Category: Multimedia

‘We just want to skate’

Dedicated to supporting youth in Ethiopia through the promotion of skateboarding and other educational initiatives, Ethiopia Skate was started in 2012 by 16-year-old Abenezer Temesgen and his partner Sean Stromsoe in Addis Ababa. Temesgen fell in love with skateboarding two years ago and has since taught 25 kids how to skateboard.

Ethiopia Skate plans to launch the country’s first public skatepark and needs as much support as it can get to successfully make this dream come true.

The video below introduces the project and the guys behind this great initiative. Check it out.

Dynamic Africa is a multimedia curated blog focused on all facets of African cultures, African history, and the lives and experiences of Africans on the continent and in the diaspora – past and present. Visitthe blog and connect with the curator, Funke Makinwa, on Twitter.

The Last Fishing Boat

The Last Fishing Boat, a film by Shemu Joyah, is about the clashing of cultures when a white tourist makes sexual overtures to a Malawian woman who is the third wife of an illiterate but proud fisherman.

Shot on the shores of Lake Malawi in Mangochi last year, the film recently won yet another prize – this time at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival in California . It picked up the award for the Best Narrative Feature Film.

Earlier this year The Last Fishing Boat bagged the Best Soundtrack award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards, where it received five nominations.

 

Making beats with aspiring Ethiopian musicians

Music producer Apple Juice Kid and musician Pierce Freelon of the Beat Making Lab recently flew to Ethiopia to work with the IntraHealth global health organisation in an effort to use “hip-hop as a medium to spread awareness about health issues”.  Beat Making Lab is an organisation that champions cultural exchange and provides beat-making equipment and training to youth around the world.

In the first of six episodes being filmed in Ethiopia, they get to know a 21-year-old singer and aspiring beatmaker by the name of Gelila.

The latest episode involves a new student who takes on the Lab’s challenge of penning lyrics about health issues in Ethiopia.

Check out the Lab’s YouTube channel for more inspiring collaborations.

Alyssa Klein for okayafrica, a blog dedicated to bringing you the latest from Africa‘s New Wave.

Grimy Cape Town noise-rap in Dookoom’s ‘Kak Stirvy’

Dookoom is the grimy noise-rap incarnation of Cape Town rapper (and past Die Antwoord collaborator) Isaac Mutant alongside producer Dplanet. The pair present a dark and unapologetic sonic landscape in Kak Stirvy, a track that sneaks in underneath the skin and bubbles up in an aggressive onslaught. The equally abrasive music video for the song, which was shot in the group’s home of Heinz Park, features Isaac Mutant in some Jeremy Scott sunglasses and smoking with his boys, as well as some rather peculiar playboy bunnies. Watch it below and stream Dookoom’s 6-track album here.

Killakam for okayafrica.com, a blog dedicated to bringing you the latest from Africa’s New Wave.