CULTURE
SENEGAL – “Afrotopia” is above all the books that Felwine Sarr had to write
First of all, I want to point out that the academic, the economist, the musician, the editor, the writer…. Felwine Sarr will be on the banks of the Ébrié lagoon, on May 12, 2022 at the Institut Français d’Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire to talk to Ivorians about “everything and nothing” and to tell them about his latest novel: “Places that inhabit my dreams” (L’Arpenteur – Gallimard, 176 pages, 18 euros)”I haven’t read the book yet.” It will not be long. However, I will be there, even if my boss does not give me a ruble for transportation. I will not cause trouble.
Afrotopia! What a book! This book made me see in all colors. And, to tell you the truth, I had a hard time. Terribly. Who is this asshole who said that reading is escaping? Let me see it! I would like to give him one.
Afrotopia is above all the books that Felwine Sarr had to write. It forces you to reposition yourself and rethink the way you had previously viewed the world, especially the North-South relationship. When you come out of that trial, you’re off the hook. You’re off the hook. A real slap in the face. It’s like, cataracted, you were ripped out of the lens of ignorance that troubled your sight. Afrotopia is a major project that proposes a re-reading of the world from our condition as Africans. When we ask him what Afrotopia means, it is to push us further into the meanderings of misunderstanding. He answers that it is “an active utopia that gives itself the task of flushing out in the real African the vast spaces of the possible and fertilize them.”
Have you understood anything! Oh my God! That I suffered emotionally during the reading! But when one consents to the effort of understanding the first pages, one falls nose-to-nose on an oasis of principles that could be the project of a new African movement.
In this book, I dare say, Felwine Sarr shits about the Bretton Woods institutions. It is an institution which, with its own barometers, dares to give rules of good economic conduct to an Africa which, fundamentally, has nothing to do with an economic morality foreign to its values. For a man trained as an economist, it is a big poop that he can lay there. In short, scatological allusions.
If there is a book that will have marked me, it is this one. Sarr does not do as these writers who open the bandages, without however proposing solutions: Africa, by its socio-economic and cultural values, can rise up, and even supplant these directors of the universal consciousness, the West. The West is not this manneken and who wants to make the world believe that without its pee in the face of Africa, this Venus of Milo, the latter would come to nothing. Africans must show that they have science, brains to promote. The African continent, far from being a survivor of the world’s skiff, should, in an intergenerational symbiosis show that it is not the great whiner who knows nothing else to ask for the obole.
It is a book “full of emotions and humanism”, relatively long – I confess it – for heads of linot. But nothing hurry, everyone can read it according to his requirements. However, I know that some will say that there is too much idealism in this, that this book is of immeasurable boredom. Perhaps because there is not the long-awaited happy end. But I can reassure you. This trial is not without interest.
A major information. The beginning of the weekend will be happy for Ivorians. Felwine Sarr will come, from Senegal, to the Institut Français d’Abidjan on May 12, 2022. Felwine Sarr will be in Abidjan. Chic then!
Felwine Sarr – apart from Senegalese nationality and the gift for beautiful letters, he has nothing to do with Mouggar Sarr – has been teaching contemporary diasporic philosophy at Duke University, USA since 2020. Seen through his works, Sarr is a virulent critic of the victimary mentality and congenital assistants of Africans. He would make a very feared politician, a bit like a Jean Luc Mélenchon, ready to denounce all political scandals. Anyway, he doesn’t chew his letters. An economist and deeply committed to democratic principles, he was in favour of African countries leaving the CFA. In the case of Abdoulaye Wade’s third term, which he rejected, he alienated many Senegalese politicians. After the meeting on the 12th, I will debrief you. Be sure! On the 12th of May at the Institut Français in Abidjan!
CINEMA
BURKINA FASO – Culture and tourism: The 4th edition of Tunnel honors the builders of the shadow
Koudougou, May 31, 2025 (AIB) – The 4th edition of Tunnel, a ceremony for distinguishing cultural and tourist actors in the Central-West region, was held in Koudougou on Saturday, noted the AIB on site.
