Videos and Other Media:
Culture and the Arts

Africa calls : its drums & musical instruments ([1990])

Africa, part 2, mastering a continent (1984)

Looking closely at three different communities, Basil Davidson examines the way African people carve out an existence in an often hostile environment. A group of Pokot cattle herders in Kenya tell how they use their environment to their advantage.

African Art in Motion: The Masks of the Nuna People of Burkina Faso (c2005). Producer: Christopher Roy

Shows three mask performances from the Nuna people of Burkina Faso in West Africa. Two segments are from the villages of Savara and Tisse, and one is of the annual mask festival at Pouni. Masks include butterfly, crocodile, hyena, bush pig, antelope, policeman, and more. Each mask's performance recreates the encounters between the ancestors of the village and the supernatural spirits that protect the community.

African art, women, history : the Luba people of central Africa (1998)

In Africa, as elsewhere, memory sustains the identity of a people. This documentary is about Luba art and the relationship between women, art and history

African culture: drumming and dance (2000)

Entertained and educated by a group called Ashante-Sebei. Ashante is the name of a group found in West Africa and Sebei is the name of a group found in East Africa. Members are Margo Black, singer, choreographer and story teller, etc., Tony Rios and David CSlosson, percussionists. Ashante-Sebei demonstrates the culture found in Africa. Together they will teach the viewer polyrhythms.

African Dance: Sand, Drum and Shostakovich (2002). Directors: Ken Glazebrook and Alla Kovgan

A documentary exploring African contemporary dance featuring eight modern dance companies from Africa, Europe and Canada, as well as interviews with dance historians.

African healing dance with Wyoma and the dancers of Damballa (1997)

The program is a "step-by-step course on the healing tradition and expressive movements that are unique to Africa's dance heritage"

African Jim (1994)

Story of a young African man who moves from the countryside to Johannesburg

The Africans: a triple heritage ... WETA-TV and BBC-TV (1986)

An examination of contemporary Africa in terms of its triple heritage, what is indigenous, what was contributed by Islam and what was acquired from the West.

AIDS and the Arts in Africa (c2001).

Shot on location in 1999 in Mali and South Africa, the video documents some of the work African popular artists are producing in the struggle against AIDS and showcases performing arts genres such as drama, dance, puppetry, and song. Mural and canvas painting are also highlighted.

Art as a Verb in Africa: The Masks of the Bwa Village of Boni (c2005). Producer: Christopher Roy

The spectacular mask performances of the Bwa people in the village of Boni, in central Burkina Faso, include plank masks, hawks, lepers, dwarfs, serpents, and other spiritual beings.

Artist Unknown (1998). Director: David Lan

In this documentary, Lennie James, a young British man of African descent, journeys to the war-shattered central African kingdom of Benin to discover the origins of a carved mask purchased in London. He uncovers a tale of early African civilization, the looting of treasures and suppression of traditions by colonial powers, and the amazing persistence of an African artistic vision within a colonial culture. His mission becomes a quest to better understand the essence of Africa itself.

Assignment Africa: an inside story (1986)

Investigates how the media neglects Black Africa, including its initial reluctance to cover the Ethiopian famine and the untold story of Zimbabwe's success since independence.

Bamako (2007) Director: Abderrahmnane Sissako.

Set in Mali, the film revolves around a trial that pits the people of Bamako against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Best of Mohamed Sulaiman Tubee (1980)

Mohamed Sulaiman Tubee, King of Music in the Somali Republic since the 1950's, presents some of the music from his best records in this video. This is the very first video in his career. Somali music consists primarily of poetic love songs. This style of music is unique to the Sudan and Somalia in the Eastern Horn of Africa.

