- 20 hours ago
This episode of Afrimaxx celebrates bold African artistry. From optical illusions with host Meling Balloo in Mauritius to coffee culture with Esther Atieno in Kenya. In Nigeria, the Loud Urban Choir is redefining choral
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00for today's episode we're going to check what makes africa bold proud and unapologetically
00:14pretty and before we explore what's all in that curious Mauritius whoo here's what we've got for
00:21you today she's a proud south african and her sculptures are bald and pretty at the same time
00:28rebane finger coffee is the bride of kenya and esther atiano as the female barista takes it one
00:36step further then we journey to nigeria where the loud urban choir is redefining choral music
00:42bold and proudly african i'm meling balu and you're watching afri max
01:02when an injury ended his dream of becoming a professional athlete senegal's abu bakarim and
01:07goal found a new field to shine in fashion bold and proudly african a century of style and history
01:17at the heart of dakar this self-taught designer stitches the fabric of a new dream one born from
01:26pain persistence and possibility but how did abu bakarim's field dream of becoming a soccer star
01:34lead to handmade clothes whose designs evoke migration paths i think about it a lot like
01:42the design i want and the way i want i want to be it's not especially i i don't take it out in paper
01:50usually i just thought about it and then i come and i bring my own clothes and i cut it off and i tell
01:58my workers this is the way i want it this is the way i want it this is the way i want it and if i go
02:03to my bag people make my bags and stuff i come to them and then i do some some some drawing not great
02:11but then i get the the memo born in guinea to senegalese parents abu bakarim grew up loving fashion
02:20but this only influenced his sense of style not his dream before the stitch there was the pitch he grew
02:29up wanting to play professional soccer a dream he passionately pursued he wanted to see the world
02:37and represent his country soccer was his ticket in his teenage years his parents sent him to senegal
02:47to enroll into a soccer academy soon enough he was trying his fortunes in america he had just become a
02:55dad how was it like playing soccer in the u.s i was very excited i was very excited it was a great
03:02experience actually it was a great experience i played i played in d2 when i was playing soccer
03:10because it was a d2 in the u.s the d2 they don't pay they take you in charge like uh for like your
03:18traveling your uh your hotel expenses your food and stuff but it was like it was like playing with
03:26for college you know you don't get paid but you get take care of just as he was about
03:32to take off on his career as a professional soccer player in the united states an injury tore him away
03:39from his dream and life as he knew it what followed was a raw uncertain chapter in between periods of
03:48stillness and soul searching abu bakarim left the u.s and returned to senegal he was reinventing himself
03:56by finding inspiration in his own culture his start was small he stitched a tie here and a bow tie there
04:05learning the ropes of building a fashion brand with local materials what sacrifices did he make to
04:12fit in his new path it was a lot of obstacle it's a lot of obstacle man um it was uh yeah because
04:22because because finding materials from finding materials finding good workers and then dedicating
04:30workers it's a it's tough it's tough here but you have to push it and then you have to actually you
04:37have to teach people uh your vision you have to impose your vision to people and then choose who want to
04:47come with you in that vision and then who don't so that was a it's a hard decision there sometime because
04:56you work with people um who need work but they don't realize they need to work but but you cannot just
05:04keep them because because uh you know it's friend or it's you know you have to be firm because you have
05:12your vision and then you have to do that kakinbo his fashion label was born as a promise to make a
05:20successful career in senegal that he wouldn't have to leave the continent for better opportunities
05:26i mean the feeling was great and yeah i i got very excited when i started making like a ties and bow ties
05:34and then my first i remember my first uh sold my first uh exposition and everybody got excited about
05:46the ties and bow tie because they never see anything like this in in in senegal and particularly the tie
05:56with the fabric the wax print fabric yeah they they never seen it before so people got very excited and
06:02that make me excited to keep on going now abu bakarim is a rising voice in african design blending the
06:12discipline routine and a love for repetition in the very muscles he honed on the page to his newfound
06:19purpose in stitch work although at the start abu bakarim pursued soccer as a passport to the world
06:27he found style that brought the world to him now he is focused on using fashion to inspire many people
06:36to build africa from within
06:42oh wow oh my word this is fantastic
06:45i love this we are at curious mauritius in chanaral a place full of bold illusions and creative
