-
1 month ago | 
africasacountry.com | Tyler McBrien |Aaron Kohn |Tom Devriendt |Sean Jacobs
In Brazzaville, they appear like apparitions. A plume of dust lifts as they walk—one in a double-breasted canary-yellow suit, another in crimson patent-leather shoes so bright they catch the sun like mirrors. Neckerchiefs whisper softly at their throats. They do not rush. They glide—deliberately, impossibly, like men with nowhere else to be and everything to prove. Children trail behind. Vendors pause mid-transaction. A boulevard transforms into a proscenium. This is not performance. This is La Sape.
-
2 months ago | 
africasacountry.com | Amina Alaoui Soulimani |Joshua Cohen |Leila Dougan |Tom Devriendt
Interview by Amina Soulimani To do history is what M’barek Bouhchichi remains committed to as an artist from Akka. The construction of history must respect the subjective narration of its storyteller. This conversation is a continuation, a (re)negotiation, and a repositioning of Blackness. M’barek begins from where there has been silence, representational erasure, and the denial of one’s identity.
-
2 months ago | 
africasacountry.com | Karen Chalamilla |Sean Jacobs |Jesse Weaver Shipley |Tom Devriendt
When I was little, I had a very clear image of what it meant to be a grown woman. I imagined owning my own apartment, driving my own car, the ability to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and an unlimited supply of midriff blouses. This was the epitome of what being a grown, free woman meant to me. So, when I saw Lady Jaydee on the CD cover of her sophomore album, Binti, clad in a black two-piece that showed off her belly button, it immediately resonated with me.
-
Dec 5, 2024 | 
africasacountry.com | Ana Lucia Araujo |Guido Melo |Tom Devriendt
It’s Carnaval Monday night in Salvador, Bahia—Brazil’s “Black Rome.” Dressed in yellow, red, black, and white, a huge crowd of ordinary people, artists, and politicians are gathered in the Liberdade neighborhood. Under the balcony of the Candomblé temple Ilê Axé Jitolu, they attend a brief religious ceremony that opens the procession of the Carnaval group Ilê Aiyê. Africa is not a country. Yet, if there is a country in the Americas where we can find Africa, it’s Brazil.
-
Nov 5, 2024 | 
africasacountry.com | Tom Devriendt |Sean Jacobs
Saidu left his home in Senegal to pursue the elusive promise of a better life in New York—a solitary pilgrimage without the available support of family. He eventually made his way to Harlem, where he now shares a small apartment with three friends who also made the journey. In his first year, Saidu managed to find work as a security guard in Manhattan—one of the many jobs West African migrants often take up as they carve out new lives for themselves in the city.
-
Jun 28, 2024 | 
africasacountry.com | Mohammed Elnaiem |Tara Alami |Tom Devriendt
Colonialism only loosens its hold when the knife is at its throat. We can’t talk about Fanon without grappling with his analysis of violence and the psychology of oppression, especially during the present era of destruction and death. What would Fanon say about the colonial genocide and “avalanche of murders” currently taking place in Gaza and other places? What would he say about the traumatic and tormenting effects on Palestinian children, women, and men?
-
Mar 29, 2024 | 
africasacountry.com | Jonathan Duncan |Tom Devriendt |Portia Zvavahera
Roy Guthrie, who died in Zimbabwe on March 5, was once a widely known refrigerator salesman in South Africa before he migrated to then Rhodesia as a young man in the late 1960s. He continued in his trade of buying and selling electronics until he took over Gallery Shona Sculpture from a disillusioned couple who were leaving the country after the “unilateral declaration of independence” came into effect.
-
Feb 2, 2024 | 
africasacountry.com | Laurent Dubois |Tom Devriendt
On Saturday, February 3, the Stade de la Paix—Stadium of Peace—will be packed to the rafters as the Ivorian party arrives in Bouaké, the country’s second-largest city. The Elephants come to town still with much to prove despite knocking out African champions Senegal in the previous round of the Africa Cup of Nations. The team is still coming to terms with its 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea in the group stage, the country’s most humiliating moment in sport.
-
Jan 13, 2024 | 
africasacountry.com | Laurent Dubois |Tom Devriendt
As a footballing country, Cote d’Ivoire only started having real success at the club and international level in the 1990s. The first African Cup of Nations title that the national team obtained was in 1992 in Senegal. That very same year, Africa Sports reached the summit of continental club competitions by winning the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1992 and then again in 1999. Its biggest rival, ASEC Mimosas won the Champions League in 1998.
-
Dec 13, 2023 | 
africasacountry.com | Tom Devriendt |Sean Jacobs |Allison Swank
Recently, a TikTok video surfaced of Beyoncé fans in Tel Aviv chanting the words to her song “Break My Soul,” while waving the Israeli flag during a screening of the singer’s new concert film Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé. It was a scene as dystopian as the farcical propaganda periodically issued by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