Birds of the Wilderness: The Beauty Competition of the Wodaabe People of Niger (2007). Producer: Christopher Roy

"The Wodaabe people of southern Niger, West Africa, hold a beauty competition each fall in which young men paint their faces red and wear costumes of white beads and cloth, with white ostrich feathers in their hats, They are judged based on charm and beauty by the young women of the competing clan. This video includes Wodaabe camp life, the feast before the competition, a young men's initiation, lots of young women, the Ruume dance of welcome, a young man applying his makeup, and lengthy, detailed footage of the Geerewal." - www.createspace.com/2438

Born musicians : traditional music from the Gambia ; On the battlefield : (1984)

The first program focuses on the professional musicians of the West African Savannah and in particular on the Mandinka music of the Gambia. The second program looks at gospel music in Alabama.

A brother with perfect timing (1987)

When he left South Africa in the 1960s, Abdullah Ibrahim took Cape Town with him. This video reveals him as a casually charismatic storyteller, serious but never pompous. It is an articulate, self-told portrait, echoed in music from Ekaya, his band comprised of saxophones, brass and rhythm section.

The Child Brides (1999). Director: Gill Barnes

"In many parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, young girls are often engaged by the age of eight, and leave their homes to join their husbands by twelve. In many cases, the younger the girl, the more her family receives in the form of a dowry. This program travels to the most rural and poverty-stricken regions of Ethiopia to expose the common practice of child brides and the consequences for the young girls who often give birth before they are out of childhood." -- Container

Chuck Davis dancing through West Africa (1986)

A study of African dance and the important place it occupies in village life.

The Cultural Music of the People and Church of Eastern Africa (2004). Producer: Richard J. Quinn

A look at liturgical hymns and songs by performers from various countries in East Africa, particularly Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya.

Dance in Africa (1987)

This film, with English narration, includes dances from 13 African countries performed in the Dakar festival in April 1966.

Dance on the wind : memoirs of a Mississippi shaman (1994)

Eno Washington, an African American street and stage dancer, discusses the African roots of African American dance. Includes performance footage and archival footage.

Dark passages (1995)

Employes a mixture of interviews, slave narratives, and dramatization. Tells the story of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. Takes the viewer from the House of Slaves on Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, to the village of Juffere on the Gambia River.

Discovering the music of Africa Barr Films (1987)

Describes music and rhythms of Africa, especially Ghana, and how they are used both as music and means of communication.Demonstrates the complex rhythmical music of the bells, rattles and the drums; shows several traditional dances.

Dishes of Africa (1992)

Gourmet chef Jeff Smith tours the African cuisine.

Divine carcasse (1998) Director: Dominique Loreau

"Divine Carcasse is an unusual hybrid, a half fictional, half ethnographic film. It is a study in cultural contrast, between a desacralized, materialistic European view of reality and an animist, pre-industrial African one. Belgian director Dominique Loreau has described her film as an encounter with another culture, another way of relating to the world, objects and death, one that challenges our own relationships to the world"--From the California Newsreel Web site

Don't hurry back (1996)

An allegory of a Yoruba story of three heavenly travelers who experience life on earth three times, first in body, then in mind, and finally in spirit.

Fulani: Art and Life of a Nomadic People (2007). Producer: Christopher Roy

"The Fulani are a diverse people who live across West Africa from Dakar to Lake Chad. They herd cattle, sheep, goats and camels, and live from the milk from their cows. They create very beautiful art, including hairstyles, dress, mats, architecture, song, music and dance. This video features three Fulani peoples: the Gowabe, Jelgobe, and Wodaabe. The video includes scenes of daily life, interiors and exteriors of their homes, cattle, milking, making butter, weaving mats, and the spectacular dances of the Wodaabe Fulani in Niger, the Geerewal and the Ruume. Young men paint their faces red with clay and butter, and put on beautiful costumes of beads, white cloth, and ostrich feathers. They dance in long lines to show off their sex appeal. The competitions are judged by beautiful young women from the opposite clan, and the winners' names are remembered for years to come"-- www.createspace.com/243089

Gentle winds of change (1961, 16 mm)

This film illustrates the traditions, progress and aspects of social change of the Banyankole, a tribe in Uganda

Gumboots (2000). Director: Aubrey Powell

It is a celebration of song and dance, an international phenomenon that has swept across the globe like a tidal wave of soaring voices and stomping feet.

