A BIG congratulations to the cast and crew of ‘FELA!’ The musical as they have just received 11 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical. The Tony Awards is the leading awards which honor Broadway productions that opened during the 2009-10 season. Along with the musical ‘La Cage aux Folles’, ‘Fela!’ has received the most nominations. ‘Fela! is nominated in all major categories including Best direction, Best performance by a leading actor, Best performance by a featured actress, and Best choreography. The 2010 Tony Awards show will air June 13 on CBS.

In related news Golden Globe nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (Kinky Boots, American Gangster, Inside Man) has been cast to play Fela in the feature film biopic about the iconic Nigerian musician/activist. Deadline New York reveals:

(The) Focus Features movie about the African musician and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti now officially has its leading man. Chiwetel Ejiofor is formally attached to play Fela in the film that will be directed by Steve McQueen, the British artist who made his helming debut on Hunger, the drama about the Irish hunger strike that starred Michael Fassbender.

When I revealed the project last year, Ejiofor seemed the obvious choice, but Focus Features wouldn’t confirm. Ejiofor sure has been taking it seriously on his end. In between his work on the upcoming Angelina Jolie-starrer Salt, he has been learning to play piano and saxophone to prepare for the role. I’m told he’s gotten quite good.

When I first heard about the biopic some months ago many people on Twitter, including myself, put in their vote for Ejiofor in the lead role. It seems the producers were thinking as we did. Though the two projects are unrelated, I can’t help but think the musical helped solidify production plans for the film. I, for one, am excited for both projects. Go see Fela! The Musical.

‘Fela!’ musical lands 11 Tony Noms; Chiwetel Ejiofor cast as Fela in biopic is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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• “Africa Rising” festival brings JAY-Z, Rihanna, Alek Wek to Nigeria & Washington DC
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• 42 country, 100 exhibit Africa Pavilion unveiled for 2010 Shanghai World Expo
• Celebrity colonization of Africa (infographic)
• NY African Film Festival opens, celebrates World Cup and independent Africa
• Notes from Columbia U’s 2010 Africa Economic Forum
• Top 6 African business and culture trends to watch in 2010

A few weeks ago, I was honored to be invited to Harvard University to give a short talk and participate in the  Rebranding Africa through the Youth panel as part of their Africa Focus series. The panel was a lively, collaborative one with both panelists and attendees providing perspectives on the topic. As a follow-up, I’ve put together a slide deck of my prep notes and am sharing here. Hopefully, the presentation embedded below will allow those who couldn’t attend the event a chance to join in and continue the conversation here and elsewhere. Feel free to download and share the presentation. You can contact me here or on Twitter (@GKofiAnnan) for further info or to discuss. Thanks to the Harvard team, especially Essie Yamoah and Julia Mensah, for having me up.

African youth and the African brand (presentation) is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• The Paris Hilton effect on Africa’s development
• Urban explosion and African youth’s global influence
• 42 country, 100 exhibit Africa Pavilion unveiled for 2010 Shanghai World Expo
• Notes from Columbia U’s 2010 Africa Economic Forum
• Designer Ozwald Boateng on dressing President Obama and his Made in Africa wealth initiative
• Prada space captures rural Congo experience
• Branding Africa with a new domain
• Video: Ozwald Boateng Fashion Show at African Union Summit, Ghana
• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• What’s your Africa strategy?

50 African nations and the African Union will present their interpretations of the “Better City, Better Life” theme in Shanghai, China at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo running May 1 to October 31. Along with a number of other countries, African governments and businesses will exhibit at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo in efforts to showcase tourism and trade potential. Of the 50 African nations exhibiting, 42 have joined forces to build the Joint-Africa Pavilion, a 22.6 thousand square meters (243,264.38 sq. ft) exhibit hall with individual country exhibition areas and over 100 exhibits from Africa. Located near a main entrance of the expo, construction for the Joint-Africa Pavilion began in August 2008, and is developed in part with investment money from a $100-million fund set up by the organizers of the expo for the over 100 participating developing countries participating. The remaining 8 African countries exhibiting, including South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, will rent their own separate pavilions.

