Difference between revisions of "African News, Arts, and Culture"
(→Maps (and map quizzes)) |
(→Overviews of African history) |
||
Line 251: | Line 251: | ||
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV__Tvv02KU part 7] | * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV__Tvv02KU part 7] | ||
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1j1Bv5f-e0 part 8] | * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1j1Bv5f-e0 part 8] | ||
+ | |||
+ | Henry Louis Gates series: [http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=103279&xtid=144350 Part I] (find other parts from here) | ||
Revision as of 15:18, 18 January 2019
Contents
- 1 African Arts and Culture resources
- 1.1 Africa and Africans
- 1.2 General info on Ghana
- 1.3 Music of West Africa and beyond
- 1.4 African American and Africana studies
- 1.5 Audio: Ghana and beyond
- 1.6 Film and video: Africa, West Africa, Diaspora, and related
- 1.7 Maps (and map quizzes)
- 1.8 Ongoing research and development work in Ghana
- 1.9 Blogs
- 1.10 Reference
- 1.11 Bibliography
- 2 African news: music, culture, and more
- 2.1 Ewe king of the ring
- 2.2 Namsa Leuba's Stunning Photo Series Captures the Mystery and Beauty of Benin’s Voodoo Tradition
- 2.3 Nanny in Jamaica
- 2.4 Rawlings visits Apetorku festival in Dagbamete
- 2.5 In Ghanaian Village, American Woman Reigns As King
- 2.6 How Did A Jam Queen From Ghana Get To Be A Google Doodle?
- 2.7 website-in-progress for A Drummer's Testament
- 2.8 Great Tufts website devoted to Dagomba dance drumming
- 2.9 Mapping Africa
- 2.10 Ghana Highlife Music repository
- 2.11 Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground A penetrating look at the environmental and social impact of electronic waste.
- 2.12 African Art at the Met
- 2.13 John Collins has put his academic publications online on academia.edu
- 2.14 The Royal Museum for Central Africa
- 2.15 History of Africa from the BBC
- 2.16 Hand painted Ghanaian movie posters, an exhibition
- 2.17 Art & Life in Africa, hosted by the University of Iowa Museum of Art
- 2.18 Islamic tolerance in West Africa
- 2.19 Professor Kofi Agawu on the minimalist impulse in African music
- 2.20 The story of Ghanaian Highlife from the BBC (by John Collins)
- 2.21 Ghana's modern musical history from the BBC
- 2.22 m.anifest is an award-winning rapper and songwriter who's performed with Erykah Badu - and he's Prof. Nketia's grandson!
- 2.23 Ghana's unfinished buildings and sky-high rent
- 2.24 Obituary: Martin Bernal, author of Black Athena
- 2.25 Old Liquor Finds New Life in Ghana Cocktail Scene
- 2.26 Save precious Timbuktu manuscripts!
- 2.27 Du Bois in Our Time...
- 2.28 Mansa Musa, 14th century Malian king, was richest human being in all history
- 2.29 African Union at 50
- 2.30 Ghana's Azonto Craze
- 2.31 Fela Kuti Reissues: Message to an Unknown Soldier
- 2.32 Mali's historic manuscripts
- 2.33 A pioneer in West African literature: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- 2.34 Malian kora legend breaks music barriers
- 2.35 Group to Invest N1.4bn in New African Music Platform Called Mokingo
African Arts and Culture resources
Africa and Africans
Africa
West African Kingdoms Fotota: African Perspectives in Photography African Union at 50 - the dream of Unity
Africa South of the Sahara (Stanford University)
Aluka (log in via your university library site; if it's not available request a subscription)
Africa Past and Present podcast
African Knowledge Project, including a set of journals
A History of the African People by Robert W. July (Long Grove IL : Waveland Press, Inc., 1998). 724 page(s)
Africa & Africans by Paul Bohannan and Philip Curtin (Long Grove, IL : Waveland Press, Inc., 1964). 316 page(s)
African Activist Archive Project
Online museum resources on African Art
African languages and oral literatures
The Story of Africa (produced by the BBC)
Brill's African Studies Companion
General History of Africa (also in [http://www.unesco.org/new/fr/culture/themes/dialogue/general-and-regional-histories/general-history-of-africa/volumes French)
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, with information on more than 35,000 slave voyages
Africans
US Defense intelligence report on Kwame Nkrumah from 1966
General info on Ghana
Journals of both historic and scholarly interest:
- Transactions of the Gold Coast & Togoland Historical Society
- Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
Library of Congress country study
Ghana, by Rachel Naylor (Oxfam Country Study series)
New York Times travel section article about Ghana (August 9, 2009)
The Ewe Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, by A. B. Ellis.
