Afrikanische Kultur Fest (African Culture Festival) in Frankfurt - 20 - 22 August

Afrikanische Kulturfest (African Culture Festival) in Solmspark Rödelheim in Frankfurt Germany - August 20 – 22. Free entrance!

In Commemoration of Enslavement and Colonialism and Their Impact on People of African descent

On the coming weekend, from August 20-22, the 5th African Cultural Festival is going to take place in Frankfurt. The event has – like every year - been organized by the Senegalese Association (www.senegal-verein.de). At the center of the 2010 event is the commemoration of the impact enslavement and colonialism had on the African continent.

Considering that already in February 2010 a historic tribunal had taken place in Berlin to address the 125th Berlin Afrika Konferenz and the subject of reparations (http://www.tribunal-afrikakonferenz-berlin.org/), it can be said that Germany in this year has seen more events – organized by the African Diaspora - than ever before that deal with the subject matters of enslavement and colonialism and its relevancy in Black history.

The Senegalese Association in Frankfurt chose the statement „Forgive but don’t forget“ for the festival to underline the importance they see in speaking and informing about the impact hundreds of years of enslavement and the related policies of Europe had and still have on Africa and its Diaspora.

Therefore, at the end of the opening day on Friday, a discussion round with special guests will look at the question what 50 years of ‘Independence’ mean for African countries today and how it is related to the long journey from enslavement to political emancipation. Participants will discuss how the African – European relationship has developed over time and which topics concerning those two continents are at the forefront today.

The island Gorée, located at the coast of Senegal, is a worldwide known place which is representative for the cruel experiences African people went through when they were enslaved and taken from the African continent to the Americas or Europe. Goree Island is on the west coast of Africa at the nearest point on the continent to the Americas.

Today, the island is a famous tourist attraction which attracts every year many visitors wanting to inform themselves about the history and realities of African people’s enslavement. The organizers of the African Festival in Frankfurt invited Eloy Coly, the curator of Gorée, to Frankfurt to introduce to the audience the history of the place via a multimedia presentation.

The opening ceremony of the African Festival takes place on Friday, 18:30 p.m., at Alexanderstraße 37, 60489 Frankfurt am Main.
On Saturday and Sunday the program will continue at the nearby Solmspark close to Alexanderstrasse.

For more information
www.manga-event.com
www.senegal-verein.de/

Sharing the AfroEuropean Experience. My visit to the 25th yearly Bundestreffen in Germany.

Last weekend I was in Germany. ISD (Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland – Intiative Black People in Germany) organized the Bundestreffen for the 25th time in a row. This means 25 years of black German coming together, 25 years of theater, dance, workshops, debates, presentations, films, music, knowledge sharing, book selling and more. All focused around the black German experience, and actually by extension, the experience of being black in the Western world. The Bundestreffen doesn’t seem to be on its way out, it is alive and kicking and apparently there to stay.

After knowing it for years I wanted to experience it for myself and took off to Helmarshausen, a little village in Hessen, in the geographical heart of Germany. I am not German but I felt that I could relate to this community being African and European at the same time. And checking googlemaps I realized it wasn’t even that far, just a 4.30 hours drive.

Video: Filmmaker Mo Asumang about herself and Berlin

H/T Black in NRW: An interview with German filmmaker, actress, and moderator Mo Asumang. She is well known in Germany due to her documentary movies and TV moderation. Recently she has gained International exposure being featured in Roman Polanski's movie "The Ghostwriter" playing Condoleezza Rice.

In the interview with Fareed Khimani, she talks about herself and about her city Berlin. They also visit the multicultural festivities on labour day in the famous immigrant neighbourhood Kreuzberg. According to Asumang the special thing about the festivities on labour day is that you always have riots between Neo-Nazis, left-wing people and the police.

But Kreuzberg is also the home of the Carnival of Cultures http://www.karneval-berlin.de

Also see the post: AfroGerman week: filmmaker Mo Asumang in search of "Roots Germania"

German Zoos displaying ‘Africa’ and Africans – again!

From Der Braune Mob: Once again German zoos are organising “Africa days” one of whose framework program includes African people as well as their presentations, art and culture, becoming part of a visit to the zoo!

