A Heritage of great moments in the history of the continent and the black race
I had to share the trailer of the documentary “Capitaine Thomas Sankara” by Christophe Cupelin, which was shown this year at the FESPACO 2015 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. This is the first time a movie about Thomas Sankara, the African Che, could be shown at the FESPACO in 27 years since Compaore‘s coup. Enjoy!
FESPACO 2015 ended last week, and ran from February 28th until March 7th. The festival’s glamour was not at its usual, since the overthrowing of Blaise Compaoré, but it still took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and brought in some great African films and documentaries.
This year’s festival featured, for the first time, films from the African diaspora. 720 films competed, and 134 were selected in the 5 categories. The winner of this year’s Golden Stallion of Yennenga was “Fievres” by the French-Moroccan filmmaker, Hicham Ayouch. The film tells the story of a 13 year old boy, displaced and prone to violence who learns that he has a father after his mother is sent to jail, and is sent to live with his father in a Parisian suburb. The beauty of “Fievres” is its focus on telling the tale between a father and son who have to learn to be father-son, and also the cultural identity among immigrants, and practicing Muslims in France.
The Silver Stallion was awarded to Algerian director Belkacem Hadjadj for his film on “Fadhma N’Soumer“, a stunning biopic on the life of the Algerian resistance leader who fought against the French colonial forces in Kabyle. I was so happy to see this movie made, and winning the second prize, as I had written about Lalla Fadhma N’Soumer a while ago, and wanted her praises to be sung. This is truly Africans telling their own stories, and honoring their greatest heroes and heroines. Applauses to director Belkacem Hadjadj for telling our history.
The Bronze Stallion was awarded to Burkinabé director Sekou Traoré “L’Oeil du Cyclone” (The Eye of the Cyclone), which is a political drama set in an unnamed African country plagued by civil war. The film follows an idealistic young lawyer committed to defending a former child soldier charged with war crimes. The movie shows two faces of Africa: the young, idealistic and futuristic, vs. the broken and consumed with the past. The movie also won the festival awards for Best Actress (Maimouna N’Diaye – who is clearly a rising star of African cinema), and Best Actor (Fargass Assandé).
The Burkinabé public finally had the chance to see the documentary “Capitaine Thomas Sankara” by Christophe Cupelin, which would have never been allowed at FESPACO under Blaise Compaore’s tenure (Thomas Sankara‘s murderer, best friend, and coup-formenter). It was a time to celebrate the life of Burkina Faso’s greatest hero. To read more about this year’s FESPACO, check out The Guardian, and the FESPACO homepage.
A British man recently decided to return looted art that his grandfather had taken (stolen?) away during the 1897 Benin City Massacre. The article about the art returning is on BBC. I do salute the man for doing it; and I wish the British museums and museums around the world will return art looted by Europeans in African countries and countries around the world. True, the man excuses his grandfather’s acts by saying: “We are taught from a very young age that the killing of enemy combatants under the umbrella of statehood is a regrettable necessity of life.” And excuses the art looting by saying, “To him [his grandfather], it was probably no more than picking up stuff that’s washed up on the beach, because people had fled and nobody owned them any longer.” But he is happy they are now back in Benin City. “These objects are part of the cultural heritage of another people… to the people of Benin City, these objects are priceless.”
I also decided to link back to the story I wrote a while ago about the Benin City Massacre.
On February 6th, the world celebrated Sir Bob Marley‘s 70th birthday or earth day. People around the world gathered to commemorate the life of the great Reggae legend. There were lots of live performances and exhibitions in Jamaica, and around the world. From February 1-6, there were five-day celebrations featuring international reggae acts, tribute shows, art and food. All these festivities take us back to Bob Marley’s strong message of unity, oneness, and universality, or ONE LOVE: love for all mankind, love for our fellow brothers, love for ourselves, love for our planet, and above all love for our Creator. Someone said that if we were busy loving, there will be no war, and that is truly Sir Marley’s message: “One Love, One Heart. Let’s get together and feel all right.”
