ARTS & CULTURE

Photo: Afropop. "Tuku’s band evolved over the years, always maintaining a fundamental integrity. In his late career, his sons performed with him. One son, Sam, was on his way to a promising solo career when he died in a car accident in 2010." – Banning Eye.

The African Music Community Mourns Tuku's Death

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | HARARE (IDN) – After 67 albums and a score of awards and honorary degrees, Zimbabwe’s musical legend Oliver Mtudkudzi – affectionately known as ‘Tuku’ – lost his long battle with diabetes at the Avenues Clinic in Harare. He was 66.

He was buried January 27, with music, singing and dancing by thousands of his adoring fans.

On the Afropop music website, guitarist Banning Eyre recalled his friend: “Born in 1952, 'Tuku' grew up during the final decades of Rhodesian rule. He was a contemporary of Thomas Mapfumo, and both came of age during the brutal independence struggle of the 1970s, as Zimbabweans fought hard for liberation from the oppressive, racist Rhodesian regime.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 January 2019

Photo: Former president Jacob Zuma. Credit: Bonile Bam

Former President Jacob Zuma Reveals Plans For New Career

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – After a brief spin as President of South Africa, the multi-talented Jacob Zuma is plunging into a new and exciting career path – he’ll be a recording artist of liberation songs from the anti-apartheid struggle.

A full-length album will be recorded in April during the Articulate Africa project, a program of national and international literary writings.

Zuma, who was forced to step down in February 2018 over multiple graft scandals, is remembered for singing and dancing at rallies during his tenure.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 January 2019

Photo: Soft power art: The Kochi-Muziris Biennial opens in India, and Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei displays work at a German museum. Credit: YaleGlobal

Contemporary Art Triggers China-India Soft-Power Competition

Art is a means of soft power for persuading and attracting global attention. "As globalization has distributed economic benefits around the world more broadly, emerging economies are stepping up to express their role as actors in the global sphere," explains John Zarobell, associate professor and chair of International Studies at the University of San Francisco. China and India, both fast-growing economies, take different paths on nurturing art.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 05 January 2019

Photo: Beninoise music icon Angelique Kidjo made Africa proud on Sunday when she sang the “Blewu” track in front of world leaders who had gathered in the French capital, Paris. Source: AfricaNews.

At World War I Ceremony, the Songbird of Togo Reappears

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – At a gathering of world leaders in the French capital of Paris, singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo reprised an hypnotic work of ethereal beauty by a youthful West African singer. With a repertoire of just 17 songs, the diva, Bella Bellow, had won the hearts of presidents, accomplished artists and worldwide fans.

Kidjo’s choice of Blewu (“Patience”) “celebrated Peace and the memory of the fallen African soldiers of World War One in front of the leaders of this World under the Arc de Triomphe.” It was also the long-awaited encore for the “Togolese songbird” – Bella Bellow.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 November 2018

Photo: Puay Kim Teo speaking at the 1st Asian Buddhist Media Conclave in Delhi in August about the festival.

What is Buddhist in a Buddhist Film Festival?

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 25th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The just concluded 5th edition of 'Thus I Have Seen Buddhist Film Festival (THISBFF)' in Singapore attracted a large non-Buddhist audience according to its organisers, but still it grappled with the question of what constitutes "Buddhist" in a film festival.

Festival director Puay Kim Teo of ‘Dhamma in Action’, reminiscing at its origins 10 years ago, recalls “we were looking for an outreach platform to share Buddhist teachings and Buddhist culture with the wider community in Singapore, beyond the normal temple grounds and society premises”.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 October 2018

Images: Dahomey Royal Sandals (top) and Candomblé Doll from 1940s Bahiat (bottom). Courtesy of the National Museum of Brazil.

Rare African Antiquities Lost in Brazil Museum Fire

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A fast-moving fire that swept Brazil's National Museum on September 2 incinerated priceless objects and reduced hundreds of African antiquities to ash, museum official are now saying.

The museum's permanent African exhibit was named Kumbukumbu – a Swahili word for the memory of people, objects and experiences. A throne from the Kingdom of Dahomey (current-day Benin) and ritual objects of Afro-Brazilian religion (Candomblé) were some of the museum's most prized possessions.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 September 2018

Photo: Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul, speaking in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in November 2016. CC BY-SA 4.0

A Nobel Laureate who was 'the Most Homeless, Rootless Person'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LONDON (IDN) – "V.S. Naipaul's legacy is complex – but his writing must be celebrated," writes essayist Amit Chaudhuri. "His comments about Islam, women and Africa were often unjustified, unpleasant and untrue – but that can be acknowledged alongside his gifts."

Novelist Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, known as V.S. Naipaul, died on August 11, 2018 at his London home at the age of 85. Born in Chaguanas, Trinidad, in 1932, in a family with Indian roots, he wrote more than 30 books including A Bend in the River and his masterpiece, A House for Mr Biswas.

: Global Information Network; ARTS & CULTURE; 15 August 2018

Photo: Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo. Credit: Goldstar.

Cheers For Zimbabwe's Musical ‘Lion’ Returning From Exile

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | HARARE (IDN) – Welcome home Mukanya! After 14 long years in the U.S. state of Oregon, singer, composer and bandleader Thomas Mapfumo has come home to Zimbabwe. His recent performance, for some 20,000 ticket holders at the open-air Glamis Arena, only slowed down as the sun began to rise.

"I thought maybe I wasn't going to be able to come back here while I was still alive," Mapfumo confessed. "But by the grace of God, I'm here."

After running afoul of former president Robert Mugabe, Mapfumo, known by his totem name Mukanya, took the painful decision to leave the country for the U.S., playing his last show in 2004.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 May 2018

Photo: This picture, taken at Ankor Wat and depicts the Hindu influence in Mekong/Cambodian architecture, shows the 'churning of the ocean' (samudra manthana in Sanskrit), which is one of the best-known episodes in the Hindu mythology. It explains the origin of the nectar of immortality (amrita). Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

Ganga Initiative Brings Culture Into New Asian Trade Routes

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 23rd in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN) – A recent conference at Thammasat University in Bangkok brought together Indian and Southeast Asian scholars to discuss re-building cultural links along two major rivers in Asia – the Ganges and the Mekong – that in ancient times provided transport links to build great civilizations influenced by Hindu and Buddhist philosophies and promote cultural flows.

The celebration of the New Year April 14 in the region based on astrology and harvesting cycle epitomizes these cultural links.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 11 April 2018

Gifted African Filmmaker Leaves Behind an Impressive Legacy

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Just days before a major retrospective of his cinematic work in Brazil, Idrissa Ouedraogo passed away in his home country of Burkina Faso on February 18. He was 64.

"We talked two weeks ago," said a grieving Janaina Oliveira of Brazil's Center for Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous Studies in a Facebook post. "I was bringing him to Brazil. Tickets, screening, tribute…it was all set. He was so happy."

Ouedraogo was born on January 21, 1954, in Banfora, Burkina Faso. His parents were farmers, and he grew up in a village outside Ouagadougou.