02232010

FENCHURCH

___________________________________________________________________________________

FIRETRAP

___________________________________________________________________________________

FOLK

___________________________________________________________________________________

FRESHJIVE

___________________________________________________________________________________

FREESOUL

___________________________________________________________________________________

BERNOS

***DMV

___________________________________________________________________________________

SUZANNA DAI

___________________________________________________________________________________

DOTCOMS & PUBLICATIONS

Possession Sessions An arts website run by an artist named Karen Miranda Augustine. She has her own personal website here. However the sessions site is relatively new, has tons of interviews and great posts on new artists in and around the world so make sure you go check out the website.

The Grio An African-American news and culture website. They have extensive interviews, editorials and social commentary pieces. Definitely a great place to stay up on current news covering a range of topics, learn about someone new and see how you can be involved within the African-American community.

Bon Magazine A Swedish indie fashion magazine that is heavy on the visuals and content. The images are always very high fashion and complex. The mag does cover more of the international fashion scene but at the heart covers the Swedish fashion scene…which let’s be real…cannot be all that terrible…in fact it’s prolly really fresh and fashion-forward (it is the land of H&M, Ikea, and Cheap Mondays). Check out the site and if you get a chance make sure you cop a paper copy of it too!

Hope you loved this month’s edition of THE LIST. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

-Selamawit

1) Angel Taylor is a pop singer/songwriter from Cali who started out by hitting up local coffeeshops with just her songs and a guitar, to landing a record deal with Aware/Columbia Records out in NYC. I saw her on MTV’s You Outta Know and she caught my attention mainly because you rarely see black acoustic singers getting proper recognition. I’d say you should definitely keep an eye out for her and take a look at her latest music video for “Like You Do”

_________________________________________________________________________

2) Lionel Loueke is a Beninese jazz guitarist and vocalist.  He went to Ivory Coast to study music and then went to Paris and after landing scholarship ended up at Berklee College of Music. In early 2000s, he auditioned for Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California in front of jazz greats such as Herbie Hancock and Terrence Blanchard and managed to get in. Over the course of the next decade he collaborated with numerous people and has now released his fourth album. Check out this clip of him performing:

________________________________________________________________________________

3) Burkina Electric is a music group from Burkina Faso that fuses electronica and Burkinabe popular music. The lead is Lukas Ligeti, a renowned composer and percussionist. I came across them while surfing internet and I definitely glad I did. Yes you will most likely not understand a lick of what they are saying unless you are from Burkina Faso but you will definitely appreciate the sound they are trying to create by bridging traditonal music with electronica, out of all genres of music. Take a listen here and let me know what you think! (If you only want to listen to a song or two, check out Mdole or Bobo Yengue)

________________________________________________________________________________

4) Flying Lotus Those really into music are thinking…em okay c’mon he’s been around but I don’t think many have really been turned onto him still yet or really aware of how long he has been around.  I just learned of him two years ago, but apparently he’s been around for 10 years! I feel like telling you about one or two of his tracks wouldn’t do him or his work justice so check this really great compilation of his work made recently by The Gaslamp Killer. Download here.

__________________________________________________________________________

5)Roska & Jamie George are two artists with two very different background stories and sounds who collaborated on one project together and came out pretty nice. Both UK-ers, Roska dabbles in afrobeat and hip/hop, meanwhile Jamie George is a pretty established house/alternative DJ. Check out their project here.

_________________________________________________________________________________

6) Platinum Pied Pipers is a Detroit-based duo comprised of rapper/producer Waajeed and  multi-instrumentalist Saadiq. They met one another through Baatin, (one of the founding members of Slum Village). Since that fateful meeting in 1992, the two guys have been composing and producing not only records for themselves but for other artists such as Slum Village and Dwele. Check out their music here.

