Just A Band...I don't think so...

New discovery. Some really smart guys from Kenya bringing some uniqueness to the African music front. Much needed. When all we have right now is recurring scenes on MTV Base of the same old wannabe American musicians hitting up cliched lyrics and played out video themes shot in video (due to low budgets) of Ghanaian, Botswanans Nigerian, Kenyan artists copying Americans. But you gotta say, the Congolese soukous/rumba scene has been the only reallly original thing to remain alive all these years in Africa. Viva Congo!




Hey and on the topic, just picked up a classic Saian Supa Crew - Angela ...used to see this back in the day when Channel O aired free on SABC 1 in 1998...aah, the good ole days!

JZ Interview with Frost

Plenty of whaffling, even some talk about BOB('s your Rhodesian Uncle).






JZ is far from being credibly articulate in terms of presidential leadership. I love the way he unconsciously flips a bird when shifting his spectacles up his nose bridge. Unconsciously?? This man could be far smarter and quirkier than we consider 'Umshinin Wami' and all his knowledge of how easy it is to gain favour with the anti-intellectual masses.

On the topic. The bravest man of the moment, Zapiro is being villified left, right and centre. Talks about his insensitivity to sexual violence against women and even that he himself is somehow violating the constitution. What ever happened to freedom of speech.
Then we have our trigger-happy idiot Malema threatening to kill our Zaphero. Are these the people that are going to lead our nation. No more than twenty years ago, the country was a white supremacist state run by violence. Now we're going right back to square one, only difference - another colour.

Oh my gosh - eighteen kids - he's a chronic babydaddy too.
"Love your kids" huh? Beginning to show a little love for country's constitutional principles and its justice system would be a good start.

Zapiro...my man!

Whilst this nation is slowly being sucked into a gravitational vortex of increased inflation, endless power cuts, stadiums that aren't going to be ready in time to host the world's biggest football event, there is even more to be anxious about. If all goes according to plan, this already ailing country is going to be served with a God-only-knows-how-long jail sentence which will be Zuma's term(s) in office. Tragedy! An alleged rapist, a man who advises civilians residing in a country with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate on the planet to take a shower after having sex with a possible carrier in order to avoid personal infection, the bloody arm's deal man! On top of that we have idiot Malema proclaiming that his comrades and him will be more than zealous to kill for Zuma, already bad enough considering the never-ending 'Umshini Wami' chant we're forceably subjected to every night on the news.

Where is this country going? Sometimes it seems the best thing you can do for yourself is switch off to it all and try, I mean just try and act as though really it's all good back at base camp but that's a hard thing to do man because the governance of the nation will affect you in the long run anyway no matter how hard you try to alienate yourself from current affairs.

But all the praise to this iconic cartoonist we have come to know for his shameless way of sucking some humour out of the disturbing and difficult-to-digest truths about our tragic nation. Zapiro is the man (for lack of a better way of expressing the gratitude and admiration tantamount in many of those that get a read of the Sunday Times Canvas every week). This was nothing more than genius at work. Raping the justice system - his corrupt manipulation and disregard for the consitution of a country he wishes to lead in a year's time; then of course we have the commentary on what we saw as a absolute chauvinism in his approach during the rape trial in 2006. Now, chauvinism and patriarchy are undeniable traits of African tradition no doubt about that but what strikes me as even more tragic is the internalized chauvinism prevalent in the mindsets of Africa women. During the rape trial instead of witnessing outrage from the female majority at the fact that such a prominent leader in ANC politics would be involved in such a crude exploitation of women's rights (especially considering that the affected was an African female herself), we saw a support and oh my goodness, even a defense and sympathy for Zuma's judicial plight. Have these men got these women's brains manipulated so bad that they have gotten to the point of viewing the rapist (as many times is the case) as a victim of some woman's cruelty in dismissal. How truly sickening!

Then you have the camp of so-called feminists round here accusing Zapiro of being insensitive towards the many rape victims in the country by portraying a cartoon in which the theme of rape is manifest. This is silly logic and I'll say this with assertion because if anything, the cartoon's central focus was villifying Zuma's credibility as a political leader and not a form of portraying women in a chauvinistic light once more. Zuma is the misogynist not Zapiro. Zzz zzz. Haha. Know what, Zapiro is kind of suffering racism right now. Black people are now looking for a way of averting our scornful attention from the perpetrator of the moment. Let me tell ya, it sure aint Zapiro. If anything this man is doing good deed for us by exposing this sham of a leader we have been forced to embrace as the new ANC president and a very plausible future president for our country.

