African Side's blog

It's an unfortunate fact that a major part of African history concerns the slave trade era, when African slaves were taken from their homes to be slaves in other parts of the world.
 
The transatlantic slave trade era in African history began when European empires began to flourish in the New World but needed a workforce. African slaves were brought over to do the work, and were found to be "excellent workers" -- they had knowledge of cattle management and with agriculture, and they were used to working in tropical climates. So, beginning around the 15th century, people were captured from Africa and then brought to the New World to work in mines or on plantations.

Mention 419 and anyone who has been an internet user long enough will unfortunately think ‘Nigeria'. Well, it would be unfair to typecast an entire nation in bad light because of the indiscretions of a few individuals. Every country has its criminal elements. Thankfully, it is not all gloom and doom from Nigeria. Nigerian movies are one of the country's most recognizable exports today especially to other countries across Africa. The industry has helped to bring out the formidable though sometimes less talked positive business drive of Nigeria. There is more to the country than 419 scams and the struggle for oil revenue at the Niger delta.
 

The music of Africa is arguably the most influential music in the history of the world. But it did not originate in a vacuum. The truth is that different regions of Africa were influenced by a number of foreign musical traditions. For example, many nations in North Africa can trace their musical lineage back to the Greeks and Romans who once ruled the area. Later there was also a substantial Middle Eastern influence on their music.  Other parts of the African continent were similarly affected by foreign music. Parts of East Africa and the offshore islands were influenced by Arabic music and Indian music. While Southern, Central and West Africa had been influenced by the music of North America and Western Europe. Other African music can be attributed to specific dance forms such as the rumba and salsa, which were founded by African slaves who settled in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this article we will be exploring the different kinds of African music and where it originated.

The African movie industry is growing rapidly with statistics indicating that on any given day, an African movie is being released somewhere on the African continent. This means that Africa is producing a minimum of 366 movies a year, with countries like Nigeria single handedly surpassing that benchmark. Even though most productions are not of high quality and might therefore not attract an international audience, the local audiences are growing just as fast.
 

Africa is the cradle of civilization. It is home to the earliest societies on earth. Not surprisingly, Africa has an amazing array of religions and cultures, which are reflected in the many traditions and ceremonies the people engage in....There is no more important cultural tradition than a wedding ceremony. These events not only involve religion and spirituality but also family and community. Essentially, they symbolize the bringing together of two families or tribes...

From humble beginnings in the middle of the 20th century, the Nigerian movie industry or Nollywood, as it is often called, has come a long way. As would be expected, movie making in Africa in the 60s was no mean feat. Film making technology across the world was still in its early stages. If the equipment was difficult to setup in other parts of the world, in Nigeria, the equipment was virtually non-existent. Change started when the government of Nigeria begun to pressure local television and radio stations to broadcast more local content and less foreign productions. A direct result of this was the honing of local actors skills.

There are very few things that actually cut across all ages, culture, denomination and even educational background. One such thing is music. Music has been the one tool that can reach out to all mankind without prejudice. It is not uncommon to find millions of people from different corners of the globe, all liking a particular type of music. For this reason, music, such as afro beat, has been used to put forward many issues such as aids awareness, fighting corruption and many other causes.