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South African writer, publisher, musician and DJ
Ntone Edjabe to visit
MIT
Cambridge, MA...South African writer, publisher and DJ Ntone Edjabe
will present a talk titled, "Chimurenga, Felasophy* and the Quest for
Lightness in the new South Africa," at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) on Monday, April 28, at 7 p.m. in Room
N52-337 at 265 Massachusetts
Ave., Cambridge.
The talk will include a conversation with Trebor
Scholz,
assistant professor at SUNY-Buffalo, a new media artist/theorist
in network culture and new media arts.
Edjabe, who will be an Abramowitz
Artist-in-Residence from April 14-30, is
the founding editor of Chimurenga ("struggle" from the Shona word
from Zimbabwe), a non-profit pan-African journal of writing, art and politics.
His writing, mostly on arts and culture, has appeared in Politique Africaine,
L'Autre Afrique, BBC Focus on Africa and various South African newspapers and
magazines. Currently a resident of Cape Town, the Cameroonian born journalist/musician
co-hosts "Soul Makossa," a weekly show on Bush Radio in Cape Town.
He's also a founding member of the Fong Kong Bantu Soundsystem, a collective
of DJs and musicians, and he manages the Pan African Market, a trade and cultural
center in Cape Town.
A multi-lingual magazine that avoids stereotypes, Chimurenga was established
in March 2002 and is printed three times a year, publishes on-line monthly,
and presents themed performances called Chimurenga Sessions. Admitting that
Chimurenga is not an easy read, Edjabe said, "The journal is dense – in
content and design. The font is small and most of the texts are long. The net
result is that you have to work as hard at reading, viewing, imagining and
cogitating as the coterie of dedicated and dissident makers of the publication.
If you are brave, it is worth it.”
In a recent interview, Edjabe likened DJing to editing, "The thought
processes are similar," he said. "You select what people may or may
not want to hear."
The Abramowitz Memorial Lecture, presented by the Office of the Arts, was
established at MIT through the generosity and imagination of William L. Abramowitz
'35 as a memorial to his father. It has been sustained since his death by the
devoted interest of his wife and children. Since 1961, the Series has brought
renowned performing artists and writers to MIT to perform, present public lectures,
and collaborate with students in free programs.
Edjabe's talk is co-sponsored
by MIT's Visual
Arts Program and their Zones
of Emergency Series.
*From Fela Kuti, Nigerian human rights activist and multi-instrumentalist
who pioneered Afrobeat music.
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