The Hand that Stirred the Pot: African Foods in America (2003). Producer: Emily Aronson

Part of a series on the cultural and economic history of foods, looking at how Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistadores changed what people ate. This program looks at the major influence African slaves exerted on western cooking and culture. Over 10 million slaves from many different tribes with different diets, were transported from Africa to the Americas, bringing with them their knowledge of how to grow and cook their traditional foods. They played a significant role in the formation of American cuisine, particularly in the Caribbean territories and the Southern States.

In and out of Africa (1993)

This video explores with irony and humor issues of authenticity, taste and racial politics in the transnational trade in African art.

The JVC Smithsonian Folkways video anthology of music and dance of Africa (1996)

This anthology looks at many of the folk music traditions in Africa.

The JVC video anthology of world music and dance (1990)

Folk music. Video 17 deals with Egypt/Tunisia/Morocco/Mali/Cameroon/Zaire/Tanzania. Video 18 deals with Chad/Cameroon. Video 19 deals with Ivory Coast/Botswana/Republic of South Africa.

Kenyatta University, Muziki Wetu (c2003). Director: Albert Wandago

Kenyatta University, the cradle of music scholarship and performance in Kenya, presents its music.

The language you cry in: the story of a Mende song (1998)

" ... traces the history of this song, a burial hymm of the Mende people brought by slaves to the rice plantations of the Southeast coast more than two hundred years ago."

Living the Hip Life (2007). Director: Jesse Weaver Shipley

"This film is a musical portrait of street life in urban West Africa. It follows the birth of Hiplife music in Accra, Ghana, a mix of various African musical forms and American hip hop. Archival footage and hip hop music videos are remixed with interviews and the daily lives of rap artists. We follow Reggie Rockstone, the Godfather of Hiplife in the founding of the musical movement, as well as the Mobile Boys, a group of aspiring rap artists as they try to make it in the music business"--Third World Newsreel website

Mandekalou: Words of Memory (2005). Director: Lionel Guedj

"With its impassioned, declamatory singing and complex, interweaving instrumental patterns, the music of the Mande jeliou, the Mande griots, is both Africa's greatest claim to a significant classical tradition and the inspiration for some of the most vital popular music of the last half century"--Container

Mbira music: the spirit of the people (1992)

The mbira, a small musical instrument, presents songs used during the war of liberation and the chants used by today's farmers.

Moolaadé (2004). Director: Ousmane Sembene

Senegalese writer-director Ousmane Sembene makes an impassioned plea against the practice of salinde, or female circumcision, in this moving portrait of a society in transition. In a West African village run by uncompromising Muslim males, fiery Colle provides safe harbor for young girls fleeing their "cleansing" rituals. But what one man terms "a minor domestic issue" soon puts the whole town on the verge of bloodshed.

Music and culture (1992)

Offers a look at the Polynesian, African, and North American Indian cultures and examines the role played by music in the lives of members of each group.

Naked spaces: living is round (1985)

Explores the rhythm and ritual life in the rural environment of six West African countries.

Ndebele women: the rituals of rebellion (1995)

This video explores the Ndebele rituals.

People & places of Africa (c1998). Producer: Paolo Pellegrini

"Explores the unique cultures, marvels of nature, indigenous peoples and remote lands of Africa"--Containers

Peoples of South Africa (1990)

Not intended for political discussion, this video was produced to aquaint viewers with the spectacular beauty of South Africa's countryside and the cultural diversity of its people.

Respect the Beat (1998). Director: Hunt Hoe

Film contains percussion music and interviews from musicians Michel SÈguin, Taiko, and Ganesh Anandan. It traces the musical heritage of percussion instruments, beginning with the country of Africa.

Rhythm of resistance (1988)

Takes you across forbidden boundaries of apartheid to experience the authentic joy and sorrow of Black South African music.

