Latest news with #pan-African
TimesLIVE
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
Five minutes with hip hop duo Cold Chinese Food on their music debut
Johannesburg underground hip hop duo Cold Chinese Food are looking to make their mark in the music scene with their debut album Vital Ital. The duo, Sam Turpin and Illa N, are longtime friends and music collaborators with strong musical and political family ties. Sam is the son of anti-apartheid activist and photographer Gisèle Wulfsohn with Illa N's parents being of the Rastafarian culture and avid music collectors. This has influenced their music and views on the global community as well as culture, which can be heard in their 13-track album with themes that combine elements from multiple genres such as jazz, rock, Afrobeat, fusion and experimental, yet heavily influenced by hip hop. 'It's poetry to funk-inspired hip hop. Other people have used the phrases 'alternative' and 'left of centre', which is cool. But I like to send sonic messages, so I lean more towards 'musical poetry inspired by the world', Sam, 29, told TshisaLIVE. What can people expect from your debut album? Cold Chinese Food is a journey — expect a solid hip hop offering that bends in and out of style and flavour. It's about travelling, eating, loving and overcoming the difficulties we face as we grow in life. It's the soundtrack to the past eight years of my life. How long did it take to make and what was the journey to the release of this project? When it came time to start the Cold Chinese Food album, I knew I had to write my life experiences in a particular way. This started in 2017 and so it's almost eight years in the making. We also started work on The Charles Géne Suite collective and so the experiences we have together informed a lot of what you will hear. It's a pan-African reflection of life as an artist in the 21st Century. Think of it as a travel documentary you get to listen to through music. We just want to show you a bit of our lives. What inspired the theme and title of your debut album? Vital Ital refers to the healthy eating practice of people who follow Rastafari. It espouses health as well and leans more towards vegetarianism and an appreciation of the earth. I think this can be important for everyone and it inspired me. Food is also a way into a culture, with music, and I wanted to pay homage to the culinary and musical habits of so many beautiful cultures we are privileged to live alongside. It's the simple things in life. How do you approach the creative process when writing and producing new music? As Sam, it's not formal at all. Ideas usually come to me on their own, even if I'm sleeping or doing something. I've learnt not to ignore those ideas and I put them down in one form or another so maybe a song can emerge. I let the idea take me where it wants to until my spirit tells me it's enough for people to hear. It's good because it doesn't feel like work, but the price is it can strike whenever and I have to follow it. Which artists do you draw inspiration from? All the greats. This album is heavily inspired by the jazz and hip hop legends, some of them being Fela Kuti, Slum Village, Hugh Masekela, Nujabes, Manu Dibango and OutKast, but in a true neo-African style. I would like to work with Baloji one day. Either in music or film, he is certainly an inspiration.
Fashion Network
a day ago
- Business
- Fashion Network
Steinhoff offshoot to sell $1.6 billion of its Pepkor stake
Ibex, formerly known as Steinhoff International Holdings NV., will exit its 28% stake in Africa's largest clothing retailer Pepkor Holdings Ltd. The company will offer one billion shares, worth about 28 billion rand ($1.6 billion), according to the terms of the deal published Monday. Demand for the shares exceeded the stock being offered within minutes of the transaction launching, the terms show. Pepkor, which has almost 6,000 stores selling low-cost clothing, is tapping a pan-African boom in the use of phones for payment and banking services as well as for communication.
Fashion Network
a day ago
- Business
- Fashion Network
Steinhoff offshoot to sell $1.6 billion of its Pepkor stake
Ibex, formerly known as Steinhoff International Holdings NV., will exit its 28% stake in Africa's largest clothing retailer Pepkor Holdings Ltd. The company will offer one billion shares, worth about 28 billion rand ($1.6 billion), according to the terms of the deal published Monday. Demand for the shares exceeded the stock being offered within minutes of the transaction launching, the terms show. Pepkor, which has almost 6,000 stores selling low-cost clothing, is tapping a pan-African boom in the use of phones for payment and banking services as well as for communication.
