Music, book and film reviews from the last 3 months
The wars in Syria and Iraq are (mostly) over, but the region’s rich cultural heritage remains at risk. Mosul, Aleppo, Baghdad – whose Iraqi Museum was looted after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 – Damascus and Palmyra are some of the oldest cities in the world. Life and civilization have continued and evolved…
Read moreSyria is the Arab country that has best preserved the physical evidence of its pre-Islamic past: from the proto-Semitic cultures of the Levant (such as the Phoenicians to Mesopotamians and Assyrians) to Greek and Roman (the city of Palmyra, as well as Damascus and Aleppo, exemplifying this multifaceted aspect of the Syrian heritage). In fact,…
Read moreThe head of a musical movement that is both cultural and profitable, Michael Kwesi Owusu Addo, known professionally as Sarkodie, achieved this position due to the stylistic ductility and the quality of his texts in the Twi language. With the international emergence of modern African music, in the eighties, a number of stars of that…
Read moreThe Qhapaq Ñan is an extraordinary set of roads constructed by the Incas. This network connects several Andean villages and sites that highlight the Inca ancestral architecture. This road system was a route of trade and it contributed greatly to cultural exchanges. The Qhapaq Ñan is a set of roads, which is said to be…
Read morePlants have been a source of effective therapeutic agents for various diseases. Globally, there is a growing interest in the development of drugs of plant origin. Lantana camara (Family Verbenaceae); common name lantana, is one of the plants known to have great therapeutic potential. It is an erect or subscandent, vigorous shrub which can grow…
Read moreWearing a mask is essential when faced with a virus like Covid-19. The notion of human protection from disease by the use of masks is a practice that goes back thousands of years in the traditions of great civilisations all over the world. A glance at African cultures. In Africa, various traditions have used masks…
Read moreEvocative music, blending ancestral melodies and pop rhythms. “I hear our ancestors encouraging us to find our Promised Land and challenge injustice.” The Shona People of Zimbabwe love the mbira, a Sub-Saharan musical instrument. The mbira is a small wooden tablet (often about the width of two hands beside each other) on top of which…
Read moreThe Dream Catchers Academy is an organisation that helps street children. To give them some dignity and a future. Lagos is the biggest city in the whole of the African continent and one of the most densely populated in the world. It is so big that other ‘cities’ have formed within Lagos itself. In the…
Read moreVital in traditional medicine for the treatment and management of various disease conditions. The ash is used for oxytocic action, and externally, the ash is applied for the treatment of scabies. The Yje plant possesses potent sources of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents. Articles about the use of plants as a source of medicine for the…
Read moreHis name is Steven Umoh but in the world of music, he is known by all as Obongjayar. One of the rising stars of new African music, he is one of the best-known personalities on the contemporary Nigerian scene. His style ranges from funk to electronic, mixing melodies, rap and talking, modernist soul and Afrobeat.…
Read moreA visual Mexican artist collects arms used during violent times in his country and transforms them into works of art, to demonstrate how human beings have more powerful arms to convey their message in the form of images, literature, thoughts and words. Originally from Jalisco, one of the Mexican states situated in the western part…
Read moreHis eighties hit Yeke Yeke made him one of the prime artists of nascent world music. The singer and musician Mory Kanté has died aged seventy after a long illness. Originally from Guinea, he was known all over the world especially for his hit, Yeke Yeke, launched in 1987. That piece of music, containing ethnic…
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“What we would like to achieve when we talk about peace. Peace means self-determination. Peace means biological conservation. Peace means revitalization of our culture and…
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At that time Viracocha, the creator God, looked down upon the earth. He saw it was bare, shrouded in impenetrable darkness, for daylight did not yet…
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“Young Africans are playing an active role in bringing social change in the continent. They are contributing daily to the benefit of their communities and nations…
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