AFRICOME - Berlin
On the 3rd of February 2004, the German Central Department of Political Education (Bundeszentrale fuer politische Bildung) started a 3-year (2004-2006) program termed Africome, which focuses on Africa. The program is intended to inform the German society about Africa by means of discussion forums/podiums, arts exhibitions, fashion shows, cultural, music and film events/festivals. To mark the begin of the program, the organizers invited government officials, media professionals, managers from industries, academics, artists and organizations to discussion forum, cultural performance, exchange of views and ideas, videos show and music concert. Among the invited honorable speakers and guests are the Nigerian Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, the former German president Dr. Richard von Weizsaecker, the Cameroonian philosopher and political scientist Dr. Dr. Jacob Emmanuel Mabe and Dr. Uschi Eid, MdB, who is the G8-Africa-Representative of the present German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Afritopic was there and reports below.
Saba Tewelde
Saba Tewelde knew what she wanted. She wanted to sing. Today, she performs her own type of music with her band Injera Soul. Without a formal education in music, she learnt by doing and she is pulling a dedicated crowd of fans. In a brief interview with AFRITOPC, she speaks about herself and her lyrics.
Tyron Riketts
Entrepreneurship within the Black community in Germany is still very rare. This should not give the impression that Blacks are not making any efforts in this direction. Despite diverse problems, a number of Blacks venture into the business world. A young talented man that felt at home in Africa built up a successful business in the entertainment sector named Panthertainment. His name is Tyron Ricketts. In an interview with Afritopic, Tyron talks about his background, the difficulties in the business world, his goals and his opinion about the Black community in Germany.
Dady Mimbo welcomed early visitors to the 22nd Africa festival in Wuerzburg with trance music from Cameroon before the official opening ceremony . In order to keep the visitors in festive mood and give a taste of what could be expected in the next festival days, his performance was followed by the South African music artist Zivaduma that provided entertaining mixture of percussion and pop music.
Africa Festival 2009 was blessed with a very pleasant weather. As soon as the heat of the sun was becoming too much, a cool breeze blew over the location as if an air-conditioning system was turned on.
