Black man running for Mayor in Slovenia

The Ghanaian doctor Peter Bossman is running for mayor of Slovenian seaside town of Piran. According Slovenia-based Blogger Camille Acey of the Blog Adventures in Wheelville who is following the story, Peter Bossman was in the lead with over 30% of votes after the election on Sunday October 10th.

The next round of elections will be up in up in 2 weeks on October 24th and it all seems like Slovenia will get its first black mayor then.

On her Blog she writes. " Quick follow up to July's post Wait! What? A Brother Running For Mayor In Slovenia ....

The race will now go into run-offs against the current sitting mayor (who had just over 20%) of the vote. Here's hoping Dr. Bossman makes it all the way through and becomes the first black* mayor in Slovenia! Let's goooooo!

In further news, journalist Vlado Miheljak puts forth a more ambitious proposition..."Peter Bossman For President" and much mudslinging in the comments ensues! (Slovenian only)

*yes, say BLACK/črn not temnopolt/ "dark-skinned". Black comes in many shades (from light to dark) and is an experience, not just a state of melanin."



See the Blog Adventures in Wheelville - Brainy, bigmouthed, and black by the Balkans at http://wheelville.blogspot.com

Video:Pam Feather - "Cannot Change The Weather" (Netherlands)

Soul Pop Singer Pam Feather is the new Soul girl of the Netherlands.

Feather (1986) has already performed as the support act for American soul singer Bilal in 2005 and in July this year she was the opening act for Erykah Badu in the Heiniken Music Hall in Amsterdam. And she also performed live in a popular TV show in The Netherlands.

Her latest single "Cannot Change The Weather" is the first official single from her the debut album Feather Tales which was released in March 2010.



Read more at www.pamfeather.com

Video: Nathan Watson - “ Reach Out – You Got A Friend” (UK)

Nathan Watson is UK's new Soul man. He is known for his distinctly eclectic fresh soul funk sound and has built up an impressive fan base across the UK through his live performances. He appeared on GMTV & ITV as well as performing in front of Prince Charles for the Princess Trust.

“ Nathan Watson a new soul voice for the world, a mix of Maxwell and D’Angelo. “ Media2Radio

Nathan just recently released his new single “ Reach Out – You Got A Friend”


Read more at www.nathanwatsonmusic.com

Lilian Thuram and his fight against racism

The former French international football player and social activist Lilian Thuram is a man on a mission.

In January this year he published his book My Black Stars, from Lucy to Barack Obama (original title in French : Mes étoiles noires, de Lucy à Barack Obama).

And in September he revealed his plan to distribute a DVD in schools to educate children on the subject of racism.

About the book he writes on his website: “Every person – child or adult – needs stars to find their way. Everyone needs models during their formative years, to build their self-esteem, to change their imaginary worlds, and to break the preconceived ideas which they project on themselves and others.

When I was a child, I was shown many stars. I admired them and I dreamt about them: Socrates, Baudelaire, Einstein, Marie Curie, de Gaulle, Mother Teresa… But no one ever told me about black stars. The walls of the classroom were white, the pages of my history textbooks were white. I was completely ignorant of my own ancestors and their history. Except for slavery. This black history was like a vale of fears and tears.


World Cup winner Lilian Thuram discusses his transition from football to social activism, his new foundation 'Education Against Racism' and reveals why he is supporting the Council of Europe's anti-discrimination campaign


Can you give me the name of a black scientist? A black explorer? A black philosopher? A black pharaoh? If you cannot, then this book is for you, whatever the color of your skin. Because the best way to fight racism and intolerance is by enriching our knowledge and our imaginary worlds.

I wrote these portraits of women and men after reading about them and talking to specialists and historians. Lucy, Barack Obama, Aesop, Dona Béatrice, Pushkin, Anne Zingha, Aimé Césaire, Martin Luther King and many others… . These stars prevented me from becoming a victim. They also helped me believe in people and above all have confidence in myself.”

DVD
The goal is to distribute 50.000 DVDs in schools. The former international wants to "provide an educational tool for teachers and help reverse the conventional wisdom that children may have on racial issues."