The Joint African Pavilion consists of exhibitions provided by 42 African countries including Angola, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Zambia, and Sudan. The Pavilion embraces the theme of “The Great Ballad of Africa”. It aims to represent the cultural diversity, solidarity, and the rosy future of the African countries. Welcoming visitors at the entrance of the Pavilion is “Lucy”, a 3-and-a-half million year old fossil of a female hominid. She was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974.” - CCTV

Of the 191 countries participating in the World Expo in Shanghai, most are investing record amounts to build pavilions., Most world governments will be providing the bulk of investment, with heads of state promising to make special appearances. In an effort to solidify Shanghai as a global city, China itself is spending $4.2 billion on transforming the world’s fair to a blowout extravaganza, surpassing it’s recent efforts on producing the Beijing Olympics. “Compared with the Olympics, the expo will have a richer culture,” said Zhu Yonglei, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination. “It will be more interesting.” An extimated 70 million visitors from the public and private sectors, civil society, international organizations and others will attend the Shanghai World Expo, making it the largest World Expo in history.

More images of the Joint-Africa Pavilion available here and here.

Video: Joint African Pavilion unveils design

Video: South Africa at World Expo

If you can’t see the videos above go here to view

42 country, 100 exhibit Africa Pavilion unveiled for 2010 Shanghai World Expo is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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• Birth and boom of a new African design industry
• Prada space captures rural Congo experience
• Urban explosion and African youth’s global influence
• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• Africa’s next chapter convenes at TEDGlobal 2007
• Vogue, Keira Knightley donate food & Louis Vuitton to African elephant’s rehab
• Five tactics for selling Africa-based products to non-Africans

The 17th annual New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) has opened on April 7th celebrating the 50th anniversary of 17 African nations’ independence from colonial rule as well as the freedom that the rise in technology has given African filmmakers to tell their own stories. Among the 13 features and 25 short films from emerging and veteran filmmakers from 18 countries are four soccer films in honor of the World Cup’s first games in Africa opening in June 2010, an animated short program, Focus Features’ Africa First short program and an environmental film.

The festival runs from April 7 through the 13th at The Film Society of Lincoln Center and continues at Columbia University’s Institute for African Studies, 3ten Lounge, New Museum and the Brooklyn Academy of Music BAMcinématek with dates in April and May. Some films showing during the festival include The Absence, directed by Mama Keïta (Senegal/France), Eliane de Latour’s narrative film Beyond the Ocean, winner of the Jury Prize at the Festival des Cinéma du Monde 2009, and Wanuri Kahiu’s Pumzi, which I highlighted here before.

Take a look at the full film schedule.

On Saturday, April 10, a panel discussion will also be held where established and aspiring directors and producers will learn how to craft an attention-getting pitch and utilize social networking tools at “Getting Exposure: Securing the Buzz You Need for Your Film.” The panel takes place at The Film Society of Lincoln Center at 1:30 pm, and is part of  the film festivals “Independent Africa”.

Panelists will include Jennifer Merin, film journalist with About.com and founder of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists; Misani, culture writer for the Amsterdam News; Paul Burani, social media strategist; and Pam Pickens, digital marketing expert. The event, which is open to the public, will be moderated by veteran entertainment publicist and NYAFF’s public relations consultant Cheryl L. Duncan of Cheryl Duncan & Company Inc.

For panel or film tickets, go to www.filmlinc.com.

NY African Film Festival opens, celebrates World Cup and independent Africa is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• 42 country, 100 exhibit Africa Pavilion unveiled for 2010 Shanghai World Expo
• Birth and boom of a new African design industry
• The Paris Hilton effect on Africa’s development
• Africa’s next chapter convenes at TEDGlobal 2007
• ‘Fela!’ musical lands 11 Tony Noms; Chiwetel Ejiofor cast as Fela in biopic
• Africa in vibrant technicolor, Paul Sika talks to CNN
• African contemporary art having a global renaissance (videos)
• Notes from Columbia U’s 2010 Africa Economic Forum
• Morocco’s desert region a widescreen backdrop for Hollywood films

