Book Review:Auma Obama’s Life Between Different Cultures

                                                                        Okayafrica.com

“I hugged her, we looked at each other, and just laughed. I knew then that I loved her.” With these words blood ties were restored between two siblings who were seeing each other for the first time as young adults.

Auma Obama first met her big half-brother Barack Obama in the United States in the late eighties. The reunion gave roots to a solid bond, which led to trips to Kenya, where the Obama family originates, research into family history, and Auma’s support for her brother’s bid to become the first black president of the United States.

We caught Auma in South Africa, just one of the stops on a worldwide tour for her book And Then Life Happens. The new book tells the story of her family – focusing on her relationship with her father as well as her brother Barack, but also on her own search for identity and belonging. Born in Kenya, Auma left the country at the age of 19 to study in Germany. During her 16 years there, she was confronted with the contradictions between European and African culture, where she feared being an outsider to both. Her personal story gives insight into life between different cultures – a life influenced by notions of migration and globalization, frustration and the feeling of being torn apart.

 


















Read more about Auma and the book here.

Film Review: The Jackson 5 in Africa

                                                                                                                                  OkayAfrica.com  
                                                         

Three years after Michael Jackson`s death, a film has been released about his and his brothers The Jackson 5`S first-ever visit and stage performance in Africa. Narrated by renowned actor Robert Hooks, the camera follows Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5`s tour to Senegal,in West Africa. The film includes live footage of their visit to an African market, classic live footage of the group spontaneously performing "Hum Along and Dance," and extraordinary footage of the Jackson 5 performing on stage before a packed audience at the height of their career in the mid-Seventies.

"The history of the film is nearly as interesting as the footage itself," explains the film's South African distribution company 7UP FILMS director Mark Harris. "It was made by a group of African investors who ran out of money trying to finish the film. In 1982, the owner of this film, an anonymous businessman bartered with one of the original producers, acquiring a 16mm print of this rare documentary, in exchange for a rough diamond. Years later, the film's owner reached out to Gregory Gates, Exec Producer of Image Nation Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to progressive media created by and about people of color, to help him find a collector/buyer for the never-before-screened work. Gladly,he accepted and the film was put together.

What was evident from their first performance in Dakar,was how plugged in to African-American culture the Senegalese-and indeed all Africans-were at that time. It is a trend which has grown immensely over the ensuing years. A fitting tribute to the King Pop three years after his untimely demise.

Interview: Jozi Reprezenter DJ Kenzhero

                                                                                                                                           Okayafrica.com 

DJ Kenzhero talks to OKA contributor Daluxolo Moloantoa about his monthly Party People rager — a traveling event that’s touched down in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and, even, Mozambique — and the future of hip-hop in South Africa.

Daluxolo for Okayafrica: Which part of South Africa (SA) are you from, and tell us just a bit about your family?

DJ Kenzhero: I was born in Soweto, South Africa I’ve four siblings excluding my late older brother. No one in my family was a musician or in music.

OKA: You dropped out of university to follow a music career. Is music something you’ve always wanted to do?

DJ K: I always had it at the back of my head that I wanted to do music. I didn’t know what exactly but knew I wanted to put my fingers in music. Producing was more attractive though from a young age. I liked deciphering songs like, how many vocal layers or guess instruments used. Not until I met my friends at varsity did I wanna take it on. One of them (Bhubesi) was into emceeing and I took the position to make music, but djing came before that.

OKA: What is the idea/concept behind Party People?

DJ K: Exactly what’s in the name, people that party. People focus on branding lately or other things, but Party People’s cornerstone is put the music first it doesn’t have to be a pretty party.

OKA: When and where does the event take place?

DJ K: Always at the end of the month since 2006 July, mostly Cape Town and Johannesburg but it’s a traveling property so it has happened in Soweto and other places in SA like Port Elizabeth, Durban and even outside SA like Maputo, Mozambique and the idea is to try do it more outside SA and beyond.

OKA: You have been in the South African hip hop music scene for a solid ten years? What have you learned in the process, and how did you achieve this?


DJ K: The market is not shaped yet, there is a lot of opportunities for young people to make hip hop into a business, lifestyle, or hobby. So I’ve used the opportunity to bring acts that may have never made it here in the 90s when they were not allowed into the country because of Apartheid.

OKA: Party People was one of the first, if not the first hip hop club night in SA to invite overseas artists. Please give us a rundown of the major acts that have took the stage at Party People and which were your highlights?

DJ K: Yes I mean there was a period where most artist were shifting into commercial hip hop but their aim was premature as the scene was still developing which left a gap for acts that have not made it here, so we nearly jumped an important era. I grew up in the golden era of hip hop so I brought guys like Bahamadia, J-Live, Kev Brown, Masta Ace through Party People, and other acts like ?uestlove, Dj Premier, Mos Def in collaboration with other people or production companies …They have all been highlights for me.

OKA: Who are you currently most excited about in the SA hip hop scene, and what do you think is the future for conscious hip hop in SA.

DJ K: Well there cats like Tumi, Pro Kid, Proverb, Amu, etc who came from the 90s era and are still relevant, but also new cats like AKA, who captures all kinds of markets. The label “conscious hip hop” has changed or evolved. It’s a long and tired argument that you’re either a successful hip hop artist or not, you could say conscious things and whatever else on a record but it’s important to say conscious things on a record because it’s getting extinct and that would cause a huge moral degeneration in hip hop in SA.

OKA: What are you career highlights thus far?

DJ K: Many. Most with SA acts or events in SA, but the Masta Ace gig is in my top 5. Meeting Mos Def and ?uestlove were good moments, and connecting Dj Premier to meet Mandela was huge too.

OKA: Pick five of your favorite albums.

DJ K: Birth Of Cool by Miles Davis , What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye, Innervision by Stevie Wonder, 
Black Star by Mos Def & Talib Kweli (Black Star), and 
Beats Rhymes and Life by A Tribe Called Quest.

OKA: What’s next for Party People?

DJ K: Doing a reunion show with Masta Ace, Bahamadia, Kev Brown and J-Live in December. We also have Party People TV
, Party People radio,
 Party People outside of SA, and 
Party People compilations in the works.

OKA: Finally: hip hop entrepreneurship is not such a big phenomenon in SA. What do you think should be done to encourage the hip hop movement here to look beyond the music and grow hip hop as a business?

DJ K: I think the entrepreneurship is there, it’s just in its early stages. The next generation born in hip hop will have no choice but to take it on from what the past and current generation has done. We can’t use too much of what the United States or elsewhere are doing, we need to find a way to morph our scene according to what SA is doing.