Fashion Network
a day ago
- Business
- Fashion Network
Steinhoff offshoot to sell $1.6 billion of its Pepkor stake
Ibex, formerly known as Steinhoff International Holdings NV., will exit its 28% stake in Africa's largest clothing retailer Pepkor Holdings Ltd. The company will offer one billion shares, worth about 28 billion rand ($1.6 billion), according to the terms of the deal published Monday. Demand for the shares exceeded the stock being offered within minutes of the transaction launching, the terms show. Pepkor, which has almost 6,000 stores selling low-cost clothing, is tapping a pan-African boom in the use of phones for payment and banking services as well as for communication.
Al-Ahram Weekly
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Abidjan dreams of becoming Africa's next cinema hub - Screens - Arts & Culture
In the lush forests north of Abidjan, technicians were busy filming on the set of "Le Testament" ("The Will"), a comedy co-production between Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal. Under a large tree, village elders gathered to discuss the death of a wealthy local cocoa planter. In the film, his children return to their native village and bicker over his inheritance. Ivory Coast is hosting an increasing number of local, pan-African and international productions, and is striving to establish itself as a go-to film destination in Africa in the face of longtime dominance by Nigeria's thriving Nollywood. According to the Ivorian culture ministry, about 30 films and television series were shot in the country last year. This year, 39 other projects have been approved. Between takes of "Le Testament", production manager Shaidate Coulibaly, 31, said there was a growing number of enthusiastic technicians and filmmakers. "The sector's really developing locally," she told AFP. "The new generation wants to tell stories about their daily life, stories that represent them." "We have people who are able to oversee an entire production without needing to look elsewhere," added Adama Rouamba, the film's Burkinabe director, who has witnessed first-hand how the sector has professionalised. - 'Soft power' - Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower and a regional economic powerhouse, is banking on its youth -- 75 percent of the population is under 35 -- to take its fledgling film sector to new heights. Coulibaly, however, said private investors were still "cautious" and even though she received public funding, she had to fight to secure financing. "The credibility of Ivorian cinema is building up bit by bit, but it's a struggle," she added. The commercial capital Abidjan has been the backdrop of Franco-Ivorian director Philippe Lacote's productions since he began his career in 2022. Lacote just finished filming "Clash" -- about rivalry between stars of the popular coupe-decale dance music -- in Abidjan and the Congolese capital Kinshasa, using a predominantly Ivorian team. "It wouldn't have been possible a few years ago," he said. Ivory Coast's Minister of Communication, Amadou Coulibaly, said the government was considering setting up specialised programmes in schools and wants to "train all players in the film sector locally". At a major international convention in Abidjan recently, he said he wanted to make Ivory Coast "the hub of audiovisual content on the continent". The stakes are both economic and cultural, particularly with representations of Africa long dominated by Western countries. Earlier this year, Franco-Ivorian director Jean-Pascal Zadi shot part of his movie "Le Grand Deplacement" here, while "Eldorado", a series by Franco-American film producer Alex Berger, was filmed in the lush tropical Banco forest near Abidjan. "It's important for me to contribute to the development of Africa's cultural industry. We need to produce our own stories, quality content," said Zadi, calling local cinema a form of "soft power". His next film, an action movie, will also be shot in Ivory Coast. - Vision needed - At the National Cinema Office, Adama Konkobo described 2024 as an "exceptional year" and estimated about 20 Ivorian films were screened. In stark contrast, Nollywood -- Nigeria's massive and hugely popular film industry -- released about 2,500. In 2024, Ivorian films made up for about 10 percent of screenings in the country and six percent of the box office. Meanwhile, films produced or co-produced in the United States accounted for 80 percent of the market share, according to the National Cinema Office. "What's missing in the development of local cinema is a clear vision from the authorities," said Lacote, lamenting that the government is focusing on attracting foreign films without adequately financing Ivorian ones. "It creates jobs," he said. "But it doesn't develop national cinema." Coulibaly insisted the political will was there, and highlighted a forthcoming "subsidy mechanism" aimed at young Ivorian talent. Another obstacle to the development of a local film industry has been the country's lack of cinemas, with only 15 movie theatres, nearly all of them in Abidjan. A project to open a new cinema in Bouake in central Ivory Coast and the arrival last year of Pathe cinemas -- a chain owned by a French film production and distribution company -- in Abidjan could change the dynamic. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