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, I would like to talk about one of Africa’s great love songs, ‘AMI O‘. Many songs have made the entire continent shake, but few have had the dimensions of ‘AMI O‘ of Ebanda Manfred. ‘AMI O‘ is to Cameroonian and African music what ‘Guantanamera‘ is to Cuban and Latin music: a world classic. But ‘AMI O‘, ‘AMIO‘, ‘AMIE OH’, or ‘AMI OH’, or ‘AMIYO‘ is first and foremost a love song. It is a declaration of love, a love anthem. It has been reprised by over 20 world class artists among which, Bébé Manga, Papa Wemba, Francis Bebey, Angelique Kidjo, Manu Dibango, Monique Séka, Bisso Na Bisso, Nayanka Bell, Jacky Biho, Naima, Henri Salvador, André Astasié, and so many more.
Where did it all start? In 1960, 24-years old Ebanda Manfred fell head over heels in love with a teenage single mother from Yaoundé, Cameroon. The girl, Amié Essomba Brigitte, had to quit school to take care of her child. Madly in love, Ebanda Manfred told her of his feelings, but she told him that she could not start a love relationship until her child was weaned. Finding the wait too long, especially since he had to return to Douala the following year, Ebanda Manfred sang his despair and asked: “Amié, njika bunya so mo, oa mo o ma dubè no, na mba na tondi oa?”. Translation: “Amié, when will you finally believe in my love?” Thus the song “Amié ” was born. It became an instant hit when it came out in 1962. A year later, it was reprised by Francis Bebey. In 1980, the great Bébé Manga made an adaptation which brought her to the international stage, as she won the “Golden Maracas.” The song will be reprised by artists around the world, from the Carribbean to Latin America, and Europe.
In celebration of Valentine’s day, I live you with this great African love song. In Bébé Manga’s English version, the song clearly states “Amie (friend) oh, you are all I ever hoped for, everything I ever dreamt of, …” So tomorrow, don’t forget to sing AMI O to that special one, that one you longed for, and dreamt of, that special one in your life.
Yesterday’s final was the culmination of years of hard work for the so-called golden generation of Ivorian footballers. Yes, yesterday, Cote d’Ivoire defeated Ghana in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in penalty kicks. The Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire had been a strong team on the African continent for many years, and this generation was meant to win at some point. This was the last chance for many members of the Elephants team. So sad that Didier Drogba, one of its key players for so many years, could not be amongst his teammates to raise that trophy as well, for he made us proud for so long. My hat goes out to Yaya Touré, Kolo Touré, Gervinho, Boubacar Barry, Wilfried Bony, and all the other team players. The hero of the game for Côte d’Ivoire, was their goalkeeper Boubacar Barry who had replaced the regular keeper, was in pain throughout, but scored the winning penalty after making a crucial save from the Ghanaian keeper.
Truly, Ghana was the better of both teams for the first 120 minutes with more chances of scoring, but penalty kicks decided otherwise. It was actually quite a disappointing final to watch: no real outstanding moments from both sides. However, we raise our hats to all members of the Ghanaian squad, and hope to see them again at the next CAN, and in the finals. Thanks for a good cup.
That’s it! The CAN 2015 final will be Ghana vs. Côte d’Ivoire on Sunday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. This is a remake of the 1992 African Cup of Nations’ Final which saw Côte d’Ivoire win against Ghana in Senegal in penalty kicks. These were the times of the great Ghanaian player Abedi Pele (whose two sons, André and Jordan, are in the current 2015 squad), and Ivorians Gadji Celi (now a famous singer in his country and throughout Africa) and one of Africa’s great goalkeepers Alain Gouaméné.
If Ghana wins, this will be their fifth trophy, and they will be the second most titled winner of the CAN, after Egypt; right now, they are tied with Cameroon having won the trophy 4 times since its creation. If Côte d’Ivoire wins, this will be their second win in the history of the cup. Will Sunday’s final be a remake of 1992? Or will the Black Stars of Asamoah Gyan and the two Ayew brothers claim victory over the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire?
Now that the first round of the African Cup of Nations has gone through, several countries have qualified for the next stage: Congo and Equatorial Guinea qualified in Group A, Tunisia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Group B, Ghana and Algeria in Group C, and Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea in Group D.
There will be some Brazzaville–Kinshasa rivalry as the two Congos are set to face each other in the first quarter final on Saturday, while the host Equatorial Guinea will take on Tunisia. Ghana and Guinea will face each other in the third quarter final, while Côte d’Ivoire will meet Algeria in the last one.