Ghana, One Year Old: a First Independence Anniversary Review
Ghana’s Policy at Home and Abroad: Text of Speech Given in the Ghana Parliament, August 29, 1957
Adoo Quamina, 1820, captain and courtier to the Ashanti king
Music of West Africa and beyond
Ghana Expo - includes music, TV, films, and more...
Ntama: Journal of African Music and Popular Culture
Wikipedia articles on Ghana, and West Africa (limited, but good for links)
National Geographic World Music Guide
Dagara xylophone music center outside Accra
Hiplife compilation (BBC review)
James Koetting Ghana Field Recording Collection at Brown University
African American and Africana studies
Frederick Douglass http://www.iupui.edu/~douglass/
Booker T Washington http://www.historycooperative.org/btw/
George Padmore http://www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org/ http://www.marxists.org./archive/padmore/index.htm
Martin Luther King http://www.kinginstitute.info/
Claudia Jones http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-afro-am&month=1109&week=a&msg=fVcO9M3iTeVcDqi9q3okfw&user=&pw=
John Henrik Clarke http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/afprl/dr.-john-henrik-clarke
Ida B Wells http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.IBWELLS
Ella Baker http://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/archivalcollections/pdf/scmmg630.pdf
Maulana Karenga http://www.maulanakarenga.org/
Cheikh Anta Diop http://www.gambia.dk/antadiop.html
Walter Rodney http://www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com/wpa/rodney_bio.html
Scientific African journal
Audio: Ghana and beyond
See:
Smithsonian Folkways on Ghana (all available free via the above databases):
- Ewe music of Ghana
- Music of the Ashanti of Ghana
- Music of the Dagomba from Ghana
- Music of the Ga people of Ghana
- Black music of two worlds (John Storm Roberts collection)
Recommended:
- Traditional Drumming and Dances of Ghana
- Folk music of Ghana (Ewe)
- Songs of War and Death from the Slave Coast: Songs of War
- Songs of War and Death from the Slave Coast: Songs of Death
- Traditional women's music from Ghana: Ewe, Fanti, Ashanti, and Dagomba
- Ghana: Children at Play: Children's Songs and Games
- Rhythms of Life, Songs of Wisdom: Akan Music from Ghana
Contemporary world music on Ghana (all available free via the above databases):
- Seprewa Kasa performed by Korankye, Osei; Kyerematen, Baffour & Banaman, Alfred Kari (Riverboat, 330051)
- Mustapha Tettey Addy: Master Drummer from Ghana performed by Addy, Mustapha Tettey (Lyrichord, LYRCD 7250)
- Kwabena Nyama: Ghana - Musique de Vin de Palme, Sunday Monday (Kwabena Nyama: Ghana: palm wine music, Sunday Monday) performed by Nyama, Samuel Kwabena; Poku, Kofi; Duah, Agyemang; Seni, Addas & Annor, Kofi (Buda Musique, 1979352, 2000)
- Immortal Franco (Congolese popular music, soukous)
- Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees In the past we visited the Buduburam camp where this music was produced. Now the camp has been closed. Please order the album to learn about the project, and help support these refugee musicians. Minimally, listen to the exerpts online at the above link. See Giving Voice to Hope for the subsequent evolution of this project.
- ET Mensah and the Tempos (RetroAfric/IODA, 1986) Documents classic Ghanaian highlife from the 1950s and 60s by one of its leading exponent. I'm including an emusic.com link (because it's cheaper that way, and emusic.com is worthwhile for world music lovers - in fact most of the Smithsonian Folkways catalog is there), but if you don't want to subscribe you can find this album also on iTunes.