If, like me, you’ve been watching people and events surrounding Africa in mainstream and non-mainstream news, you’ll know that 2009 was a big year for Africa, From President Obama’s visit, to the new fiber-optic cable in Kenya, there was a lot of president-setting efforts going on in Africa. While there were the instances of political unrest, in all I think African countries had one of the better years. Looking forward to 2010, Africa seems in line to be put through some vigorous tests, From politics to agriculture and technology, in 2010 Africa will be challenged to show the world what is brewing under the hood for the next decade. Here are a few trends I think will greatly influence how Africans live and work in 2010:

1. Trickle-up innovation/reverse innovation

In 2007 C. K. Prahalad, author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, highlighted five ways that developing nations are often ahead of the curve and how multinationals can adapt to the the changing product development lifecycle. In 2010, though some analysts say the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 is in recovery, we’ll continue to see an increase in businesses looking to developing nations, including Africa, as ground zero for new product and service innovation. Organizations will not neglect consumers in developed nations though. Rather, developing nations will take precedence in business development, with markets in the west getting re-targeted efforts already proven elsewhere. The big question is will African nations also turn their innovation sights into Africa to bolster African business and gain a home-field advantage against foreign businesses.

Watch: Google, GE, Microsoft, Nokia

2. Mobile and connectivity growth and standards
At this point, mobile technology is synonymous with connectivity in Africa. From government to industry, Africans are growing more reliant on the mobile phone for all aspects of life. 2010 will see a continuance of this trend within communities, and more importantly, governments will increasingly begin to use the mobile phone as a way of reaching African civilians. We are already seeing that in Kenya’s Obama-inspired mobile campaign to educate Kenyans on public policies. Beyond mobile technology, we’ll also see a surge in government-funded connectivity efforts and legislation around Africa. With the new fiber-optic cables launch in Kenya and other regions moving more services from analog to digital, Africa’s connectivity will be a priority for forward-thinking leaders. Case in point is the Kigali government’s recent launch of a $7 million wireless hot spot facility. We can expect to also see a lot of foreign investment in development and organization of the African mobile sector. I, for one, am looking forward to the growth of mobile innovations by African entrepreneurs. Hopefully African private and public sectors can engage the independent developers to accelerate the mobile industry in 2010

Watch: Government data centers,  2010 Fifa World Cup mobile marketing, Netbook market growth, M-pesa, Fiber-optic cables usage, MTN, KenyaAirways on Twitter, Zain, Safaricom

3. Rise of the African creative class
For the past several years, young Africans have been struggling to define a new identity for the themselves in the connected global community. As political stability has solidified in many African countries and African youth have begun to exert their influence at home and abroad, a community of independent creators have strengthened their voices and come to the forefront to re-define Africa for the 21st century. Fueled by connectivity, voluntary repatriation, international travel, and the growth of African cities, Africa’s creative class will be at the center of shaping Africa in 2010. In 2009 we saw African blogging reach it’s peak and a surge in African style and design multi-media channels. From Arise Magazine, to BHF Magazine, to Design Indaba, the exploration of what it means to be African in the 21st century continued to influence all areas. In 2010, with the debut of the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa, we will see Africa’s creative class flexing their influence on everything from technology, to government policy, to international business. With so many African and foreign private and public organizations hoping to capitalize on the event, Africa’s creative class will be at the center of it all. As the core drivers of Africa’s urban areas, the creative class are the ultimate influencers. 2010 will be the year when they will be thrust into the limelight internationally. Let’s hope they (we) are ready.

Watch: Arise Magazine, Fela on Broadway, Design Indaba, Maker Faire Africa 2010, The Blk Jks, FESPACO, African Gay & Lesbian groups, Paul Sika, African Avante Garde

4. The Africa brand and tourism
The 2010 Fifa World Cup will have a major impact on Africa whatever the end result is positively or negatively. Most importantly, the World Cup will challenge African tourism, marketing, infrastructure and related industries to develop and maintain a consistent African brand identity. With the advent of high-profile global events like this and a need to share resources, African governments will have to re-visit and form cross-border alliances. While we have already seen regional groups like the East African Community strengthen their intergovernmental ties, 2010 will be the year when all African countries will have to answer the cross-border alliance question at the behest of foreign political engagement.

