Issue 20  |  June 2010

We Are the World recorded

On Monday, the day after the Grammy Awards, many of the music stars who were in Los Angeles for the awards ceremony gathered together to record a 25th anniversary remake of “We Are The World.” This time, the new charity single will benefit Haiti relief. More than 80 artists participated in the recording, including Pink, Lil Wayne, Kanye, LL Cool J, Robin Thicke, Wyclef Jean, Akon, Jordin Sparks, Jennifer Hudson, Keri Hilson, Jamie Fox, Santana, Melanie Fiona, Toni Braxton, Raphael Saadid, Musiq Soulchild, Faith Evans, Gladys Knight, Usher and many others.

The song is currently available for pre-order via a handful of British retailers (including HMV.com and Amazon.co.uk) and will be available starting Sunday, February 7. Proceeds will benefit the Helping Haiti fund and the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Read full story on FMQB

The Losers new poster

A new photo from upcoming action flick The Losers with Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Colombus Short, Oscar Jaenada and Chris Evans. The Losers is due out in April.

For more movie news, check out our Top 2010 black movies

SWV back in 2010?

This is good news for all the SWV fans: the trio made of Cheryl Gamble, Tamara Johnson and Leanne Tyons is set to release a brand new album in 2010.

SWV signed a record deal with RCA in1992. After 4 successful studio albums and a string of hits that include Weak, Right Here and I’m So Into You, the group disbanded in 1999. They recently made a special appearance at the BET Awards in 2008.

Singing acappella

Precious nominated for 6 Oscars + full list

Movie Precious receives 6 Oscar nominations, with Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe being nominated for their riveting performances. The movie is also nominated in the following categories: Best Directing, Best Writing, Best Editing and Best Picture.

Avatar and The Hurt Locker receive the most nominations, with nine each, while Inglorious Bastards gets eight.
See the full list after the jump.

Read article

Author McCall Smith Defends His “Upbeat” Africa

JAIPUR, India (Reuters Life!) – Alexander McCall Smith has sometimes been criticized for portraying an unreal Africa, but the creator of a series of detective novels set in Botswana believes writers are unfairly condemned for their craft.

In Smith’s “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series, there is little corruption, disease or dictatorship, but it was not his intention to be deliberately upbeat, he said.

“I didn’t sit down planning to write a sunny, bright book about Africa,” he said at the Jaipur Literature Festival during a discussion of his works.

“Sub-Saharan Africa has a lot of problems, but it is not universally bleak and I wanted to show the inherent goodness in Botswana, which is a very well run country, with very little corruption and a wonderful people,” said Smith, who taught medical law for many years in Edinburgh.

Read the full story at ABC News

Full casting announced for London’s premiere of Nottage’s Ruined

Full casting has been announced for the U.K. premiere of Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize winning Ruined, which begins performances April 15, prior to an official opening April 22, at London’s Almeida Theatre. It will run through June 5.

Joining the previously announced Jenny Jules (Mama) and Lucian Msamati (Christian) in Indhu Rubasingham’s production are Damola Adelaja (Simon), David Ajala (Fortune), Michelle Asante (Salima), Silas Carson (Mr Harari), Kehinde Fadipe (Josephine), Joel Kangudi (Soldier/Laurent), Okezie Morro (Jerome Kisembe), Wunmi Mosaku (Sophie) and Steve Toussaint (Commander Osembenga).

The production features designs by Robert Jones, with lighting by Oliver Fenwick, original music by Dominic Kanza and sound by Christopher Shutt.

Read the full article at Playbill.com

Naomi Campbell on the cover of Love Magazine

Naomi is on the cover of bi-annual fashion mag LOVE. In this issue celebrating beauty, she is one of the 8 supermodels appearing nude on the cover. The other include Kate Moss and Jeneil, all shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot.

The eight covers will go on sale from Monday 8 February – priced £5
Love Magazine

Beyonce makes Grammy History

Beyonce  who led the field with 10 Grammy nominations, won six awards including Song of the Year for her monster hit “Single Ladies”, beating tunes by Lady Gaga, Maxwell, Kings of Leon and eight-time nominee Taylor Swift.  It is the most awards won by a female artist at single event. Beyonce also took home Grammys for Best R&B and Pop Vocal Performance, Best Contemporary album with “I Am… Sasha Fierce” and Traditional R&B performance for her cover of “At Last”.

The best rap/sung collaboration prize went to Run This Town by Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West.  Jay-Z also won a Best Rap Solo Performance for “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”, while the gong for Best Rap Album went to Eminem’s “Relapse”. R&B/Soul corooner Maxwell was a first-time winner; he took home a Grammy for Best Male R&B performance for Pretty Wings and Best R&B album for “Blacksummers’ Night”. Other winners in the “urban” category include the Black Eyed Peas, Jamie Foxx & T-Pain (Best R&B performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for “Blame It”).

The other big winners on the night were pop/country singer Taylor Swift who won Best Album of the Year for “Fearless” and pop-rockers Kings of Leon who took home the Record of the Year Grammy for “Use Somebody”.

One of the highlight of the live performances was the elaborate Michael Jackson tribute which included a mini 3-D movie, set to the Jackson’s tune “Earth Song”.  A group led by Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudosn, Usher, Carrie Underwood and Celine Dion accompanied Jackson’s vocals on the track. After the performance, Jackson’s children accepted the award honouring their father.

Full list of winners on the official website for the Grammys

“We Are the World” sequel on 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti

On the 25th anniversary of the anthem, “We Are the World,” the charity song recorded to provide African famine relief in 1985, members of the original organizing team are planning a new version to benefit Haiti.

