Afrikan Boy...

We've been listening to dude's songs, quite often....

hilarious!

"Gimme Shelter" Angelique Kidjo and Joss Stone

Angelique Kidjo and Joss Stone remake The Rolling Stones hit with a universal message.

Lovely!!

Naijafest.....

We spent all weekend in the beautiful far off land of Baltimore city at the Naijafest. We had a blast. Good music...good food...good people....

CASRAM...Day 1

I was at the the CASRAM? grand opening event on Wednesdday. Wow...it was hot!!

It continues tonight. Click here for details!

Ruwayafrica's EGO Trippin' event.

not a whole lof of pics...

Ngozi Odita of Harriet's Alter Ego:

What's health worth for the poor in Africa?

Check out this link for couple of case studies on health issues. Interesting read.

Ivory Coast leaders burn weapons

From BBC:

Ivory Coast's president and prime minister have set fire to stockpiled weapons to symbolise the end of the country's five-year conflict.

It was the first time that President Laurent Gbagbo had gone to the former rebel-held north since 2002, when an uprising against him split the country.

"People of Ivory Coast, the war is over," he said in Bouake.

Mr Gbagbo signed a peace deal in March with ex-rebel leader Guillaume Soro, who was later named prime minister.

As part of the deal the pair agreed to hold elections, which have repeatedly been cancelled, by early 2008.

"As of today, we are preparing for elections. We must move fast, fast, fast to elections," Mr Gbagbo told the crowd in Bouake, the stronghold of Mr Soro's New forces movement.

your comments...

hey...we really appreciate you following our blog and your comments on the posts...please keep them coming. but keep it related to the topics as much as possible...more importantly, let your unrelated comments be shorter than a book :-)

if you have long articles or comments (that aren't related to the topic of the post), please feel free to email it to walea@ariztos.com and it'll get posted as a new topic, if we see fit.

thanks again...

EGO Trippin'

(click the flyer for a larger view)

MTV Base looking for VJs.

MTV Base is offering a lifetime opportunity to one talented Ugandan, Kenyan and Tanzanian to become the first ever Video Jockeys (VJs)/presenters from the region to work on the pan-african music channel.

The winners will host MTV Coca Cola Xpress, a chart show sponsored by Coca Cola. The competition was launched at Silk Royale last Friday with a media do.

Application forms can be downloaded from the website, and one can still pick a form on arrival at the venue on the night of auditions. However, only the first 1000 contestants will be considered for auditions.

"My Fabulous Wedding" Pics.

For the longest time we've been trying to do an issue with some wedding stories and pics, and Carol has decided to take the lead on making this happen. So if you have, and want to share, your wedding pics...send them to CAdama@ariztos.com. Also, ask her for details.

Djimon Hounsou, Calvin Klein's new brief boy!!

Sade told me she heard something about 40 (plus) year old Djimon doing some ads for Calvin Klein underwear...she's be whining for me to find out more information to see if it's true. Well...thanks to Jaja...you were right Sade, it is true.






Although he's not as well known as he should be, Calvin Klein is hoping that what Freddie Ljunberg did for his underwear a few years back, Djimon will be able to do for his latest campaign - Klein Steel. He’ll be featured on billboards in Los Angeles, New York and Houston, as well as bus shelters in Miami and and San Francisco, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Later, the campaign will venture to Latin America, Asia, Europe and Canada.

p.s., Sade just fainted in the office!!

Film: Ghosts of Cité Soleil

We are currently reviewing this film for our next issue. I couldn't wait to show you...because we probably won't be able to go into details in the magazine. Asger Leth's intense new film "Ghosts of Cité Soleil" is about life and death in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti's most desperate slum. The website has a lot of information, pictures, etc.

Ghosts was co-executive produced and scored by Wyclef Jean and Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis.

The images and sounds might be too violent for some.

Monica Arac de Nyeko, favorite lady of the week.