Watch: 2010 Fifa World Cup, African government summits, Cross-country tourism packages,  ICT sector, “Made in Africa” labeling

5. Africa and African-Americans
Not much has been said about the growing relationship between Africans and African-Americans. By and large there is still a communication rift between the two groups. But slowly, the relationship between the two groups is becoming symbiotic. While I don’t see a major shift in opinion between the two groups happening in 2010, I do expect a continuation of the rapid growth of African-American wealth to playing a part in African development. Resourceful and wealthy African-Americans will continue to invest in African culture and politics both on the continent and abroad, while Africans borrow from African-American history for lessons on developing an international identity. Particularly, a growing number of African-American entertainers and business people will see Africa as an extension of their life in the United States. some will even maintain plans to buy and move to the continent seeking a more personally and financially fruitful life. Africans will also begin to formally recognize this trend and capitalize on the brain gain. As more African-Americans look to Africa, African will become more high profile in African-American press pushing Afropolitan culture further into American pop culture.

Watch: Fela On Broadway, African real estate development, Africa correspondents in urban media, African-American foreign invetment groups.

6. China..and India
In November 2009, China pledged a multibillion-dollar package of financial and technical assistance to African governments over the next couple of years.  This was among one of the many efforts by Chinese government and business to form a tight alliance with Africa. China’s relationship with Africa will continue to dominate Africa news in 2010, with support and objections from many diverse groups as we’ve seen in 2009. The new year will also see an increase in Indian alliance with countries within the continent though it will continue to pale in comparison to China’s efforts. India and Africa will strengthen their ICT development relationships as African countries continue to push themselves as outsourcing destinations.

Watch: India-Africa learning trips, Chinese import export from Africa, Sino-African cultural conflicts.

What do you think? What other trends will influence Africa’s growth and development in 2010? Please share your comments.

Top 6 African business and culture trends to watch in 2010 is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• Morocco’s desert region a widescreen backdrop for Hollywood films
• The Paris Hilton effect on Africa’s development
• ‘Fela!’ musical lands 11 Tony Noms; Chiwetel Ejiofor cast as Fela in biopic
• Celebrity colonization of Africa (infographic)
• Notes from Columbia U’s 2010 Africa Economic Forum
• Trending Africa Nov. 18, 2009: Jay-Z, Will Smith produce Fela! musical, China’s $10bn for Africa, Dinosaurs in Africa
• Video: Ozwald Boateng on career, design and Ghanaian influences
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If you haven’t already heard FELA! The Musical has opened on the Broadway in New York City. For many people, myself included, this marks a milestone in African culture’s rise to global recognition. Nigerian musician and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti has been an major inspiration for many young Africans looking to re-define what it means to be African in the West. Ever the African icon, Fela’s music and ideas have been at the cornerstone of the growing Afropolitan culture in New York and other metropolitan areas around the world. He has inspired many creative expressions of African culture including my own early foray into Africa-influenced business. After many years as an Afropolitan lifestyle inspiration, now the essence of what Fela has defined for modern Africans has brilliantly been captured in this new musical.

In it’s glowing review of the new musical The New York Times writes:

There should be dancing in the streets. When you leave the Eugene O’Neill Theater after a performance of “Fela!,” it comes as a shock that the people on the sidewalks are merely walking. Why aren’t they gyrating, swaying, vibrating, in thrall to the force field that you have been living in so ecstatically for the past couple of hours?

The hot (and seriously cool) energy that comes from the musical gospel preached by the title character of “Fela!,” which opened on Monday night, feels as if it could stretch easily to the borders of Manhattan and then across a river or two. Anyone who worried that Bill T. Jones’s singular, sensational show might lose its mojo in transferring to Broadway can relax.

FELA! The Musical features the Afrobeat music of Fela Anikulapo–Kuti, a book by Jim Lewis and the direction and choreography of Tony® Award winner Bill T. Jones. The musical is co-produced by Jay-Z, and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith among others.

Watch the opening night and behind the scenes videos below.

