Tag: New Songs

President Biden. Photo: Official/Wikimedia.

[Commentary]

President Joe Biden’s remarks before African leaders about “the pain” of slavery appear to have been a direct rebuke of Uganda’s Gen. Yoweri Museveni and came two days after Black Star News asked the White House and State Department why the dictator had been invited even after he’d once said people captured into slavery were “stupid.”

Black Star News also asked why Museveni was invited to the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit even after he’d once praised Hitler. Whether it was coincidence or not, Biden’s comments came after Black Star News sent e-mail messages about Museveni’s ugly comments.

The e-mail message sent on Dec. 12 by Black Star News read:

“Black Star News is working on an editorial for December 14 about the appropriateness of President Biden hosting the Ugandan dictator of 36 years Gen. Yoweri Museveni (who will join other African presidents) in The White House on Wednesday based on some past ugly statements he’s made about slavery and his praise of Hitler. With regard to slavery Museveni said to the Atlantic magazine in September 1994: ‘I have never blamed the whites for colonizing Africa: I have never blamed these whites for taking slaves. If you are stupid, you should be taken a slave.’

https://tinyurl.com/2s4ev8ce

With regard to Hitler, Museveni was quoted in a Ugandan weekly, The Shariat, in April 1998 as saying: ‘As Hitler did to bring Germany together, we should also do it here. Hitler was a smart guy, but I think he went a bit too far by wanting to conquer the world.’

What’s more, in 2018, a U.S. District Court convicted a Chinese operative Patrick Ho for bribing Museveni and his foreign minister Sam Kutesa $1 million. Ho was handed a three year prison-term.

https://tinyurl.com/5esxjrex

Museveni also has a horrific human rights record and has rigged multiple elections including in 2021 as noted by the State Department. We would welcome comments from either The State Department or The White House about these serious issues of concern, particularly with respect to his slavery and Hitler comments.”

Two days later, Biden, while hosting African leaders including Ugandan dictator Museveni on Dec. 15 in the White House for a formal dinner said, “Our people lie at the heart of the deep and profound connection that forever binds Africa and the United States together…We remember the stolen men and women and children were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty.”

Both the White House and The State Department also sent responses to the questions from Black Star News. Although they didn’t directly address the issue of Museveni’s ugly slavery and Hitler statements, the State Department’s statement made clear the Biden administration isn’t pleased with him.

The White House response focused on the fact that the invitations to African presidents were made to leaders of countries that were in “good standing” with the African Union, the continental body that promotes cooperation amongst African countries and is theoretically tasked with one day creating a United States of Africa.

The State Department’s response was more detailed and deplored “discrimination” and “xenophobia.” Even more interesting, the State Department’s response openly saluted civil society in Uganda who are engaged in exposing and wanting to end “ongoing” human rights abuses.

Attacks by Museveni’s armed forces on civilians suspected of supporting opposition party leaders escalated in the months before the 2021 presidential election, during the election, and after the election. More than 100 supporters of Robert Kyagulanyi, a.k.a. Bobi Wine were killed between November 17 and 18 when they protested against his arrest to disrupt his presidential campaign. After the 2021 election which Museveni stole from Bobi Wine, a campaign of kidnapping, torture, killings, and disappearances was unleashed in Uganda—hence the reference to “ongoing” human rights abuses by the State Department.

https://tinyurl.com/2r47zb5r

The State Department’s statement was issued while the Ugandan dictator was still in town. The U.S. wasn’t going to wait until he was out of the country before making its displeasure known to Museveni, who seized power 36 years ago when Ronald Reagan was president.

The statement issued to Black Star News by the State Department in part read:

“The United States remains focused on addressing racial discrimination, inequity, xenophobia, and intolerance worldwide, and this Summit is an important opportunity to reaffirm with African partners our shared commitment to respect human rights and strengthen democratic institutions. The United States will continue its efforts to advance democracy and promote respect for human rights and commends the members of civil society in Uganda working at the forefront to raise awareness and seek an end to ongoing human rights abuses.”

The Ugandan dictator was meant to attend a so-called “investors” meeting in Chicago from Dec. 16 through Dec. 17. However, he must have sent different vibes from the Biden administration in terms of Biden’s comments about slavery and the statement from the State Department. After opening the Chicago conference he quickly boarded his $50 million Gulf-stream jet purchased with stolen foreign aid money and flew out of the U.S.

The U.S. supports the Museveni regime with about $1 billion annually in American taxpayers’ money.

https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-uganda/

Museveni’s human rights abuses are well-documented on the website of the State Department. It seems the more abuses, the more U.S. support.

https://tinyurl.com/mr3762p6

Photo: Afrotronix

Montreal’s Afro-futuristic concept group Afrotronix has released their “Run Away Ta” single and video, available now.

Video “Run Away Ta”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itJzYDNS4wk

After the remarkable release of the album Nomadix, Afrotronix are back with this exhilarating first track from the new two-volume album Future Tribe. For this electro track tinged with Saharan blues, the artist Afrotronix has invited the renowned Senegalese group, Daara J Family to feature.

