Fat Freddy's Drop – Dub/Reggae from Wellington New Zealand - European tour

Fat Freddy's Drop, the Dub/Reggae band from Wellington New Zealand, will be touring Europe this summer.

In June and July 2011 they will be performing in London, Paris, Frankfurt and other mayor cities. For more information check out their gig guide at www.fatfreddysdrop.com

One of their hit singles is “Wandering Eye” from the album “Based on a True Story” of 2005. The single spent more than four months on the top 40 selling singles chart in New Zealand. The album debuted at number 1 and went gold in its first day and 2007 it had gone 7 times Platinum.



Fat Freddy’s Drop is a seven-piece band from Wellington, New Zealand, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno.

Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by musicians from other bands in Wellington, Fat Freddy’s Drop gradually became its members' sole focus. Band members continued playing with their other respective groups—The Black Seeds, TrinityRoots, Bongmaster, and others—for much of their 11-year career.

Fat Freddy’s Drop are known for their improvised live performances; songs on their studio albums are versions refined over years of playing them live in New Zealand, and on tour abroad.

France Honors Poet Aimé Césaire At The Panthéon

France honored late Martinican poet and politician Aimé Césaire Wednesday at the famed Panthéon in Paris. The French government paid tribute to the grand man of letters in a national ceremony nearly three years after his death at the age of 94. The Panthéon pays homage to France’s greatest intellectuals.

Césaire was one of the founding fathers of the "Negritude" movement that celebrated black consciousness. In Paris in the 1930s he helped found the journal Black Student, which gave birth to the idea of “negritude,” a call to blacks to cultivate pride in their heritage. Among his more famous works of literature are Notebook of a Return to my Native Land and Discourse on Colonialism.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy presided over the tribute to the Martinican poet that was attended by more than 1,000 persons inside the Panthéon. Among those present were family, friends and dignitaries. Césaire died April 17, 2008 in Martinique. President Sarkozy dedicated a plaque in Césaire’s memory at the Panthéon. Source Suite101

See pictures of the event at fxgpariscaraibe - "Césaire au Panthéon"

Speech of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, part 1


Part 2

Meemee Nelzy - "L'essentiel" - Neo Soul from Guadeloupe

"L'essentiel" is one of the soulful tracks of the album "Âme Nouvelle" ("New Soul") of Meemee Nelzy.

Meemee Nelzy was born in Paris, France and is a native of the French West Indian Island Guadeloupe.

She is influenced by Hip Hop as well as jazz and Caribbean music, and she is part of the new French wave of neo soul.

Nelzy released her first album "Âme Nouvelle" in 2009. In French and Creole she sings about love, human relationships and struggles in life.

"L'essentiel" live on TV on Guadeloupe 1ère (2011)

Video: Cassandra Steen’s new single "Gebt alles"

Cassandra Steen just released the song "Gebt alles" from her new upcoming album " Mir so Nah", which will be released on 29 April.

Steen is a very successful German singer/songwriter who started as the lead singer of the trio Glashaus.

In 2003 she released her debut album "Seele mit Herz" and in 2009 her album "Darum leben wir" with the hit song “Stadt” with Abdel Tawil. She also scored with the song "Wann" with Xavier Naidoo.

In 2009, Steen voiced the character Tiana in the German dub of Disney's 49th animated feature The Princess and the Frog. "Never Knew I Needed," a duet with original singer Ne-Yo, was the first single to be lifted from the accompanying soundtrack


See the whole video at www.cassandra-steen.de

French Hip Hop: Suprême NTM - "Qu'est ce qu'on attend" ( "What are we wating for")

The song "Qu'est ce qu'on attend", "What are we wating for.. to set everything on fire" (1998) of the former French Hip Hop group Suprême NTM is probably one the most controversial songs in the history of French Hip Hop.

This song was accused among others by some politicians to have contributed in unleashing the social riots that France has known in October 2005, according to wikipedia.

Rappers Joey Starr (born Didier Morville who is of Martinican origin) and Kool Shen (born Bruno Lopès) founded the Suprême NTM. Their six albums were released by Sony Music Entertainment.

With English subtitles


The news is that rapper Joey Starr promoted poker in a commercial.

