EAST AFRICAN INPUT AT THE RICH MIX CLUB PIVOTS UP LONDON

 Somali poet, Ahmed Magare reads fervently at Rich Mix. Pic by F Macha

I was part of a beautiful day on Easter Sunday.

Rich Mix is definitely among hottest clubs in London at the moment. Strategically situated. Not just in Hackney but Shoreditch.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JJ ADAMSON OF AFRICANS IN LONDON TV

I first met Joseph Otieno Adamson when he was managing a music studio in Hackney, East London, 1999.  I was then hosting a World Music Nights at two venues in the city. Some of the artists had been recorded and produced or were known to Joseph since the days he was a popular musician in Nairobi in the 1980s.

KISWAHILI NOVELIST ADAM SHAFI SHEDS LIGHT ON AFRICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

 I first met Zanzibar novelist, Adam Shafi in 1979.

He had just popped into then Tanzania Publishing House along Samora Avenue, downtown Dar es Salaam. His new book, Kuli, excited every Swahili reader and lover of literature. Kuli is a classic. Phenomenal. It is based on historical incidents during the colonial era in 1948. Port workers stage a strike that eventually contributes to Uhuru struggles for Zanzibar and Tanganyika (the older name of Tanzania) independence. 

Adam Shafi- pic by Mohammed Ghassani
 

AS SPECTRE OF SMOKING CIGARETTES GROWS IN AFRICA...

On page 29 of the mainstream English Tabloid, Daily Mail, September 3^rd 2015, was a gruesome photograph that attracted my attention. A skull and pieces of scattered skeletons. Human remains. Well, well, well.   Being shown grisly, hideous and gruesome images, these days, is as “normal” as having breakfast. Whether in blogs, You Tube or WhatsApp, we are “officially” desensitised with gory savageness. Nevertheless, the Daily Mail snapshot was macabre for a reason. Not aimed at glorifying human tragedy- like our internet- thanks God, most newspapers still upheld traditional restrain and etiquette in social shock and info.