Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 610

This is Freedom

So three of Nelson Mandela's grandchildren will star in their own reality television show for South African television. The show will go on air in 2012. The main characters will be sisters Swati Dlamini-Manaway (34), and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway (32), and their cousin, Dorothy Adjoa Amuah (27).

The three held a press conference in Johannesburg announcing the show.

One journalist likens the show to something resembling "… the Kennedys, with a dash of the Kardashians." I can't even imagine what that is.

One of the stars, Dorothy Amuah refers to herself as part of "a new middle class of intellectuals" and was quick to play down the comparisons: they're definitely "not the African Kardasians."

Their bios:

Dlamini-Manaway, 34, has two children (a 10-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter), and another child due in January. She works for the family business, Mandela Dlamini Associates, and wants to launch a clothing line. Dlamini, 32, is a single mother who is re-launching her career by setting up a foundation to focus on medical, education and housing issues.  Amuah, 27, has a law degree and MBA from Monaco. She works in the luxury brand market.

What are the aims of the producers?:

They want to use the daily lives of the Mandela girls to showcase a new generation of working women in South Africa – while at the same time, giving a glimpse into the daily lives of this prominent, high-profile family.

Turns out one of them was executive producer of "Dr. 90210;" a show about plastic surgery in Beverley Hills.

Oh, and the Mandelas–and presumably the South African masses–fought for this:

The show's producer's however, say the Mandela family feels they have "fought for the right for their children to choose their own destiny."

Meanwhile a "source" close to the Mandela family told the usually rightwing British tabloid, The Telegraph:

"The commodification of the Mandela name is rampant and many are watching [the production of the reality show] with growing alarm."

Shameless Self Promotion

The nearly 400-page "Encyclopedia of South Africa" (it has 300 entries),co-edited by Howard University political scientist Krista Johnson (between us, she did more work) and myself is finally out. This is proof.

Buy it here.

Robo the Technician

From the Johannesburg-based record label that recently introduced us to Yugen Blakrok and Fifi the Rai Blaster comes this video for Robo the Technician. ("We've got a production studio here at Iapetus, that's where it was shot.") South Africans will recognize some familiar faces in the background.

The Art of Turning Tables

DJ Equipment companies, like Denon and Traktor, have been sponsoring the world's best turntablists to promote their wares with these amazing performance videos. In the competition to outdo each other, the companies are offering us the treat to check these talented guys out, with a high production value. Even so, it's hard to figure out exactly what they're doing as these pros make such tricky technical mixing seem effortless:

And more DJ Craze:

"The Missing Middle" in South Africa

"The Missing Middle"

Because Your Black

From Chicago. Auk5 channelling H. Rap Brown. That's Adis One on the trumpet.

The Emperor Needs New Clothes

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, posing here with President Barack Obama and their wives, has been Life President of Equatorial Guinea for 32 years. He is facing increasing pressure both at home and abroad. To counter this resistance he has tried a bunch of things. He got himself elected chairperson of the African Union. But what else do we expect from the AU. He also has a PR firm in Washington DC on retainer. That may be where his latest scheme originates from: to have a major prize named for him: the $3 million UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences. The prize is to be funded by the "Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Foundation for the Preservation of Life." More like from state coffers where the rest of his and his family as well as his associates' fortune originates from. Last year was the prize was going to be awarded, but UNESCO's Executive Board decided to suspend it after its members states failed to reach a consensus and probably after vocal protests by "concerned Equatoguineans, human rights groups, anti-corruption campaigners, and prominent literary, scientific, and cultural figures." (Some of the "prominent" protesters include Desmond Tutu [who is still agitating against Obiang], Wole Soyinka, Mario Vargas Llosa, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, John Polanyi; Chinua Achebe; and Graça Machel.) That's where it would have ended, but as the Committee for the Protection of Journalists reports,

An effort by the Obiang government to reinstate the prize in May failed to make it onto the agenda. But the current initiative has the nominal support of other African countries following an African Union resolution at its summit meeting in Equatorial Guinea in July, which President Obiang hosted as this year's AU chairman.

On Sunday, October 6, Obiang's bidders are trying again. UNESCO does not list who's on the members of the executive board, which is a shame. Anyway, a new campaign by nine prominent human rights organizations hope Obiang does not succeed.

Here.

The Emperor Buys Clothes

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, posing here with President Barack Obama and their wives, has been Life President of Equatorial Guinea for 32 years. He is facing increasing pressure both at home and abroad. To counter this resistance he has tried a bunch of things. He got himself elected chairperson of the African Union. But what else do we expect from the AU. He also has a PR firm in Washington DC on retainer. That may be where his latest scheme originates from: to have a major prize named for him: the $3 million UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences. The prize is to be funded by the "Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Foundation for the Preservation of Life." More like from state coffers where the rest of his and his family as well as his associates' fortune originates from. Last year was the prize was going to be awarded, but UNESCO's Executive Board decided to suspend it after its members states failed to reach a consensus and probably after vocal protests by "concerned Equatoguineans, human rights groups, anti-corruption campaigners, and prominent literary, scientific, and cultural figures." (Some of the "prominent" protesters include Desmond Tutu [who is still agitating against Obiang], Wole Soyinka, Mario Vargas Llosa, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, John Polanyi; Chinua Achebe; and Graça Machel.) That's where it would have ended, but as the Committee for the Protection of Journalists reports,

An effort by the Obiang government to reinstate the prize in May failed to make it onto the agenda. But the current initiative has the nominal support of other African countries following an African Union resolution at its summit meeting in Equatorial Guinea in July, which President Obiang hosted as this year's AU chairman.

On Sunday, October 6, Obiang's bidders are trying again. UNESCO does not list who's on the members of the executive board, which is a shame. Anyway, a new campaign by nine prominent human rights organizations hope Obiang does not succeed.

Here.

Holland is Kaaps

Afrikaaps, the South African theater production which explores the mostly unknown creole history of the Afrikaans language, is currently on tour in Holland. Sean wrote about the film I made about the show here a while back. Afrikaaps is essentially an effort to liberate the language from its status as the "language of the opressor",  taking it back for all who speak it (who happen to be mostly Black, or Coloured.)

The show has been reworked for a Dutch audience, incorporating two of Holland's hip hop heavyweights: Def P (Nederhop pioneer) and Akwasi Ansah (of the excellent Zwart Licht). As Afrikaans started as a mixing of languages in the Cape, and as a direct result of slaves and indigenes speaking Dutch, it will be interesting to see how the Dutch public respond to the show, and whether they would be open to engage with that side of their history. The jury is still out on that one.

The show premieres in The Hague on Friday the 30th. I'm currently touring with the Afrikaaps crew, making documentary inserts for use during the live show, documenting the process, and generally having a great time. If you're in Holland , check our dates here, and stiek uit!

Some samples from the show here and here.

Photo Credit: Aryan Kaganof