Bubblegum Club

Tag: global

  • Afripedia to launch new platform to connect creatives with clients and each other

    Afripedia to launch new platform to connect creatives with clients and each other

    Africa’s representation has been exhausting – it’s typically about poverty and her friends, disease, unemployment and corruption. From the West, Africa is every NGOs wet dream or just one long sad story. Now being raised in Sweden with strong Ethiopian and Eritrean roots, Teddy Goitom and Senay Berhe knew the pitiful narrative. It all changed when they traveled to the continent in 2009 and witnessed its “hidden” glory for themselves.

    This exposure was revolutionary for Teddy and Senay. As seasoned directors, they were compelled to use the power of film to capture how fellow creatives were navigating themselves on the continent and releasing their creative expressions. Behold, the birth of Afripedia, a visual guide for African creatives.

    Created by Teddy, Senay, and fellow director of Stocktown Films, Benjamin Taft, the documentation of Afripedia’s content began on that 2009 journey to Ethiopia, Ghana and Burkina Faso. The trio are film heavy weights and have been innovating visual storytelling since the late ‘90s and Afripedia’s gripping and spirited essence is a testament to the mastery the trio have over this medium.

    The foundation of Afripedia is to develop the imagining of Africa, hence the determination to share the documented stories with Swedish television, as well as the world. The initial process to gain Swedish co-producers and sponsorship was difficult because these potential partners wanted a European voice to narrate these African stories. However, Afripedia values the voice of the storyteller and the ownership of their narrative so Teddy, Senay and Benjamin financed their own productions.

    The project of Afripedia was fuelled by a DIY mentality, with extensive research and nurturing global connections. YouTube and film festivals added to Afripedia’s reach and gained the site some funding in the end. The result being five short films being released in 2014 – Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, and Angola. Since the launch of these films, Afripedia has been part of more than 80 film festivals, the films have been shown on SABC, BET and Afridocs. Ethiopian Airlines, KLM and Kenya Airways have included the films on their in-flight entertainment.

    These insightful films took about five years to complete and with the burning desire to continue the work they have started, Teddy and Senay have begun extending their documentaries into an actual database where the creatives can be found. This idea expands Afripedia into a platform on which African creatives can be recruited by clients and connect with each other in order to build their team.

    The platform focuses on African creatives talented in production, so photographers, stylists, art directors, film directors, illustrators, graphic designers and animators. Before the platform is released in May 2018, Teddy and Senay are currently inviting prominent and emerging creative talent from Africa and the diaspora to join. When it is available to the public, the curated platform will be a virtual booking system, way to connect creatives and clients, and a digital portfolio.

    To keep up with the innovative ways Afripedia is elevating the exposure of African creativity, subscribe to their site here.

  • AFROPUNK // A culturally significant global movement

    AFROPUNK. A movement that has multiple branches, from its online platform to the festival to a series of collaborative projects. A seed was planted 13 years ago in the mind of Matthew Morgan, the co-founder of AFROPUNK, when the screening of the documentary Afro-punk gathered an intimate group of black kids who shared an interest in punk rock culture. Reflecting on this moment Morgan expressed, “The large portion of them wanted to exist in a space that catered for their music choices and their lifestyle choices but with other black people, which was not available to them for the most part.” The AFROPUNK identity and what it stands for has been translated into a reach of 40 million a week in digital space, and an incredible following of its festival and connected events.

    Describing the AFROPUNK audience as global, African and diasporic, Morgan recognizes that their audience is shifting every day. This shifting audience is what allows AFROPUNK to be relevant in Brooklyn, Atlanta, London, Paris, and now Johannesburg. However, the core of the movement never changes – to be a platform for people of colour to see more alternative versions of themselves, and to celebrate black excellence. This is a sentiment that is shared in South Africa and across the globe more generally, which can be seen through social media posts that embrace a similar thinking to the founding pillars of AFROPUNK. The desire to promote and make political and physical space for alternative black culture has resulted in AFROPUNK being a welcomed breath of fresh air in the digital and festival spheres.

    This connects with the evolving nature of Johannesburg and the people who inhabit it. From kids who are fresh out of high school moshing at a tightly packed hip hop party, to those who reject western beauty standards by embracing their natural hair, to those who are calling for free, decolonised education. The kinetic energy that is fostered through the networking and collaboration related to AFROPUNK is what provides connection for people of colour. Morgan expressed that it is important for significance of this connection to be acknowledged, and the festival is a way in which this connection can manifest physically. Allowing a moment of self-expression among people of colour who might share similar experiences, or who have to navigate the world in a similar way. It allows for an interrogation of that experience, as well as a moment to exhale.

    No Sexism, No Racism, No Ableism, No Ageism, No Homophobia, No Fatphobia, No Transphobia and No Hatefulness. These slogans have become tied to the AFROPUNK identity and present an intersectional understanding of identity politics. They also come from the aspiration for AFROPUNK to create a sense of coming together, and a practicing ground for leaving prejudice behind.

    Reflecting on his visits to Johannesburg that led up to the festival being hosted in the city, Morgan expressed that he “spent significant amounts of time on every visit, and feel[s] the music, the fashion, the style, the politics, are incredible, and if we can be part of helping to share that and then bring people in, that again shares, and connects the diaspora in a more meaningful way.”

    The festival will be on 30-31 December at Constitution Hill. Tickets available at http://afropunkfest.com/johannesburg/

  • Spoek Mathambo – Mzansi Beat Code

    Spoek Mathambo’s fifth solo album, ‘Mzansi Beat Code’, is both a culmination of years spent trying to find his own voice and sound, as well as a celebration of collaboration. Of the thirteen tracks on the album only two feature Spoek on his own. “Music right now is a bit more individualistic in an egotistical sense. I think some of the best music that I’ve enjoyed from the last hundred years is always based on a group. Be it how amazing hip hop releases are, they’re always collaborations. To the great rock, jazz, punk, funk it’s all based on really great groups. So for me it’s natural.” By collaborating with others he is able to tap into human skills that he or a machine does not posses, “I can reach them the best not through MIDI but through a human being who’s got their own rich concept based on a lifetime of playing that instrument”.

    Rather than curating the sounds of South Africa, Spoek takes elements from the diverse sound spectrum and reinterprets them through his own lens, hence the name ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “They’re ideas, concepts, codes, ways of doing things, but for the most part I’m deconstructing it and reconstructing it in a different way.”

    While the album is Spoek’s solo production he does not view his role as that of a conductor leading an orchestra. “It’s lowkey just friendships and chill sessions for the most part. Demos that we share and just playing around and experimenting with some friends and some strangers that have become friends.” Still the album has Spoek’s energy. “I guess because I’m there from the beginning up until the end it leans towards what I want out of it.”

    When asked if he sees himself as a rapper or producer first his answer is unequivocal. “I really hate rapping right now. I see myself as a beatmaker at the beginning of their career.  I see myself as a producer.” From his Future Sound of Mzansi Mixes to the documentary of the same title and Fantasma’s ‘Free Love’ there is a clear path that leads to the release of ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “It has taken me a long time to get to this point. It has taken me a really long time to get this ability of putting things together. I’ve been doing things since 2006, even before that with different stuff, trying to articulate certain ideas and just not having the required skill set . So this is the first project, well I’d say Fantasma ‘Free Love’ is the first project where things came together”.

    By deconstructing and rebuilding the ‘Beat Codes’ of South Africa, Spoek is creating a sound and aesthetic that is familiarly South African but excitingly innovative.