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The San people, also called Bushmen, are the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa and belong to the oldest cultures on the planet. They are the ancestors of the peoples of East Asia, especially present-day China, see previous article below.

https://afrocultureblog.over-blog.com/2023/05/the-african-origins-of-china-the-genographic-project.html

The term San should be understood as a collective term for several ethnic groups in southern Africa. These groups include, for example, the Kung, Gui, Ju/'hoasi or the Naro tribe.The San lived in the vast expanse of the Kalahari Desert, between present-day Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Living conditions are difficult. The domestication of animals, as the Khoi do, or agriculture, is not an option in this sandy region, which has made the Kalahari Desert a natural border for people who depend on livestock and crops. Following European colonization, the San tribes were forced into the northern depths of the desert in their fight against the Europeans armed with firearms. During this period, the number of San was greatly reduced and captured San were forced into slavery.

In essence, the San people are nomadic and do not stay long in one place. They travel in small family groups, including up to 25 men, women and children, carrying their shelter with them. They can also resort to caves found for protection.The diet of the San people includes meat, eggs, wild berries, roots, nuts and other plants.

Among gatherers and hunters, roles are shared. San women are responsible for gathering and San men for hunting. Vegetables harvested by women account for about 75% of their consumption. They rely on their in-depth knowledge of edible, medicinal and poisonous plants. This Indigenous knowledge is passed down from generation to generation. The fact that San women provide three times more food than San men is one of the reasons why women are treated as equals. San men are excellent hunters and use a wide variety of methods. Depending on the animal being tracked, the hunt can last from a few hours to several days – a physically demanding challenge. When laying traps, the San people use, among other things, pit traps. They dig a hole, for example, at a waterhole frequently used by hunted species, and cover it with branches. If an animal accidentally falls into the trap, it cannot escape and becomes easy prey. To catch smaller species, such as hares, a death trap, which tightens when an animal enters in, is formed from plant fibers.

The San people have a rich traditional culture – especially in the creation of eggshell jewelry, drawings, music, spirituality and wisdom. Using stones of different colors, the San People made cave paintings and sculptures of past things. The cave paintings show non-human beings, humans and hybrid creatures that are half-human, half-animal. They illustrate, for example, the speed of a hunt with a galloping movement or the common dances around the fire. Later, San rock art illustrated contact with European settlers by depicting sailing ships, European-style clothing, rifles, and cannons.

Another central element of San culture is music and dance. The particularly notable dance is a nocturnal and long-lasting trance, which is considered a vital healing remedy. During this trance experience, supernatural power is awakened, which cures diseases and benefits the group. In addition, medicinal plants known to the San are used to treat diseases.

Afrika Bizizi Distribution Ltd in partnership with Kongo Bizizi Academy, the Pan African film institute and the West Norwood Picturehouse, are excited to announce the London International Pan African Film Festival (LONDON PAFF) 2023 selections.

Among the Eighty films submitted, Forty-Four films have been selected representing twenty-three countries. The selections are across six categories which include the outstanding categories, Narrative Feature film, Narrative Short Film, Documentary Feature film, Animation and TV & Web series. Amid the twenty three countries participating in London PAFF 2023, we have: Angola, Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Colombia, Cameroon, DR Congo, France, Germany, Jamaica, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, Togo, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In addition, we have one invited/guest film, “Kingdom of Kongo: In Search of the Destroyed Kingdom”, produced and directed by Ne Kunda Nlaba.

This year, London PAFF will focus on Congo DRC and will screen films and exhibit artworks accordingly.

Founder Ne Kunda Nlaba says " London PAFF is that unique London event that helps us to learn and experience the life and culture of black and African people from all over the world through films".

The films will be screened at the festival from the 3rd to 8th October at West Norwood Picturehouse, London, SE27 9JU.

The London International Pan-African Film Festival (London PAFF) is an annual film event in the capital city of the United Kingdom that celebrates Pan-African cinema and screens films produced in Africa and the Diaspora (Europe, Caribbean countries, USA, Latina America), and from all over the world; founded by Ne Kunda Nlaba, Film Producer, Director, Screenwriter, and Political Scientist.

Swahili will be taught in Colombian schools as a foreign language, Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez announced. According to her, this decision will help Afro-Colombians reconnect with their roots. The Vice-President made the announcement in June 2023 upon her return from an official visit to Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa. The signed agreement will allow Colombian teachers to travel to Africa to teach Spanish, while teachers from African countries, including Kenya, will have the opportunity to teach Swahili in public schools in Colombia.