Zoo Eberswalde:
Excerpt from the leaflet:

Enjoy African flair with spirited live music and dance performed by the band Odjadike and the Ballet Zebola from Congo.
(…)
This event is supposed to support the ethnic group of the San, the “last first people”, helping them to help themselves, in terms of a gentle integration into our modern age.

One would have thought that the case “African Village 2005” in Augsburg would have gotten about in this sector and would have led to a learning process. Back then a range of international (and German) protests arose;

however the event did get realised, braced by arguments (by the zoo director) as “otherwise ‘coloured people’ could not be shown in common sport events either” and that “the zoo” be “exactly … the right place” to “convey the atmosphere of exotic” and to make the “African culture” accessible for the inhabitants of Augsburg.

Back then one of the main ‘justifications’ was that the proceeds would benefit a ‘good cause’. As if this would not be possible through an event within an dignified frame, which does not link to the German history of brutal Völkerschauen (human zoos).

Read full story here

AfroGerman week: Noah Sow - Author, singer and activist

Noah Sow is the author of the book "Deutschland Schwarz weiss - der alltägliche Rassismus" ("Deutschland Black & white. Everyday Racism"). And front woman of her Punk Rock band NOISEAUX . And she is also the founder of the anti-racist media watch dog "Der Braune mob". And if that's not enough she also appears on television as a moderator.

In an interview she talks about the media watch dog and the racial issues in Germany. "Der braune mob is Germany's first and as far as I know only media watchdog that's concerned with issues of discriminatory and politically incorrect language, content or pictures, mainly in media and advertising. Our focus lies on educating about what public racial discrimination actually is.

We have a lot to do, as Germany is a developing country in terms of racism. Most of the time the newspapers don't even know that for example referring to Obama as 'the coloured candidate' is wrong, so when we write to them they argue a lot. Plus, in Germany, the word racism is taboo.

If you accuse someone of having used a racist expression, they will deny that it's racist even when the term the N-Word is said."

Music
The Punk Rock band NOISEAUX


Book
In the book Deutschland Black & white she write about racism, but not about being black in Germany. "My book isn't about being black," explains Sow in an interview. "It's a mix between humour, education, how racism was 'invented' and what it serves for. It also about structural racism, like in sports, government, police and media. And its about modern and new racist strategies and how to beat them, and also - what I thought was very important - ideas how to help end racism, for the future.

So it's not a book about being black. Actually it's almost the opposite. It's about the role of whiteness in perpetuating racism. Can be used for self-medication. From the feedback so far, white readers learned something new about themselves and black readers had a good time with the humour chapters, like 'List of stupid phrases we never want to hear again - and according answers."

Although the book is written in German, there is a interesting English section with large outline of her book, and her 'List of stupid phrases'. One of those stupid phrases is "I cannot be a racist, I have a Black wife / Black children.” See her website for the answer here.

Read full interview here: here.

Links
Website: www.noahsow.de
Website Media Organisation www.derbraunemob.de
Website book Deutschland Schwarz Weiss (Ger) http://deutschlandschwarzweiss.de/en/index.html

AfroGerman week: The exhibition “Homestory Deutschland”

Homestory Germany "is a multimedia theatre piece of the authors Sharon Dodua Otoo and Manuela Ritz.

The exihibition highligts 300 years of black German history, by highlighting six black German life stories.


Websites: www.sharonotoo.com/homestorydeutschland
Blog: http://homestorydeutschland.blogspot.com
And:inspiredcomm-unity.blogspot.com/

AfroGerman week: Singer Joy Denalane - "Im Ghetto von Soweto"

Joy Maureen Denalane (South African/German) known as Joy Denalane, is a German singer-songwriter, known for her mixture of soul, R&B, and African folk music with lyrics in German and English.

In 2002 she released the album 'Mamani' (2002) with the song "Im Ghetto von Soweto" featuring Hugh Masekela.



website: www.joydenalane.com/

AfroGerman week: Hans J. Massaquoi growing up in Nazi Germany

Hans J. Massaquoi, former Managing editor of Ebony Magazine, tells of growing up Black in Nazi Germany in his book, 'Desitined To Witness'.

This very powerful story was brought to the German Television in a two part docu-drama in 2006.

In his autobiography, Destined to Witness, Massaquoi describes his childhood and youth in Hamburg during the Nazi rise to power. His biography provides a unique point of view: he was one of very few German-born mulattoes in all of Nazi Germany, shunned, but not persecuted by the Nazis. This dichotomy remained a key theme throughout his whole life.