Rites of Passage: Videocases of Traditional African Peoples (2002).

This video is divided into six segments of a traditional African life: three segments from birth to adolescence and three segments in adulthood. Each segment describes a rite of passage - birth, naming, circumcision, marriage, elderhood, and death - which is commonly ritualized and celebrated in the traditional African villages.

The Seven ages of music: the magic of African music (1992)

This production traces the entertaining evolution of Africa's music from the rattle of drums by the light of a desert fire to the laid-back beat of Hugh Masekela, Dolly Rathebe and the Inkspots.

Show Me the Rhythms for Dunun (c1998). Producer: Kalani

Demonstrates 10 traditional rhythms that compliment "Show me the rhythms for jembe". Teaches each pattern individually and then combines them to form a complete arrangement.

Show Me the Rhythms for Jembe (c1998). Director: Kalani

Kalani describes and demonstrates jembe (djembe) and dunun (junjun) drumming patterns for ten traditional Malinke rhythms. Each pattern is analyzed, played individually, then played simultaneously with other patterns in the rhythm. Western-style notation is provided for each rhythm. Jembe patterns are presented on v. 1-2, and dunan patterns on v. 3. The ancillary compact disc provides play-along accompaniment for practicing.

Sigaalow : town of dust (1983)

This film is about a refugee camp hidden away on the banks of a muddy river in East Africa. Highlights from the daily routine of these displaced Somalian nomads, as well as their farming, education and cultural practices are portrayed.

Sisters of the Screen: African Women in the Cinema (2002). Producer: Beti Ellerson

Interviews of thirty-five women filmmakers from Africa and the African diaspora, interspersed with clips from their films.

South Africa: Advertising by country (1993)

A selection of the best television/cinema commercials from South Africa as chosen by the London International Advertising Awards E0 OUN.

Understanding African Art (c1998).

Shows examples of the diversity of the art of Africa, and its part in the daily lives of the people.

Voices of Sarafina (1988)

Interviews with the young Black South African cast members of the Broadway production of Sarafina!, interspersed with scenes from that musical about the 1976 student uprising at a Soweto high school.

West African Dance (2004). Producers: Abdoulaye Camara, & Nikola Clay

Abdoulaye Camara teaches 5 West African choreographies: YolÈ, Kuku, Tiriba, Mandiani, and Telefone.

West African djembe drumming (1991)

Paulo Mattioli discusses instrumentation, technique and the seven principal rhythm patterns of West African drumming. Includes rhythm building exercises and play along segments.

West African instruments (1978)

Philip Faini, professor of music, and other musicians demonstrate the sounds of various West African percussion instruments, the original versions of such instruments as claves, castanets, maracas, gourd rattles, double gongs, tambourines, and talking drums.

West African popular music a Third Eye Production for RM Arts and Channel Four. (1984)

Focuses on the Africa's popular music industry that has grown rapidly over the past two decades and has produced its own distinct styles of Pop music.

What do we know about Africa? (1995)

Discusses commonly held western stereotypes about Africa and then presents accurate information on African culture and geography.

Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears (1976)

An adaptation of the book of the same title by Verna Aardema, with pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon, which retells a West African tale which explains why the mosquito, responsible for the death of Mother Owl's baby, buzzes in people's ears looking for forgiveness. For primary grades.

You Africa, Youssou N'Dour and Etoile: the African tour (1994)

Documentary of the 1994 tour of nine West African nations by legendary Senegalese performing artist, Youssou N'Dour and his band and back-up dancers, Super Etoile.

Zajota and the boogie spirit (1989)

This video incorporates African rhythms and dance in recapitulating the saga of Black people from their African origins to their present life in America.

Zulu (c2003). Director: Cy Endfield

Original motion picture released in 1963. Zulu is set in Africa in 1879 only hours after the battle of Isandhlwana. A small group of British soldiers stood their ground at a farm house against an onslaught of wave after wave of Zulus.