"It will be offered to Colombians of African descent and anyone who would like to learn the language" Márquez said."It's important to reconnect with our roots and rebuild historical memory."

Malawi also announced, a few days ago, the integration of Swahili into the school curriculum. This initiative aims to facilitate trade communication with Swahili-speaking countries and strengthen bilateral relations. President Chakwera, at a joint press conference with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, expressed his administration's commitment to introducing language studies to foster closer ties between Malawi and its sister Swahili-speaking countries.

If you'd like to follow suit, discover Swahili or promote language learning, sign up for the free trial course on Zoom, organised by ExtraLingual and LobbyNoir taking place on Sunday, July 23 at 10:00 am. Email us at infos@lobbynoir.com to receive the Zoom link.

A little reminder, also, that Vijana Collections offers an audio book of African nursery rhymes and bedtime songs. Click on the link below for more info about the book.

Maboneng, is a Sesotho word meaning “place of light” and a Johannesburg's district next door to the Central Business District. In 2009, Propertuity founder Jonathan Liebmann privatised the eastern areas of Maboneng to create an attractive gentrified urban neighbourhood. He started acquiring buildings and redeveloping the place. Maboneng is now considered by many as the centre of creative energy in Joburg with amazing street art, a mix of restaurants, coffee shops, clothing boutiques, art galleries, retail and studio space. Although this redevelopment is credited to bringing life back to this downtown, once downtrodden Johannesburg neighbourhood, it has to be said that Maboneng already had a rich heritage, especially for Black Culture before gentrifiers came to town. That's why we coined it "the Harlem of Johannesburg".

In our eyes, Maboneng is first and foremost a historical site of Black resistance against Apartheid. It is for instance, on Fox Street, couple of miles away from Maboneng precinct that Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo set up South Africa's first black-owned law firm in the 1950s. It is now called Chancellor House and features a public outside museum.

As explained by South African guitarist Mpumelelo Mcata in news24.com in 2021, The inner city, and especially the eastern areas that became Liebmann’s “Place of Light”, was actually a historic site of black resistance: a place where the solidarity of Johannesburg’s black working class was forged.

He states: "Doornfontein in the late 19th century was “Millionaires Row”, [...] But close by, in “locations”, factory compounds, servants’ quarters and some freehold housing, black workers lived. Those workers were always predominantly migrants, from across South and southern Africa, actively recruited by capital or drawn from underdeveloped rural areas by access to city opportunities: men and women; job-seekers; factory and service workers; clerks, teachers and more.

By the teens of the 20th century, city officials noted a rise in “mixed” residence and a need for more permits, as industry expanded. After the Boer War, the 1922 Rand Rebellion and the crashing property values of the worldwide 1929 Great Depression, the millionaires moved north, and speculators bought up their great houses and gardens to subdivide into tiny workers’ rooms for formal and informal letting: what became known as the “slumyards” of Doornfontein. [...] But Joburg’s black residents were already asserting their right to the city: demanding decent, municipally funded homes close to their work. That assertion flowered in mass, well-organised and politically explicit informal settler movements in the years following World War II: “Sofasonke – we all die together” was their slogan", led by James Sofasonke Panza, leading to the creation of Soweto.

"Many of the black workers active in this movement had come to Johannesburg when the war increased demand for industrial products. Doornfontein became a place crowded with light industry. Linatex House – now a city rehousing facility – began its life then, as head office for a mining supplies manufacturer. Some black residents hung on, but the more systematic clearances of apartheid after 1948 removed them brutally to peripheral townships. Yet black people still worked in the city – they made its functioning possible – and made determined efforts to evade restrictions and live closer to work. With the fall of apartheid, white disinvestment stripped the CBD of many businesses and richer residents. The end of residence restrictions and the desperate state to which apartheid had reduced the former “homelands” led to large numbers of work-seekers and petty traders returning. They settled formally where they could afford to, and informally where they could not or where, as often, residential space was scarce."

Therefore, it is not surprising to find iconic places such as the Hide Out bar, where legend has it that the space was once used as refuge by Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders during apartheid, or find a Jazz Club named Pata Pata, after the song by Grammy Award-winning South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba.

Kwai Mai Mai Market, one of Joburg's oldest markets, also known as Ezinyangeni, or 'the place of healers', is also located just a few blocks from the Maboneng Precinct. It has for decades been one of Johannesburg's most established muthi (traditional medicine) markets and also known as a down-to-earth spot to grab traditional South African street food.

