tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276631112009-12-16T12:31:35.961-06:00Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.comBlogger322125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-31520527666710885042009-12-16T12:21:00.004-06:002009-12-16T12:31:35.971-06:00

I have been on a book-buying binge the last few days, buying mostly books on Islam, including a Hausa/Arabic Qur'an. So, tonight, just as NEPA comes back, I crack open one of my most recent purchases, Stories of the Prophets by Imam Ibn Kathir and translated by Sheikh Muhammad Mustapha Gemeiah, office of the Grand Imam Sheikh Al-Azar. And this is what I read in the translator's note:"All those

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-52138258859111501192009-11-25T11:38:00.001-06:002009-11-25T11:38:50.460-06:00

Off the hook video from P-Square!

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-23336697769092370922009-11-16T21:43:00.003-06:002009-11-16T21:49:51.908-06:00

This is a series of readings I have done today, from first reading the chapters around yesterday’s Psalm (much needed reminder that sweet passionate David, the man “after God’s own heart” was as human and fallible as me)---then free associating as my memory leads to other sacred texts, hymns and prayers from the Anglican, Methodist, Catholic and Greek Orthodox tradition. In the middle, I re-read

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-31372106270165007242009-11-11T20:30:00.001-06:002009-11-11T20:30:19.181-06:00

And one more bit of fabulosity!! We are Africans, aaa-ooo!!

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-59252276492146899282009-11-11T20:05:00.001-06:002009-11-11T20:05:42.275-06:00

My current music video obsession--love the rhythm and flow of this... Up, up, J-town...

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-77939551161813045692009-11-03T23:17:00.003-06:002009-11-03T23:22:15.029-06:00

Last week I had the privilege to finally meet Helon Habila in person (at George Mason University), after many years of reading his work and communicating by email. He was a gracious host, and it was delightful to hear about his most recent projects. Tonight I came across this interview Mildred Kiconco Barya did with him back in May for Pambazuka News. Enjoy.

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-28344221522704341652009-11-03T11:45:00.001-06:002009-11-03T11:45:13.920-06:00

One of my favourite Hausa songs sung by Abdurrahmane Ayuba (Golden Goose) and used here in the film Hawayena directed by Mansoor Saddiq and produced by Tijjani Asase. A besotted Adam A. Zango gives the oblivious Kubra Dako his song of love to read...

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-23486465269367584602009-10-13T23:36:00.005-05:002009-10-14T00:30:23.944-05:00

October 5My sun is gone and I am cold and grayOctober 6And after the sun leaves, there are the long dark walks. The sharp wind carries away all thought, and I am cold and clean and empty.October 13I walk again in the dark--skin pricked with cold, yet I am warm. What is lost feels nearer than before, what is given up lingers in my smile, what I possess no more fills the cold night. Longing hushed,

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-47289761462256481152009-09-18T00:18:00.001-05:002009-09-18T00:18:13.825-05:00

The best thing I've found on You Tube in a long time.

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-2036218000148712262009-08-17T11:04:00.001-05:002009-08-17T11:04:24.972-05:00

From AFP News...

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-24157711851335827582009-07-01T11:24:00.004-05:002009-07-01T11:39:08.248-05:00

Today while reading a brand new and brilliant (though I'm sure it will be very controversial and hotly contested) book by Rudolf Pell Gaudio, Allah Made Us: Sexual Outlaws in an Islamic African City about 'yan daudu culture in Kano, I realized something about my language-use that I had never quite noticed before. So, I'm sure the following confession will make all of you Hausa-speakers snigger at

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-74614120118060929912009-06-24T10:36:00.001-05:002009-06-24T10:36:17.796-05:00

Thought this might be of interest to those Hausa-speakers that follow this blog...

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-68893921190320660742009-06-08T07:19:00.001-05:002009-06-08T12:09:17.751-05:00

And after a long hiatus on this blog, I have a very random question that has absolutely nothing to do with my normal posts, but occupied a good bit of my thoughts on a recent 3 hour road trip.I noticed all these ants crawling around on the dashboard of the car and on me. And I wondered... what happens to these ants when they get off at my destination? Do they just join other ant colonies? Or do

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-78307768470168661182009-05-24T09:52:00.003-05:002009-05-24T10:00:57.439-05:00

I don't want to write very much write now. I will probably write more privately and then share what I can publically later. But, just to let those of you who follow this blog know, my family and some friends were attacked by armed robbers last night around 9pm in my parent's house. We are all fine. They did not harm anyone physically except for my father whom they shot at from about 5 inches away

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-27788204196196186392009-05-18T18:56:00.004-05:002009-05-18T19:01:58.877-05:00

I found out yesterday that my buddy Mukoma wa Ngugi has been nominated and shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing.  The winner will be announced on July 6, 2009. Past winners have included (oh yes) Helon Habila, Monica Arec de Nyeko, Binyavanga Wainaina, Leila Aboulela,Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, S.A. Afolabi, and others. You can read Mukoma’s nominated short story “How Kamau wa Mwangi

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-62095711747203652842009-03-30T07:17:00.005-05:002009-03-30T07:29:42.790-05:00

One of my favourite authors on one of my favourite causes....