If you can’t see the videos above, click here

FELA! musical hits Broadway with rave reviews is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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• This week in African Style 4/7 – 4/13/07
• This week in African style, 1/6 – 1/12/07
• African diamond facts according to Russell Simmons
• “Africa Rising” festival brings JAY-Z, Rihanna, Alek Wek to Nigeria & Washington DC
• “Africa:The Next Chapter” videos premiere

• Jay-Z, Will Smith join production team of “Fela!”, a Broadway musical about the life and music of Fela Anikulapo–Kuti. Show officially opens Monday November 23, 2009. A MUST SEE!!
• Jennifer Hudson to star in ‘Winnie’; Mandela that is
• Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the internet, is on a trip in Africa; announces 2 new projects
• New Dinosaur species discovered in South Africa
• Download financial and economic reports on all African countries courtesy of Wharton Business Schools
• China pledges $10 billion in loans to Africa over next 3 years

Trending Africa Nov. 18, 2009: Jay-Z, Will Smith produce Fela! musical, China’s $10bn for Africa, Dinosaurs in Africa is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• Africa’s next chapter convenes at TEDGlobal 2007
• Video: Ozwald Boateng on career, design and Ghanaian influences
• The Paris Hilton effect on Africa’s development
• Vh1, Spike Lee, Oprah find African ancestry
• Africa fuels Golden Globe wins
• ‘Fela!’ musical lands 11 Tony Noms; Chiwetel Ejiofor cast as Fela in biopic
• Notes from Columbia U’s 2010 Africa Economic Forum
• K’Naan launches Coca-Cola World Cup campaign
• Top 6 African business and culture trends to watch in 2010

Chosan, a hip-hop artist from Sierra Leone, for years has spent  his time  away from the microphone working with kids at a local school in Brooklyn, NY. The upcoming documentary "A Place of Refuge" documents the interactions and cross-cultural experiences between Chosan and the children. Watch below.

A Place of Refuge: A music artist from Sierra Leone helps Brooklyn NY kids (video) is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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But as the example of Ghana makes clear, that’s only one chord. Amid poverty and disease are opportunities for investment and growth — investment and growth that won’t eliminate overnight the need for assistance, much as we and Africans yearn for it to end, but that in time can build roads, schools and power grids and propel commerce to the point where aid is replaced by trade pacts, business deals and home-grown income.

President Obama can hasten that day. He knows change won’t come easily. Corruption stalks Africa’s reformers. “If you fight corruption, it fights you back,” a former Nigerian anti-corruption official has said.

Bono on Obama’s 1st Africa visit as President and rebranding the continent is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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Tony Award winning director Bill T. Jones directs and choreographs this new musical about the life of African Pop Icon Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Play runs August 5 Through September 21 only at the 37 ARTS located at 450 W. 37th Street between 9th and 10 avenues, NY, NY. Visit the website and get tickets.
More clips

Video: Fela! A New Musical (off Broadway) is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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• “Africa Rising” festival brings JAY-Z, Rihanna, Alek Wek to Nigeria & Washington DC
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• Global Hip-hop in your city
• Video: How to help Africa? Do business there

Trailer for upcoming film on a German Dj’s quest to find rare records in West Africa. Shows how African music can be truly timeless. The sounds make me miss Jump N Funk.

via Africanhiphop.com

Video: Digging in African crates for music is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• ‘Fela!’ musical lands 11 Tony Noms; Chiwetel Ejiofor cast as Fela in biopic
• 42 country, 100 exhibit Africa Pavilion unveiled for 2010 Shanghai World Expo
• African contemporary art having a global renaissance (videos)
• NY African Film Festival opens, celebrates World Cup and independent Africa
• Notes from Columbia U’s 2010 Africa Economic Forum
• FELA! musical hits Broadway with rave reviews
• Trending Africa Nov. 18, 2009: Jay-Z, Will Smith produce Fela! musical, China’s $10bn for Africa, Dinosaurs in Africa
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Friday was the kickoff for Nigeria-based media company THISDAY’s 3rd annual festival titled “Africa Rising”. The star-studded THISDAY Music and Fashion Festival at the THISDAY Dome in Abuja, Nigeria featured performances by Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Usher. The fashion portion of the festival featured models Naomi Campbell, Tyson Beckford, Alek Wek, Oluchi, and designers Chris Aire and Ozwald Boateng. The annual festival which is “focus on finding ‘sustainable solutions’ rather than the ‘problems’ facing Africa”, will be making it’s international debut with stops in Washington DC’s Kennedy Center on August 1 with Beyoncé and Seal as headliners, and in London on October 14. THISDAY has some 700 staff members in 38 offices across Nigeria. It also maintains a bureau in Washington DC, from which it provides news on Africa to a variety of global news organisations and agencies across all platforms- from online to broadcast.

