Alemayehu G. Mariam reflects on his evening at Ethiopian musician Teddy Afro’s concert in Los Angeles. In Teddy, Mariam sees more than a talented young musician, for ‘it is plain that [Teddy] does not sing just to sing. I really believe the man sings for one reason only: He is hopelessly in love with Ethiopia.’ Mariam describes a zealous crowd and a passionate scene, where a musician has the power to bring Ethiopians together and ‘revive’: ‘he is that strong steel bridge that spans the generation and geographic gap among Ethiopians.’

A new ‘bling’ culture, pervasive among South Africa’s ruling political, business and public administration elite, which sees lavish lifestyles as the standard for achievement, is encouraging people to use shortcuts to get rich quickly rather than working or studying hard, writes William Gumede.

Vicensia Shule reviews Laura Edmondson's 'Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage', a book which she regards as decidedly limited in its analysis of the evolution of Tanzanian theatre.

Chinua Achebe’s latest book,‘The Education of a British-Protected Child’, a ‘compendium of seventeen skilfully written non-fictional pieces’, is an ‘acerbic lampoon on the propagation of colonial stereotypes via the medium of literature,' writes Peter Wuteh Vakunta.

The Music Crossroads program was initiated in 1995 by Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI), the world's largest youth-music network. Music Crossroads is going to lead a research on the creative sector as well as a feasibility study/search for partnership for Music Crossroads International in Mali, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Cape Vert.

UNESCO is suspending a life sciences prize sponsored by Equatorial Guinea, and is to review procedures for prizes it endorses, following bitter protests about the US$3 million endowment. The UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences was agreed by the organisation's member states in November 2008 "in recognition of scientific achievements that improve the quality of human life".

‘Many liberation and political movements that valiantly opposed authoritarian regimes often behave in markedly undemocratic ways when in power themselves’, writes William Gumede. In an extract from a new book of essays, ‘The Poverty of Ideas’, Gumede explores the challenges South Africa faces in making the transition from an independence movement political culture to a democratic political culture.

Chielo Zona Eze praises Doreen Baingana's 'Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe', describing Baingana as a 'clever wizard who conjures a world of possibilities in the reader’s mind'.

Pambazuka books are now sold through as well as from our own Pambazuka Press website. Please contribute a review – short or full length – and a rating for any Pambazuka books you have read to help new customers.

A ‘revolutionary’ new volume of essays published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press seeks to revive the tradition of intellectual argument in post-apartheid South Africa.

Mphutlane wa Bofelo reviews 'Bantu Ghost: A stream of (black) unconsciousness', by Lesego Rampolokeng and finds that the South African writer, playwright and performance poet ‘is to literature and theatre what Fanon and Biko are to sociopolitical analysis and activism’.

Vicensia Shule gives an appreciative review of Francis Nyamnjoh's 'Married but Available'.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) can be delivered safely in the first year without routine laboratory monitoring for toxic effects, according to an article in The Lancet.

Claire Ceruti reviews 'Neoliberalism and globalisation in Africa: Contestations from the embattled continent', a collection of essays edited by Joseph Mensah.

It was ‘from Ibadan that modern African literature rose’, John Otim writes in this week’s Pambazuka News. ‘There was a buzz, people sat up and took note. They examined the new thing, seeking out signs of deference to Empire, some acknowledgement, some appeal to European authority. Things Fall Apart showed none of that. It was Africa recreating Africa. The college and the city of Ibadan had found its voice’.

Stockholm's International Poetry Festival in October had a special focus on Kenyan women poets. and Shailja Patel shared poems and reflections on 'Literature and independence in Kenya' at the festival's headline seminar. The audience represented a sizeable contingent of Africans based in Stockholm, including Okoth Osewe, whose Kenya Stockholm Blog is the go-to resource for all things Kenyan in Sweden. Osewe videotaped portions of the seminar, and has generously made them available to the public.

Caroline Mose reviews Mwenda Ntarangwi's 'East African Hip Hop – Youth Culture and Globalization', a book she regards as a 'welcome addition to the scanty but growing academic work on popular music and popular culture in East Africa'.

Hussein M. Adam reviews Iqbal D. Jhazbhay's 'Somaliland: an African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition', a book he finds to be 'highly original, relevant, valid and timely'.

Lamenting the apparently greater importance accorded the recent Algeria–Egypt World Cup qualifying match than Palestinians' ongoing difficulties, Haidar Eid wonders why the prayers muttered by football supporters have far surpassed those for families in Gaza suffering 'till the last day of Israel's last and continuing genocidal war'.

cc Badilisha

Badilisha! Poetry X-Change ° produced by the Africa Centre°, is an international poetry project based in Cape Town, South Africa. For the past 5 years poets from around the world and across the African continent have been featured at our annual festival engaged with wider audiences and local poetry networks via dynamic interactions in the form of workshops, discussions and multi-media collaborations. Badilisha! Poetry X-Change is now proud to announce a brand new dimension to the live poetry project. We are soon to launch Badilisha!