Each time we feature red carpet photos with women in mini dresses, a stream of comments pour in – with many commenters speaking out against this new wave of sexiness and sassiness.
Nigerian musicians have also been criticized for featuring sexy women in their music videos and pushing the “moral boundaries”.

International music star Lady Gaga has definitely pushed the boundaries. No, she did not invent theatrics on stage or is not the first person to walk around the street in a leotard but for many people, she represents the new era of personal liberation.

African female musicians are joining the “Gaga” train. Despite harsh criticism and press scrutiny, they are still pushing the boundaries. It is not all about sexiness but instead they have expressed their desire to promote their craft in their own  unique ways – outside the box and against cultural expectations.

Goldie set the pace from the beginning of her career with her edgy videos and adventurous on-stage antics. Now, we have Dencia, Noni Zondi, G-Lory and Maheeda.

***
GOLDIE
Real Name: Susan Harvey
Nationality: Nigerian
Base: Lagos, Nigeria



___________________________________________________________________________________________NONZONDI
Real Name: Noni Zondi
Nationality: South African
Base: London, England, United Kingdom


_____________________________________________________________________________________________
DENCIA
Real Name: Reprudencia Sonkey
Nationality: Cameroonian
Base: Los Angeles, California, USA


_____________________________________________________________________________________________
MAHEEDA
Real Name: Caroline Sam
Nationality: Nigerian
Base: Lagos, Nigeria


_____________________________________________________________________________________________
G-LORY
Real Name: Glory Bosnjak
Nationality: Nigerian
Base: Geneva, Switzerland

 
Source - Bellanaija 

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Rita Dominic is a fierce Nollywood diva who is good at intrepreting her roles diligiently. Omawumi Megbele is a sultry singer who emerged from the tv show, Idols west Africa and has been soaring into greater hights musically.



But both ladies rocked the same outfit (or did they buy it as aso-ebi?, lol). While Rita rocked hers at the just concluded African Movie Academy Awards in bayelsa, nigeria where she co-hosted the night with comedian, Basorge Tariah Jnr, Omawumi rocked hers at the Women in entertainment awards in Uk. Over to you guys...who rocked it better? Rita or Omawumi?

http://www.underdarock.com/blog/2010/04/17/rita-dominic-and-omawumi-who-rocks-better/

Rita Dominic is a fierce Nollywood diva who is good at intrepreting her roles diligiently. Omawumi Megbele is a sultry singer who emerged from the tv show, Idols west Africa and has been soaring into greater hights musically.



But both ladies rocked the same outfit (or did they buy it as aso-ebi?, lol). While Rita rocked hers at the just concluded African Movie Academy Awards in bayelsa, nigeria where she co-hosted the night with comedian, Basorge Tariah Jnr, Omawumi rocked hers at the Women in entertainment awards in Uk. Over to you guys...who rocked it better? Rita or Omawumi?

http://www.underdarock.com/blog/2010/04/17/rita-dominic-and-omawumi-who-rocks-better/

We have seen so many great stars in our time al over africa. The Nollywood and Gollywood lot have been the centre of attraction lately but how about other parts of africa and  the carribean, do you have any one you consider the greatest star of Africa? Lets know your views on this. Thanks for joining this- happy blogging!

tansali papapparazzi is an african entertainment social networking site focused on celebrating and highlighting the best of africa.

tansali provides african entertainment news in real time, gossip on Nollywood and Gollywood (the Nigerian and Ghanian movie sectors), latest african music, video chat, forums, magazine, a collection of relevant video's, latest paparazzi photos of african celebrities and gossip.

The tansali mission statement is to provide a platform that makes it possiible for Africans in Africa, Africans in Diaspora, Afro Carribeans, Black Americans and all other like minded individuals to collaborate, share and celebrate the best that Africa has to offer in the entertainment sector.

the name tansali was coined from the first or second letters of some of the major rivers or lakes in africa.

Source:

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Entertainment/www.tansali.com_-_African_Entertainment_Social_Networking_Website_367427.html

 

Life can be unkind here, sometimes. So it is everywhere else in the world, you may say. But in America, it is especially. We come here, compared to other places, dreaming of possibility. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses…,” the statue of liberty, beckons.    Then we face reality.

A double dose awaits the African here. Ours is perhaps the most educated immigrant group here. We come with B.A.’s and M.A.’s. We come clear-eyed; neither naïve or misty-eyed about this place. It is not for sentiments sake, we come. We do not come to admire the skyscrapers of Manhattan or because we think America is heaven.

There is a reason, we come. Sometimes, we come because we are forced by circumstances, economic or otherwise. At other times, we come because we are escaping political repression and persecution.  We come with knowledge of America’s history: the disparities between the races; the soft, subtle racism; the glaring inequality. But we come, regardless, dreaming of a better life—lured by the mystique that is America—disenchanted by the seeming hopelessness of the continent we call home.