Read more at Lilian Thuram Foundation www.thuram.org

Timbuktu - The place where the Western "Songs and Dance Theory" of Black people ends

Because we are in the middle of the Black History Month UK a story about the mystical place Timbuktu.

"Everybody's heard of Timbuktu but few people actually know where it is and even fewer ever get there. Everyone knows that it's a long way from here to Timbuktu, wherever "here" might be," wrote a travel journalist.

Well Timbuktu lies in the country of Mali and it’s the place where the Western "songs and dance theory" of African people ends. Because in Timbuktu you will find the hidden libraries and manuscripts of the ancient black scholars of one of the oldest Universities on the planet.

Aminatta Forna tells the story of legendary Timbuktu and its long hidden legacy of hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts. With its university founded around the same time as Oxford, Timbuktu is proof that the reading and writing of books have long been as important to Africans as to Europeans.   The manuscripts of Timbuktu cover diverse subjects such as mathematics, chemistry, physics, optics, astronomy, medicine, Islamic sciences, history, geography, the tradition of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, government legislation and treatise, jurisprudence, and much more. The manuscripts of Timbuktu are a living testimony of the highly advanced and refined civilization in Sub-Saharan Africa. But although this heritage is familiar to numerous Africans, many Westerners still believe that Africa had only an oral, nonliterate culture. Comments like those made by the British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper in 1963 still resonate: "Perhaps in the future, there will be some African history to teach. But at present there is none. There is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness." In reality, Timbuktu was once a haven of high literacy. These manuscripts, some dating to the 14th century and written mostly in Arabic, show that medieval Timbuktu was a religious and cultural hub as well as a commercial crossroads on the trans-Saharan caravan route. Situated at the strategic point where the Sahara touches on the River Niger, it was the gateway for African goods bound for the merchants of the Mediterranean, the courts of Europe and the larger Islamic world, wrote Lila Azam Zanganeh in the New York times.    Read more about this video at hwww.fordfoundation.org Links http://www.timbuktufoundation.org . The post was inspired by the Afro-Brazilian site http://www.casadasafricas.com.br

Soul singer Solomon Burke dies at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport

Soul singer Solomon Burke (70) has died at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, a Dutch police spokesman has said.

Burke, who wrote the hit Everybody Needs Somebody to Love among many others, was both a Grammy winner and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He had been due to perform on at the well-known club Paradiso in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

The singer was born in Philadelphia in an upstairs room in a gospel church.

"Many artists claim to have their roots in the church, but few go back this far and run this deep," he said on his website.


Live UK performance from Solomon Burke on Top of the Pops with his classic signature tune "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love"

He started recording when he was 14 with his first song "Christmas Presents From Heaven" into a million seller.

The man who Tom Waits called "one of the architects of American Music" counted Mick Jagger among his many fans.

The Rolling Stone admitted trying to imitate Burke's style of phrasing when he was starting out.

The singer was busy to the end, having run up more than 130,000 frequent flier miles this year alone, with concerts throughout the UK and Europe. (Source Sky)


Live performance of "Proud Mary" on the Dutch Pinkpop festival in 2003

Solomon Burke Rest in Peace.

Video: Black people in Spain – Judi Oshowole on life in Barcelona

Black travel expert Nelson George of BlackAtlas visited Barcelona and spoke to Black British Judi Oshowole who has lived in Barcelona for 18 years. She tells BlackAtlas about the city's growing diversity and the community of black women, from countries around the world, she has helped to build.

See more videos at www.blackatlas.com

See a video of Judy Oshowole talking in a meeting of a group of black women in Barcelona, the BIBS (Barcelona International Black Sisters). The BIBS consists of women from all over the globe - the UK, the US, the Caribbean and South America, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands... See the post at www.fatjuicyoyster.com

Trivia on Barcelona

Frank Rijkaard was the successful head coach (2003–2008) of the Football Club Barcelona. He was appointed as head coach together with his assistent coach Henk ten Cate. Both of them are black and of Dutch/Surinamese origin.

Link

Also see the post Black people in Spain here.