Poet Aimé Césaire honoured at the Panthéon in Paris on April 6, 2011

Aimé Césaire the poet and politician from Martinique will be honored by the French Republic on April 6, 2011 with a national tribute and ceremony at the Pantheon in Paris.

Two years after the renowned writer and statesman passed away, a plaque will be sealed in the heart of the famous French monument dedicated to the burials of personalities acknowledged as great men by the French Republic.

According to Unesco it will be the third plaque which pays tribute to a man of African descent. Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803) and Louis Delgrès (1766-1802) were similarly honored in 1998. In accordance with his wishes, Aimé Césaire’s ashes will remain in Martinique hence they won’t be transferred into the monument.

(Alexandre Dumas, père was reburied in 2002 in the Pantheon 132 years after his death.)

On the occasion of the 2004 International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition, UNESCO awarded the Toussaint Louverture Prize to the author, in acknowledgement to his contribution to the struggle against domination, racism and intolerance.

Worldwide considered as a humanistic and universal poet, his candidature was proposed for the Nobel Prize of peace by two European universities in Belgium and Sweden in 2006.

Commemorating his death, UNESCO also paid a special tribute to the Poet of Negritude on 22 May 2008.

* Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803) is a freed slave who led the fight for Haiti’s independence.
* Louis Delgrès (1766-1802) is a revolutionary soldier who took part into the resistance while the re-establishment of slavery by the Napoleonean troups in Guadeloupe. (Source: UNESCO)

The ceremony will be broadcasted live on France 2 and the overseas network channels first (France Ô).

A tribute to Monsieur Aimé Césaire


Remembering Aimé Césaire, 1913-2008


In this video Aimé Césaire speaks about his first encounter with
Léopold Sédar Senghor in Paris in the 1930s. Alongside Léon-Gontran Damas, and Léopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire established the concept of Négritude. Négritude helped to guide Sénégal into independence with pride

UK MOBO Awards returns to Glasgow on 5th October 2011

The UK MOBO Awards in association with Lebara Mobile has announced it will return to Scotland’s cosmopolitan city of Glasgow on 5th October this year.

As part of a long standing relationship with the city it will be bringing the Awards to Glasgow in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

RnB Queen and MOBO Ambassador Alesha Dixon and MOBO Recommends rising star Yasmin were on hand to announce that the show will take place in the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC). See more information at MOBO.com

An actor's response to no ethnic minorities in English village drama

A black British actor responded in the Guardian to the remarks of Midsomer Murders producer Brian True-May who said Midsomer "wouldn't be the English village" with ethnic minorities. If you have missed it read the story here.

The actor felt he had to remain anonymous because of possible repercussions.

He wrote: “I have trained at one of the most eminent drama schools in the UK and have over 20 years of experience in TV, theatre, radio and film. The broadcasting decision-makers – executive producers, producers, directors, casting directors, writers, and even our agents, who are meant to be on our side – are aware that True-May's ramblings are not isolated.

They are aware that it is being thought, that it is being actioned, and yet for the most part they do nothing to put a halt to this discrimination, allowing it to continue year after year."

He felt that actors were afraid to speak out because of the consequences. Read the full story at the www.guardian.co.uk.

But black actors in other European countries also face the same problems. In a debate in The Netherlands a director posed the question, why you should use a black actor in a stage play if your audience is always white.

In Bollywood and Nollywood they don’t have these problems, this is a typical European thing; black actors on white stages. And the inconvenient truth is that these white stages and films make good money without black actors. It's clear multiculturalism has never worked.

But this debate has been going on for years now and apparently not much has changed. So perhaps there is only one option left, a European Tyler Perry who serves us black reality shows.

Read more about this story at Madnews

First Black German Convention in Washington, DC (August 19 to 21 2011)

The Black German Cultural Society, Inc. announces its First Annual Convention to be held from August 19 to 21, 2011, at the German Historical Institute (GHI) in Washington, DC (USA).

With the theme of “Strengthening Transatlantic Connections,” the convention will host guests and presenters from the international community in Germany and the United States.

The keynote speaker will be Noah Sow, the acclaimed journalist, musician, producer and author of “Deutschland Schwarz Weiß” (C. Bertelsmann, 2008), who will speak about “Geteilte Geschichte: The Black Experience in Germany and the US.”