In soccer, all teams have the same chances, but very often, experience and/or good discipline/organization always pays. Algeria, as Africa’s top team in the FIFA world ranking, is a big name this year; even though they did not perform so well in the first round, they are expected to do better. However the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire have the most experience at this stage of the competition. That will be a good game to watch. The same story applies between Ghana and Guinea: Ghana has been the better of the two teams and also has a more experienced squad with Asamoah Gyan at their helm. Between the two Congos, a slight edge is given to DRC with their secret weapon in the person of Yannick Bolasie. Between Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia, any guess is a good one, even though having the host nation advance further in a competition is always a good thing. With this said, which team do you think will advance to the semi-finals, and which team will lift this year’s African Cup of Nations’ trophy?
I had to share with you this Feb. 16, 1959 Time Magazine gem of an article on President Sekou Toure of Guinea, the first country to say ‘NO’ to France. As you will see, even the so-called ‘dictators’ of the world have graced the cover of Time Magazine when they were still ‘deemed’ good. Some of the article is a bit a mockery of Africans for wanting independence from their colonial masters, as it is referred to as ‘haste’ in the article (could you really have faulted Africans for wanting freedom?). Enjoy! The full article can be found at: WebGuinee.net. Below are a few words.
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Finally, Sékou Touré, 37 President of the new Republic of Guinea, a trim figure in a European busine suit, rose and raised his arm.
“Vive l’indépendance!” he shouted, and three times the crowd roared back, “Vive l’indépendance!” “Vive l’Afrique!” he shrieked in a voice close to frenzy. Once again, the cry was three times repeated. There was no reason for Touré to do more. The crowd had seen and heard him, and that was enough.
Broad-shouldered and handsome. Sékou Touré is as dynamic a platform performer as any in all Black Africa. He is the idol of his 2,500.000 people, and the shadow he casts over Africa stretches far beyond the borders of his Oregon-sized country. As the head of the only French territory to vote against De Gaulle‘s constitution and thus to choose complete independence, he has been suddenly catapulted into the forefront of the African scene. ….
Part dedicated idealist and part ruthless organizer-perhaps the best in Black Africa-Guinea’s Touré should have problems enough just coping with the disruption that inevitably came with independence. But he, too, has dreams as wide as a continent. “All Africa,” says he, “is my problem.”
In a sense, he was born in the right place and with the right ancestry to favor a big role. Though Africa was, until the Europeans came, the continent that could not write, it had known its times of glory. Guinea was once part of the powerful Mali Empire that stretched from the French Sudan, on the upper reaches of the Niger, to just short of West Africa’s Atlantic Coast. When its 14th century ruler, the Mansa (Sultan) Musa, made his pilgrimage to Mecca, he traveled with a caravan of 60,000 men, and among his camels were 80 that each bore 300 lbs. of gold. … he turned the fabled city of Timbuktu into a trading center and a refuge for scholars. … But the legend lived on of the warrior Samory, whom Sékou Touré claims as his grandfather.
When De Gaulle stopped off at Conakry on his swift tour of Africa before the referendum, Touré thundered in his presence: “We prefer poverty in liberty to riches in slavery.” Angrily, De Gaulle canceled a diner in time he was to have had with Touré, and the split was final. A few weeks later, 95% of the people of Guinea voted no to the De Gaulle constitution.
We feared for our beloved Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) when Morocco, the host declined to host! It was like, what? Why wouldn’t you want to host an event you signed up to host years ago? Thankfully, Equatorial Guinea stepped in to host the 30th edition, CAN 2015, 2 months to the event. We raise our hats to the host country, Equatorial Guinea, because it is a real feat to organize such a continental event in such short notice. So, for the next month, we will all be vibrating to the rhythm of the African Cup of Nations. We will watch some of Africa’s most renowned teams, and some not so well-known, and some of the continent’s best players display their greatness. We hope that every game will be amazingly good, and that every single player on the field will give their very best for their country. Yes… the African Cup of Nations is truly an African event to showcase the grace, endurance, and play of Africans on their continent. What more to applaud?
African Heritage 