Botswanan's Cowboy Metal Heads

Vice has an interesting look at the African Heavy Metal band as they tour their nations capitol.

Zaire 74

Zaire 74 was a three day festival that was held in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). It was originally meant as a build up to the Muhammed Ali versus George Foreman fight known as the Rumble in the Jungle. When Foreman was forced to postpone the fight due to an injury the event almost didn't happen. Most international visitors cancelled their tickets but the concert went ahead as a promotion of goodwill between African Americans and Africans. All in all 31 performer played including James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, The Spinners, Miriam Makeba, TPOK Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau and Cecelia Cruz. The festival was documented in Jeffrey Levy-Hinte's documentary Soul Power.

Punk In Africa

Looks well worth checking out at least for the older bands.

Windmills In Malawi

William and the Windmill from Randy Risling on Vimeo.

This is a really inspiring story about a man named William Kamkwamba who built some windmills out of scrap metal. In doing so he was able to provide energy for his family and several others and change their lives for the better.

The Uganda Skateboard Union

In 2005 Uganda's first skateboard ramp was constructed when a South African skater doing college studies got together with local Jackson Mubiru. Built out of local bricks and covered with concrete the ramp took a month to build. A local department store donated two skateboards, the only ones in the village. Eventually a Canadian skater named Brian Lye saw the ramp while visiting Uganda and set up a network to get boards to the locals from buddies in Canada. The onetime single quaterpipe is now part of a growing skatepark sponsored by skaters from the US, England, New Zealand, South Korea and other parts of the world where skaters want to share their love of riding. You can checkout the Uganda Skateboard Union's blog here and keep up on their work and donate to the cause. My interest in this story was sparked by these pictures on the BBC news website.

Gentlemen Of Bacongo

This book of photography by Daniele Tamagni focuses on The Sapeurs a group of well dressed dandies from The Congo. Designer clothes and accessories by Pierre Cardin, Roberto Cavalli, Dior, Fendi, Gaultier, and Gucci are the weapons in a nonviolent street war to determine who is the most stylish. The result is a vibrant and unique style not seen anywhere else in the world.