Annansi Chronicles

A few months ago I asked for votes for a panel idea I had proposed for the upcoming South by SouthWest (SXSW) Interactive Festival. Well I’m happy to announce that with the support of many bloggers and readers, the Africa 2.0 panel has been chosen as part of the schedule for the upcoming SXSW Festival. Taking place on March 9, 2008, the Africa 2.0 panel will bring together a group of African professionals who are all using technology in innovative ways. The panelists for what might be the only Africa-focused panel during the festival will be:
• Erik Hersman (WhiteAfrican.com, AfriGadget.com)
• Uduak Oduok (Ladybrille.com)
• Nii Simmonds (Nubian Cheetah)
• Chosan (Silverstreetz Entertainment)

As the moderator, I will be leading a discussion on how technology is being used to affect change in Africa. The panelists will be discussing how technology factors into efforts in different industries including fashion, entertainment, finance, and marketing. For a perfect example of how technology can affect change in Africa, visit Ushahidi, a collaborative effort by African bloggers to report on the election-provoked crisis currently taking place in Kenya.

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

1. Everything - Michael Bublé
2. Belief - John Mayer
3. Dance Tonight - Paul McCartney
4. Amazing - Seal
5. What Goes Around…Comes Around - Justin Timberlake

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals

1. Steppin’ Out - Tony Bennett & Christina Aguilera
2. Beautiful Liar - Beyoncé & Shakira
3. Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
4. The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani & Akon
5. Give It To Me - Timbaland Featuring Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

1. Same Girl - R. Kelly Featuring Usher
2. Disrespectful - Chaka Khan Featuring Mary J. Blige
3. Hate That I Love You - Rihanna Featuring Ne-Yo
4. Baby - Angie Stone Featuring Betty Wright
5. Bartender - T-Pain Featuring Akon

Best Contemporary R&B Album

1. Konvicted - Akon
2. Just Like You - Keyshia Cole

• 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?)
  
• MTV begins Africa Music Awards (Viacom knows where the money is)
• More (RED)washing at The Gap (African charity still gets consumers in the retail door)
• Gucci’s African charity Indy bag drops (holidays + African charity = $$$$)
• India eyes Africa to meet rising energy needs (African’s need to refine and accelerate our business models)
• First black (Nigerian) mayor elected in Ireland (A Nigerian Irish mayor. Wow!)

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)

The BBC reports , one of Africa’s most loved musicians, South African reggae star Lucky Dube, has died from gun shot wounds in Johannesburg. It’s a VERY sad day for world music.

He had been dropping his teenage son and daughter off in the suburb of Rosettenville on Thursday evening. Police say they were already out of the car when three shots were fired through a car window killing their father. Alongside Bob Marley, he was thought of as one of the great reggae artists - singing about social problems. He was also one of the apartheid regime’s most outspoken critics.

Recently, MTVU, the university station of MTV, organized a visit by best selling author Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking) and Ethiopian-born American musician Kenna to a University of Pennsylvania sociology class. The class was in the process of studying the chapter “Kenna’s Dilemma” from Gladwell’s book Blink and the two men made an appearance to discuss the dilemma Kenna faces as an artist who, though heralded by many in the music industry as the next big thing, has yet to connect with a large enough fan base.

Slate posts a hilarious story on a Malawian family’s adoption of Britney Spears’ children. A must read!

“Los Angeles, where the Federline children have been living, is one of the richest cities in the world, trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of depravity, narcissism, and veganism. Nearly 27 percent of the children in Los Angeles suffer the misfortune of having celebrity parents. Mr. and Mrs. M were stunned by the deplorable conditions these victims live in. Children are subject to verbal abuse via cell phone, and babies are dangled over balcony railings. “Fathers kill mothers, and then put out badly written books about it,” Mr. M said. “And the names these children must bear,” said Mrs. M. “Apple, Fifi Trixibell, Fuchsia, Moxie CrimeFighter, Pilot Inspektor, Sage Moonblood—what kind of future can these poor children have?” - Slate.com

Thanks to Afromusing for the link.

MORE>>

• Fall Out Boy head to Africa….Uganda really (What’s a rock band’s image without an African charity connection. Shout out to director extraordinaire Alan Ferguson) )
  
• Clint Eastwood will direct Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in a new Nelson Mandela movie “The Human Factor” (The Hollywood/Africa trend grows. They should expect a call from some concerned Africans real soon.)
• Facebook is the new office fashion in Kenya (Rupert Murdoch needs to get the Myspace/Wall Street Journal thing sorted out fast)
• Actress Mary-Louise Parker adopts a child from Africa (Can all these African childrens’ biological families get visitation visas now?)