Massaquoi lived a simple, but happy childhood with his mother, Bertha Nikodijevic. His father, Al-Haj Massaquoi, was a law student in Dublin who only occasionally lived with the family at the consul general home in Hamburg. Eventually, the consul general was recalled to Liberia, and Hans Massaquoi and his mother remained in Germany. (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

The daily life of the young Massaquoi was remarkable. He was one of the few mixed race children in Nazi Germany, and like most of the other children his age, he dreamed of joining the Hitler Youth. Increasingly, however, he realized the true nature of Nazism. His skin color made him a target for racist abuse.


See more videos here

However, in contrast to German Jews or German Roma, Massaquoi—as a German Negro—was not persecuted. He was "just" a second-class citizen, which was actually a blessing in disguise. During World War II, his "impurity" spared him from being drafted into the German army. As unemployment, hunger and poverty grew rampant, he even tried to enlist, but he was rejected by the officers. In this time, he befriended the family of Ralph Giordano, a half-Jewish acquaintance of their swing kid age, who survived the war by hiding and ended up being a journalist as well. (source wikipedia)

Update:

Hans Massaquoi has died Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, on his 87th birthday in Jacksonville USA. See the post here.

Links to videos of Destined to witness
Destined to witness, part 1
Destined to witness, part 2
Destined to witness, part 3
Destined to witness, part 4
Destined to witness, part 5
Destined to witness, part 6
Destined to witness, part 7

AfroGerman week: Singer Adé Bantu founder of My Brothers Keepers

Adegoke Odukoya, better known as Adé Bantu (born July 13, 1971 in Wembley, London) is a Nigerian-German musician, producer and activist. He is best known as the founder of the Afro-German musical collective and NGO Brothers Keepers and as the front man of Bantu & Afrobeat Academy Band. He received the Kora Award (the Pan-African equivalent of the Grammy) for his album "Fuji Satisfaction" in 2005.

Adé Bantu was born in Wembley, London. He is biracial, being the son of a German mother and a Nigerian father. In 1973 he relocated to Lagos, Nigeria with his parents Adeleke Odukoya and Barbara Odukoya. After the death of his father in 1986 he moved with his mother and 3 siblings to Germany. (source wikipedia)

Bantu - Ilé



Bonus video BANTU Live! Koln; Follow Your Road


Website Brothers Keepers http://brotherskeepers.org

AfroGerman week: filmmaker Mo Asumang in search of "Roots Germania"

Mo Asumang (Ghanaian/German) is a well known German filmmaker, actress and moderator. She received wide acclaim with the film "Roots Germania" (2007).

About the film she writes on her website: " Mo was able to solve a trauma caused by racism; She undertakes a journey to discover her roots and her identity, facing her African father in Ghana, her White German Mother in German, and Jürgen Rieger, the head of the neonaziparty NPD. The catalyst of this journey, a threat over her life received by the NeoNazi Band "White Aryan Rebels", becomes a poignant tool for self discovery and a sharp reflection to matters of racism in Germans society of today. "

But critics say the film is not so much about racism, but more about Mo's personal journey.

In the video she meets Jürgen Rieger, the head of the Neo-Nazi party NPD. She interviews him about his plan to "breed" Germans.



A short English translation

I have got an appointment with him, but I didn't say I was black.

(1:12) MA: [outside in the garden] You made a attempt to “breed” Germans?

Jürgen Rieger (JR): No, I didn’t made a attempt

(1:25) MO: But you were looking for a family who would be willing to go Sweden and would over there breed Germanic people. That what you said.

JR: No.

(1:45) JR: The Nordic race is relatively objective and other races are most of the time not objective. I also see that in you.

I was searching for a German couple who wanted to live in a settlement in Sweden, without world influences. Free of drugs

I didn't say I was searching for a family for racial breeding. That a big difference.

(2:21) MO: Can I apply?

JR: No.

MA: Why not?

JR: You are not from Germanic descent.

MA: Why not?

JR: Look in the mirror.

(2: 27) MA: You could ostracize your daughter from the family because she married someone with different skin colour.

