Music: Rox (UK)

Introducing 21-year-old ROX. The half Iranian, half Jamaican singer-songwriter from South London, who is sometimes compared with Amy Whinehouse and Lauren Hill. Her debut album 'Memoirs" will be out June 7.



website: http://thisisrox.com/

Black Europeans and the media (Netherlands)

It is always interesting to see how black people in Europe are portrayed in the media, since there are many stories and pictures where black people are portrayed in a stereotype way. Today I stumbled upon a remarkable example.

In the Dutch free newspaper Depers I saw a picture of Rox, the new singer songwriter from South London.

The front page (above) had the following headline: “We are really proud of Europe.” And in the byline: "And that’s why we advise Rox and four other singers."

And there is more


The headline: “New, good, female and European”

I thought great for Rox that she is featured like this. But I had mixed feelings about the by-line.

“An ailing eurozone survives only by substantial investment in the own economy. So buy European products, starting with music.“

When I read the byline it felt as if they are using a black girl on the cover to make protectionisme look a bit friendly. As if they where saying that this appeal is not an anti-foreigner thing.

But maybe I am wrong, and this is just a story of an editor who likes the music of Rox.

Russia: Afro Russians Discuss Discrimination

Black Russian is an interesting video trailer I found on the blog Afro Black people

Blogger Raenita Wallace wrote: "This is a preview of an interesting documentary [Black Russians] detailing the black experience in Russia. These people felt discrimination from others against them, even though the ruling Communists' Party publicly decried the existence of racism in Russia. Racism seems to be on the upswing in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union and the establishment of capitalism. The jobless and poverty rate have given birth to outspoken white supremacists groups who now practice racism openly."


It's a story that must be heard.

On the international blog "The Walrus and the Carpenter" there is also an interesting and recent post about the Black Community in Russia, you can read it here

And see also the story on the blog: Noirs d'Amérique Latine

Dance: Sunnery james & Ryan Marciano djing on ‘Sensation’ in Amsterdam

DJ's Sunnery james & Ryan Marciano from Amsterdam will be on the main stage of the ‘Sensation’ dance event in the Amsterdam Arena on July 3rd in Amsterdam. Sensation is the biggest dance event in the world.

James and Marciano are the new stars in the dance scene. This year they launched their successful new dance concept called the Amazone Project. It was named Amazone after an inspirational vacation in the Amazone jungle of Surinam.

For most second generation Dutch Surinamese a jungle trip is often nothing more then a part of the standard back-to-the-roots trip, for James and Marciano it also became the bases for their new musical concept.




And for those who have forgotten



So if you're into trance, electro or house ... you may also like this

The Colour of Beauty - the struggle of a black model

Spotted on Ebonyjet
The Colour of Beauty is a short documentary about racial discrimination in the fashion industry. Director Elizabeth St. Philip follows a young and fiercely talented Black model, Renee Thompson, as she navigates the fashion world as a visible minority.

This film asks: Why isn’t the multi-cultural society that we live in reflected in our magazines, on billboards and on the runways of fashion shows? And who are the parties involved in this industry’s lack of diversity? Does the answer lie somewhere in the back rooms of fashion magazines or in the offices of casting directors of fashion shows? Is it something that is discussed at advertising agencies, or between designers and modelling agencies? Whatever the answer, the fact is that models of colour work less, and their chances of success are very low.



Renee Thompson: "It does get very discouraging, It gets to a point where you feel like you're constantly justifying your worth… You can only take so much beating up every day and constant rejection — or that fear, that when you walk through that casting door, you're going to be reminded, yet again, that you're a black girl. But quitting to me seems like you're giving in…"

Link: The Colour of Beauty

Hip Hop theatre "Markus The Sadist" with Bashy (London)

British grime star Bashy in the theatre production Markus The Sadist, from 17th-20th May (8pm) at The Bloomsbury theatre in London.

Story: Markus Wright just wants to be an emcee and will sacrifice his true voice for that dream contract... Rap, grime and jazz collide in explosive fashion in an original Hip Hop theatre production exposing the darker side of the music industry and celebrity culture, created and directed by Jonzi D (Breakin' Convention). Starring top UK emcee/actor Bashy as Markus, new music by Soweto Kinch alongside a cast of critically acclaimed artists from the UK urban music and Hip Hop theatre scenes.



http://www.markusthesadist.com

Euromight - Guide to multicultural Europe

Euromight celebrates Europe's multicultural residents, telling their stories, discussing their concerns and marking the events that are important to their everyday lives.

Whether you are a European of black or brown descent, belong to an ethnic group not commonly recognized as European, or are simply interested in these unique Europeans, Euromight provides a vehicle that reflects Europe's diversity both in the region and beyond.

Euromight was founded by London-born journalist, writer, editor and professor Olive Vassell. Being born to parents of Caribbean origin, Olive was keenly aware from an early age that her family and other immigrant families were rarely represented in the social, cultural and political landscapes around them.

Read more on http://www.euromight.com/

Black Dutch Antiques dealer Hesdy Artist

Accros from Amsterdam Rijksmuseum lies the world famous distict Spiegelkwartier – a historical neighborhood with over seventy specialised shops offering a wide variety of fine art and antiques.

One of these shops is owned by the black antiques dealer named Hesdy Artist. In travel and leisure Paul Bellaart wrote a story about him (date unknow).