Author of "Jambula Tree" takes the winning prize! Monica Arac de Nyeko beat four other finalists to get the $20,000 (£10,000) prize for her story Jambula Tree. The Jambula Tree is about the relationship between two young girls in a very complex social setting in a community where homosexuality is illegal. "I'm not a lesbian but I do think it's a difficult subject, like... writing about Uganda's history," Ms. Arac de Nyeko said.

Read more

CASRAM?
don't miss this event. seriously!

Janelias new music video...

We've been a fan of Janelia since she was in diapers...okay, maybe not in diapers. But we know her pretty well. Check out her latest video.

This week's rising leading lady- Rama Yade

We just wanted to give a shout out to African's making a difference around the world.



Rama Yade is one of 17 junior ministers that were appointed to President Nicolas Sarkozy's rightwing French government following parliamentary elections. She is minister for human rights.

Yade was born in Dakar, the daughter of a Senegalese diplomat, but grew up with her mother and three sisters on the outskirts of Paris, where she studied political science, moving on to an administrator's job in the French Senate.

Morgan Freeman to play Nelson Mandela in new film.

The film is title "The Human Factor." Freeman will co-produce the film, which is based on John Carlin's book of the same name.

It is set during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, when Mr Mandela used the country's hosting of the tournament to help heal divisions between blacks and whites.

Freeman travelled to South Africa last year to discuss the project with the former president.
"I have known Nelson Mandela personally for quite some time, and am continually in awe of his enormous presence in the world," Freeman - who won a best supporting actor Oscar for Million Dollar Baby in 2005 - said.

The film is being made by Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment, with a script by South African writer Anthony Peckham.

RunwayAfrica "Ambiguity" Event (pics)

will have more pics in the photogallery tomorrow.

SUFFERING AND SMILING (New York Premiere). Coming soon.

SUFFERING AND SMILING (New York Premiere)

Dan Ollman, Nigeria/US, 2007, 65m, video, doc, In English and Yoruba with English subtitles

Focusing on the legendary African singer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his son Femi, Suffering and Smiling depicts the impact of their politically charged music. Following Nigeria's independence in 1960, Fela used his songs to speak out against the country's corrupt leaders. Since independence the military and political elite have enriched themselves by allowing Nigeria's oil and natural resources to be stripped by multinational corporations with little benefit to ordinary Nigerians. Fela gave voice to Nigeria's disenfranchised underclass and sang of a free and united Africa. Upon his death in 1997, Femi has continued his father's legacy. Equally passionate and charismatic, he sings about the dire situation in his country, asks why the world's most resource-rich continent has the poorest people, and struggles to maintain a vision of better days ahead for the common people of Nigeria. *Presented in association with Film Aid International, http://www.filmaid.org/

SHOWTIMES:

Wed June 20: 2

Fri June 22: 4

Sat June 23: 9

Sun June 24: 1:30

Running from June 15 to 28 at the Walter Reade Theater, the 18th edition of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival features 21 films and three shorts from 17 countries and includes 16 New York premieres. Tickets for the 2007 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival are available at both the Walter Reade Theater box office (212)875-5600 and online at http://www.filmlinc.com/

Nigerian author wins the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction

The 29-year-old becomes the youngest winner, and the first from Africa, to win for her novel Half A Yellow Sun, set in the 1960s Biafran civil war.

Both her grandfathers died in that conflict and she said: "This book is my refusal to forget."
She beat five other contenders for the £30,000 women-only award, including Kiran Desai, shortlisted for her Booker Prize winner The Inheritance of Loss.

Read more.

Essay Contest - $$$

Please take advantage.

Speaking of good magazines

Subscribe today!

Vanity Fair for AFRICA!

Vanity Fair did an historic 20 different covers issue, putting 21 famous faces doing something for Africa. Oprah, Obama, Madonna, etc....

Check out the current issue!

Africa's 24 hour news channel- CNBC

CNBC Africa.

summer music in NYC!!

I almost just pissed my pants with excitement!!!