“Run Away is a song that evokes the magical places close to our roots that we like to reach when we feel the need to escape. It is an electrifying song that celebrates the great symbols of Africanity that is embodied in Chad and Senegal,” says Rimtobaye. With Rimtobaye singing in English and in Sara and Faada Fredy and Ndongo D who also interprets words in the Wolof language and Arabic, “Run Away Ta” is a song that crosses continents, combining languages and musical traditions, and which brings together Afro-electro rhythms as well as Caleb’s Saharan blues heritage.

The lyrics of “Run Away Ta” were written by Caleb Rimtobaye, and guest artists Faada Freddy and NDongo D. Caleb Rimtobaye, a Chadian-Canadian singer-songwriter residing in Montreal, signs the composition of the music. He sings about the will to live in the present moment, because we never know how tomorrow is going to end. Playing guitar and singing, he produced, mixed, and arranged the piece. The rhythm bridges cultures by fusing together traditional Chadian and Arab percussion.

The video for “Run Away Ta,” shot by Djérabé Ndignar in Chad and Lickma in Senegal, was edited, colorized by Victorine Sentilhes, presents an Africa vibrant with creativity. In the depths of the mountains of northern Chad dotted with camels straight out of haute couture fashion shows, the artists set off on a frantic race. This electrifying clip shot in Chad and Senegal makes us discover through this crazy crossing, the powerful symbols of Africanity which is embodied in Chad and Senegal in sumptuous landscapes traversed by stylized dromedaries, explosive colors, nomadic silhouettes with disconcerting movements and portraits of strong women. The artists launched in this symbolic quest are escorted by an exalted African youth, they are taken to where identities are revealed, where links are woven and tightened, directly at the heart of the party. Afrotronix represents here a young and extremely creative Chad who brings his musical tradition to fruition in electronic music without borders and brings this magnificent collaboration with the group Daara J Family. The artists Faada Freddy and Ndongo D have joined the force of their flow to the lyricism of Afrotronix for the greatest delight of an audience who wishes to redefine an Africanness carrying a powerful message of peace, inclusion, and unity.

This title, like the rest of the album, is positioned as the celebration of an Africanity that leads to a bright future.

Run Away Ta is an ode to these memories or memories, these roots in which we immerse ourselves to recharge our batteries. Written during the harshest period of confinement linked to Covid, it symbolizes the need for freedom, escape and the desire to reconnect all together in this multiculturalism which leads humanity to another level of greatness.

“Today when I need to recharge my batteries and really get out of my head, my spirit takes me to a big tree in southern Chad, to Sewé the village where my grandfather took me when I was younger. In Run Away Ta I wanted to put that in pictures, and have it filmed in Chad, to show what is beautiful in the country. Representation is key. In my opinion, Chad is not this country whose borders were drawn by the settlers, it is us, it is the people, our neighborhoods, the people, who make this joy of living. We wanted to show that. And this clip shot in Mongo in the region which ends in N’Djamena at the roundabout of the fountain is for us a strong symbol of unity. Through this song, I invite people to see this, to see the beauty in Chad.’’

Afrotronix’s Saharan electro blues is here now and it’s tinged with Chadian sai, Senegalese mbalax, Haitian kompas, West African Mandinka roots and electric Tuareg blues. This sound is transported on a juggernaut loaded with deep house, dubstep and techno grooves driven by Chadian guitarist Caleb Rimtobaye. The Montreal producer formed Afrotronix in 2014 as a concept encompassing an Afro-futuristic approach to electronic music production. In 2016, they headlined the Afropunk festival in Paris. Since then, Afrotronix has toured North and South America, Europe and Africa, releasing a critically acclaimed album and numerous music videos. Rimtobaye’s mission is to use his music as a medium to convey a pan-African message, presenting a different image of Africa to the world and bringing it home as evidenced by recent large-scale performances in Chad. Actively teaching Artificial Intelligence and its digital structures how to speak the language of our African elders, Afrotronix has won several international awards including Best African Electro (2019) and Best African DJ (2018) at the All Africa Music Awards .

Daara J Family’s music is born of a skilful mix between the secular traditions of the griots of Senegal and the musical genres which have influenced their very particular style, from the funk-soul of James Brown to the rock-psyché of Pink Floyd, passing by the American hip-hop heavyweight Public Enemy and Bob Marley’s reggae.

In more than 25 years of career and 1500 concerts around the world, they had the opportunity to perform in the first part of Wyclef Jean, Public Enemy and Mos Def in the USA, alongside Peter Gabriel during the Womad, with Africa Express and Damon Albarn in London and Lagos, at Transmusicales in Rennes, at Solidays etc. Four albums were released between 1997 and 2010, including “Boomerang“, winner of the best album award at the BBC World Award in 2003, followed by “Foundation“(2016) and “Yaamatele” (2020), which illustrate the extent of the register of the group and their incredible ability to bring together continents from Dakar to New York, from Paris to Kingston, from Dubai to Kinshasa…

This project was made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

“Run Away Ta” Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/track/2Aeji7MfaJ5jWy9Was8Spq?si=1cc2aec70997440…

“Run Away Ta”Website: https://www.afrotronix.com/