ARTS

Myko Ouma self-effacingly dismisses it when I tell him he is considered by many people to be one of the best guitarists in the country. “About best guitarist, I don’t know,” he says. In reality, he is a renowned jazz and contemporary world music artiste who plays more than ten …

Kampala Biennale makes bold moves: But how smart was throwing out painting and favouring installations and performance? Under the simmering mid-morning heat of Friday Sept.2, the Uganda Museum was transformed into a scene of wacky spectacle that left many observers utterly lost in translation. A man of Asian origin had …

INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL: By Ngugi wa Thiong’o In 1969 Gacamba, a bicycle repairer in Nyeri, a town about a hundred miles from Nairobi, discovered some kind of engine, a scooter engine, and, using the scrap metal he could find in his backyard, made an aeroplane that he called Kenya One. The plane …

Phiona Mutesi, the Ugandan girl who became a chess sensation at the age of 10 stands out for something else.  She was raised in the slum of Katwe, on the edges of a city, Kampala, but quietly worked her way up. Her journey to fame crested when it was documented …

Bayeux, France | AFP | How far to go in terms of gore and shock value when covering conflict? Capturing violence on camera was hotly debated on the fringes of Bayeux, a major French photography festival. Seasoned photographers discussed where to draw the line at an event Friday on the …

Croque-monsieur? That is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, sometimes topped with fried egg; a staple food in France. So why should you care about it in Uganda? Well, one of Uganda’s celebrity chefs, Henry Wanyama, thinks if the French, Chinese, and Italian have such signature cuisines, local foodies can …

Can the international festival push more creativity into Kampala? For cities, especially those aspiring for global recognition, to thrive in the 21st century; they need a culture of creativity – the capacity to think afresh. The creative city is a city that has a brand and reflects a personality. This attitude …

  Paris, France | AFP |  FASHION: If the idea of an “It girl influencer” sitting in a “frow” watching a “gender fluid” collection available in “see now, buy now” has you scratching your head, then you need our essential guide to fashion jargon. Here are a few basic terms …

Some children as young as kindergarten-age may have an inkling of what they wish to become when they grow up, or at least they might think they do. A lot of what they say they want to become is nothing more than simplistic wishful thinking that is perhaps informed by …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | War crimes judges Tuesday found a Malian jihadist guilty of destroying Timbuktu’s fabled shrines, and were set to pass sentence amid hopes the court will send a strong message to help safeguard the world’s ancient monuments. A three-judge bench began handing down its judgements …