Finally, this creative hub also attracts a new generation of South African celebrities and creatives such as South African DJ, Black Coffee who has a penthouse apartment in the Hallmark House, a hotel situated in Maboneng district, or again rapper, record producer and entreneur Jay-Z who, in 2019, chose the Hallmark Rooftop as the setting for a six-week pop-up for D'Usse Cognac, the "supernova hip hop star's" label with Bacardi Limited with a brunch menu by one of Joburg's finest chefs Katlego Mlambo (see website below).

So if you are looking for an African Cultural Holiday Destination, here is one for you. Make sure to check out Maboneng!

Sources

https://www.news24.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/arts/inner-city-joburg-and-maboneng-a-tale-of-two-cities-20210504

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/james-sofasonke-mpanza

On Saturday 1^st July 2023, Dembis Thioung, a mesmerizing master of the dunduns - the melodic and hypnotic West African bass drums, in collaboration with the Little Baobab, the London-based finest soul food Senegalese Restaurant, are organizing a one day event at Peckham Levels: the 7th WEST AFRICAN DUNDUN DRUM + DANCE festival with workshops, live & community performances, nourishing food and live dj music until late.

Its 7^th edition is promising to be a successful annual event that gathers masters’ artists from all over West Africa and the diaspora, and the London vast African drum & dance community creating a safe space for the collective to come together and heal through cultural exchange catering for all ages, curiosities, and levels (under 18’s year old must leave the premises at 9pm).

The one-day festival will take place at the reconverted Peckham Levels(@peckham levels) (95A Rye Lane, SE15 4ST), a project that gives local talent access to the space they need to create thriving enterprises, with nearly 100 independent creative involved. Click below to visit their website.

Festival Schedule for SATURDAY 1^st July 2023

1pm  - DUNDUN DRUM CIRCLE WORKSHOP with Dembis Thioung (£15): The West African Dundun make up the HEARTBEAT, the MELODY and the SOUL of traditional ensemble music. These drums have the power to invoke spiritual transformation and collective healing. www.dembisthioung.com

3pm - LION SABAR DANCE WORKSHOP with Moulaye Diallo (£15) : For the first time in the UK, the Lion King of Senegal will be revealing the secrets of the mystic and ancient popular character SIMB. As the dancers synchronize their movements with the drumbeat, they become vessels of embodied expression the Lions of Senegal, telling stories of ancestral heritage, spiritual devotion with live drumming. https://www.youtube.com/@moulayethekingballetliondusene

5pm - LITTLE BAOBAB FOOD & SOCIALIZE (£9-15): Gather around a nourishing meal of your choice, London's finest Senegalese soul food, and strengthened your bonds with the members of the community honoring and celebrating shared experiences. Veg option available. https://littlebaobab.co.uk/

7.30pm - BENE TALLY COLLECTIVE PERFORMANCE (£7-10): The Bene Tally Band Collective represents a profound convergence of music, community and divine energy. Their collective expression serves as a conduit touplift, inspire, and invites the participants to tap into their own spiritual essence through sound and movement. Special artist guests: Moussa Dembele (balafon, drum), Yeb (saxo), Apex Zero (spoken word, drum) Aida Diop (dance, vocals), Luzmira Zerpa (vocals, dance), Yemalla sisters (drum), Penchmi dundunfolas (drum, dance), Medoune Ndiaye (sabar drum), Lamin Sanneh (sabar drum), Kaw Seck (sabar drum) and Dembis Thioung (all drums) https://www.dembisthioung.com/benetallycollective

10pm - DJ MUSIC & DANCE UNTIL LATE (FREE): With the ongoing mission to move your mind & body + life force feed your soul.

Ticketing &Bookings:

In order to reserve a drum for the workshop, a space at the dance session or a ticket to the concert, we require that participants book their tickets in advance.

We have a partnership with Afromoya (@afromoya) which is a UK based ticketing online platform that supports and promotes Black cultural events in the UK and France at more competitive rates than other platforms such as Eventbrite. They have also recently launched a new funding service to boost the production of African cultural events. Click the link below to book your ticket.

