So Akon and Keri Hilson rounded up the Soweto Gospel Choir and came up with this play for FIFA world cup kudos, thinly disguised as a charity single in aid of the “underprivileged youth of Africa”. Yes, really. Really pretty colours and all but would you buy this song?
Nigeria’s coach Shaibu Amodu had some explaining to do after Ghana Black Stars’ Asamoah Gyan’s goal – the only one the entire match – cost the Super Eagles a place in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. We’ve been spoiled rotten with the few weeks of the finest in African football. No idea how it will all turn out when Ghana and two time defending champions Egypt face [...]
AfriPOP! was at the Score4Africa Awards in London last week and it was pretty inspiring to see the African footballing fraternity getting props for the good stuff they do off the pitch instead of the fandanglement they do on it. Set up in 2008 to celebrate those who use football to create positive change on the continent, this year’s awards were hosted by playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah. In attendance were [...]
Jostling about in the back of a matatu from Nairobi’s South B suburb to the city centre a couple months ago with TKZee’s Fiasco blaring, I had to smile at the memory it evoked: Members and former school mates Tokollo “Magesh” Tshabalala, Kabelo “Bouga Luv” Mabalane, and Zwai Bala sheepishly confessing publicly they’d named their then hit in error. They’d meant “fiesta”. As in, a celebration. It was 1999 around [...]
Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Craig Bellamy and Nwankwo Kanu are among the Premier League footballers shortlisted for the 2nd SCORE4africa Awards at London’s Sheraton Park Lane, on 30th November 2009. Actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah hosts the prestigious awards ceremony which celebrates the power of football to transform lives. Didier Drogba, a winner last year, is up for for this year’s health award, recently astonished the public by committing the [...]
South Africa’s leading Afro-soul jazz singer Simphiwe Dana chats with AfriPOP! as she rounds off a 6-day autumn tour of the UK. Which international audiences have you enjoyed playing for the most? I generally enjoy playing for an attentive audience anywhere. You were involved in the Not In Our Lifetime campaign against Xenophobia in South Africa, do you feel like there has been a change in South Africa and the [...]
I love twitter. You can do all the lurking you want to legitimately. Which sounds like a waste of time – and it can be – as tens, hundreds or thousands of tweets vie for your attention by the second but that’s also down to who you follow. We check for Kenyan social activist and Harvard-schooled lawyer Ory Okolloh. She lives in South Africa and blogs over at Kenyan Pundit, [...]
South African R&B Singer eyes UK success If, like Loyiso Bala, my brother had masterminded one of the most successful Kwaito groups in South Africa, and I had the chance to be part of it, then that would have been my career path made. Much easier than carving an R&B niche out of the local music landscape, which is what he did instead. Just because it’s one of those genres [...]