This annual event, initiated by Adama Badiel, aims to create, according to him, a platform of visibility and support for artists and tourism professionals to allow them to establish themselves on national and international scenes.
The promoter Adama Badiel stressed the importance of this edition, placed under the sign of collaboration, recognition and collective construction. He recalled the fundamental objective of the Tunnel: “to highlight the cultural and tourist talents of the Center-West, these women and men who, often without spotlight or support, nourish our region with their passion, creativity, and determination.”
This year, the event paid a special tribute to its partners, whose support is deemed indispensable. Among the officials present were Jean Noël Bonkoungou, representing the minister of culture, patron of the ceremony, El Hadj Inoussa Bagué, president of the Patronat du Centre-Ouest, Franck Alain Kaboré, CEO of Cinéma Neerwaya, and Ali Bonkoungou, CEO of Salsabil Bâtiment, testifying to the commitment of the private and public sectors.
Despite a slight reduction to five categories in competition this year, due to a limited number of album releases and works meeting the criteria, Adama Badiel ensured that the “Golden Tunnel” category will evolve from next year to expand opportunities while maintaining the quality requirement.
The promoter also launched a call for goodwill because, “we need you to build a true ecosystem where art, heritage, tourism and youth can express themselves, thrive and inspire.” This heartfelt plea highlights the major challenge of the lack of resources to fully support the laureates and optimize their visibility.
Several emblematic figures of Burkinabe cinema, such as Eugène Bayala (Oyou), Sawadogo Alidou (head of the Village of Kikideni), and Rasmané Ouédraogo (Razo), have already been honored in previous editions.
This year, the winners on the artistic side include Mr. Baraka, Tasha, Yololo Junior, and KSB 80.
In the cultural and tourist field, personalities like El Hadj Inoussa Bagué, Franck Alain Kaboré, Rasmané Ouédraogo, Boubacar Berewoudougou (Hôtel Pousga), Catherine Zoma (ISMK), and Salfo Dermé were distinguished, in addition to tributes paid to ancient glories of Burkinabe music such as Pasteur Moussa Josué.
Adama Badiel concluded by stating that “the Tunnel is not a one-time event. It is a movement, an ambition, a bridge between what we are and what we can become. A strong message for the future of culture and tourism in the Center-West.
The boss’s representative, Jean Noël Bonkoungou, reassured the promoter of Tunnel of the support of the ministry.
Source: Information Agency of Burkina
Photo credit: Information Agency of Burkina
See on the platforms the legendary Senegalese hip-hop group Daara J Family. On May 30, 2025, the band returns with “COSAAN”, a committed single that resonates, with its morning mbalax melodies and gentle flows, as an essential reminder: never forget where you come from. The single has over 80,000 views and 900 comments on YouTube.
“Fan nga cosaanoo?” – Where are your roots?
This question in wolof, almost a supplication, serves as the thread to the new title of Daara J Family. NAACP literally means “origin” or “heritage”. With this single, the iconic duo formed by Faada Freddy and Ndongo D delivers a work that is at once poetic, political and deeply rooted in history, especially that of Senegal. It is also a call to African youth not to forget their origins. And above all to enhance its cultural heritage by walking with pride in the footsteps of the ancients.
Cosaan, between mbalax and rap
Formed in 1994, while still in high school, the members of Daara J Family never gave up their musical identity. Indeed, they have always mixed sharp words, spirituality and pan-African consciousness. In “COSAAN”, they revisit this tradition that is dear to them. In this song, there are traditional sounds (mbalax) and contemporary hip-hop textures, echoing their long-standing belief: rap was born in Africa, traveled, then came back. The refrain, translated into French, is unequivocal: “Le monde et ce qu’il contient / Si tu vas là et que tu l’obtiens / N’oublie pas, n’oublie pas / This is where your origin lies!” A direct appeal to African youth not to give in to cultural amnesia and to keep the memory of ancestors and African identity alive.
