JUST A BAND IS COMING TO ACCRA

On October 25th Accra will see its first Electro music festival with the city’s Djs and artists who have been cooking the scene for a while now. The festival is also bringing together producers and artists who are active within the scene to discuss ways of creating more Ghanaian psychedelic genres which used to be a thing in 1970s Ghana. The usual suspects performing are BBrave of Akwaaba Music, Steloo and Jason Kleatsh from Accra House Music, Dj Keyzzz and Azizaa. Kenyan Electro Funk trio Just a Band are headlining the festival which makes for a great shut down for anyone who knows their music or seen them live.

Just a Band was formed by Sellanga, Daniel Muli and Jim Chuchu while they were students at Kenyatta University. The group blew up following the release of “Ha-He,” their unique blend of funk and electro made sure of that. Now with three studio albums and counting, the band has forced the world to rethink what they know about African music and identity. Accra is definitely looking to bum rush this one. Electro Comes to Ghana is produced by Alliance Francaise Accra.

TOUGH BOND: Street Kid Dreams in Kenya

by AIGERIM SAPAROVA

TOUGH BOND film poster via Cinema Kenya

The Village Beat’s devastatingly beautiful film, Tough Bond, named after a commonly huffed adhesive, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival last month. It tells the stories of four Kenyan street children that unite together to hustle through yet another day. The film is a thick window that peers into what many would call an unfathomable lifestyle. We sympathize and pity, try to understand but for many reasons we fail to truly make the leap.

TOUGH BOND: (OFFICIAL TRAILER) from Village Beat on Vimeo.

Catching YELLOW FEVER

Yellow Fever: TRAILER from Ng'endo Mukii on Vimeo.

Graduate student Ng’endo Mukii gave folks at the Royal College of Arts in London pause for the cause with her thesis film, Yellow Fever. The ten-minute film is an exquisite exploration of race, gender and beauty regimens told through the intimate perspectives of her Kenyan mother and young niece.

The film mixes media into what Mukii calls an “almost schizophrenic self-visualization,” employing her study in animation, photography and ethnography. The result is a sincere and stunning composition that examines how African women think about skin bleaching, hair extensions, body image and western pop culture.

The filmmaker says this about Yellow Fever:

I am interested in the concept of skin and race, and what they imply; in the ideas and theories sown into our flesh that change with the arc of time. I believe skin and the body, are often distorted into a topographical division between reality and illusion. The idea of beauty has become globalised, creating homogenous aspirations, and distorting people’s self-image across the planet.

NG’ENDO MUKII

Mukii is definitely on our radar. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.