Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | As coronavirus closed businesses around the world and forced billions to stay home, Nigerian director Obi Emelonye came up with an innovative way to keep filming. Inspired by his wife’s teleconferencing calls from their isolation in Britain, he wrote and put together a short feature about …
Read More »Music industry pledges anti-racist ‘Black Out Tuesday’
New York, United States | AFP | Major music industry labels are pledging to halt business Tuesday, in solidarity with anti-racist demonstrators demanding structural social change and an end to police brutality. Atlantic Records, Capitol Music Group, Warner Records, Sony Music and Def Jam were among the many organizations vowing that #TheShowMustBePaused, as mass protests …
Read More »‘Cook Off’: the Zimbabwe film that defied all odds to reach Netflix
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | “Seeing myself on Netflix, I have to punch myself every day. Like, is that really me?” asked actress Tendaiishe Chitima, star of the first Zimbabwean feature film acquired by the streaming pioneer. “Cook Off” was shot in 2017, just months before the fall of Zimbabwe’s …
Read More »Maybe a few movies more? Clint Eastwood turns 90
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Movie legend Clint Eastwood turns 90 on Sunday, but don’t count on the famously stoic and hard-working star of “A Fistful of Dollars” and “Dirty Harry” hanging up his cowboy boots just yet. The multiple Oscar-winning actor-turned-director, who churned out nine films in his …
Read More »A world redrawn: pop can keep us together, says star DJ David Guetta
New York, United States | AFP | Pandemic confinement has electronic dance music titan David Guetta looking inward, and he said he’s emerging “extremely inspired” ahead of a New York benefit set for this weekend. A key EDM architect who’s heavily influenced the pop of recent decades, the 52-year-old Grammy-winning French …
Read More »‘Bada… Bing… Bang’? HBO throws out rulebook with streaming launch
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Decades before glossy Netflix and Amazon shows began luring Hollywood A-listers to the small screen, cable network HBO helped invent premium television. Now the home of “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Game of Thrones” is scrambling to catch up with its newfound online …
Read More »Galaxy of African stars hold virtual coronavirus concert
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour and Grammy-winner Angelique Kidjo were among a galaxy of African talent brought together for a virtual concert to raise awareness of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 100 artists and celebrities from across the continent and the diaspora took part in the …
Read More »Counting the losses: COVID-19 costs artistes Sh150 billion
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Artistes across the creative value chain have lost at least sh150 billion in income in the last two months of the lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The loss covers those in creation, production, distribution and marketing. According to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and …
Read More »In pandemic times, all the gaming world’s a (concert) stage
New York, United States | AFP | With concerts on hold to halt coronavirus spread, the gaming world is increasingly catering to music lovers, with artists becoming animated performers in virtual realms to the trippy delight of millions. The trend has gained momentum in recent weeks after the ultra-popular Fortnite morphed …
Read More »JULIANA: It is a boy!
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Artiste Juliana Kanyomozi has given birth to a bouncing baby boy, she announced on social media. She’s called him Taj, born yesterday. May 12th, 2020. “IT’S A BOY!!!! Say hello to Taj 12-05-2020. We are thrilled!!. To God be the glory,” she said on …
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