Find below all social media handles:

IG / @dembisthioung

Festival Promo Reel:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct45_XmIVLl/?igshid=YzcxN2Q2NzY0OA==

Conversations with the Lion King of Senegal:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuApOcYIgt-/?igshid=YzcxN2Q2NzY0OA==

Bene Tally Collective rehearsal vibes: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct92BcCITrg/?igshid=YzcxN2Q2NzY0OA==

YOUTUBE / Dembis Thioung

Promo reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW575BtIZsE

Conversations with the Lion King of Senegal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak5QIH0EofQ

Bene Tally Collective rehearsal vibes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKw1g6uM0Dc

Bene Tally promo at Hootananny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ith2g9T_8jw&t=17s

For more info, contact: Dembis Thioung

Email: dembis.thioung@gmail.com;

M: +44 7454 825397

www.dembisthioung.com

The Genographic Project was launched on 13th April 2005 by the National Geographic Society and IBM. It was a genetic anthropological study that aimed to map historical human migration patterns by collecting and analysing DNA samples.

Professor Jin Li at the National Human Genome Center and currently the president of Fudan's University in Shangai has been credited as the principal investigator of East Asian populations for the Genographic project and the leading proponent of the model of recent African origin of modern humans. It is said that his research presented evidence that the majority of the gene pools in China originated from Africa. His team analysed the chromosomes of males around China and compared this group with those of South East Asians and Africans. Results of the analysis suggested that South East Asia was the first destination of the migration from Africa to Asia which began approximately 60,000 years ago, contrasting with the hypothesis that the Peking Man was the ancestor of the Chinese People.  African migrants moved into Southern China from South East Asia, then crossed the Yantze Rivern to Northern China.

However, it was neither a new finding, nor a new hypothesis. The People's Daily of 15th July 2000 stated " In 1987, the U.S.'s scientists brought forward a theory based on mitochondrial DNA evidence that all human beings originated in Africa and later migrated to other corners of the globe. In the intentional academic circles, few arguments were raised about the theory that all palaeoanthropic mankind originated in Africa. Meanwhile, the scientists note that fossils of Peking Man who lived 500,000 years ago and Yuanmao Man over 1.7 million years ago were found in China, but both lack any direct hereditary connection with modern Chinese man. There is a disconnection or "faultage" in fossils of palaeoanthropic Chinese who lived some 60,000 to 100,000 years ago, researchers say. Coinciding with the fossil record, Chinese scientists discovered last year that primitive elements of DNA found in modern Chinese are identical with those found in Africans. The discovery has provided weighty evidence on the genetic basis for the theory that modern Chinese were not evolved from the archaic upright-walking human beings in China but originated in Africa."

Anyhow, what is important to single out, is that the world, globally, is becoming more and more comfortable with its African origins and recognising Africa's contribution to worldwide civilisations and that is good news!

We will begin a series of articles titled "the African Origins of ...", stay tuned.

A group of London based men, aged 40+, have challenged themselves to train together twice a week for several months to complete the 10 k tough Mudder course on Saturday 15th April 2023 in Finsbury Park. 

Prostate cancer is now the most diagnosed cancer in the UK and 11,500 men die from the disease every year.

It is close to home for many men, especially from minority groups and this team decided to rise to the challenge to help combat and overcome prostrate cancer.

And what better way than to stay fit physically, mentally and spiritually!

Support the cause by clicking the link below. You can also attend the 10K Tough Mudder which will take place in Finsbury Park, Haringey, N4 2PG this Saturday.

We were sent a video link from a youtube channel called Pensées Kamites which had us verifying a number of facts on the existence of a Black nobility and Royalty in the UK and diving into it, we weren't disappointed. See for yourselves.

You might remember that in 2018, a facial reconstruction of a 10,000-year-old skeleton called "Cheddar man", as he was found in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England (where cheddar cheese originates), had revealed a man with bright blue eyes, slightly curly hair, and dark skin. The analysis of the ancient man's DNA proved that he was genetically similar to other dark-skinned individuals from the Mesolithic era found in Spain, Hungary, and Luxembourg whose DNA had already been sequenced. It placed the Cheddar Man among a group of hunter-gatherers that are thought to have migrated to Europe at the end of the last Ice Age some 11,000 years ago.

This would mean that 9000 years BC, Black men and women inhabited England, Scotland and Ireland and were the native people there. We can safely assume that they reproduced and that Great Britain would have been rather colorful for many centuries. 

Interestingly, we find that in the 17th century, many references to noble men, including the King of England, were made, describing them as either fair, dark, black or very black. Here are two sources below which are irrefutable.

In the "Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky, Esq" during the reign of King William III (1689-1702), Queen Anne (1702-1714), King George I (1714,1727), written for the Prince of Wales who was to become King George II and published in 1733, John Macky was asked to provide amongst other intelligence, a description of the Characters of the English and Scots nobility. He did and a number of those listed also offered a physical description. These pages can be found and previewed on Google Docs *.