- Bewaare: They Are Coming - Degaare Songs and Dances from Nandom, Ghana (Pan (Netherlands), PAN 2052CD, 1995)
Recommended:
- Master Drummers of Dagbon, Volume 2: Drumming From Northern Ghana performed by Abdulai, Alhaji Ibrahim (Rounder Records, CD-5046)
- Asante Kete Drumming: Music of Ghana performed by Nketia, Isaac; Martey, Gabriel Ololai; Damso, Yaw & Dwoomoh, Richard (Lyrichord, LYRCD 7454, 2007)
- Ghana: Music of the Northern Tribes (Lyrichord, LYRCD 7321, 1976) (listen to the gyil)
- Muzina performed by Rochereau, Tabu Ley (Singer/Songwriter) (Rounder Records, 5059) (Congolese popular music, soukous)
Note: Some of these links may not work without logging in first. For Films on Demand (http://digital.films.com) you can access from anywhere by visiting the UofA Library site and searching for database: "Films on Demand", then search for the title you wish to screen. You can also create an account allowing you to login directly to digital.films.com. All titles are provided below. If a link breaks try searching for the title. Here are the UofA's film databases. The Ethnographic film database is particularly rich in African holdings.
Overviews of African history
Basil Davidson's acclaimed BBC Africa series. Note: the following links are now dysfunctional ; try searching.
Henry Louis Gates series: Part I (find other parts from here)
Overviews of three major documentary series by Basil Davidson, Ali Mazrui, and Henry Louis Gates
The Mande people of the Mali empire
The Bambara Kingdom of Segu (Mali)
Dark passages (Slave trade)
Door of no return (slave trade)
Berlin 1885: The Division of Africa
Berlin 1885, la ruée sur l'Afrique 1/6 (other parts present also; in French)
Africa: States of independence - the scramble for Africa. al-Jazeera special on 17 African nations independent for 50 years in 2010.
African society, culture, music, religion, and politics
Fonko: An African Musical Revolution
Miraculous Water: The Effects of Scarcity and Abundance in Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mali
More Than Just a Game: Competitions and Celebrations in Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, and Sudan
Paper Gods: Aspects of Religion in Benin, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mali. See section 10 on a witchcraft village in northern Ghana.
Reel African. Collection of online video content. May not all be accessible from your location.
Africa: who is to blame? A film featuring Ghana's former President J.J. Rawlings
- President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana (04:33)
- Slavery, Colonialism, and Corrupt Democracy (05:06)
- Visions for Africa's Future (02:01)
IIs Soccer more than just a Sport to Africans?
DEATH METAL ANGOLA - Trailer # 1
African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal
West Africa generally
Welcome to Lagos Nigeria - BBC Two Documentary
Short videos about West Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana...)
Nollywood Babylon, on the Nigerian film industry (from the National Film Board of Canada)
Jean Rouch: seminal French documentary filmmaker-anthropologist, who developed a style of reflexive documentary filmmaking called "cinéma-vérité", blurring boundaries ordinarily separating subject and observer, as well as those separating fiction and non-fiction genres. Rouch is well known for representing West Africa in his films.
- Jean Rouch's classic "Les Maîtres Fous"
- Circoncision - Jean Rouch
- Screening Room with Jean Rouch, by Gardner Robert (Documentary Educational Resources (DER), 1980) 78 minutes.
- See: http://www.maitres-fous.net/home.html
A Fresh Look at Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria.
Keita: The Heritage of the Griot
Art (see #10-13)
Who controls Africa? Power Structures in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali
West Africa—Ghana and the Ivory Coast: Globe Trekker. Typical cheerily youth-oriented TV documentary, following the backpacker route and reveling in its culture more than cultural empathy or interpretation... but of our destinations are highlighted in parts 1-12.
Ghana, its history, culture, and music
History
Ghana's history, in 3 parts (1. See esp. 26:45 Nkrumah's speech and E.T. Mensah on his highlife song, "Freedom". 2,3) Collage of documentaries and news reels - some great footage. Also [www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=lC8JU6jxHgw].
Dr Kwame Nkrumah (short piece from History Channel)
Yaa Asantewa: Warrior Queen of GhanaYaa Asantewaa and the Golden Stool. Yaa Asantewaa was a courageous queen who ruled the Asantes and defended against the British.
Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire, containing many online films about the Gold Coast, e.g. Gold Coast Police Band's visit to London in 1947, [6][7][8]Prince of Wales in Gold Coast,[9][10]colonialism[11]
Culture and Society
Environment, entertainment, health, economy...
