The trailer for “Prodigal Son,” a film by Kurt Orderson, a South African director, who sets out to retrace his great-grandfather’s journey from Barbados (he was a merchant sailor ) to Cape Town at the beginning of the 20th century and in that way pointing to the mashed-up identities of... [view entry]

From The Times of India: Are fake drugs manufactured in China being pushed into various African countries with the `Made in India’ tag? The Indian government has long suspected this to be the case, but it now has definite evidence for the first time. Last week, the National Agency for... [view entry]

There’s a lot more going in Botswana than just Alexander McCall Smith’s imagination and President Ian Khama’s social life. Like the people behind Ruff Riddims) who are producing good music, like Skeat’s “Meropa.” HT: Wayne and Wax [view entry]

The lead single, “Box n Locks” from the debut album of London-raised, South African born Mpho (Skeem) (she’s the daughter of South African musician, Sipho ‘Hotsticks’ Mabuse) Sample more of her music (including a free album mp3 mix, go here. [view entry]

United States activist-scholar Robert Jensen writes about a recent trip to South Africa: “During apartheid the racism of white people was up front, and we knew what we were dealing with. Now white people smile at us, but for most black people the unemployment and grinding poverty and dehumanizing conditions... [view entry]

Brit-band The Noisettes‘ “Never Forget You” (from the album ‘Wild Young Hearts’) featuring the voice of part-Zimbabwean lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa. [view entry]

I am not sure what to make of this video for a brand campaign for Channel O, an African-based MTV-clone. The advertising executives behind the campaign, stripped Nina Simone’s 1968 charged anthem, “Young, Gifted and Black,” from its radical politics, to sell the channel’s consumption-driven identity. (A top-heavy line-up of... [view entry]

The opposition Democratic Alliance won the provincial election in South Africa’s Western Cape. Some voters who voted against the ruling African National Congress are downright racist, as this video blog post, shot before the recent general elections in South Africa, shows. Though the commentary is in Dutch (or Flemish?), the... [view entry]

Clip from “Hora Quente,” a late night show on Angola’s TPA 2 TV station, where the host, Pedro N’Zagi, interviews the Akwaaba Music’s Benjamin Lebrave. In Portuguese. I put up the clip more for the novelty value and to give a sense of how TV around the world copies, and... [view entry]

The Playlist is back. The latest guest is Jeremy Weate. He blogs as Naijablog (one of my daily bookmarks), is behind Cassava Republic Press in Abuja (with his partner, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf) and has a hand in the new Nigerian newspaper, NEXT, that has everyone talking. For his playlist, Jeremy picked... [view entry]