Welcome to Malian Voices, an African Voices Podcast special that highlights the lives and stories of Malian nationals living in Chicago. In this special, we talk to Ousmane Drame, Imam of Masjid Al-Farooq located in the city’s South Side, who speaks on the current crisis in Mali. We also speak to Bukie Adekoje, UAO’s Research and Policy Associate, who speaks on UAO’s efforts to get Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Malians, and how to get involved through advocacy work. At the end of the special, we highlight upcoming events in the Chicagoland area.
Music from Chicago-based duo Survivors, made up of Johnny T from Rwanda and Jeanri from Haiti.
If you would like to contribute news, events, issues, interviews or music to our podcast, email us: podcasts@uniteafricans.org or call: (312) 949 9980 between 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri.
Click the link below to see the full details of news, events and music featured on the podcast.
Their music has often been associated with the Tuareg rebelion. In fact, they fought during many years in the southern Sahara for the rights of the Tuareg people. But now, the Malian band, who was born in 1982 in exile, in Algeria to be more specific, has changed the machine gun into the guitar and harmonic voices. Their musical creations call for political awakening and consciousness while dealing with exile issues, repression, and political claims. They mix with verve traditional and modern tones, traditional tones which are symbolized by the drums and modern tones which are symbolized by the electric guitar. Tinariwen toured Chicago recently to celebrate the release of their new album. United African Organization’s Cheikh Diop was there to interview them in French. The translation of this interview is available below. Click ‘Continue Reading’ to read the English transcript.
United African Organization’s third African Voices Podcast is here! In the December episode:
News and events from the African community in Illinois this month.
Information about the UAO’s free ESL (English as a Second Language) classes.
Feature on Liberia and Sierra Leone: Interviews with authors Jonny Steinberg from South Africa (Little Liberia) and Bobby Gboyor from Sierra Leone (Clouds of a Ghoulish War). Full versions of the interviews will be available soon.
Music from the new album Tassili by Malian band Tinariwen, who played in Chicago recently. Look out for next week’s Special Holiday Edition of African Voices Podcast, featuring an interview with Tinariwen and more of their music.
If you would like to contribute news, events, issues, interviews or music to our podcast, email us: podcasts@uniteafricans.org or call: (312) 949 9980 between 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri.
Click the link below to see the full details of news, events and music featured on the podcast.
You can now watch the UAO’s interview with Rachel Wassira of the Tanzanian Community Association of the Midwest. UAO Executive Director Alie Kabba interviewed Wassira on CANTV last night. They spoke about the Tanzanian independence struggle, Julius Nyere, and Tanzanians in the United States. The Tanzanian Community Association is hosting a celebration in Chicago on Saturday to mark Tanzania’s 50th Anniversary of Independence. Scroll down below the video to see details of the celebration.
There will be Tanzanian food, music, dance and a fashion-show. For more information or to get tickets, Call (773) 474-4225, (630) 303-1478, (773) 593-7881 or (773) 507-7277.
The African Voices website will be featuring video interviews that the United African Organization has conducted with members of the African community in Chicago. These interviews took place over the course of the last year on CANTV (Channel 21 on Cable).
This week we feature an interview conducted by the UAO’s Executive Director, Dr. Alie Kabba with Mr. Yussuf Ali, Director of the East African Community Center in Chicago. Mr. Ali is from Somalia and speaks about the experiences of Somalians in the U.S. as well as the situation in the horn of Africa more broadly.
Tune into CANTV tonight at 6:30pm U.S. Central Time to see an interview with the Tanzanian Community Association of the Midwest. Tanzania celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence on Friday 9 December, 2011!
African Voices: Thanksgiving Edition with South African musician Nomsa Mazwai[ 1:01:11 | 56.01 MB ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (265)
Nomsa Mazwai's album, Nomisupasta
In this special Thanksgiving edition of the African Voices Podcast, we bring you an interview with South African musician Nomsa Mazwai. For this episode, African Voices teamed up with En’kay Boateng from Legend Talk Radio to interview Nomsa and play some of her music. Nomsa won Best Alternative African Music at the South African Music Awards in 2011. She is currently based in New York, where she is studying Economics and making music at the same time.
In the interview, Nomsa talks about how her study of Economics has helped to make her think critically about the world, and how this critical thinking permeates her music. In addition love songs, her music includes a great deal of social and political commentary about South Africa, Africa as a whole and also the relationship between African countries, the United States and Globalization. Nomsa also talks about our responsibility as Africans in the U.S. to use our skills to give back to our countries of origin. Scroll to the end of the podcast to hear Nomsa read her poem on Globalization, exclusively for African Voices and Legend Talk Radio.
So this Thanksgiving, sit back, relax and listen to the sounds of one of South Africa’s rising music stars…
African Voices: Special Edition on MOSOP and Multinationals in Africa[ 15:30 | 14.2 MB ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (282)
We are releasing a special edition of the African Voices podcast, featuring a longer version of our interview with Anslem John-Miller, from Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). An abridged version of this interview is available in Episode 2 of African Voices. The release of this podcast coincides with a special day for the Ogoni people from Nigeria – November 10, 1995 – the anniversary of the death of one of their most important leaders, Ken Saro-Wiwa. We intend this episode of African Voices to raise awareness around not only the effects of Shell oil company on the Ogoni people but also to initiate discussion around the often exploitative role played by multinational companies all over Africa. We also want to generate debate on the impact these multinationals have had on the movement of immigrants and refugees from the African continent to the United States.
As in Episode 2 of African Voices, we feature snippets of music from South African musician Nomsa Mazwai.
Our interviewee, Anslem John Miller, was born in Nigeria. He is a member of MOSOP, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. He came to Chicago as a refugee in 1996, to escape threats to his safety. He now works in the area of HIV Aids.
We are collaborating with Legend Talk Radio to bring you the latest African Voices Podcast on your cell-phone! The podcast is split into two segments – Chicago African News featuring news, events, issues and the Advice Box; Africans in Chicago Oral History featuring interviews with members of the community. You can now dial this number from your phone at the times below to listen to the podcast (all times are in US Central Time)! TUNE IN:
African Voices is the official podcast of the United African Organization, a coalition of African national associations that promotes social and economic justice, civic participation and empowerment of African immigrants and refugees in Illinois. On this podcast, we will air:
- News, events and issues from the African community in Illinois.
- Advice on critical issues such as citizenship seminars and social benefits.
- Interviews with activists in the African Community and excerpts from our Africans in Chicago Oral History Project.
We invite you to send us information on news, events and issues that affect your community. If you have a story to share or would like to connect us to activists in your community, let us know.
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Listen online or on your phone to live radio from our partner, Chicago African Radio, brought to you by Legend Talk Radio. Together we are taking steps towards an African community radio station in Chicago.