    
Our Black American brothers and sisters look at us quizzically, intrigued by our desire to succeed at all cost. Offended at our nonchalance and apathy towards their struggle for equal rights; and our willingness to ignore the slights of white America, they become angry at us and view us with suspicion.  “Slow your roll, Bro, they warn us.  We have been here for 400 years! There is a thing or two we can teach you about this place.”  

But we brush them aside. Call them names. Criticize them, sometimes with reason; sometimes, out of context; sometimes, without regard to history. Lazy fools! Don’t want to work… Don’t want to be responsible… Don’t want to go to school…

    
Then our enthusiasm meets jarring reality. As we climb up in the work place and compete with whites, we become suddenly aware of our “otherness.”  Our accents. Our differentness.  Going through hell and high water to get the almighty green card and citizenship, we quickly discover that our citizenship is an oddity. We realize that on government forms, there is not a category for us. In the mind of the authorities, we simply do not exist.  Polite society doesn’t know what to make of us. We discover we are like an unwanted cousin; a minority among minorities.

     
It hurts but we cannot leave. We are here now. We have obligations. Our children are here. The money we send home meets critical needs. It pays school fees; it puts food on the table; it pays hospital bills.  We can’t just get up and leave. That green card; that passport helps a lot.  It saves us a hell of trouble. It saves us from the hassle of operating in the shadows of society.

   
So we turn inward. We start investing furiously at home; start building something; start owning some property. We start following the politics; we start contributing. We form ethnic and national associations. We do charity work; we start sending critically needed supplies home. But, we are not happy. “Why can’t society accept us the way we are?” we ask.

 

 “Who are you?” they ask, ever so subtly.  “An African-American?”    “An American-African?”   “Where do you come from again?” they ask after we have lived for 40 years.

 

Leonard Quarshie is a freelance writer and a student at the University of Maryland, University College and can be reached at leoghana@gmail.com

 NB: The article is based in part on the writer’s personal experience, his interactions with African Professionals in the U.S, and his observation of life in America.

 

By Tom Porter for MPBN
April 17, 2009
 
A new cultural event makes its debut tonight -- the Maine African Film Festival. The week-long festival features dozens of screenings at a variety of venues in southern Maine, including the Cumberland County Jail. The festival was prompted by a desire to explore and celebrate the growing, and on the surface unlikely, links between Maine and Africa.

"Seeds of Change: A Fresh Start" looks at the challenges faced by Maine's immigrant African farmers:  "We are Somalia, we don't know the culture of the country," says one Somalian in the film. 

Produced by Scarborough-based filmmaker Sharyn Paul Brusie, Seeds of Change examines the difficulties faced by many mostly-Somalian and Sudanese farmers as they struggle to make a living in their adopted homeland. One of them, Hawa Ibrahim, spent an entire day at the Lewiston Farmers market and made about $20 dollars. 

"I love farming, I really do, because in Africa farming is just part of life," says one person featured in the film. "It's not a business, it's part of life. So I'm not making money but I love farming," he says.

Seeds of Change premieres on Wednesday in Portland.  It's one of 27 screenings taking place in and around Maine's biggest city over the next week. The festival organizer is Kazeem Lawal, who describes himself as a Nigerian American.  "It's a way to continue to celebrate the colors of Maine. Maine is fast evolving in terms of what we know as Maine maybe 40 years ago, as compared to what Maine looks like today, and I think with all that extra color, I think it makes Maine even more special."

"In Maine it's been the African community that's been growing rapidly," says Noel Bonam, director for the Office of Multicultural Affairs for the State of Maine. While there are no firm numbers available, he estimates Maine's African population to be between 8 and 10 thousand.
"The population has more than doubled in the past five years and I think that is significant, and I think having a film festival not only offers the opportiunity for the community to celebrate their own identity but also to educate the larger community about their neighbors from Africa."

"We have documentaries, we have fiction, we have shorts, we have films that cover a wide of topics, from child soldiers, we have a film about oil from the Niger delta of Nigeria," says Lawal. "And we have just fun films, like musical kinds of films about this German guy that travelled west Africa for three years collecting old vinyl records of African funk and disco from the 70s."
 
Tom Porter: "Is there much of a pan-African film industry, or is it quite fragmented? Does it have an identity?"
Kazeem Lawal:  "It's out there."
TP:  "Because we know about Bollywood, and other parts of the world with thriving film industries."
KL:  "The third biggest film industry in the world right now is Nigerian films, called Nollywood, which is kind of interesting.  You have your Hollywood, Bollywood and then you have your Nollywood.  And I'm hoping gradually, as we build momentum with this festival, we'll be able to give Nollywood its platform here to showcase what's the big deal about Nollywood, and have films and hopefully some directors, and actors here, and music to show where that's coming from."

Funded with help local businesses, the Maine Community Foundation and the Maine Humanities Council, the festival is not just showing movies; some screenings will pave the way for panel discussions on a variety of topics.

