By Ramu Damodaran* NEW YORK. 6 September 2023 (IDN) — It was eminent Hindustani classical music singer Malini Nambiar who described Sixto Rodriguez best as a “true Karmayogi.” Like all words and phrases woven in the intimacy of a particular language, the term weakens in translation, but the interpretation of an individual who performs actions […]
Afropop Star Appointed ‘Special Advisor’ to Malian Junta
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK. 24 August 2023 (IDN) — Salif Keita, renowned singer-songwriter known as the “Golden Voice of Africa”, has been appointed one of five “special advisors” to the head of Mali’s military junta. Under a decree dated 11 August, the Afropop singer was named advisor to Colonel Assimi Goita […]
Prize-Winning Documentary Spotlights the People’s President
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK. 15 August 2023 (IDN) — “I’m president already. I’m president of the ghetto!” exults the subject of “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” midway through the documentary. That’s not exactly how it worked out, but directors Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo’s account of Wine’s 2021 campaign for president […]
Grief at Demise of Eminent Ghanaian Poet and Feminist
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 3 June 2023 (IDN) — Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and scholar, Ama Ata Aidoo, is resting in power after seven decades of an illustrious career. A renowned feminist, celebrated writer and playwright, she spent most of her early life among the Fante community, later studying at the […]
A19-Year-old Self Publishes a Fantasy Novel
By Maya Schlessinger* NEW JERSEY, USA, 20 May 2023 (IDN) — While most Pascack Valley (PV) students go to the library to check out books, PV senior Treshan Nilaweera, 19, hopes to see his own on the shelves. Last October, Nilaweera self-published a fantasy novel entitled The Many Worlds Theory, now available for purchase on […]
Africans Bid Farewell to A Hero and True Friend
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 1 May 2023 (IDN) — Yusuf Bangura will always remember the legendary calypso singer, actor and social activist, Harry Belafonte, for “bringing happiness and hope to many people around the world.” Although many Americans know of Belafonte’s activism to end apartheid in South Africa, the whole story […]
Films by Women A Standout at Africa’s Famed Film Festival
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | OUAGADOUGOU, 6 March 2023 (IDN) — In the bad old days of French colonial rule, Africans were forbidden from making films. As a result, one of the first films ever produced by an African “Afrique-sur-Seine” (Africa on the Seine), was made in Paris in 1955 by […]
It’s Just a Sojourn
A Poem by H.A. Azeez in Colombo I feel you’ll be excited by the show of opulence today With tens of jets and helicopters in the air on display. + + + + + + + + + +
The Governor’s Lover: A Book Review
By Rodney Reynolds NEW YORK (IDN) — It is 1805, and the new Governor of the Crown Colony of Ceylon has just arrived to take up his post in the country. The Kandyan War continues unabated in the hill country and the local half-Sinhalese, half-Portuguese beauty, Lovinia, experiences the impact of these events on her […]
The Ideals of the UN Charter
A Poem by Shihana Mohamed Shihana Mohamed, a founding member and one of the coordinators of the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity & Inclusion (UN-ANDI) and a Sri Lankan national, is a Human Resources Policies Officer at the International Civil Service Commission.