JR:I would totally break with my daughter. She couldn’t enter the house anymore. It is clear, I am totally against it It would be the same as cutting of the roots. It would be the worst thing.

(3: 03) JR: In my opinion I don't think Germans, in about 200 years , should look like you. They should look like the other four [pointing at the camera team].

MR: Are you racially pure?

JR: He is more racially pure. The camera man

I wonder why you surround yourself with Nordic persons. There is more Nordic substance
here then you usually see in the German population.

It’s really remarkable. The moderator is half afro, African ..

Website: www.mo-asumang-management.com

AfroGerman week: Poet Olumide Popoola

Olumide Popoola is a Nigerian German performer, poet and writer. She has performed internationally, increasingly also as a guest lecturer or speaker and collaborates with other artists and musicians.

In Germany she is known especially as one of the editors (and contributor) of the anthology ‘Talking Home' (bluemoonpress 1999) and for winning the May Ayim Award for Poetry in 2004, the first International Black German Literary Award.



Website: www.olumidepopoola.com/
Her blog: http://olumidepopoola.blogspot.com

Olumide Popoola's work is inspired by Afro-German Poet May Ayim. So it's interesting to see them both performing (in this post).

AfroGerman week: Artist Naomi Bendt teaches self-consciousness trough art

Berlin Artist Naomi Bendt works with children for the organisation “Interkulturelles Netzwerk Jugend Berlin – Kreuzberg”. The project was sponsored by the German social lottery Aktion Mensch.

In the short promo video Bendt says: Aktion Mensch means self-consciousness to me. My goal is that the children become more aware of themselves. Self-consciousness is also important if, like me, you have a different cultural background. If you have healthy self-consciousness you wont be influenced that easily. It means that you are of proud of your heritage and know who you are.



See painting of Naomi Bendt here
Her website is under construction.

AfroGerman week: Rapper Samy Deluxe

One of Germany’s most famous rappers. In 2001 he scored a hit with his debut song "Weck mich auf" (Wake me up" from his debut album “Samy Deluxe”.

Delux is a member of the German anti-racism project Brothers Keepers.

A snippet from "Weck mich auf"
We live in a country where there are more barriers then roads,
More walls then bridges, the mood´s depressing.
And our elders ask: Why do I smoke weed on daily bases?
And why is that that my generation and me are so depressed?
All day we are surrunded by living death ...
Surrounded by signs saying : “Do not enter!”
Surrounded by skinheads, taking lives of Turks and Africans .. See full translation here


See an English subtitled video below



Website: www.samy-deluxe.de/

Afro-German week: Actor Tyron Ricketts in "AfroDeutsch"

AfroDeutsch (AfroGerman) is an intriguing short film (2002) by actor and musician Tyron Ricketts. It’s the movie title song for Afro-Germans.

The film describes what it’s like growing up in Germany as Afro-German, with all its facets. Ricketts (1973) was born in Austria to a Jamaican father and an Austrian mother. He now lives in Germany.

To put the film into context. The film was made after the racist killing of the black German Adrinio in 2000 by Neo Nazis. In the same period the Afro-German anti-racism group Brothers Keepers was formed of which Tyron Ricketts is a member.

The big news is that the film is subtitled in English just recently.




Website Tyron Ricketts www.tyronricketts.com

Website Brothers Keepers http://brotherskeepers.org

Commemoration of German race-hate victim Alberto Adriano, 11-12 June 2010 in Dessau

Ten years ago Afro-German Alberto Adriano was brutally killed by three Nazi youths in a park in the Eastern German city of Dessau. To commemorate Adriano, a commemorative event, a memorial concert and a conference will be held on 11 and 12 June in Dessau.

In the evening of June 11the 2000 Alberto Adriano was brutally murdered by three drunken neo-Nazis. They told the police they did it because they hated foreigners.

Alberto Adriano - who had lived and worked in Germany for more than 20 years - had been celebrating a forthcoming trip to Mozambique. Read the full story: Race hate in Germany (BBC)

For more information about the commemoration see: Kommentar: Alberto Adriano – Gedenken anlässlich des 10. Todestages

And photos of the funeral of Adriano, and of East Germany in 2000 here.

In 2001 the German Anti-Racism organisation "Brothers Keepers" made the single "Adriano – Letzte Warnung“, ("Adriano - Final Warning").



