporting-goods brand is tough. But Puma is betting that backing African football (soccer to Americans) will differentiate the brand and win it a significant increase in market share. Continuing with the company’s commitment to African football made during the 2006 World Cup Games, Puma put some serious resources together for product and marketing efforts behind the 2008 African Cup of Nations held recently in Ghana. As a sponsor for 9 out of the 16 African teams, including tournament hosts Ghana and champions Egypt, Puma worked hard to make the brand synonymous with African football, even going so far as buying the Ghana team a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz bus for transport between matches. The company began it’s Cup of Nations efforts with a sponsorship deal for Eurosport’s live coverage of the games and then a press conference at the brand new Puma store in Ghana’s Accra Mall. The press conference was held to announce several activities on the ground during the tournament, including a youth exhibition game co-hosted by the Peace One Day charity and edun Live and featuring African football legends Roger Milla and Anthony Yeboah.
In the past few years there’s been a bit of news coming out of new hotel projects taking place on the African continent. From the Hilton Hotels Group to the Rezidor Hotel Group it seems there’s a lot of interest in Africa as a luxury travel destination. Some will say that the shift is part of the overall change in the world’s political climate, where stories of terrorist attacks come out of former tourist “safe havens”. Whether that is the case or if it’s a result of the increased marketing and advertising efforts by African countries such as Tanzania, the fact is that developers are looking to Africa as a premiere destination for luxury travel. But it’s not just the large developers who are jumping onto the trend. Recently Charlotte Bobcats owner and BET founder Robert L. (Bob) Johnson along with a delegation of African American businesspeople announced an agreement with the government of Liberia to build a villa-style, four-star hotel in Monrovia. The project falls under Bob Johnson’s Maryland-based firm RLJ Companies, which with some 135 hotels valued at more than $3 billion, is the largest Black-owned hotel investment company in the United States. The Liberian hotel project is the result of a “commitment” made by Bob Johnson, Debra Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET, and actors Chris Tucker, Cicely Tyson, and actor Jeffrey Wright among others to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the 2006 Clinton Global Initiative Annual meeting. In addition to the hotel, which is scheduled to break ground in March 2008 and open in February 2009, Bob Johnson also donated $3 million to open a new fund which will “provide Liberian entrepreneurs and businesses with the financial and technical resources they need to rejuvenate the country’s economy and foster long-term stability in the wake of two decades of civil strife”.
The nominations for the 50th Grammy awards were announced recently. Below are the categories where talented Africans excelled and continued to influence popular culture. The awards will be presented in February 2008. Congratulations to all the nominees. Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Everything - Michael Bublé
Belief - John Mayer
Dance Tonight - Paul McCartney
Amazing - Seal
What Goes Around…Comes Around - Justin Timberlake
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
Steppin’ Out - Tony Bennett & Christina Aguilera
Beautiful Liar - Beyoncé & Shakira
Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani & Akon
Give It To Me - Timbaland Featuring Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake
Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Same Girl - R. Kelly Featuring Usher
Disrespectful - Chaka Khan Featuring Mary J. Blige
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought Ethiopia. (Not the African country itself, but the island which represents Ethiopia in Dubai’s island phenomenon The World)
American general seeks to play down fears over new Africa command. (Uhhh… sure. No worries.)
Africa’s nuclear hopes. (Could this be the solution to the electricity shortages?)
So far I’ve been very successful at avoiding Soulja Boy’s “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” song and video. While I always do my best to stay up to date on what is hot and not in pop culture, I find it hard to digest too much throwaway content. Call me judgmental but there’s only so much fast food a brain can take, especially at my age. But when I came across this African remix video of the popular Soulja Boy song, I was struck with the cultural implications. For me the video shown below, while being extremely funny, reflects how African culture, pop culture and technology have come to coexist and open up new avenue for self expression and creativity. We can easily dismiss the Naija (Nigerian) Boy Crank Dat video as another Youtube parody, but if we take a step back we can see that the ease of which the cultures are colliding in the song and video is something to take notice of. The Naija Boy video perfectly captures the way the new Afropolitans see themselves in their native culture and in western culture. From the reference to spraying money, to the dance scenes in traditional Nigerian outfits, to the scenes of the “rapper’s” white “fans”, the nature of the growing Afropolitan demographic is quite evident. While the Naija Boy video is entertaining, it certainly represents a shift in mentality among Africans in the west. The video is a lesson in cultural development as it shows what African youth in the west are willing to participate in and how they are willing to spend their money. (link via YG)
It seems it’s been about a month since my last post. Wow! How timees fly when you’re running around. I guess I’ve been neglecting my duties here on Annansi Chronicles, but hey there’s much more to life than posting to blogs. Some readers might not have missed me since we communicate regularly online, but I’m sure many of you were beginning to think I’d abandoned Annansi Chronicles. Not true! Here’s some updates of what’s been going on:
Being the No. 4 sporting-goods brand is tough. But Puma is 
In the past few years there’s been a bit of news coming out of new hotel projects taking place on the African continent. From the 
The nominations for the 50th Grammy awards were announced recently. Below are the categories where talented Africans excelled and continued to influence popular culture. The awards will be presented in February 2008. Congratulations to all the nominees.