The end of the Netherlands Antilles

Today October 10th 2010, the Netherlands Antilles are dissolved as a single political entity. The islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten are now independent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius are now ‘special councils’ of the Netherlands.

In 2005 the population of Curaçao voted for independence. This led to the Dutch government and the Netherlands Antilles discussing a new political structure for the five-island group situated in the Caribbean off the northern coast of South America.

Aruba has been a independent within the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1986.

Expatica wrote: Curacao and St Maarten will each have their own parliament, government, prime minister and currency: the guilder.

Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius will switch to the US dollar and have "island councils" akin to municipal councils. Their inhabitants will vote for the national Dutch government.

The three new municipalities will have to adopt many Dutch laws. The most contentious among them, allowing for abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia, will be systematically adopted over a period of two years, said Dutch interior ministry spokesman Thijs Manten

Soul music in the Netherlands – The album “So Soulful Volume 2”

The Dutch Soul magazine Quality Time Online has released the album "So Soulful Volume 2". A compilation album packed with music from fresh Soul talent from Holland. And it’s free for download here

If you want to listen to the music first check out the playlist below. Because the album is compiled as one single track I've added the starting time of the songs so you know who is singing.


Tracklist: So Soulful Volume 2 (with start times)
Complete tracklist ‘So Soulful Volume 2
01 So Soulful Intro Sylvana Simons 00.00
02 Mischu Laikah ft D-Felic – Mission 00.25
03 Shirma Rouse – Gotta Be My Girl 02.32
04 Giovanca – Lovechild 04.22
05 Roos Jonker – Still There 06.46
06 Interlude Sylvana Simons 09.16
07 Full Crate & Mar – Aftersexin’ 09.50
08 Pure The Artist – Rollin’ 11:05
09 Pam Feather ft. GMB – There’s Someone Else 13:46
10 Interlude Sylvana Simons 15:16
11 THEprinceOFbeatz ft. Rebekka Ling – In Love Again 15:36
12 Steffen Morrison – Damn These Eyes 17:08
13 Jalise – Permanent Lover 18:53
14 Neenah – Special Kind Of Love 21:35
15 The Foreign Exchange – Maybe She’ll Dream Of Me 22:54
16 Interlude Sylvana Simons 24:29
17 Cinnamon Brown ft. Ollie The MC – Without You 25:04
18 Secure – Secure (get Up) 27:47
19 LQ ft. Ash-Lee – Hate And Love 29:17
20 Aïscha ft. Black Spade – I Want U 31:53
21 Interlude Sylvana Simons 35:50

Some technical information: If you can't open the downloaded music file you can download the software to unzip the file here

Black History Month 2010 in the UK

Not February, but October is the Black History Month in the UK. This means an entire month full of events, music and debate about the presence of black people from the Caribbean and Africa in the UK.

To celebrate BHM a video of the Windrush legacy, West Indians in the UK in World War II and the poem "What it Means to be Black" of Jason Nwansi. And a video of Beyonce singing the national anthem of Nigeria, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of Nigeria.

West Indians also fought in World War II and some of them were stationed in the UK. The video West Indies Calling (1943) describes the Caribbean support of a group of West Indians during World War Two


See more videos here

An important landmark of the history of the Afro-Caribbean community in the United Kingdom is the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948 in the harbour of Southampton. The Empire Windrush arrived on 22 June, carrying 492 passengers from Jamaica wishing to start a new life in the UK. The passengers were the first large group of West Indian immigrants to the UK after the Second World War. Most of them only intended to stay in England for five years, but most of them stayed.

Video of the Windrush legacy


The poem "What it Means to be Black" written & performed by Jason Nwansi.

See the written poem here

Also part of UK's Black History is the celebration of 50th anniversary of the independence of Nigeria. So, a gift from Beyonce. In the video she sings the national anthem of Nigeria "Arise, O Compatriots".

I am not Nigerian, but it gives me goose bumps when I listen to it.

