The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

BarCamp Diaspora is an event that seeks to bring together people in the Diaspora to talk about doing business in Africa, share ideas on Africa's development, partner to do awesome things and learn about other opportunities, projects, businesses that are already in place. The theme "Investing our talent where it counts" basically talks about using our resources, skills, networks and relationships to build a better Africa and African community for all. Think of it as a physical discussion forum. A lot of times, we go to conferences to be 'talked at', but we go to BarCamp to 'talk'. Some of you may have heard about this event already. BarCamp Diaspora is inspired by the spirit of BarCampAfrica (which was held in Google last October) and BarCamp Ghana (held at KACE-AITI last December). I was part of the organizing team for BarCamp Ghana and it was a success which has inspired us to organize one for people who live in the US. I already blogged about that experi...

I normally spend my July 4th weekends going to a bunch of Ghanaian events. Because of the present recession, I couldn't make the trip to DC unfortunately (and it was gonna be double the price with my brother around), so I settled with being in the Bay Area. My July 4th party agenda? Hit up the young Kenyan ladies association signature party of the year. Hey, Barack Obama is Kenyan if you forgot. I ended up attending a West African (Senegalese) party that rocked and crashed the Kenyan gig at its end. My favorite Ladybug was stuck in Boston anyway. Talking about Boston, it is the city where I was introduced to Kenyan music. And this whole LadyBug stuff is bugging me to represent Kenya in my ongoing 10 song list. So here we go. Twende. Before that, you have to check out my 10 favorite songs from South Africa , my 10 favorite Nigerian songs and 10 African songs I think you should know about. If you can find a Tusker joint near you, have a drink on me. I will e-pesa you some chapaa la...

I haven't followed Barack Obama much since he became the US president but ever since news broke of his impending visit to Ghana July 10-11, I've become a little more attentive. I hear he will be giving a speech at the Independence Square for which Ghanaians from all walks of lie could go see him speak. Obama is noted for great speeches and I believe we have another one coming up, after his stirring speech at the American University of Cairo earlier this year. Recently, he sat down with journalists from AllAfrica.com to talk about his visit to Ghana. Ghana is seen as one of the shining stars on the continent and it's easy to see why it would be chosen. It is also a leader in the Pan-African movement, with events like Panafest. President Kuffour also built great ties with Bush's America and the ties will continue with Obama-Mills. Barack Obama is believed to be visiting the Central Region during his short stay in Ghana, probably touring the slave castles there and learnin...

After the Perfect Picture review , comes the blog entry about the soundtrack. if you know me well, you know I love music, especially African music. Sparrow Productions has been doing a great job concerning soundtracks, with the other movies like Life and Living it and Scorned . When the The Perfect Picture was being premiered, I knew a little about the soundtrack. After going through the movie, I'll like to talk about the songs featured, including the main soundtrack which brought to us Kwabena Kwabena's first music video, 'Do ne bi' . I couldn't help but smile when I heard Asem's Pigaro played. That song has been a huge hit but to play it in that scene was interesting. I wanted the song to be played in some club scene so we could introduce the Pigaro dance to movie viewers. The movie began and ended with hiplife songs, way to go Sparrow. Shiee, wow! The song used here was a remix and I loved the machine gun shots. "Pigaro 1, pigaro 2, pigaro 3, pigaro 4...

Following the success of Life and Living it and Scorned , I was excited to hear about the premiere of Sparrow Productions' The Perfect Picture . I talked about the excitement of Shirley Frimpong-Manso drafting Jackie Appiah and Kwaku Sintim-Misa into the movie. I got the VCD recently and have watched it twice. The first time, I didn't know what to make of the movie, it's not your average Ghanaian or African movie for that matter. Watching it a second time, I appreciated the movie more, and I am in love with it. Sparrow Productions, I salute you! Keep it up. Looking for Agya Koo in the next feature film though, so let's make it happen. Here's a review. The settings in the movie were great. It's clear the movie shows characters in a Ghanaian middle class; young affluent people navigating their love lives. The houses used were a little glamorous, is that how young executives in Ghana live these days? Which begs the question? Where are the young returnees and young...

If you ask me where the capital of music is, I'll have to tell you Johannesburg or in a more general case, South Africa. The number of music genres in South Africa is huge, from kwaito to rock, house to mbaqanga, and afro-pop to fusion. South Africa is surprisingly more diverse than people think it is, so I won't be surprised if there are South African bhangra or asian pop artistes. They do have a 14 year-old Chinese violinist prodigy. The Confederations Cup just ended in South Africa and the Bafana Bafana were third. It's sad the 'vuvuzelas' drowned out the melodious singing of other Mzansi folk :-) Before I get into a run down of my 10 favorite songs from South Africa, check out my 10 favorite Nigerian songs and 10 African songs I think you should know about. Go South Africa! Local is lekker! You may discover your next favorite song. Click the songs to find the lyrics, video, audio, etc. Black President - Brenda Fassie (Afro-pop) This song resurfaced a little w...

Frankly, I forget why I began writing about change. I don't know if this counts as a poem, it's basically a sequence of lines about change. But even changes have an end so I had to find a way to end a bunch of change lines. You can tell me whether I did a good job. Here goes, change is....... Change is what I wear every day Change is a constant k Change is a constant c, u c Change is seeing a different customer every day Change is having your peace disturbed Change is having your piece reduced Change is having your faith renewed Change is having your new dirtied Change is having your dirt publicized Change is having your Sunday Change is what you get after you get your sundae Change is what the seasons do Change is what the beggars press for Change is what the oppressed beg for Change is what we get when we travel Change is what we catch in our hands Change is what we grab with our hearts Change is what we stand for when others sit Change is why we are sitting when others stand...