06:55twists i'm here with kevin to tell me more so what's the creatives part behind this curious mauritius
07:01yes we have beautiful beaches in mauritius but mauritius is so much more than the sandy beaches
07:07so we wanted to create something different that fits all age groups and they can come here and
07:12immerse them felt and and make somebody discover mauritius differently and why are immersive exhibitions
07:17different because it involves challenges so it's more interactive and it's a surprise element and
07:24it's a magic when they come here and it's them that creates the magic and they discover all the
07:29curiosities and attractions that we have here so if you come with your family and we can easily bond
07:34together by doing all the activities that we have who creates this illusion how do you bring those bold
07:40ideas to life it's always the whole team so we tend to sit down and discuss what's next
07:46we do inspire ourselves from what's happening around the world and we try to adapt it to a
07:51immersion context and every year when people come they're going to see something different
07:56so this is why um they're quite popular with the local market talking about wellness what happens
08:04when chicken feet step into the world of art south african artist ribone finger turns township
08:10fried and everyday object into bold creative statements check this out at one point in township culture
08:19having cheese in your sandwich was a sign of privilege enter the term cheese girl
08:25and she wasn't one of them there's no real way to define what a cheese girl is but i think that's
08:34what makes it interesting because it opens the term up to more commentary and by choice i've associated
08:43and came the term because i see the term as potentiating something that exists beyond suffrage
08:52meet ribone finger a multimedia sculpture artist using ceramics to explore black identity
08:59class and the contradictions of modern south african life
09:04i grew up in blingfontein in a rough township by a single mom so growing up i was constantly
09:13associated to the term cheese girl and it was ironic to me because i don't think i emulated
09:20anything that was quote unquote cheese girl the only thing that i think people may have identified
09:26as being cheesy is probably small social indicators like having access to monopoly
09:35now as an artist she's unpacking the many layers of the south african cheese girl through her art
09:42often times blackness is assumed into positions of pain and suffrage so when you take a term like
09:49that which was initially used to alineate and use it to reimagine oneself into opulence not just as a
09:57way of making opulence an aspiration but making opulence attainable is what i have now imagined cheese girl to be
10:05what happens when symbols of supposed lack like chicken feet are elevated into symbols of glamour
10:16food is essential part of my work because it's an indicator of social economic disparities
10:24and chicken feet ironically fall at the bottom of the food hierarchy in the township then the kata
10:31slightly above a kata it's a loaf of bread that is ordinarily stacked with acha chips russian or vienna
10:39depending on your pocket poloni or cheese depending on your pocket and that's the african burger
10:52i am celebrating blackness beyond struggle i think it's very important that especially in this post
10:58apartheid era i think we need to start creating utopic worlds for us to occupy and transition from suffrage
11:08to leisure to rest to abundance to accessibility and opportunity
11:20but why ceramics what is it about clay that allows ruboni to communicate her ideas
11:28the moment you take something like chicken feet and translate it into a medium
11:32like ceramics you completely juxtaposition where it sits on the social hierarchy so the moment you
11:39translate something that falls at the bottom of the hierarchy into a more expensive material
11:46you are almost flipping the narrative
11:54what stories are hidden behind the things we consume and why is instagram aesthetics another area of
12:01exploration for ruboni social media has redefined what black luxury looks like
12:07louis batons as you know already a symbol of class there are these shoes to wear and that sort of luxury is almost in
12:20inaccessible and entertainable so i wanted to re-imagine what the louis baton would be
12:26as an object of black utopia and how that would look like how do we insert ourselves into those spaces i
12:35thought of chicken feet which fall at the bottom of the social hierarchy in terms of food
12:40the one of fingers work challenges us to see blackness beyond struggle this piece is titled caucus and
12:50it mimics a gathering and acrylic nails essentially are one of the smaller ways that black women luxuriate
12:58in townships and with the codi b culture that has now taken over with the longer the nails the more art
13:06you have on your nail actually is a symbol of the social economics that are constantly happening
13:16this beauty is titled she's a beauty permission to catch your pearls granted my work is about creating a
13:26space for blackness in prosperity opulence luxury so it was very important to step away from the idea of