SummerStage is here!!! It includes Zap Mama, Femi Kuti, film screening of Music is a Weapon, a bunch of Sudanese artists, some AfroReggae, Kidjo, K'Naan, Common, Joss Stone, etc....

JJ is already looking for a place to stay in NY for the summer!!

Anyway...look out for us covering some of the events. We might have a booth too.

Music/Femi+Summer=Smiling Ariztos

Yeah...we're [music] geeks. We're just happy it's summer. This year, again, promises to be great with concerts.

Femi Kuti is on tour!!

Africa’s Storied Colleges, Jammed and Crumbling

Africa’s best universities, the grand institutions that educated a revolutionary generation of nation builders and statesmen, doctors and engineers, writers and intellectuals, are collapsing. It is partly a self-inflicted crisis of mismanagement and neglect, but it is also a result of international development policies that for decades have favored basic education over higher learning even as a population explosion propels more young people than ever toward the already strained institutions.

Read more.

No love for the big girls...at home??

Christy just sent this to me. Interesting...


African models wrestle with size schism Skinny African girls may get to strut on Western catwalks, but the fat ones have to stay at home. This is the message being delivered to the 500 or so Ghanaians who have registered with the country's only international modeling agency, Exopa.

Read more...

Africa is growing, economically!?!

African economic growth is set to reach nearly 6% in 2007, the highest in 20 years, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Overseas demand from China and other rapidly-growing nations for natural resources, including oil, has been a cause for growth, the bank said.

The data was issued at the bank's annual meeting, being hosted by China.

The region's economy grew by 5.5% in 2006, with South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria among the strongest nations.

Read more...

Perhaps this "growth" will trickle down to Africans(???)

Special screening on May 19th.

African inspire clothing at Banana Republic...

Banana Republic.

I mean, we all know a lot of these designers are getting there inspiration from Africa. It's good that some are actually saying it!

Trying to find out what was going on with this crash on the tele over the weekend. But Ms Paris Hilton's jail sentence dominated the news. Anyway, no survivors in the Cameroon crash. Sadly!

Bob Johnson: "Black Americans have a responsibility to support Liberia"

U.S. Billionaire Calls for More American Engagements

The Analyst (Monrovia)

NEWSApril 27, 2007 Posted to the web April 27, 2007 By J. Edwood Dennis

African-American billionaire, Mr. Robert L. Johnson, who led a 25-member delegation to Liberia early this week, left here wednesday with the impression of huge potentials for investment in the post-war economy.

Members of the delegation included Oscar winning actress Cicely Tyson, former Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, scholar and educator Walter Leonard, among others.

Mr. Johnson has announced a US$30M loan program to assist Liberian-owned businesses to boost private sector investment following 14 years of civil conflict.

He said the money would be managed by RLJ Liberia Enterprise Development Fund, announced on February 15 in Washington DC at the Partners Forum.

Addressing a news conference in Monrovia before his departure, Mr. Johnson disclosed that the Liberian government has licensed his group of companies to invest in Liberia and he has already begun to receive applications from several individuals and institutions for small loan purposes.

He dispelled news speculation that his visit to Liberia is a showbiz adding, "It is aimed at helping Liberians to have access to job opportunities through investment in the private sector".

Read more...

A new Nigerian Nightmare in the NFL, Amobi Okoye

Amobi Okoye was walking at 7 months old and by 1he amused himself by pushing dining chairs across the kitchenfloor.So it seems normal to his mother, Edna Okoye, that her19-year-old "baby boy," picked 10th by Houston, would be theyoungest player taken in the first round of the NFL draft since themerger."From the time I had him he has been ahead of everything he hasto do," Edna said Sunday after the defensive tackle fromLouisville was introduced in Houston.Okoye started high school at age 12 and was enrolled atLouisville by 16. He earned a degree in psychology in just 3 and 1/2 years while becoming a leader on Louisville's defense.He lived in Nigeria until the age of 12 and didn't know muchabout football before moving to the United States.

Read more.