“Right now the international community seems to be dealing with the symptoms not the problems of Africa. The symptoms are poverty and disease, but the problem is lack of social and physical infrastructure. This initiative is to highlight the need to focus sustainable solutions on the problems through massive investment in infrastructure and microfinance in order to rebuild Africa from the ground up. Europe is what it is today because after World War II the ‘Marshall Plan’ took hold. It did not deal with poverty, it focused on rebuilding Europe.” – said media mogul Nduka Obaigbena, THISDAY’s Editor-in-Chief.

The “Africa Rising” event “tour” reflects a rapidly growing trend in the Africa-focused aid sector: African’s creating products with a sustainability focus targeted to both African and international consumers. I’m eager to see what the attendance numbers are for the UK and US events.

more pics

“Africa Rising” festival brings JAY-Z, Rihanna, Alek Wek to Nigeria & Washington DC is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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• The Independent names 50 best African artists
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• Africans on TIME’s 100 most influential people list
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Video: Africa’s creative minds gather at Design Indaba ’08 is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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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.

Africa 2.0 panel at SXSW Interactive 2008 is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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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 РMichael Bubl̩
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 РBeyonc̩ & 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
3. Fantasia – Fantasia
4. East Side Story – Emily King
5. Because Of You – Ne-Yo

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

1. I Wanna Love You – Akon Featuring Snoop Dogg
2. Kiss, Kiss – Chris Brown & T-Pain
3. Let It Go – Keyshia Cole Featuring Missy Elliott & Lil’ Kim
4. Umbrella – Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z
5. Good Life – Kanye West Featuring T-Pain

Best Traditional World Music Album

1. When The Soul Is Settled: Music Of Iraq – Rahim Al Haj With Souhail Kaspar
2. From Mali To America – Cheick Hamala Diabate & Bob Carlin
3. Live At Couleur Café – Konono Nº1
4. African Spirit – Soweto Gospel Choir
5. Singing For Life: Songs Of Hope, Healing, And HIV/AIDS In Uganda – Various Artists

Best Contemporary World Music Album

1. C̩u РC̩u
2. Gil Luminoso – Gilberto Gil
3. Momento – Bebel Gilberto
4. Djin Djin – Angelique Kidjo
5. An Ancient Muse – Loreena McKennitt

African nominees for 2008 Grammy awards is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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• 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!)

Annansi notes: Brangelina buys Ethiopia, Africom, MTV Africa awards begins, (RED)washing at Gap is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

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• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• New magazine changing image of African women
• This week in African Style 1/20 – 1/26/07
• African diamond facts according to Russell Simmons
• Russell Simmons: Blood diamonds and responsibility
• Annansi Notes: Fall Out Boy, Mandela, Clint Eastwood, African babies, Facebook in Kenya

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)

Cultures collide: Souja Boy African Remix is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• After Gladwell’s Blink, Kenna’s new dilemma
• Annansi Notes: Fall Out Boy, Mandela, Clint Eastwood, African babies, Facebook in Kenya
• “Africa:The Next Chapter” videos premiere
• The Paris Hilton effect on Africa’s development
• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• Africa’s next chapter convenes at TEDGlobal 2007
• Africans on TIME’s 100 most influential people list
• This week in African Style 4/14 – 4/20/07
• The Independent names 50 best African artists
• ‘Fela!’ musical lands 11 Tony Noms; Chiwetel Ejiofor cast as Fela in biopic

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.