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-81036522918633148762009-03-20T09:57:00.005-05:002009-03-20T10:02:33.461-05:00

Sorry to everyone for having gone MIA on this blog. I've actually started another blog up on wordpress, which has been sucking all my attention away from this one. I still plan to keep this one active...For those in Jos, I just recieved the following announcement from Jos-ANAJOS REPERTORY THEATRE presents 5TH JOS FESTIVAL OF THEATRE

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-48805871395997538142009-02-16T07:44:00.004-06:002009-02-16T08:13:30.411-06:00

I sat down with Nazir Hausawa the other day, and we transcribed and translated his song "Girgiza Kai" ("Shake Your Head"), which has become somewhat of an industry anthem since he released it. The song was played on Freedom Radio for a few days before it was banned. It has since passed on blue tooth from phone to phone. It can be downloaded from his My Space page.There are a whole collection of

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-51815328002947905432009-01-23T10:31:00.007-06:002009-01-28T10:22:43.682-06:00

UPDATE 27 January 2008See the details of the attack on Iyan-Tama's family at Leadership and BBC.Sitting in an internet cafe, enjoying the non-stop Hausa musical selection coming from the administrator’s computer (including such banned hits as Maryam A. Baba’s “Rabo Rabo” and Nazifi Asenik’s “Dawo Dawo”) and listening to people snigger about them, I was writing my advisor an email, when I recieved

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-58658884835870494432009-01-26T06:43:00.003-06:002009-01-26T10:53:16.220-06:00

Today I arrived for Iyan-Tama's rescheduled appeal (readers will remember that it had been scheduled for Thursday but the chief justice suddenly had to travel--see two posts back) at 9:51am. The appeal was scheduled for 9:30am, so I was afraid I was late. I waited until 10:43am in the back of the court room with a few other journalists (lawyers at the front), for the chief justice to arrive.He

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-51441061108790957232009-01-22T06:26:00.010-06:002009-01-22T06:58:16.279-06:00

Just a quick post for "breaking news." I went at 9:30 am to High Court 1 at Audu Bako secretariate for Iyan-Tama's appeal case. I arrive and sit with Ahmad Alkanaway of the Centre for Hausa Cultural Studies, Sani Maikatanga of Fim Magazine, other reporters from Trust, Leadership, BBC, and elsewhere. After some time, we hear that apparently the Chief Justice, a politically appointed judge who was

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-91040721029206582652009-01-13T06:36:00.007-06:002009-01-14T07:13:59.795-06:00

So, in the latest Iyan-Tama news: yesterday, the high court struck out the appeal to bail Iyan-Tama because they were dissatisfied with the way it was prepared... I went to the case, but unfortunately went to the wrong location first and arrived 30 minutes late, just in time for the mass exodus of those there for the Iyan-Tama case from the court.And before I launch into my meditation on my visit

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-30951067426141082842009-01-06T12:08:00.009-06:002009-01-06T15:41:08.544-06:00

I have just found out via the Jos-ANA listserve that Nigerian novelist, playwright, and poet Elechi Amadi, probably most known for his novel The Concubine and prison diary Sunset in Biafra, was kidnapped by militants in the Niger Delta. The only article I have been able to find about it so far is on Bloomberg NewsFor more information about Elechi Amadi, see his website. (Note: the website does

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-70563633817446872832009-01-02T09:28:00.006-06:002009-01-02T12:33:43.141-06:00

I'm at a desperately slow internet cafe, so these links should serve as the text of this post. Hamisu Lamido Iyan Tama, award winning filmmaker and former gubanatorial candidate in Kano state, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison by a mobile court, for supposedly not registering with the Kano State Censorship Board.See the details on Abdulaziz Ahmad Abdulaziz's blog article (also published

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27663111.post-68682004046852297672008-12-29T04:01:00.013-06:002008-12-30T01:37:29.205-06:00

I must admit I have recently been worried about what I can post on this blog. I am discovering more and more people who are following it (either the occasional drop-in or the avid “follower” who I assume gets an email when I make a new post), all of them from very different backgrounds. They say write for your audience, but I’ve got a funny audience. I’ve got Nigerians from the South and

Talatu-Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13402484991153486289noreply@blogger.com4