BHM links

BHM the official guide to Black History Month
www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk

Black History Magazine 2010
www.blackhistorymonth2010.co.uk

Black history agenda Catch a Vibe
www.catchavibe.co.uk

Nice To Meet You - A Short Film starring Vanessa Rottenburg (Germany)

Nice To Meet You (2009) is a Short Film by Marcel Rudigkeit with Afro-German actress Vanessa Rottenburg. The video was part of "Guggenheim Biennale for Creative Video" and was shortlisted for YouTube Play.

It's a small film about two people who are getting along just fine, though speaking different languages.

Cast: Italo De Angelis & Vanessa Rottenburg (Vaja Burg)
Directed by Marcel Rudigkeit
Music by Tonbuero

A typical European backpackers travel situation.

Soul music in France - The album "Soullissme"

A compilation of music of French Soul artists can be downloaded for free.

In recent years Soul music made a comeback in France, but mainly trough concerts. At some point it became legitimate to call it the "French Soul scene".

As a result of this trend an album was compiled with Soul music of French artists. The album is entitled 'Soullissme’ and was released in May 2009.

The album features 19 songs and you can download the complete album for free. See more information at website ‘Soullissme’ www.soulissime.com

Or download the album immediately here

If you want to listen to the music first check out the playlist below.



Playlist with the names of the artists
1 – Rycko – Comment te dire
2 – Sabrina Adel – Shoobeedoop song act1
3 – Sandy Cossett – L'emmerdeur
4 – Leslie Phillips – Il est temps
5 – Monsieur Nov – J’voulais qu’on se pose
6 – Natho – Dis moi
7 – Freddy – Elle veulent tout
8 – D3CCPT – U&I feat. Sly Johnson
9 – Kohndo – Je serai là feat. Dwele
10 – Jango Jack – Fleur du Ghetto
11 – Rony – J’me dis (remix)
12 – Akoma Aya – Créolité urbaine feat. Afrosoulicious
13 – Erik – Elisa
14 – Habib Kane – Juste un sourire
15 – Aldrick – Franchement tu m’énerves
16 – Shad Murray – Soul music
17 – Quinze – Seul
18 – Jaleenah Birdland – Out of my word
19 – Third Shot – Sweet miracle


Some technical information: If you can't open the downloaded music file you can download the software to unzip the file here

Black woman Kathleen Ferrier frustrates coalition with Anti-Islam party of Wilders in the Netherlands

She is called a dissident, has been accused of political murder and treason, and has been threatened to be thrown out of the Parliament Fraction if she doesn’t follow party rules.

Dutch Member of Parliament Kathleen Ferrier has been under fire ever since she and an other Member of Parliament told their party leader that they are against any deal with the far-right party of Geert Wilders because of his strong anti-Islamic and anti-immigration views.

Ferrier is a black Dutch Surinamese woman and Member of Parliament for the Christian Democrats (CDA) in the Netherlands. She is also the daughter of the late first president of Suriname. Suriname is a former colony of the Netherlands which gained independence in 1975.

Ferrier is being pressured by the party leaders to give up her seat in Parliament because her protest may cause majority problems in the future. But untill now she had refused to step down.

After the elections the party of Wilders has become third-largest party in Holland, and has been part of the negotiations between Ferrier’s party (CDA) and the centre-right Liberal Party (VVD) to form a new Government.

Ferrier said in an interview that the views of Wilders of the multicultural society are not the ones that she has been brought up with.

Important aspects of Surinamese culture are cultural and religious tolerance. Suriname is the only country in the world where are an Islamic mosque and a Jewish synagogue reside next to each other.

Geert Wilders will not be a part of any government, he will just tolerate a government that is willing to support his views about immigration and Islam. He has been part of the negotiations to set the terms.

The next few days will be crucial for Ferrier. The political parties just recently reached a final agreement and this weekend it will be up to the Congress of her party to decide whether or not they will to block the political agreement. There is a lot of opposition within her party and one prominent party member has already left the party.

The other colleague in Parliament who is also against a deal with the PVV has said today that he will accept the decision of the Congress.

Ferrier is now the only "dissident" left. She has told the media that she will take the mood and voting of the Congress into consideration.