September 2020 - House Of Nzinga

Tributes continue to pour for Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman

Tributes continue to pour in for Black Panther eponymous star, Chadwick Boseman, who sadly passed away Friday 29 August. The public was shocked to hear that, Boseman, 43, was battling cancer for 4 years, shortly before his big break. Ex-co-stars and associates are coming forward with heart breaking tributes and anecdotes that only testify how amazing Chadwick was and how he deeply lived for his craft, his passion for the arts, his heritage and love for his community. He truly lived with passion and purpose. Read Ryan Coogler, The director or Black panther’s beautiful tribute to Chadwick here.

“Do safari companies really want African tourists”?

The COVID-19 pandemic, the closures of borders and numerous travel restrictions have put a strain on the hospitality and tourism industry. More specifically, the safari industry in Africa which cater mostly, if not exclusively, to international tourists. The prospect of long months of empty lodges have made, this luxury industry to review their strategy and target local customers. The move didn’t go down really well with locals who felt overlooked for a long time.

A Tanzanian man, who committed himself to travel extensively his country, after living for many years abroad, says: “Even though places are becoming more accessible to us right now, the experiences are still not equal to those offered to foreigners,” he said. “When I stay someplace, they aren’t as invested in me as a guest. They don’t give suggestions for places nearby to see or excursions to go on and things to try, but foreigners — that’s all provided at length.” He then adds: “But since Covid started I’ve found myself wondering, ‘Why don’t I support really local business, especially when the foreign ones never wanted my money before?’”. Interesting read via the New-York Times.

Congolese’s virologist Dr Muyembe lifelong work on Ebola is coming to screen

After several pictures of American actors Richard T. Jones (Why did I get married and owner of Prophecy Pictures Entertainments) visiting Kinshasa, it has been reported that Jones and Eric Kasongo, owner of the production house, Emotive are currently working on a biopic for Dr Muyembe.

Dr Jean-Jacque Muyembe-Tamfum, is a world-renowmed microbiologist, and the actual director of the INRBM, the Institut National de la Recherche BioMedicale. In 1976, he was part of a medical team that discovered Ebola in at a hospital in a small northern village in Congo (then Zaire). In 2016, Dr Muyembe, played again an essential role in the most recent outbreak, in researching a treatment protocal, including testing trial vaccines. He is currently heading the national outbreak response of COVID-19.

Despite being the first doctor to collect Ebola sample, his crucial role in the discovery and long life research against Ebola was overlooked. For the longest time, all the credits went to a Belgian microbiologist doctor, Dr Peter Piot. This raises again, the question of erasing African Black scientists of their important contributions in the sciences and medical field.

It’s time Dr Muyembe get the worldwide recognition he deserves. (Full story in French via Zoom Eco. net. )

Watch: Anthony Mmesoma Madu, future ballet prodigy from Lagos

I’m sure in June you’ve came across the beautiful video of a young ballet dancer from Nigeria, dancing under the rain. Anthony Mmesoma Madu, 11, has now received a scholarship offer from Cynthia Harvey, former Prima Ballerina and now director of the American Theater Baller of New-York. Hopefully, this will be a long-term partnership with Daniel Ojala, the self-taught ballet teacher, from the Leap of Dance Academy, a school that provides quality ballet education to indigenous young artists. Follow them on their Instagram page.

Jerusalema : let’s dance with the South African hit taking the world by storm!

Jerusalema is one of the biggest global hits that came out of South Africa this year. It is a song by South Africa DJ and record producer Master KG. It features gospel singer and vocalist Nomcebo. The gospel-afropop song was first uploaded in November 2019 on YouTube. A video followed in January 2020. However, the song became a global sensation, after the #Jerusalemachallenge quickly went viral on social media. The challenge started when a group of dancers from Angola, uploaded a choreography of them dancing to the song, with plates of food. The rest of Africa, then the world, quickly joined in the fun. On September 8, it has broken the record of the most ‘Shazamed’ song. The news was posted on Shazam twitter account.