See some below and statements made on the last paragraph of the 3rd slide. Continue reading for more.

The person in question is also from Somerset, as was Cheddar man. He is known as Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset. He was a very well respected noble, spoken of in many texts. For instance in the "Memoirs of the Court of England from the Revolution in 1688 to the death of George The Second" published in 1843, the same reference was quoted p.252 (see slide 2 below)*

However, in history books and in all searches, this is, apparently, how Charles Seymour looked.

What is fascinating though is this young Black boy standing next to him, rather well dressed, judging by the texture of the cloth he is wearing and his shoes. Paintings followed a very intricate and lengthy process and made a powerful statement. Why was this young boy, of very dark complexion, included?

And then it gets even more interesting when we come across the descriptions of King Charles II and the description of his children born from mistresses who were nobles too. Below, two of the King's sons and a grandson are described as Black men, and so is King Charles II. See slides below.

One of the sons is Charles Lenos, Duke of Richmond, whose mother was a French lady from Brittany, called Louise de Kerouaille. Interestingly, she is also represented as a white complexion lady. However, she is holding a dark complexion girl, once again very well dressed and looking at the lady in the same way that a daughter would lay eyes on her mother. In fact, the white complexion of lady Kerouaille looks a little surreal :)

Have information and history over centuries been grossly falsified? If Charles II was Black, Charles Ist probably was too and it raises a lot of questions since usually only Black skin people can give birth to other Black skin humans.

Another very interesting account is the description of Jews and Spaniards as very Black in the description of the Earl of Nottingham and Secretary of State. See slides below.

We would love to know your thoughts on this.

Source :

Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky, Esq., During the Reigns of ... - John Macky - Google Books

Memoirs of the Court of England from the Revolution in 1688 to the Death of ... - John Heneage Jesse - Google Books

African soldiers, who fought for France during the Second World War, were killed by the French army on 1st December 1944, in Thiaroye, Senegal.  France owed money to African soldiers who fought for them during the Second World War, called "Tirailleurs", meaning riflemen. Several thousand of them were imprisoned by the Nazis on French soil, in the occupied zone, in prison camps called "frontstalags". Some of them managed to escape and joined the 'Resistance' but most remained in captivity for four years.

At the end of the war, camps were liberated and African soldiers wanted to go home. On 5th November 1944, more than 1,600 embarked on a British ship, the "Circassia" in Morlaix, Brittany, heading for Senegal. They will be demobilized there, in Thiaroye camp, before returning to their homes. A quarter of the money owed to African soldiers should have been paid on boarding and the rest on arrival but it never happened and the soldiers refused to leave the camp until the French army settled their debts. It came to an end with their brutal massacre, when the French army decided to kill all the African soldiers in the camp, on 1st December 1944, as they continued standing their ground.

Since, many historians have looked into it and questioned reports of the massacre. The late illustrious filmmaker "Ousmane Sembene" produced a film in 1988 called "Camp de Thiaroye" documenting the events leading up to the Thiaroye massacre, as well as the massacre itself. See the trailer below.

More recently, one of the most renowned French actor, Omar Sy, who came to fame with the French movie "the Untouchables" in 2011, has once again paired up with French film director, Mathieu Vadepied, to release the movie "Tirailleurs", named "Father and Soldier" in English. Omar Sy's father is Senegalese. Continue reading on, to watch the trailer.

This movie resonates with the movie documenting the plea of Algerian soldiers to receive adequate compensation and soldiers pensions for their time serving the French Army during the second world war, up to this date. See trailer below.

Join Afruika Bantu Saturday School on Wednesday 28th December 2022 to celebrate Kwanzaa in style

SAVE THE DATE

Afruika Bantu Saturday School Community Kwanzaa

UJIMA
Collective Work and
Responsibility

KWANZAA is an Afrikan Family Cultural Celebrations - especially
for the children.  Based around 7 life-saving principles.

PROGRAM

Libation
●
Cultural performances
●
Dynamic youth and child participation and performances
●
Drumming workshops for children
●
Afrikan market - education and Cultural stalls.
●
Food and refreshments.

  Come early to avoid disappointment.
Wednesday 28th December 2022
4pm to 8pm
ST MARTIN'S COMMUNITY CENTRE
Abbots Park, Upper Tulse Hill, SW2 3QB

Recommended donations on entry  - £5
under 20 FREE
Info / stalls : 07903 012 757 Email:
Abssgb17@gmail.com

Click below for more info on Afruika Bantu Saturday School