tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276631112024-03-14T02:41:56.833-05:00Abubuwan da nake tunaniTalatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.comBlogger361125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-49739570636377989892013-09-11T16:29:00.000-05:002013-09-12T09:49:25.000-05:00The giddy years
Jos, September 2001 (c) talatu-carmen
This morning, I glanced at the date at the bottom right hand of my screen and jumped a little. It has been 12 years, and there have been hosts of other heartbreaking tragedies since then. But it is a date I will not forget. 12 years ago it felt like the world was exploding, with the riots that had begun in Jos and then the crashing down of silver towers Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-66566656309118175502013-09-11T13:59:00.000-05:002013-09-12T09:50:10.686-05:00NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names makes Booker shortlist
I have been going off social media during the weekdays the past few months as I try to finish writing my dissertation, so I only just remembered to check the Booker shortlist to see if NoViolet Bulawayo's brilliant debut novel We Need New Names: A Novel, which was longlisted, had made it. It has been. I'm so delighted.
I had the rare pleasure of reading the novel in one sitting in the Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-46218942325846127062013-07-31T15:52:00.001-05:002013-09-12T09:50:41.781-05:00Maybe the sun will rise, Maybe the stars will shine....
I'm on a huge Asa kick right now, and this song "Maybe" has been on replay for probably the past two hours, as "Jailer" and "Subway" from her earlier album were last night. "Maybe" begins:
THIS WORLD IS FULL OF PAIN
USERS AND THEIR USELESS WAYS
THERE’S PEOPLE DYING EVERYWHERE
CAN’T SOMEONE TELL ME WHO’S TO BLAME?
THERE NEVER USED TO BE
THIS MUCH ATTENTION TO SECURITY
UNTIL THE TERROR AND Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-38162444069127874302013-02-15T16:06:00.001-06:002013-09-12T09:51:06.878-05:00Moofy's "Sauti na" feat. Buzo Danfillo
My friend, rapper Buzo Danfillo just sent me this video of singer Moofy's "Sauti na" that he features on. I haven't heard any of Moofy's music before, but I love her voice. It's a really fresh sound, quite different from the usual auto-tuned "nanaye." Enjoy.Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-79556931920888284762013-01-11T13:42:00.001-06:002013-09-12T09:51:48.382-05:00Mo Sabri - I Believe In Jesus (lyrics)Here is a song I have been completely obsessed with tonight, after I read this article "Muslims who Follow Jesus" by Carl Medearis. He highlights the music video "I believe in Jesus," by Muslim Pakistani-American musician Mo Sabri, which points to the many similarities in the way that Muslims and Christians think about Jesus. The most important thing, he says, is not the differences in belief butTalatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-78044637758100303562012-11-01T10:31:00.002-05:002015-07-08T05:53:26.292-05:00Chika Unigwe's novel On Black Sister's Street wins the NLNG PrizeThe Nigerian Liquified Gas Limited (NLNG) Prize has just announced that Chika Unigwe's novel On Black Sisters Street: A Novel (Modern African Writing Series)
has just won the $100,000 literary prize.
Premium Times writes:
Chika Unigwe, a Nigerian writer based in Belgium, has won the NLNG sponsored Nigerian prize for Literature, 2012.
Ms. Unigwe Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-22389424974946582822012-04-09T20:22:00.007-05:002015-07-08T05:57:38.756-05:00Amazon-ing my blogI have long resisted monetizing any of my blogs, mostly because the ads seemed to make the blogs look cheap and crappy. However, tonight I did a little bit more exploration and realized that I could link to Amazon for books and films I am already talking about on my blog and get a 4% commission from any book bought by clicking through my blog (as long as it was bought within 24 hours). As I am inTalatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-7049643069280538332011-09-26T16:34:00.002-05:002012-04-09T20:44:11.939-05:00Lil Wayne - How To Love [Official Music Video]sad, beautiful, it made me cry....I often complain about the "NGO aesthetics" of what scholar Jane Bryce has called "donor films"--the sort of didactic "message oriented" films you see made on HIV prevention, VVF, and other social ills. I was speculating the other day, that the predominance of such films makes it very difficult to deal with serious issues like HIV in creative ways that don't turnTalatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-50464030705912225612011-08-17T16:50:00.000-05:002013-09-12T09:53:29.515-05:00soyeyya [love] by XDOGGinitMy current music video obsession. I think this may be one of the best Hausa-language music videos I have ever seen. The camera-work is great, and the story is well-told, and the rap beat is so catchy I have been listening to it non-stop since yesterday. Interestingly, this was apparently made in 2006 (which you can tell if you know the Kannywood stars featured--who have aged somewhat since the Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-16701471546615030072011-06-27T05:40:00.003-05:002011-06-27T05:55:40.631-05:00blockedblocked, blocked, blocked, blocked, got up at 5am to write. nepa went off just as i realized i hadn't boiled water for tea to wake me up. stared at my screen and dozed between words. finally curled up on the couch with my feet on two stacked bound volumes of newspapers and my head in the deep hole in my couch and slept off with my laptop blinking and purring beside me. (thank God for my Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-50558174502685676552011-06-12T22:16:00.003-05:002011-06-12T22:51:18.955-05:00Blogger NostalgiaI spent more time than I really had this evening reading back over old blog posts from this blog. I miss it. I miss writing everything that I am thinking in diary fashion, a lot of which was boring but which sometimes turned up jewels of observation and description. I miss working through my thesis and my thoughts on this blog as if it were a workbook. I miss writing about random walks, the Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-59421042011530990742011-04-25T14:22:00.000-05:002011-04-25T14:22:46.789-05:00PatienceMusic video by Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley performing Patience. (C) 2010 Universal Republic Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.speechless.... incredibly beautiful on multiple levels....Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-3319705697460338082011-04-17T07:12:00.000-05:002011-04-17T07:12:20.075-05:00Ice prince ft Brymo - Oleku (naija music 2010)A song worth obsessing over. I've loved this Ice Prince song since I first heard it. An American journalist currently visiting Nigeria for the first time, just sent it to me again telling me how obsessed she was with the song. She also googled the lyrics, which can be read here. She was surprised (as I am) at the dismissive tone of a bjmighty on the nairaland thread who said "Just normal rhyming.Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-61517412305889952242011-03-20T03:38:00.005-05:002011-03-20T03:45:37.408-05:00flamefire flared fierce, then flickered down to a warm steady flame, a light that glimmers through cracks in clay, feeds on air and dust, faith, hope, and love, when wick and wax is gone.Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-14016447341692838582011-02-11T21:28:00.001-06:002011-02-11T21:49:23.787-06:00#Jan25 Egypt - Omar Offendum, The Narcicyst, Freeway, Ayah, Amir Sulaima...I should go to bed tonight, but I am obsessed with Egypt.Here is a video that has been going around: #Jan25 Egypt. On YouTube, the notes read:"Inspired by the resilience of Egyptian people during their recent uprising, several notable musicians from North America have teamed up to release a song of solidarity and empowerment. The track is fittingly titled “#Jan25″ as a reference to both the date Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-53653744551142389562010-10-30T04:32:00.001-05:002010-10-30T04:41:42.815-05:00Requiem for Sazzy: Mr Chairman Music VideoA few months ago, I posted Sazzy's video "Doubt" that was obsessing so much that I must have hit replay for at least two hours. He was no doubt one of the most talented of the up and coming musicians in Nigeria.Sazzy passed away on October 23, 2010. He had sickle cell anemia, but his friends point to the negligence of the doctor as a major contribution of his death.When I watched this final videoTalatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-90576436320842889742010-10-18T19:55:00.003-05:002010-10-18T20:03:29.299-05:00Scrap of a myth--Draft 1snake locked and stone eyed, she guards her lonely island. Stop your ears, escape with splintered oars. Her song is not for you.Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-84944967973784009462010-09-25T07:14:00.000-05:002010-09-25T07:14:42.105-05:00FDNY paramedic and rapper Farooq Muhammad reminds people to "Call 911"I have been feeling a little homesick/nostalgic for Brooklyn recently, and this video, which I found when googling for "street medicine" after an inspiring meeting with street medicine pioneer Dr. Jim Withers yesterday (the public affairs section of the US embassy brought him to Nigeria to give several talks about his medical work with homeless populations in the US), hit the spot. The video Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-92179649627973303192010-08-01T05:26:00.000-05:002010-08-01T05:26:41.540-05:00Poetry that touches the deepest part of meFrom Rabindranath Tagore's The Gardener61.Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.Let it not be a death but completeness.Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-22065252514915119002010-07-16T17:24:00.000-05:002013-09-12T09:54:28.697-05:00Sazzy - DoubtI usually have a more ideological reason for liking music/music videos, but I after hitting replay on this one at least ten times, I'm posting this one because I find it very groovable. Enjoy. Sazzy's "Doubt"
Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-43247682879390691102010-07-04T11:31:00.012-05:002015-07-08T06:01:46.395-05:00ZIRIUMS: THIS IS ME Music VideoReaders may remember my earlier posts on the Hausa hiphop artist Ziriums, who was interviewed on CNN, and who wrote the scathing song "Girgiza Kai," which was later banned by the Kano State Government.Now based in Abuja, Ziriums started out recording with Intersection's S. Solar and T-Rex in "Government Money" and also on a Yoye track (no video) "If you no Like My Music." Ziriums now has a hot Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-64505653891187262802010-07-02T16:42:00.005-05:002010-07-02T17:26:07.332-05:00When Ghana gave us hope...i have a conference paper to write but that must wait for this most important match. NEPA takes the light around 9:15pm. I search frantically for live streaming of the match, but it seems that world sports networks do not support Nigerian virtual spaces. ESPN says:"ESPN3.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed internet connection from an ESPN3.com affiliated internet Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-33818949646997124632010-06-28T14:15:00.003-05:002010-06-28T14:18:01.690-05:00Youth Peace Rally, Jos Stadium, Thursday, July 1A youth peace rally is planned in Jos for Thursday, 1 July 2o1o, 10am. The rally will be held in the Jos Rwang Pam Stadium along Tafawa Balewa road. The rally anticipates between 20,000 and 40,000 participants.The organizers of the event, an NGO the Young Ambassadors for Community Peace and Interfaith Foundation, which includes a nearly equal representation of Christians and Muslims, has planned Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-14318331744736414762010-06-17T16:58:00.001-05:002015-07-08T06:03:01.758-05:00ONE DAY- eLDee (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)I take a certain amount of aesthetic delight in posting this video by candlelight. Powerful new video from elDee...To buy ElDee's album Big Boy (which does not include "One Day"), click below:Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-65747286820606100732010-04-09T07:03:00.008-05:002010-04-10T07:49:25.753-05:00Lyrics to M.I.'s Jehovah: the "gospel that he be preachin'"This morning, I am obsessively grooving (can one obsessively groove?) to hot Naija musician M.I.'s Talk About It album. On the (next to) last track "Thank yous and ova ish," he gives a shout out to his Jos based "evangelist" parents with a sheepish admission that "yeah, I know I'm not doing gospel music, but, um, I'm still, this is my gospel. Let me preach it."His "gospel" includes fantastic Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com7