Lionel Richie, who co-wrote the song with Michael Jackson, is heading up the effort to redo the song with co-producer Quincy Jones and another supergroup. The updated recording will feature Usher, Natalie Cole, and John Legend, plus more artists being recruited during Grammy week in Los Angeles.

Originally, Jones and Richie planned a 25th anniversary celebration in Los Angeles, but plans changed after Haiti’s earthquake. Scheduling a date with no conflicts for the dozens of artists who want to participate is a challenge. Jackson’s This Is It concert producers, AEG Live, are assisting in pulling the effort together.

Oscar winning writer-director Paul Haggis (Crash) is under consideration as the music video director. Haggis’s organization, Artists for Peace and Justice, raises money for Haiti and the Canadian director flew to Haiti last week to assist with aid efforts. The song and video of the performance will be available for purchase with proceeds donated to Haiti earthquake relief.

via The Independent

Chris Ofili @ Tate Britain: the review

Chris Ofili’s new exhibition at Tate Britain is the talk of the London Art Scene. Here is a digest of all the reviews.

Art Forum
“Standing transfixed before Mono Rojo, 1999–2002, in the museum’s shrine-like Upper Room, [artist Grayson ]Perry declared Ofili the best colorist. “It’s like a musician having perfect pitch,” he said. Further accolades were forthcoming from musician Peter Adjaye. “I want to live in here,” he confessed dreamily.”

Read the full review on Art Forum

The Independent
“Chris Ofili has his famous signature, of course: the ball of African elephant dung. But don’t let that distract you from his achievement. The paintings in his retrospective at Tate Britain are among the most marvellous of the last 20 years. It’s a public art, an art of luminous colour, an art of wild imagination. If that sounds a peculiar combination, then look at it this way: William Blake’s influence on modern art has taken many forms, but none so strange or true.”
Read the full review in The Independent

BBC
In pictures: Chris Ofili at Tate Britain

The Guardian
“I have to confess I’m a bit of an Ofili fan. I’ve always loved the unashamedly stuff-encrusted surfaces of his paintings. So it’s a bit odd to see works stripped of their jewels, so to speak. I’m still figuring out whether I like the new work, which is steeped in the landscape and mysterious atmosphere of Trinidad, where Ofili has lived and worked since 2005.”
Read the full blog post in The Guardian

London Evening Standard
“Nevertheless, his rarity as a black male in the white male milieux of King’s Road, Kensington Gore and Cork Street makes him the perfect candidate for positive discrimination from the Arts and British Councils and all arms and outstations of the Tate.”
Read the full review in the London Evening Standard

Spike Lee on Haiti: Beware Katrina fatigue

Online magazine dedicated to black arts and culture in London. With event listings, interviews, reviews and features.

One of the first questions came from Ezequiel Lihosit, an NAU history student. He asked Lee if there was any lesson that could be learned from the devastation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago that could be applied to helping the people of Haiti after the recent earthquake.

He told the crowd he worried about what he called “Katrina fatigue” — that people would over time grow indifferent to the suffering. He openly wondered whether the cities in Haiti would ever be completely rebuilt.

Read full story on AZ Daily Sun

Donate to Just Help Haiti and win a holiday to Cancun

The Co-operative Travel offers Cancun holiday to help Haiti

Donate to Just a Drop’s Just Help Haiti appeal and win a holiday for two to Cancun, Mexico.
The prize includes seven nights at the Moon Palace near Cancun for two adults including flights from Manchester or Gatwick. The prize can be taken any time between May and October (restrictions apply.)

As soon as the emergency relief phase is over, Just a Drop will fly in engineers to meet with the local agencies and help rebuild the water and sanitation infrastructure.

For the chance to win the holiday, visit http://www.justgiving.com/cttghaiti to make a donation and answer the following question:

Cancun is in which country? A) Brazil B) Thailand C) Mexico
The competition closes on March 31.

Rapper Kid Cudi stars in new HBO series

HBO’s new series How to Make It in America debuts in the US in February. It stars Bryan Greenberg (One Tree Hill), Victor Rasuk (Raising Victor Vargas), LAke Bell (Boston Legal) and Kid Cudi (real name Scott Mescudi). The show depicts enterprising Brooklyn twenty-somethings determined to make a name for themselves in New York’s competitive fashion scene.

Watch trailer:

Equatorial Guinea to hold first African Film Festival

Equatorial Guinea’s first African Film Festival (FCAT EQUATORIAL GUINEA) will be hosted in Equatorial Guines from February 2nd to February 14th

Over 60 films are on display in this first edition that aims to present the best of African cinema to the Guineans. The African Film Festival of Tarifa, Spain (FCAT) is responsible for taking African cinema closer to the local population, usually left in oblivion due to the absence of commercial cinema halls in the country.
The Festival aims to become a yearly event that may also help to kick start the film industry in the country. To achieve this goal, the program comes full of participative events such as creative writing and radio workshops, photo exhibitions, specialized radio programs, round tables and master classes.

Story via The Botswana Gazette

Winnie Mandela threatens legal action over film

Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie is threatening legal action against the makers of a biographical film about her starring Jennifer Hudson.

The film is likely to detail the fraud, kidnapping and murder controversies that have surrounded the anti-apartheid leader’s former wife.

The South African-made film, titled Winnie, is due to start shooting in May and will star Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar-winning American actress, whose casting in the role provoked protests from South African actors.

It is based on an independent biography of her, Winnie Mandela: A Life, by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob, a former journalist, described by one reviewer as “hard-hitting but not heartless”.

Nonetheless lawyers for Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, 73, have stepped in to warn the producers that she is reserving her legal rights.

A letter from Bowman Gilfillan, one of the country’s leading law firms, said she had not been approached for consent to the film, according to Johannesburg’s Star newspaper.

Read the full story in The Telegraph