In honour of the late Kelan Phil Cohran we present, below, a tribute mix, compiled by Guilty, covering the sound journey of Kelan Phil Cohran – from his time with Sun Ra’s Solar-Myth Arkestra. Don’t miss “Heliacal Rising of Sothis” – a celebration of Kelan Phil Cohran at the Chimurenga Factory, with bassist and AACM member Adam Zanolini, cornetist Ben Lamar Gay, saxophonist Fred Jackson Jr, Sharon Udoh on keys and drummer Naydja Bruton AKA Rhythm Ninja.  Wednesday, 08 May 2024 from 8pm Chimurenga Factory (157 Victoria Road, Woodstock, Cape Town) R250 at quicket here. R300 at the ..read more

Chronic contributor and artist, Sammy Baloji had an exhibition in Berlin. His body of work, ‘Mémoire’ (from 2006) was on show at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Hiroshimastraße 17)  Over to our friends at AfricAvenir to say more: In his series of photographs entitled, ‘Mémoire’, Sammy Baloji links black and white photographs from Belgian colonial times with contemporary pictures of the mining town Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. A colonial past with slavery and exploitative hierarchies meets fallow industrial ruins and tips. The large-sized photo-montages distinctly con ..read more

Emeka Ogboh‘s art works require audiences to hone their listening and hearing skills. Turning sounds into words, he documents his hometown in A Personal Reflection on Soundscapes. “I would be somewhere, and the everyday sounds suddenly seemed as interesting to me as the sounds of any music I could hear inside the concert hall. They just seemed so rich that I wanted to document moments of listening. I came to regard the act of listening as a way of making music. I regarded it as a creative activity – finding music in the environment around me.” Bill Fontana Sitting on the low w ..read more

The animating impulse for the literary magazine When Three Sevens Clash was to celebrate the Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo. Along the way, and perhaps realising that no man is bigger than his clan, it became another beast, encompassing Zimbabwe and beyond. Featuring non fiction, photography, and comic art, the project drew several generations of artists. The oldest, the Zimbabwean poet and retired university lecturer Musaemura Zimunya (City Lights and Country Dawns, Thought Tracks, And Now the Poets Speak), was born in 1949, while the youngest, the Zimbabwean doctoral student at ..read more

We are delighted to present a screening of two film-essays by Rangoato Hlasane – Sesasedi Sa Tsodio and Sa Koša Ke Lerole. Sesasedi Sa Tsodio delves into the kwaito DNA and its multiple umbilical cords searches for and celebrates the musicality of leleme la MaAfrika – sonic and phonetic aesthetics of black world making. The character of Tsodio as lyrical fiction/mythology travels through orature and storytelling in black musical and sonic histories of the past, present and future. Traveling banners, thinking and sounding with three locations – Meadowlands, Mamelodi and Mahikeng – serve as ba ..read more

Tumi Mogorosi meets Lesego Rampolokeng (MoRa) is not a word sound genesis but a word sound continuation upholding a sentiment of Black liberation. It is the meeting of different generations still musing on the fundamental freedom question, which is an absolute must within the current upheaval of world politics. The question that sounds out the centre of this meeting is a question of “writing the ungovernable” (Rampolokeng: 2015) ringing true of the O.R Tambo request to render the country ungovernable in 1985. How might these ethics of ungovernability apply in thinking of freedom anew, in thin ..read more

Ubuhle Bendalo Community Arts Festival plays host to the following exhibitors and participants over 16-18 February 2024. See more on Ubuhle Bendalo here. Kids Arts Collective: free-form workshop for children by Ilze Wolff and Francesco Nassimbeni. Sibabalwe Ndlwana: Sibabalwe is a handloom textile-maker and founder of Ingyeyo Textile Studio. Her workshop will teach basic tapestry design. See more on Ingeyo here. The Ninevites: The Ninevites is a textile design and collaborative platform founded by Nkuli Mlangeni-Berg. The platform produces, amongst things, woven rugs with bold, geometric patte ..read more

We are proud to announce the 2nd edition of Ubuhle Bendalo,“the beauty of creation/nature”,an annual community arts festival organised by multi-disciplinary artist Breeze Yoko in collaboration with pan-African arts platform Chimurenga from 16 – 18 February 2024.  Consisting of exhibitions, talks, workshops, performances and more, this year’s edition aims to bring our arts community together by providing a platform for engagement, collaboration and play. It features some of the country’s leading radical creators, including Mzwandile Buthelezi, Julie Nxadi, Loyiso Mkhize, The Ninevites, Bu ..read more

by Dike Okoro Ikwunga Wonodi is not a new face among Afrobeat music followers in Nigeria and elsewhere; years back while a university student, he was a member of the “What?” collective which was an underground campus hit in Nigeria. As a young medical doctor, Ikwunga was a regular opening act for Femi Kuti at the Afrika Shrine in Lagos. Since the release of his latest album Calabash Afrobeat Poems Vol.1, Ikwunga has been the center of attention among the African community in the US and Britain. I recently spoke to Ikwunga via telephone and we both decided to set a date for this interview. Pri ..read more

Chimurenga and Breeze Yoko are pleased to present UBUHLE BENDALO – exhibitions, performances, talks, books and more… 16 – 18 February 2024 Chimurenga Factory (157 Victoria Rd, Cape Town) SAVE THE DATE. The post UBUHLE BENDALO first appeared on Chimurenga ..read more