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Chronicling the Kenyan Music Industry – An Interview with John Muchiri by Lorna Likiza // english_deutsch
Kenya has massive talent. The only problem is that many musicians haven’t yet mastered how to market themselves internationally. From the people I have interacted with in the UK in the music scene, Kenya is considered a very prime market for entertainment but we need to get out of our comfort zone. We need to think beyond our comfort zone which is the East African Market. We need to be more strategic. We also need to invest heavily in our music. So to be precise, the three things we need to master are Management, Marketing and Strategy which our Nigerian counterparts have long mastered.
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The House of Rust and Swahili Culture – Interview with Mombasa writer Khadija Abdalla Bajaber -engl
Khadija Bajaber had written a successful book last year, The House of Rust, which was recognized very well in african countries and abroad (see also the review of Lorna Likiza on this site). Raised and living in Mombasa, Kenya, she is strongly influenced with Swahili Culture and its long and rich history. This year, Khadija Bajaber is an invited guest at the African Book Festival in Berlin. I took the chance to talk to her before she left for Europe. And, yes, the answers are longer than in usual interviews. But its published here in full lenght version. For the first issue, only in english this time.
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African Book Festival Berlin 2023: Boost for African Literature in Germany. Interview mit/with Co-Organizer Venice Trommer
This year, the African Book Festival in Berlin will take place for the fifth time. In recent years, it has developed into one of the most important festivals for African literature in Germany and Europe. It is a public festival in the classical sense. And it has successfully survived the restrictions of the pandemic years. The appetite for African literature is greater than ever. One feature of the ABF is that the program is designed by African curators. The organizer, InterKontinental e.V., selects a literary personality each year. This curatorial principle, which has characterized the last editions, was cancelled this year with a bang. Shortly after the announcement of this year's curator, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a storm of indignation…
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Uganda’s Queen of Afrosoul: An Interview with Music Star Lilian Mbabazi_english/german
Lilian Mbabazi is a Ugandan artiste of Rwandan descent best remembered for her time in the girl group Blu*3. Now a fully fledged solo artiste, with a new EP out, she recently sat down with Culture Africa Founder, Hans Hofele, with additional questions from Staff Writer, Lorna Likiza, for an interview on her music, style and future plans.
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Could This Be Love? Essays about Interracial Relations – Interview with Editor Stefanie Hirsbrunner – ger/engl
Im ersten Teil der dreiteiligen Büchervorstellung zum Thema Diversity in Germany geht es um den Essayband Kann das denn Liebe sein. Could This Be Love? Der Band versammelt fünfzehn Essays von verschiedenen Autor:innen aus Deutschland und Afrikanischen Ländern. Allen ist eines gemeinsam: Es geht um die Probleme, Hürden und Chancen von Interracial Relations. Privat, berührend, unterhaltsam, erschütternd . Das Buch ist im August 2022 beim Verlag InterKontinental erschienen und auf dem African Book Festival in Berlin auf zwei Podien vorgestellt worden. Im Interview sprach ich mit der Herausgeberin Stefanie Hirsbrunner, die gleichzeitig auch Teil des InterKontinental Verlags und des African Book Festivals in Berlin ist. The first part of the three-part book presentation on the topic of diversity in…
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Centering Black Literature: An Interview with James Murua- engl/ger
In the run-up to the African Book Festival in Berlin, of which cultureafrica.net is a media partner, there will be a series of interviews with participants and experts in the African literary scene. This time it is James Murua. He is one of the most influential bloggers in the African literary scene. He has attended many literary festivals, both nationally and internationally. His website jamesmurua.com is one of the most successful on the continent. James Murua lives with his wife, the writer Zukiswa Wanner, in Nairobi, Kenya. The interview was conducted during the Heroe Book Fair literary festival in Mombasa.
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Ugandas First Woman – Author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi at the African Book Festival – Interview ger/engl
What happens to a book when you address Africa as a readership? Africans should write the way they want to write. In Africa, we were brought up as if we were Europeans too. So when Europeans write, they don't think about Africans and whether we understand them. But when we write as Africans, we think about whether they will understand the way we write." If we Europeans think that we can read and understand Shakespeare, why was it not possible for the Germans, the English to read and understand how I write for Africans....
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Nina Wateko -From Congo Brazzaville to the World_Interview_fr/engl/ger
Nina Wateko, the singer with the golden voice, is already a star in her home country. She is a welcome guest in the media, on television and radio. And she has already received titles in Brazzaville that other artists have to wait longer for. She is called the "Diva" or "Mama Africa". Her home is Congo-Brazzaville in western Central Africa. Neighbour of the big DR Congo. Nina comes from a family of musicians; her mother is also a singer, she grew up with music. With "The Traveler", her new EP and the whole range of her musical skills, she wants to enchant western listeners in Europe soon.