The Problem with being a Female Critic of Female Objectification and Misogyny

From the several individuals I've chatted with about these issues lately, I've received some negative feedback pertaining to common perceptions about women who counterattack topics of chauvinism, gender equality, misogyny and female objectification in mainstream media. It's often personal attacks about feminists especially from members of the species with understandably very little understanding of the seriousness of these issues owed to the fact that they not only benefit from this kind of exploitation of the female form but also revel in its advantages. It's simply not a problem for them so they fail to understand why feminists are feminists and lull themselves to the twisted logic of assuming that feminists are just a bunch of ugly women who can't hook up. (Sigh at the tragedy of anti-intellectualism)

I got this from my brother who assumed after admitting my disdain to the above concerns that I say this because I think I am unattractive. What do personal looks have to do with anything. I then realised how shallow and very "surfacey" my brother and furthermore any other members of the species who reduce themselves to this highly uninformed mindset are.

It's nothing personal. I now see that this is the problem with critiquing gender ideals when you are a woman. Your OBJECTIVE views will always be stripped down (if not by comforming ladies) by members of the species to a point where it is seen as an opinion influenced by personal experience and not the experience or the treatment of the collective female group on a universal scale.

Song Lyrics that Get me Through the Day

Coldplay: Everything's Not Lost

"When I counted up my demons
Saw there was one for every day
With the good ones on my shoulders
I drove the other ones away

So if you ever feel neglected
And if you think that all is lost
I'll be counting up my demons, yeah
Hoping everything's not lost

When you thought that it was over
You could feel it all around
And everybody's out to get you
Don't you let it drag you down"


Kirk Franklin: Hide Me

"I know You see us
I know you hear us
And You fill us when we pray
You understand us, See deep inside us
Translate tears and take them away
I'm a be honest, There are times
Your ways and method's, I don't understand
It seems so far, Tell me who You are
I know your touch, but can't see Your plan.
I'm lost in this thing called life,
Left to me now feels right
It's Your turn now, I wanna be where you are

Hide me
Let me live behind You
Cause I need
Shelter from the rain
Remind me
The only way my faith can grow
Is when You let Your winds blow
You're making me stronger now, so rain,
Don't go away
Don't go away

I'd admit
It'd be nice
To have some light shine down on me
Especially,
When, Lord I shall be, You don't always let me see
It ain't easy,
But I'm trying hard to get out of Your way
To believe
That what You say
That my change begins today.
The road includes some pain,
And to grow you need some rain
And when it falls, I wanna be where You are

Cause there's some much I see
Needs to grow inside of me
In the fire I realize
Before I live, I have to die
Please believe me when I say
I can't waste another day
It's so easy to complain
But complain don't make a change
Not the victim anymore
All the things God has in store
If I ain't ready don't let the rain
Go away
Don't go away

Hide me
Cause I need
Remind me
The only way my faith can grow
Is when You let Your winds blow
You're making me stronger now

You're making me stronger now [x7]
You made me stronger now [x4]"

Is Punk Rock Really Dead?

Last night when conversing with the fam, I was questioned about my icons. Those entertainers, singers, musicians and legends that made impressionable marks in the field of whatever it is they did in history. Who came to mind first Grace Jones ofcourse and Skin from Skunk Anansie.
Rarely paid much attention to them back in the day, in my less enlightened how easily moulded I was to choose a direction out of comfort and comformity. The path of least resistance almost always entails cutting yourself off from the majority. My sis asked, "What has Skin done for the world?" I replied by reinforcing that Skunk Anansie are considered legends in the world of British Punk Rock. My other sis then says, "Punk is dead anyways" Hmmmm. Would you even classify Skunk Anansie in this sub genre.





I'm not an avid follower of the punk movement but I wouldn't think this is the case at all. What does one actually mean when they say that punk is dead. That it's lost its original appeal, that it's no longer as exclusive as it used to be now with the abundance of Emo teenager boys and girls with black nailpolish, skinny jeans, canvas sneakers and torn shirts.

In the same manner some would exclaim that hip hop is dead because it's been made superficial and commercialised. Or that RnB is dead because the originality and depth in lyrical content it initially held has died down.

Well, it's all pretty debatable. Perhaps it comes down to a person's definition of the death of a genre. Some would argue the way hip hop has been commercialised is simply an evolution of the art form and the business / entreprenereal aspect of it is nothing more than a meagre addition to the culture of music as a whole. I don't agree. Money has certainly become a strong focus, so much so that it's distracted and misled artists from the crux of it.