Reggae star Lucky Dube killed in Johannesburg is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• Global Hip-hop in your city
• Africans on TIME’s 100 most influential people list
• Annansi Notes: Fall Out Boy, Mandela, Clint Eastwood, African babies, Facebook in Kenya
• “Africa:The Next Chapter” videos premiere
• LAFF & African Film Commission hosts On the Rumba River
• 112 years later, African art (and controversy) at Venice Biennale
• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• (RED) Vanity Fair charity album by Youssou N’Dour
• Top African-American talent plan trip to African Union Summit, Ghana
• Vanity Fair’s Africa issue debuts

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.

If you haven’t heard Kenna’s music yet, I encourage you to get familiar. Kenna, born Kenna Zemedkun, makes some of the most inspiring left of center music today. As a member of the Neptunes production duo’s (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) extended StarTrak family, Kenna’s sound is not what you’d expect pop music to be. Though his previous album New Sacred Cow, the subject of Gladwell’s chapter, had a creative video for the single “Freetime” and gained a 3 star review from Rolling Stone Magazine, it has not made Kenna the superstar he needs to be. Not one to be deterred, Kenna returns this time around with a new marketing strategy for his new cd Make Sure They See My Face. As with similar African-born western-raised artists such as K’Naan, Akon, Somi, and Chosan, Kenna’s comfort with balancing his African and western identities make his music uncategorizable for many. This time around though the combination of re-newed interest in ’80s-style music and fashion, the growth of the popular black nerd trend (Pharrell, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West) as an alternative to the blinged out hip-hop stereotype, and Kenna’s own growth as an artist and business man, position’s Kenna and his music for better commercial success. Kenna’s image and music adds another dynamic to the growing Afropolitan demographic. As Kenna and the Afropolitan demographic grows more confident in his/her own identity they are exerting incresing influence on popular culture through their art. Hopefully the only dilemma Kenna will face this time around will be how to live with his celebrity. I’ll be watching his rise, and so should you.
NPR on Kenna’s career

Upcoming in-store appearances
CLEVELAND, OH
Tuesday Oct. 16th @ 4 PM-
Instore performance and signing
Borders Books & Music
3466 Mayfield Rd.
Cleveland Heights
216.291.8605

ANN ARBOR, MI
Thursday Oct. 18th @ 4 PM
Instore performance and signing
Borders Books & Music
612 E. Liberty Ann Arbor
734.668.7652

NEW YORK, NY
Monday Oct. 22nd @ 12 PM
Instore performance and signing
Borders Books & Music (Wall Street)
100 Broadway
212.964.1988

BOSTON, MA
Tuesday Oct. 23rd @ 4 PM
Instore performance and signing
Borders Books & Music (Downtown Crossing)
10-24 School Street
617.557.7188

PHILADELPHIA, PA
Thursday Oct. 25th @ 1 PM
Instore performance and signing
FYE
100 S. Broad Street
215.496.8338

ATLANTA, GA
Monday Oct. 29th @ Time TBC
Instore performance and signing
Criminal Records
466 Mooreland Avenue, NE
404.215.9511

ORLANDO, FL
Tuesday Oct. 30th @ 3 PM
Instore performance and signing
Park Ave CDs
2916 Corrine Drive
407.447.PARK

After Gladwell’s Blink, Kenna’s new dilemma is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• The Paris Hilton effect on Africa’s development
• Top African-American talent plan trip to African Union Summit, Ghana
• Africa’s next chapter convenes at TEDGlobal 2007
• Cultures collide: Souja Boy African Remix
• Annansi Notes: Fall Out Boy, Mandela, Clint Eastwood, African babies, Facebook in Kenya
• New magazine changing image of African women
• Bono: the busiest man in Africactivism
• The Independent names 50 best African artists
• Tanzania launches first ever US television campaign on CNN

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.

African family adopts Britney’s kids!, Slate.com is a post from Annansi Chronicles - African business and culture trends

• This week in African style, 1/6 – 1/12/07
• Annansi Notes: Fall Out Boy, Mandela, Clint Eastwood, African babies, Facebook in Kenya
• Top African-American talent plan trip to African Union Summit, Ghana
• Africa’s next chapter convenes at TEDGlobal 2007
• Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson in the motherland
• The Paris Hilton effect on Africa’s development
• Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards
• (RED) Vanity Fair charity album by Youssou N’Dour
• Africans on TIME’s 100 most influential people list
• New magazine changing image of African women