A state court sentenced one man to life in prison and two 16-year-old skinhead accomplices to nine years each for the murder of a 39-year-old immigrant from Mozambique.

Black race-hate victims in Europe:

Kerwin Duinmijer (20 August 1983) - Netherlands
Stephen Lawrence (22 April 1993) - UK
Alberto Adriano (11 June 2000) – Germany

Black German theatre group serves up snapshots of German racism

From Der Schwarze Blog:
The German Theatre ensemble Label Noir will peform the play “Heimat, bittersüße Heimat” ("Homeland, Bittersweet Homeland") on 4-6 June in the Hoftheater in Berlin.

A theater group is challenging Germany's assumptions about race, culture and identity with a courageous new production that sheds light on the black German experience of everyday racism.

"My, but you speak excellent German - flawless grammar, perfect accent. Keep up the good work!"

The elderly lady with a prim hat and pursed lips tries to compliment the young black woman sitting on the park bench beside her, but her praise backfires when it's obvious that she can hardly grasp the notion that a person of color can be German at the same time.

This scene is one of a dizzying array of sketches that combine humor and poignant realism to mirror part of the black/Afro-German experience with unsettling clarity.

"Heimat, bittersuesse Heimat" - which translates to "Homeland, Bittersweet Homeland" - blends scenes of daily life with satirical theater. The actors play themselves as well as their white fellow citizens, whose well-meaning questions and remarks often come across as ignorant, invasive and presumptuous.

Audience reactions to the racist gaffes on stage ranged from hushed embarrassment to howls of laughter.

"If you have black friends, they're just laughing," said Vanessa Rottenburg, who plays the Afro-German in the park bench scene, "because their reaction is: 'Oh yeah, I know that grandma.'" Read the full story of the Deutsch Welle here

So more info
www.amadeu-antonio.de

Where is Ayo?

It's quiet around the Afro-German/Nigerian singer and songwriter Ayo. The latest news in October 2009 was that she was taking a break in Paris before starting to work on her third album. Her last album was Gravity at Last (2008).

And she also starred in a documentary, titled “Joy,” The film shows her life and the search for her roots during the preparations and execution of her first concert in Nigeria, the birth country of her father. But the film was planned to be released early 2010, and is now expected to finish in late 2010. It seems I will have to wait.

So here is "Lonely" from the album Gravity at Last.


http://www.ayomusic.com/

Singer Lebogang Masemola to perform in Munich

Afro Soul singer Lebogang Masemola will be performing on May 19th in Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich. She also performed at the Pan African congres in 2009 with a South African hyme.

For Lebogang Masemola music is freedom. She says “ It is in music that we can just BE. Whether joyful or sad, music can embrace or alter the situation” A way of life that is rooted in her origin. Lebogang was born and raised in South Africa and presently resides in Hamburg Germany.




Details
Hotel Bayerischer Hof
Nightclub
Promenadeplatz 2-6
80333 München

On Myspace: Lebogang Masemola

May Ayim - "Hope in my Heart " Trailer (Germany)

Today, on May 3rd 2010, the Afro-German poet and activist May Ayim (1960 – 1996) would have turned 50. In memory of her the documentary "Hope in My Heart" was shown in Berlin. Spotted on Black.in.nrw

About the documentary Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story (1997) TWN wrote:
A moving documentary about the life and untimely death of Afro-German poet May Ayim which contains both performances by Ayim and places her in the history of the emerging Afro-German movement.

In the foreword to Ayim's blues in swarz weiss (blues in black and white) Maryse Conde wrote "... With the unmistakable sound of her voice her poems spoke to me of her, told of others that are like her and yet so unlike her in Germany, in Africa, in America. These poems held passion and irony ... In May's voice I found the echo of other voices from the diaspora." 

Watch the full documentary at http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2013/05/the-documentary-hope-in-my-heart-of.html

Accomplished: Name of May Ayim on German street sign

Finally it has materialised, the street sign of German poetess and activist May Ayim.

"For the first time in Germany, the name of a controversial figure of the colonial past has been replaced on a street sign with the name of a person who critically wrote about racism and colonialism and fought against the consequences."

May Ayim (1960-1996) fought against ongoing racism in Germany and was active in the women’s movement. (Source: Der Schwarze Blog)

Afro-Europe: German street renamed after poetess May Ayim