Paradox is a "very Dutch thing,'' an antiques dealer named Hesdy Artist explained to me the following afternoon, the two of us seated on plump bergères in a gallery he owns near the Spiegel-kwartier, Amsterdam's antiques district. "In one way, nobody in Holland wants to stand out,'' Artist says, alluding to the prevalent "act normal" ethos. In another, less overt sense, the Dutch, he explained, like it understood that beneath their very proper image an unruly spirit lies barely concealed.

Artist himself is a clear anomaly in some basic ways, at least professionally. "There are very few dark people in antiques sales in Holland,'' says the 37-year-old former banker, whose skin is the color of a ripe plum. "Maybe in Europe," he adds. "Maybe the world."

To browse through Artist's stock of Dutch copies of 18th-century French furniture, or 19th-century English copies of 17th-century Flemish silver, or 17th-century lithographs of old master paintings of slaves, is to conclude that his taste is far from the concerns of contemporary Netherlands designers. Yet it seemed to me that much of the Dutch output now captivating the international marketplace has something in common with Artist's interest in mining what appear to be exhausted veins of history.

The above was take from an article 'Going Dutch' by Paul Bellaart, published in Travel & Leisure (ch); www.travelandleisure.com

Read more on http://www.buku.nl/artist.html

It appears that Artist also sells black collect

'Inside Buffalo' documentary tells history of Black Soldiers in Italy in WWII

The film ‘Inside Buffalo’ is the documentary of Afro-Italian director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu that tells the story of the forgotten ‘Buffalo Soldiers’.

These soldiers were African American foot soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division who valiantly fought side-by-side with Italian partisans against the Nazis along the Gothic Line, mainly in Tuscany. Read the full story about the film here.

According to the Deutsche welle Kuwornu worked as a DJ and TV producer, until American movie director Spike Lee inspired him to become an independent filmmaker. In 2008, Lee was shooting a feature film on location in Tuscany, based on a novel about black American soldiers. Kuwornu worked as an extra on the feature film. It became the starting point for a very personal voyage of discovery for Fred Kuwornu culminating in his documentary 'Inside Buffalo'.



Kuwornu's father is Ghanaian and his mother is from Tuscany, making him one of the few mixed race Italians growing up in northern Italy in the 1970s. He is planning on doing more films on topics like racism, dialogue and human rights in the future.

The film '‘Inside Buffalo’ reminds of the story of the French Black soldiers 'Le Tirailleurs Senegalais' (Senegalees Riflemen)'. These soldiers were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital. They were removed because British and American commanders wanted to ensure that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a "whites only" victory. Read the whole post here.

Shouldn't we have Black European History month?

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/

Remembering Slave Trade and Abolition in Paris

copyright: Régis Durand de Girard: in the middle Davy Sicart and Christiane Taubira

Yesterday May 10th was the official French ceremony of the ‘Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition’. The ceremony was held in the 'jardin du Luxembourg" in Paris, and was only open for invites. See the pictures of the ceremony on the blog fxgpariscaraibe here.

According to the blog FXG, the ceremony didn't had the grandeur of previous commemorations because of the absence of president Sarkozy. It appeared that he was in middle of the crisis meeting about the Euro.

One of the invites was of course Christiane Taubira, MP for overseas region French Guiana. Taubira gave her name to the 21 May 2001 law, "la Loi Taubira", which recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as a crime against humanity. But in the speech of the minister of interior about recognition, her name wasn't mentioned.

Also present was ex-football player and anti-racism activist Lilian Thuram. Thuram is president of the Lilian Thuram Foundation, an anti-racism foundation that combats racism trough education. Just recently he published his book ‘Mes Etoiles Noirs’, a book about important black personalities and stars.

On the blog there are some interesting interviews with Christiane Taubira and Lilian Thuram.

Among the invites were, Marie-Luce Penchard (Secretary of State for Overseas Territories), Françoise Vergès (chairman of the ‘comité pour la mémoire et l'histoire de l'esclavage’), Davy Sicart (Musician), Marijosée Alie (head of television), Pierre Saintons (Musician), and Nathalie Coualy (comedian).

Afro-Europe is featured on Ebonyjet Online

Afro-Europe International Blog is the editor's pick of the African-American online magazine Ebonyjet Online.

See more on http://www.ebonyjet.com/

Update: In May 2010 Afro-Europe was featured on the main site of Ebony Magazine for two weeks.

Singer and actress Lena Horn dies at 92

Lena Horne, jazz singer and actress who reviled the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them, slowing her rise to Broadway superstardom, died Sunday. She was 92.

Horne, whose striking beauty and magnetic sex appeal often overshadowed her sultry voice, was remarkably candid about the underlying reason for her success.

"I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept," she once said. "I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked." Read the full story on yahoo news




During the 1960s Horne was involved in the American Civil Rights Movement. She participated in the March on Washington in 1963, performed at rallies in the South and elsewhere, and worked on behalf of the National Council for Negro Women. During the same period, she was also very visible on television, appearing on popular variety shows and in her own special, Lena in Concert, in 1969.
-- World biographies --

I knew Lena Horn only through her music, but after reading about her I now know she was much more then a wonderful singer. Rest in Peace Lena Horn.