This is Africa

with Lesedi Mogoatlhe

Lesedi Mogoatlhe unearths intimate and layered stories from across our beautiful continent.

05 Feb 2021

I Write What I Like

Actors, artists, and musicians across the continent are shattering rules, summoning superheroes and going viral.

An actor sacrifices her reputation and employability to challenge typecasting. A Cameroonian artist never saw superheroes who looked like her, so now she creates beautiful ones of her own. The song Jerusalema inspires a dance challenge that goes viral after an Angolan group puts it on the world map.

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Xolile

By Lesedi Mogoatlhe

South African celebrity Xolile Tshabalala talks about her experience working in the TV and film industry, her rep as a ‘difficult actor,’ and why she sometimes ditches the weave to let her natural hair shine for audiences.

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Reine

By Dhashen Moodley

Cameroonian comic book artist Reine Dibussi talks about the beauty of the black figure and her quest to bring African superheroes to life on the page through her Afro-science comic book, Mulatako.

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Jerusalema

By Andile Msomi and Frederica Boswell

We zip around the continent to find out what it means to Africans that Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode’s hit song has become a global anthem.

Song: “Jerusalema” by Master KG featuring Nomcebo Zikode

Edited by Amy Costello. Production help from Frederica Boswell. Music composed by Selective Hearing. Sound engineering by Jacob Winik. Additional help from Michal Rahfaldt and Martha O’Donovan. Special thanks to Xolile Tshabalala, Reine Dibussi, Adilson Maiza, Phokeng Tshepo Setai, Doug Coltart, Ciku Kimeria, and Tobi Osoba aka DJ Sparrow

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