Changing Nature: Population and Environment at a Crossroads. A view of Ghana's environmental issues, especially the rain forests, and their relation to human health and economic welfare...
- Ghana's Threatened Spirit (04:48)
- Exploitation and Sustainability in Ghana (02:50)
- Ghana's mining camps (04:18)
- Ghana's Public Health Efforts (03:54)
Salt Harvesters of Ghana (Filmakers Library) 18 minutes. Focus on women's roles in traditional salt production in Ada, near the Volta river.
Dreams of Catches Unlimited, in Riches from the Deep 2 (Nordic World) 52 minutes. NB: Fast forward to 22:00 and watch to 35:15. Centered on fish production near Tema. Includes fishermen's work songs, and focusses on women's roles. We will see lots of fishing villages in Ghana.
A Fresh Look at Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria. Watch especially parts 5-8 on Ghana (plus #11, on hip-hop in Lagos).
Ghana: TV in Africa. This documentary studies the cultural landscape of Ghana through the lens of that country’s television programming.
Healers of Ghana. (A traditional voiceover style documentary, a bit dated in some ways, but providing some unique views...) This program explores the traditional medical practices of the Bono people of central Ghana and how their healers are cooperating with Western doctors, using herbs and spiritualism to improve health-care delivery in rural areas. Traditionally, Bono tribal priests undergo a painful spiritual possession, during which deities reveal to them the causes of illnesses, which plants to use to treat them, who is perpetrating witchcraft, and which villagers might be endangering society through improper behavior. The program features vibrant dance and possession ceremonies, set against the backdrop of the Bono villages, which are awash with color. (58 minutes)
Dying in Africa: Perspectives on the End of Life in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, and South Africa. Watch first three segments (on Ghana), and final segment on funeral music (in Burkina Faso)
A Mysterious Death, by Bulmer John and Errington Sarah, in Under the Sun (British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 1999) 49 minutes.
Asante Market Women: Disappearing World. Focus on Kumasi's enormous central market, and the role there of women. Fascinating documentary.
The Interconnected World: An Inside Look at the IMF and Its Impact (45:00). See segments 9-11, with focus on Ghana's emerging oil economy. This program guides viewers through the history, mission, and real-world impact of the International Monetary Fund. Topics include...Ghana’s challenges in ensuring that oil revenues benefit the country.
Music
Highlife: Ghana's Musical Soul (History of Highlife)
Freedom Highlife, by E.T. Mensah and the Tempos Listening to the Silence: African Cross Rhythms (featuring Ewe music, Prof. John Collins, and many other wonderful things)
Could Ghana's new Azonto dance craze take over the world?. Azonto is Ghana's latest dance style, and it's spread like wildfire, even to London, Scandinavia, and Canada, far from its roots lie in inner-city Jamestown.
Representing Ghana
Passing Girl: Riverside An Essay On Camera Work, by Braun Kwame (Documentary Educational Resources (DER), 1998) 24 minutes.
The African Diaspora: history, culture, music
Linking Africa to the New World...and back again
Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North. Katrina Browne was shocked to discover that her distinguished Rhode Island forebears had been part of the largest slave-trading dynasty in American history. Once she started digging, Browne found the evidence everywhere—in ledgers, ships’ logs, letters, and even in a local nursery rhyme. This film documents one family’s painful confrontation with their ancestors’ involvement in the slave trade, and in so doing reveals the pivotal role slavery played in the growth of the American economy.
Wrapped in Pride: The Story of Kente in America
Too Close to Heaven: The History of Gospel Music
Afro-American Work Songs in a Texas Prison
Joy Uspeakable (Pentecostals in Indiana)
The Land Where Blues Began, by Alan Lomax
Music Masters and Rhythm Kings
Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer
Maps (and map quizzes)
- Africa's true size (it's huge!). Click here to compare...
- Harvard's AfricaMap
- World Maps (Oxford)
- Google Map showing locations for the Ghana summer program
- A range of different maps: climate, history, colonialism, politics...