The convention will also feature a photo exhibit on "The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany."

Furthermore, the meeting will offer workshops, round tables, as well as panel discussions on Afro-German history, culture and literature facilitated by the board members, partner organizations, and distinguished academics in the field.

Confirmed participants include, among others:

* Vera Grant (W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University)
* S. Marina Jones (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
* Maria Hoehn (Vassar College)
* Leroy Hopkins (Millersville University)
* Martin Klimke (GHI Washington)
* Priscilla Layne (University of California, Berkeley)
* Yara-Colette Lemke Muniz de Faria (Berlin)
* Sara Lennox (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)


Topics will include “Race and Ethnicity in Postwar Germany,” “Transatlantic Adoption and ‘Brown Babies’,” “Finding and Reuniting Birth Families,” “Black German Jewishness” as well as “Sharing our Stories,” among others.

For more information go to www.blackgermans.us/convention2011

The Image of Black people in Western Art in Europe

I had never heard of the American art project "The Image of the Black in Western Art" until I stumbled upon a presentation of Professor Henry Louis Gates.

According to the website www.imageoftheblack.com the project started in the 1960s, as a response to segregation in the United States by the influential art patron Dominique de Menil. He began a research project and photo archive called The Image of the Black in Western Art.

The Harvard W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research presented an new edition coveted five original books, as well as an additional five volumes.

A presentation of Vera Ingrid Grant about the collection


If you want to see images or more information go to the website www.imageoftheblack.com.

Amsterdam

The American art project reminded me of the exhibition "Black is Beautiful" in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam in 2008 about the attractiveness of black people for artists of the Low Countries. It was an exhibition of roughly 130 paintings, drawings and manuscripts from Dutch and international collections.

Very interesting to check out are the short films and tests on the online exhibition. Go straight to the Short films & View test at www.blackisbeautifulamsterdam.nl

Or go to the main page at www.blackisbeautifulamsterdam.nl

What I find interesting about these images is seeing the faces and expressions of black people of centuries ago. Some of the paintings are as detailed as digital photos. The photo above is of Caspar de Crayer 1584- 1669, study of the head of a black man, from around 1631-1635.


USA

A presentation of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on The Image of the Black in Western Art.

Giovanca - Neo Soul from Amsterdam

Giovanca, real name Giovanca Desire Ostiana (1977), is a Dutch singer songwriter of Dutch Antillean descent (Curaçao) who lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

For years Giovanca has been known as a background singer for (inter)national artists such as Relax, Wouter Hamel, Typhoon, Tribute 2 Bob Marley, Corey, Izaline Calister, Jhelisa Anderson, Terry Callier, Leon Ware and Benny Sings.

But after obtaining her Masters degree in Orthopedagogics she released her debut album "Subway Silence" in 2008 and appeared on many live TV shows afterwards. In March 2010 she released her second album "While I'm Awake".

"Everything" from the album "While I'm Awake".


Giovanca received an Edison Award nomination, and won both the Laren Jazz Award and the 3FM Serious Talent Award. On 3 March 2010, she received a Silver Harp that awards young artists who 'have already made a significant contribution to Dutch music while still having a huge future ahead of them.

"Hypnotize You" from her first album "Subway Silence"

Ethnic minorities don't belong in my English village drama, says UK TV producer

Via Madnews: The producer and co-creator of the hit English TV drama Midsomer Murders has been suspended after telling The Radio Times in an interview that there was no place in the series for ethnic minorities.

He claimed the shows success because of its all-white cast

Producer Brian True-May said, "We just don’t have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn’t be the English village with them. It just wouldn’t work. Suddenly we might be in Slough … We’re the last bastion of English-ness and I want to keep it that way.

Maybe I’m not politically correct … I’m trying to make something that appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed. And I don’t want to change it." See the full story at The List



I am not surprised that it's the English drama policy for English village series. I use to watch these English drama series with titles like "Murder in Cambridge", but somehow I never wondered why I never saw a Black or Asian person drinking tea with the vicar.

But that's danger of these images, they make you believe it's normal.

Warren G "Regulate" live in Paris - R.I.P Nate Dogg

Warren G in Paris France (1995). Although Nate Dogg is not in this version of "Regulate", it's almost impossible not to remember him. R.I.P Nate Dogg.