__________________________________________________________________________________

 7) Diamond District is a trio of DMV-based hip/hop MCs who came together about 2 years ago, put out a pretty solid album last year, called In The Ruff which mind you was one of top selling hip/hop albums on Itunes.The group is comprised of XO, yU and Oddisee; arguably,  they are some of the top artists of the DMV hip/hop scene as of late.  The single, I Mean Business is a huge fav among  a lot of folks; I know it gets played pretty regularly on my ipod.  The album is not only a hit among music fans but fellow music artists as well. Recently, the DJ  Premier released a list containing his pick of the top 20 albums of 2009 and Diamond District was at number 12. So take a listen to their music here. 

___________________________________________________________________________________

8) Carolina Chocolate Drops is a trio hailing from North Carolina. They are one of the few African-American string bands still in existence. Since their formation in 2005 they have released 4 albums and now this year as of today they released their newest album called  Geniune Negro Jig . If you like trying things that are more on the old school folk and instrumental side then this is the group for you. Take a listen for yourself here.

____________________________________________________________________________

Hope you liked this edition of Third Mondays. Apologies for the lateness, better late than never right?! Right. So leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

-Selamawit

______________________________________________________________________________________

Samuel Fosso

**modern day Malick Sidibe

______________________________________________________________________________________

William Pope

______________________________________________________________________________________

Betye Saar

______________________________________________________________________________________

Deborah Willis

_________________________________________________________________________

Artis Lane

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Renee Stout

*DMVer + Recipient of the sixth David. C. Driskell Prize by the High Museum of Art

________________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed this month’s Artist Picks.

-Selamawit

Watch all these documentary films ranging in topics from identity, history, empowerment, civil rights, and gender!

A Panther in Africa

A Black Panther living in exile in Tanzania commits his life to activism and community service. Read more here.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Negroes with Guns

PBS presents the documentary about the untold story of Rob and Mabel Williams. orgotten civil rights leader who urged African Americans to arm themselves against violent racists. Read more here.

**this is just part 1 of the film, make sure you click on video to access the other parts….I promise you will not want to miss out on watching them.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats & Rhymes

PBS, Independent Lens presents a documentary that tackles issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture. Read more here.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Adjust your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene

Documentary that covers the tumultous and inspiring life of DC-Native, Petey Greene, America’s first shock jock who influenced a generation of people. A motion picture film was made covering his life called Talk to Me starring Don Cheadle as Greene. The documentary gives you a more intimate glimpse into the man and what he really contributed to not only the plight of African-Americans during the 1960s but also to the broadcast and media industry. Read more here.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Hidden Heroes: African-American Women in WWII

Spiketv presents a documentary about African American women who enlisted in the WACs and WAVEs during WW II.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed watching these films. Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think about any and all of them!

-Selamawit

Check out this interesting documentary on hip/hop’s influence and growth internationally, specifically Senegal and how diasporic ties are evolving and strengthening over time.

-Selamawit

Happy Black History Month!

Each year as February commences we reflect and acknowledge all this great history and in the midst of that, we attempt to make our own, or rather, find tangible modern-day people and topics to acknowledge which have contributed in small and large ways toward modern-day black history.This year the theme is “The History of Black Economic Empowerment” which is a great theme and one that you will see covered on here; however this time I want to begin a discourse….through various mediums….about what black history month means to me…and you. As the years pass by the meaning changes for each individual, there arises not only a continental variance but also a generational and economic variance; which all contribute to how we identify ourselves as people of color and what black history means to us and how we all celebrate each February. So I want to attempt to cover those topics in different ways for the remainder of the month. There will be interviews, Art Picks, Special Edition of Third Mondays and THE LIST, social commentary pieces, events and lastly editorials. So, yes, expect that in honor of this month, I’ll definitely be posting up all things beautiful, interesting, historic and black. Also, like I noted I will be touching on few topics/ideas that I think are worth discussing and taking note of so stay tuned. Check back here frequently for there will be numerous posts and leave me your comments because I definitely want to hear what you think, what you dislike/like and also what does Black History Month mean to you.

-Selamawit