September 7th, 2018 Hello friends, It’s been a while since I posted a blog and it hasn’t been because of a lack of material. Au contraire. Blame it on ennui, lethargy, world-weariness. I’ve been feeling disenchanted with the state of the world, especially, how overnight the U.S. went from welcoming and embracing international students and […]
africa
15 Facts on The West African Examinations Council (WAEC)
April 12th, 2018 If you are an admissions officers at a school or college or an international credential evaluator, an officer at a professional licensing board, or an employer reviewing credentials from West Africa, you have come across certificates issued by the West African Examinations Council. For some, these certificates and their authenticity pose confusion […]
Rhythm Planet’s Favorite World Music Releases of 2017
January 18th, 2018 Now that we have 2017 behind us, we’d like to take a look at the countries in the African continent, in Latin America and India and learn a little more about some of them. We realize traveling to these destinations may not be possible, but we can agree that one way of […]
Africa: Higher Education Interrupted
October 27th, 2017 In the past few months, government crackdowns on students and faculty protests at many African countries have disrupted and temporary halted classes and in some cases led to the indefinite closures of universities affecting thousands of students. Here’s a look at some of the countries affected: Cameroon In the wake of demands […]
What Sparked the Student Protests in South Africa?
October 13th, 2016 University of Witwatersrand (Wits University) on Monday, protesters throwing rocks were dispersed by riot police using tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. (Photo credit: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images) Monday, October 10, 2016 was supposed to be the start of regular classes at the University of Witwatersrand but this did not happen as […]
Sister Deborah and Ghana Jollof: Tasty Rice
This is a culinary tale–or rather competition–West African style. Last Sunday morning, I heard a story and song on NPR’s Weekend Edition about a rice rivalry in West Africa, particularly Ghana vs. Nigeria, surrounding a ubiquitous rice dish in the region (Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal) called Jollof. The tune’s nice grooves and rhymes caught my […]
Tinariwen, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer
November 13th, 2014 Tinariwen’s Emmaar (2014) Tinariwen, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer sounds like a gruesome scene from the Kel Tamashek uprising of 1963 in northern Mali that saw the death of messianic Tinarwen frontman Ibrahim Ag Alhabib’s parents when he was a small boy. But in fact, it’s actually the group’s playbill for […]
10 Fast Facts on Mauritania
August 7th, 2014 Recently, I saw a performance by the Mauritanian singer Noura Mint Seymali, who plays the 9-string harp, the ardin (reserved only for women), and her talented musicians at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The Skirball hosts free summer concerts bringing in international artists and performers to give us Angelenos a […]
The Difficult Life For Those Born Albino In Africa
August 22nd, 2013 Joseph Torner from the film, In the Shadow of the Sun There is a new film about being born albino in Africa, In the Shadow of the Sun. The name derives from the classic book, The Shadow of the Sun by Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski. In this moving narrative, the author talks […]
Mali: A country under siege; its music silenced.
January 18, 2013 Without music, life would be a mistake. ~-Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols Why They Hate Music? When the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran in 1979, he said the following: “Music is no different than opium. Music affects the human mind in a way that makes people think of nothing but music […]