- Historical maps
- Modern maps
- West Africa maps
- Ghana maps
- Harvard's Africa Map project
- interactive map quiz for countries
- interactive map quiz for capitals
- African geography as a network
- 1820 Map of Africa
- 1889 Trading Routes of the Sahara
- Guinea Itself, as Well as the Greatest Portion of Nigritia or the Land of the Blacks, the One Called Ethiopia Inferior by Modern Geographers, the Other Southern Ethiopia
Ongoing research and development work in Ghana
Every year, we support local schools in Dagbamete through gifts of books and supplies. We've also supported JayNii streetwise foundation in Jamestown, and a women's shea nut collective in Tamale.
We contributed to help Richard Kofi Avi, a terrific drummer from the village of Dzogadze, so that he could complete his high school education. He's now applying to study music at the University of Winneba! And we're supporting Esther Ayensu, a very talented dancer and actress, to complete her university education in Accra.
Students also worked on the Giving Voice to Hope project, supporting Liberian refugee musicians in Ghana.
Our summer program also includes original field research in the Ghanaian village of Dagbamete, and results are provided to the village as a means of documenting their own history. Read the results of our study here: Musical Change in Dagbamete
Another ongoing cumulative project, entitled Working in Ghana, takes its cue from Studs Terkel. Transposing his famous book about American workers to Ghana, we've compiled a set of interviews documenting work Ghanaians do, including domestic work, and professions ranging from minister to fisherman. What do people do all day, and how do they feel about it? The result is a cultural cross-section of Ghanaian life today.
In Tamale we are working on Singing and Dancing For Health, a project mobilizing social groups and raising awareness towards better public health through music, dance, and drama.
Blogs
Reference
- Ency. of Africa
- World Maps (Oxford)
- Oxford Music Online
- Garland Ency. of World Music
- Int'l Ency. of Dance
- Int'l Ency. of Linguistics
- Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance
Bibliography
See reference works above. Also:
Brown University, bibliography on Ghanaian music
African news: music, culture, and more
Ewe king of the ring
Namsa Leuba's Stunning Photo Series Captures the Mystery and Beauty of Benin’s Voodoo Tradition
Nanny in Jamaica
Rawlings visits Apetorku festival in Dagbamete
In Ghanaian Village, American Woman Reigns As King
How Did A Jam Queen From Ghana Get To Be A Google Doodle?
website-in-progress for A Drummer's Testament
, which is the product of a collaborative ethnographic project. The principal authors are John M. Chernoff and Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulai.
Great Tufts website devoted to Dagomba dance drumming
Mapping Africa
Also see this Time magazine map of principal export commodities
Ghana Highlife Music repository
Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground A penetrating look at the environmental and social impact of electronic waste.
African Art at the Met
(see especially The Age of Iron in West Africa, Arts of Power Associations in West Africa, {http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/asan_1/hd_asan_1.htm Art of the Asante Kingdom], and other exhibits.)
John Collins has put his academic publications online on academia.edu
The Royal Museum for Central Africa
History of Africa from the BBC
Hand painted Ghanaian movie posters, an exhibition
Art & Life in Africa, hosted by the University of Iowa Museum of Art
Islamic tolerance in West Africa
Professor Kofi Agawu on the minimalist impulse in African music
The story of Ghanaian Highlife from the BBC (by John Collins)
Ghana's modern musical history from the BBC
m.anifest is an award-winning rapper and songwriter who's performed with Erykah Badu - and he's Prof. Nketia's grandson!
Ghana's unfinished buildings and sky-high rent
Obituary: Martin Bernal, author of Black Athena
Old Liquor Finds New Life in Ghana Cocktail Scene
Save precious Timbuktu manuscripts!
Du Bois in Our Time...
a landmark exhibition and book that focuses on the intersection of art and the major issues of our time, centered on the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois and the causes he championed, on the 50th anniversary of his death in Accra, Ghana
Mansa Musa, 14th century Malian king, was richest human being in all history
African Union at 50
Fifty anthems for the African continent. To mark the 50th anniversary of the African Union this year - formerly the Organisation of African Unity, BBC World Service listeners suggested the African songs that summed up the continent to them.
Africa Beats , from the BBC.
Ghana's Azonto Craze
Fela Kuti Reissues: Message to an Unknown Soldier
Mali's historic manuscripts
A pioneer in West African literature: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Malian kora legend breaks music barriers
Timbuktu's musical muse , with Mali's Toumani Diabate