13:34the black diamond as new money and step into the idea of the black pearl as a preposition
13:44for old money black old money so i think of this piece as a symbol of generational wealth
13:54the bono fingers work challenges us to see blackness beyond struggle
14:00it invites us to rethink ideas of success and luxury
14:16back to bold illusions and playful creativity here at curious mauritius where i'm now gulshan who shows
14:22me all the wonders hi gulshan hello so what are the most popular illusions here it's mirror mirrors and
14:28when you go in you think like you're lost in it and then most of the guests like it and when they come
14:34out we all them any mirror broken which illusion or interactive exhibit is your personal favorite and why
14:42so for me it's the upside down house because my team had worked day and night to finish it so that's why
14:49this is my personal uh it's it this amazing i'm curious to see more and take some more pics for the
14:55ground on this spot in 1066 nothing of great significance happened now we know we're in for
15:01some craziness it's where illusion happens here
15:08talking about being truly african she's got a smile as warm as a coffee meet esther etiano kenya's
15:15barista champion growing passion and pride into every cup
15:21growing up esther etiano wanted to be a doctor today she calls herself a coffee doctor at only 28
15:28years old she has broken barriers beyond her age becoming a two-time barista champion first time i
15:33told her now that i'm venturing into coffee she said my journey like tea you know i told her no coffee
15:41like i'm i'm i'm i'm making coffee like brewing coffee like you know doing some arts i'm a barista
15:48she got so confused until when i decided to like you know do the championship and they could see me on
15:54television and they're like oh okay coffee consumption is on the rise worldwide but where it comes from
16:02coffee isn't quite as popular yet despite all odds test the barista as esther calls herself wants to
16:09change that i decided that we as a country we grow coffee and we have this beautiful stuff in our
16:17country so why not utilize it so uh my main aim was to like bring these youths okay we train and learn
16:27how this coffee business or coffee in general works so that when they get out of here you know someone
16:34can just decide to open up their own coffee shop or someone can just decide you know what i want to
16:38venture into having been in the coffee industry for a little over eight years the double barista champion
16:46still has to face challenges in a male-dominated industry being a woman in coffee industry or just any
16:53other industry ain't easy and especially someone of my age so it's been a long and bumpy ride which i'm
17:06really proud of in kenya 30 of the labor force is employed in agriculture including coffee farming to
17:15enable women in particular to participate in the coffee business esther founded her line hills coffee school
17:22to make this a success she has partnered with the coffee farmer edward bangatuni
17:28he farms in this 80 acre piece of land that was passed down to him by his forefathers who introduced
17:33coffee farming in 1983 when she told me her age i was quite surprised from the things she had achieved
17:42in coffee edward's farm employs over 200 people directly and another 300 indirectly esther and
17:50edward's collaboration aims to create even more job opportunities and drive economic growth in the
17:55nandy hills region despite tea being the preferred drink in kenya there's a rise of coffee culture in the
18:01country kenyan coffee is very special when it comes to its like unique flavors and the acidity itself
18:10like when you go out there and you say kenyan coffee they will say yeah the bright acidity you
18:14know the vibrant acidity that you get in kenyan coffee because when even you meet in a cupping
18:21table and then people are cupping they will identify this is kenyan because because of its unique
18:27flavors in it for esther coffee is a way of life it's about sharing her knowledge and inspiring others to
18:33find joy in the craft her interest in the creation of a school was to be an inspiration to girls but boys
18:40haven't been left out she makes us feel like we're a family and i think that's the first thing that
18:46the students like about her the interaction the way she makes us believe that this coffee can bring
18:53out a career out of it and it can change the entire world so i believe that with her journey what she
18:59has achieved so far being a two-time barista champion we are so much motivated that we can also reach the
19:05world arena and also do something with our life as she sips her cup of coffee watching her students
19:12perfect their craft esther knows that she has done more than just teach them to make coffee
19:16she has taught them to believe in themselves and their potential
19:24they're bold proud and loud loud urban choir as 16 men by musical journey from night area who are making
19:31waves with the iconic choral remakes this is nigeria's number one urban contemporary choir
19:55the cloud urban choir we've come together to create this thing this is something that is not