When history inhabits the word
Faada Freddy, with his recognizable soul voice among a thousand, hums: “We know where we come from/ What worries us is where we are going…” This lucid concern can only be tempered by an unwavering faith in the values of the elders. Ndongo D, adds in a quick flow: “If you forget yesterday, tomorrow you will be lost (…) You were born here, you come from here, you live here.” It is an anchor cry, a response to uprooting, a warning against forgetting.
Daara J Family: Making sense of the flow
From their first eponymous album in 1998 to Boomerang in 2003 — hailed as one of the best hip-hop albums of the century by The Observer — to Yaamatele in 2020, Daara J Family have always been able to combine the art of flow with that of meaning. Their commitment goes beyond words. They shared the stage with icons such as Public Enemy or Mos Def, and travelled through festivals from Africa to Europe, from WOMAD to Live 8.
COSAAN: a single dedicated to transmission
More than a return, COSAAN is a transmission. It is a manifesto. That of a knowledge, a duty to remember, a pride. At a time when markers are shifting, when crops are being diluted. In an era marked by migration, globalization and multiple influences, Daara J Family reminds us that identity is a foundation, not a burden. That heritage is not nostalgia, but a compass. And they offer a musical compass and identity with this single: Cosaan!
The monumental works depicting the battle of Little Big Horn, exhibited on the Pont des Arts in Paris in 1999, made the Senegalese artist famous. The installation has just joined the fortress in the Hautes-Alpes for at least ten years.
Muscled warriors meld, horse bumping. Sounds of the fury of battle are heard. Under the impressive curvilinear wooden frame of the old Rochambeau barracks, at the fort of Mont-Dauphin (Hautes-Alpes), is played the battle of Little Big Horn, opposing, in 1876, a coalition of Cheyennes, Sioux and Arapaho to the soldiers of General Custer’s regiment.
In thirty-five monumental sculptures, visible from 6 July, the Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow (1935-2016) celebrates the resounding victory of the fragile over the powerful. Deposited in this fortified village for a period of ten years renewable by his widow, the director Béatrice Soulé, this epic installation is well known to the Parisians who discovered it amazed, one day in March 1999, on the Pont des Arts.
The exhibition has remained in the annals with its record attendance – at least 3 million visitors in three months. «An unexpected success», recalls art critic Emmanuel Daydé, then deputy mayor for cultural affairs. For the former physiotherapist born in 1935 in Dakar, who later became an artist, it is consecration. But also, surprisingly, a swan song.
At the moment when Ousmane Sow gains international fame, the art world turns its back on him. Although he was the first African artist recognized in France, none of his successors, to whom he had paved the way, claimed it.
Mayor’s daughter supports her cause
It had all started well. In 1993, the Senegalese sculptor, who two years earlier had been on the cover of Revue noire – a quarterly magazine that revealed a number of African talents – was invited to the major five-year exhibition at Documenta in Kassel, Germany. In 1995, here he is at the Venice Biennale, which is to contemporary art what the Cannes Film Festival is to cinema. The autodidact dreams of an event in Paris.
By chance, he met Hélène Tiberi, daughter of the mayor at the time, Jean Tiberi. Who supports his cause at the City Hall. The location is easy: it will be the Pont des Arts, between the Louvre and the Academy of Fine Arts. It will take diplomatic treasures to convince these two institutions, who have not seen with a good eye the proximity of massive silhouettes imagined by an African artist.Archives «World»: Ousmane Sow questions Bordeaux and politicians
The neighbouring National School of Fine Arts, where figurative art was then taboo, is also pinching its nose. Money is missing. The Havas group had initially promised to contribute to the addition of 5 million francs (the equivalent of 1 million euros today), but its new CEO, Jean-Marie Messier, is sneaking out. Béatrice Soulé moves heaven and earth, finds sponsors and is personally indebted to the tune of 1 million francs. More here
Source: Le Monde
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