Venues range from the Children's Museum of Portland to the Cumberland County Jail, where inmates will get the chance to watch and then discuss three movies about crime and redemption. On Wednesday night, meanwhile, there'll be a public discussion on what it means to be African in Maine.

For more information on the Maine African Film Festival, go to TMAFF.ORG

South African film wins 3 awards at the African Movie Academy Awards AMAA

Gugu and Andile, directed by Minky Schlesinger, walked away with 3 awards at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in Nigeria last week, including Best Picture in and African Language, Most Promising Actor and Most Promising Actress.

The film was nominated in 10 categories, and came home with awards for most promising Actor (Litha Booi) and most promising actress (Lungelo Dhladha), and the award for Best Film in an African Language. GUGU & ANDILE is a 90minute feature film produced by Luna Films (now rebranded as Fireworx Media) as a part of the Shakespeare in Mzanzi series for SABC in 2008. In the tradition of Romeo & Juliet, it's a love-story set against the backdrop of the war that raged through South Africa's townships in the early 1990s. It tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers, unlucky enough to be born into families on opposite sides of the political and cultural divide... Producer Bridget Pickering said: 'This is an incredible recognition for the years of hard work that the team put into developing the script, and despite the challenge of a limited budget, the production crew and director Minky Schlesinger pulled out all the stops under testing shooting conditions in the Thokoza township in the middle of the rainy season to bring the film in on budget and still focus on creating a compelling story with strong visuals that remained true to that difficult period in South Africa's history.' Producer Neil Brandt, who was in Nigeria with the lead cast, director and production designer Flo Ballack (nominated for best Art Direction), to collect the awards, said: 'The AMAAs was a truly fascinating experience, with the selection of films exceptional, and of course the opportunity to engage with fellow filmmakers from across the continent is an opportunity not to be missed. The awards ceremony itself was a well-produced live televised event, with stars such as Salief Keita providing entertainment, and Hollywood Danny Glover and Forest Whitaker providing some glamour. Our young lead actors, for whom this was their first time out of South Africa, could hardly believe it when they were personally congratulated by Danny and Forest! I strongly recommend that more South Africans submit their films to the AMAAs in future years. We at Fireworx are certainly going to be using this opportunity to explore future co-production opportunities with filmmakers in Nigeria.' For more information on Fireworx Media, go to www.fireworxmedia.co.za. For more information on the AMAAs go to http://www.ama-awards.com/ AMAA 2009 NOMINATION LIST (Fireworx Media nominations only) ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND 1. From a Whisper 2. Battle of the Soul 3. Seventh Heaven 4. Gugu and Andile 5. Grey Focus ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION 1. Small Boy - Michelle Bello 2. Five Apostles - Ifeanyi Onyeabor 3. Agony of the Christ - Jude Odoh 4. Gugu and Andile - Flo Ballack 5. Revolution - Eddybongo Uka MOST PROMISING ACTOR 1. Litha Booi - Gugu and Andile 2. Mavila Anthana Keriario - Battle of the Soul 3. Ruffy Samuel - Dead End 4. Segun Adefila - Arugba 5. Sherrif Ramzy - Seventh Heaven MOST PROMISING ACTRESS 1. Bhaira Mcwizu - Cindy’s Note 2. Bukola Awoyemi - Arugba 3. Lydia Farson - Scorned 4. Lungelo Dhladhla - Gugu and Andile 5. Mfouemon Bea. Flore - Ma Saah Sah BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 1. Femi Adebayo - Apaadi 2. Abubakar Mvenda and Ken Ambani - From a Whisper 3. Mac Mathunjwa - Gugu and Andile 4. Yemi Blaq - Grey Focus 5. Joel Okuyo Prynce - Battle of the Soul BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 1. Aggie Kebirungi - Battle of the Soul 2. Mercy Johnson - Live to Remember 3. Mosunmola Filani - Jenifa 4. Daphney Hlomuka - Gugu and Andile 5. Chika Ike - The Assassin BEST FILM IN AFRICAN LANGUAGE 1. Gugu and Andile - South Africa 2. Arugba - Nigeria 3. Mah Saah Sa - Cameroun 4. Uyai - Nigeria 5. Apaadi - Nigeria ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY 1. From a Whisper - Marius Van Graan 2. Seventh Heaven - Ramses Marzouk 3. Cindy’s Note - Izu Ojukwu 4. Gugu and Andile - Greg Heimann 5. Battle of the Soul - Stephen Njero and Tony Matomi BEST PICTURE 1. From a Whisper - Kenya 2. Arugba - Nigeria 3. Gugu and Andile - South Africa 4. Battle of the Soul - Uganda 5. Seventh Heaven - Egypt BEST DIRECTOR 1. Wanuri Kahiu - From a Whisper (Kenya) 2. Tunde Kelani - Arugba (Nigeria) 3. Minky Schlesinger - Gugu and Andile (South Africa) 4. Math Bish - Battle of the Soul (Uganda) 5. Saad Hendawy - Seventh Heaven (Egypt)