20:02being done in nigeria right now we really challenge the afrobeat space because we have come to show that
20:09afrobeat is just not it's not one sound there's different sounds that can come from africa from studio
20:15covers to global stages they're redefining what a choir can be with their rich potpourri of cover versions
20:22loud urban choir is redefining what contemporary african music can sound like it's a rich tapestry of
20:29elevated sounds bold genre blending and proudly african we all come from different and musical
20:37backgrounds you know and diversity as well some of us mostly start in famous church of course i love
20:42afro soul i love afro pop afrobeat i love afrobeat one of my favorite um reggae songs would be
20:48man down all my song dreadlocks my tasty music is r&b so i really do not have a favorite music
20:55their breakout remix of bloody samaritan with iron star and kelly roland to collaborations with
21:01burner boy they've become a movement redefining sound and all this in just six years since their
21:06formation the journey wasn't always smooth conflicting schedules and limited funding posed early challenges but
21:13they refused to let that be the end of the story you know there's a feeling you get after putting so
21:20much work and being heard that's how we felt and you know the world keyed in it wasn't just nigeria
21:27we had people using our our cover you know some huge footballers it was massive so they jumped on it
21:38that's how we like to see it and then that was that was how it happened so when you bring value you just
21:42attract the right people to you their choir mobilizes the masses with clips on social media but how are
21:51these click-worthy covers created
21:58how exactly do they keep going we work minds together we come to the studio meet with the old team
22:04submit these ideas you know everybody looks at it and we start to pick oh we think we should make
22:10this there's obviously too many ideas sometimes you know but as the director you have to make sure
22:15we reach a resolve that appeals to the market you know so it's really amazing when it comes out fine
22:21at the end of the day like that's the one thing that i was really out for to create this the music so
22:26if someone heard them the first time they loved the music and if i heard that song that time the
22:33first time i get the full experience you know there's a special joy when you know we have the
22:40cover of funds for instance they with those funds and then someone in the comment section is saying hey
22:46i heard this and then i went to look for this and then i actually found the track so that's like for
22:52me the biggest it's one of the most satisfying part of it they take preparation very seriously both
23:00mentally and physically rehearsals are a major priority each week they meet at least twice to
23:05run through set lists rehearse vocals and fine-tune their performances vocal warm-ups are non-negotiable
23:13and every set is carefully tailored to suit specific events they prepare for i was just speaking to one of
23:19my friends at the time i said this choir does not want me to do my own thing again yeah but i mean
23:25that's funny but yes but that's pretty much because in the past weeks we have been walking back to back
23:31to back to back to back to back we're here today for a rehearsal yesterday i was almost dying of sleep
23:35because i could not i was sleeping at the rehearsal so that's how hard it worked the other day someone
23:39was saying let's take a day off let's take a day off i said which day and it was difficult for the
23:44person to find a day because that day is actually very important behind the voices are
23:49hours of vocal warm-ups synchronized choreography and studio grind from beat building sessions to
23:56songwriting huddles and the magic doesn't stop here how we manage the activities and make it work
24:05in a way that it doesn't affect our individual careers um is that we kind of like have a pre-planned
24:13schedule um so that way we know how to fuse in our individual schedules so it doesn't clash
24:20so that's that's how we do it um i must say that is not an easy one some of us are married with kids
24:28we get to leave our kids sometimes we bring them along we leave our husbands at home it is tough
24:36it's a love commitment after all they're jamming with nigeria's top music stars what's the next big
24:42dream for the choir the laudobran choir is an affiliation of big dreamers and we have major plans
24:49major plans for our future part of that is putting out our debut album um an ep you know that contains
24:58um some of the covers that we've done the major hits another thing is to release our debut single
25:05all of that we're hoping to do this year from hustle to harmony from lagos to the world the loud urban
25:13choir isn't just making music they're shaping a soundscape where culture walks in rhythm and every
25:19note sings of what's possible from mesmerizing curious mauritius we hope you enjoyed this all
25:31proud and truly african journey don't forget to hit us up on our socials for until next time goodbye
25:49so
26:10you
Recommended
26:10
|
Up next
12:50
1:02
0:30
3:43
5:29
0:48
0:50
0:50
49:48
23:06
26:11
26:10
26:10
Be the first to comment