How Kwaito came about...

See why they say we should respect our ancestors by respecting our culture: our ancestors had a purpose by creating African tradition...they made their own tribal dances and as time changed..new things come out of the tribal dances. I'm talking about the Dikgomo mix i found on youtube, showing a traditional dance from South Africa- watch carefully the way they move with their feet- its awesome! This is excatly the way Kwaito dancing goes today! I read somewhere that Kwaito came out of this traditional dance- Now, think about it..without this dance, do you think Kwaito would have existed?

Check out the ladies and their costumes..pure African creation & there is a little girl somewhere in the video killing it! ;) Enjoy the video and appreciate our own culture!

click on the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwgl4D4s-e4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSJp8A4IlKg&feature=related

Harlem Haibraiding Experience.

Being an African girl ,I know what it means to have bad -hair days or days when you wish that you had nice "white " hair so that you could copy the hairstyles that the stars you see in Star magazine flaunt.So,in order to have that killer bob that Rihanna has been sporting ,we have to get our hair weaved or sometimes braided.That means getting on a bus or the train and heading to Hairbraiding central:Harlem.I had never actually been to Harlem before ,as my friends usually did my hair,but due to them having busy schedules,I had to make the trip to 125th street.
Two seconds after we got out of the car ,we were approached by various women asking "hair braiding ,madam?".We ended up following a west-african woman to her saloon .We walked into what looked like a workstation with about 15 african french-speaking women ,some of whom were braiding or weaving other customers hair.
The lady who would be doing our hair asked how much we wanted to pay ,which to me seemed like she wanted us to mention a high price since we really didn't know the range.
I was in that salon/makeshift house (according to me) for a long time and I witnessed people of almost every race coming in to sell things ranging from books to bedsheets,food,toys ,jewellery (probably stolen).All the while ,the women alternated between gossiping about each other and customers in french,eating ,talking on their cellphones and actually doing hair .
By the time I was done,I had nice new braids and I thought about how that experience was like watching the African version of the Barbershop movie.

The African Fashion show pics.

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African Fashion Show at Queens College.

This has been long overdue but I've finally gotten off my lazy butt .I attended my first African Fashion show in New York at Queens college and here are the pics,video and an interview with one of the models ,my sexy friend Monica.I apologize for the video not being 100% perfect but I can't afford a camera crew.lol

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Interview with Monica.

Me :How did u get involved in the fashion show?

Monica :I first heard it from Martha, so I asked her to ask the person who was in charge if I couLd be in it. Before I knew it, I was told to go to Queens College and audition. The person who organized the show is Latifa, a very sweet girl. She told me I was going to participate in the show because she loved the way I walked. lol...

me :Which one was your favorite outfit?

Monica :wow, they were so many great outfits as you soo, but girl, i was feeling the traditional wear, i still go crazy when ever i look at the pictures, lol..that dress was so elegant but yet sexxxyy at the same time. lol..you got to love that...i have to say when ever i wear traditional clothes i feeel like a real woman and that also reminds me of back home.


ME :How did u prepare for the show?Was there any crazyness and drama backstage?

MONICA :lmao, crazyness, hell yeah!!....i got there early enough so i could make sure my makeup and clothes were ready...everything was good until the show started, there was running around, throwing clothes everywear and putting on gresalin lol so that we can shine on stage... overall it was fun...another good thing was no drama and no fighting.

ME :Do you think that the fashion show educated people about African Fashion? Yes

monica :ofcourse it did, but i think it would have been better....those he had no idea what Africa is hopefully learned something and went home to google it lol....i say it could have been batter by having to tell the audiance of how Africa has developed over the years, but then it was just "The African Fashion Show"...on the other hand hopefully we helped to open peoples eyes...


ME:Any more plans to model ?Well u have to model for our fashion show in the fall.Thats not an option girl..lol

MONICA :i love modeling but i just do it for fun you know....wow girl you are jokking right lmao....you are crazy.......i would love toooo, hopefully it will be on a day that i have no school or something.....

Hot African Bracelets!

These hot bracelets are only $ 8 and the money raised goes to Relief Beads ,which is an organization that is trying to raise awareness for the humanitarinan efforts being conducted in Darfur by Relief International .Celebrities such as Marcia Cross and Jessica Biel are fans of the bracelets .So go to www.reliefbeads.org to buy one and rock it african style!

Angel "Lola Luv" Melaku in Vibe.

21 year old model/actress Angel "Lola Luv" Melaku appeared in the April issue of Vibe magazine.She arrived five hours later because she was arrested for driving too fast.The half Ethiopian and Trinidadian model shot to fame after an appearance in Kanye West's " Good Life" video (2007)and has stayed the topic of gossip since then on issues mostly surrounding her "apple bottom behind".Some people claim that it was surgically enhanced.What do you think?

African Beauty(Pics of my friends repping Africa)!

These are pics of my gorgeous friends showing off their Afro pride.Don't they all deserve to be models?I know.

African Baby Carrying

This has come a very long way! If you have seen all those modern baby carriers.....ask yourself:
Where did they come from? Well you guessed right- we have something similar in Africa! See how marvellous the continent is! Our ancestors were so intelligent that they figured out a way of carrying babies around so that they wouldn't have to leave them unattended while performing their daily chores.

Therefore today, many parts of Africa practice this method of baby carrying:

The child is placed on the mother's back. Usually baby carrying is introduced to infants who are at least 3/4 months after birth- it may even go up the age of 2 years of age( Depending on the child's weight). Okay back to instructions; then the baby is wrapped in a nice piece of cloth and tied to the mother's back (it doesn't have to be the mother...it can be any responsible person). There are many ways of wrapping the baby to the back- its really the mothers choice!(or any responsible person). African baby carrying is an awesome way of doing two things at once- looking after a child while attending to other things e.g cooking, washing etc. It isn't practiced in the villages only as people may assume.This is why when you are walking in the streets of most African countries, you will see many proud women and girls walking around carrying babies on their backs (with beautiful cloth wraps) while they are selling goods or simply having a good time!

By the way if you want to try it just make sure that the cloth is well tied so that you don't drop the baby! Otherwise African children enjoy it-they even go to sleep if they trust the person carrying them and if the person has a nice comfortable back!

Isn't that an original way of being proud of being African!

(if you would like to correct or add in more information please feel free to kindly post your comments)

Nhlanhla Nciza launches Clothing line.

You probably recognize her as the other half of the award-winning,chart-topping South African group of Mafikizolo.The now only two member group (One member passed away in a car crash a few years ago) have released songs that have kept us jiving on the dance floors be it in Ethiopia,Zambia,Namibia or wherever.I remember seeing them live when they performed at South Africa's Independence celebrations last year.Any way,Nciza has created quite a name for herself as a solo artist.She launched her first solo album about close to a year ago and is now the face of Sunsilk.She declined an offer to open for Mary J Blige on her "Growing Pains "tour due to a conflict in terms of payments.However,she is still making a name for herself and has branched out into the Fashion industry and recently launched her clothing line which is called NN Vibes.The NN are her initials.I found a video from the launch and one of her music videos so enjoy!
"Ungowami"


Nhlanthla's Afrofusion Tour.

African Style

Accessories can make your outfit pop depending on how you choose to wear them.Accessories can also be a way to communicate to others where you are from and basically to add a touch of identity into your look.So here are a few things I found that can be worn to show your AFRICAN PRIDE and SPIRIT.Living away from home,it is not really easy to find African -Inspired pieces but that does not mean that you can't make your own.You could find beads at African bazaars or markets.I'm not sure exactly where but if you have any info on that ,get back to me.

African Pride

FIRST AFRICAN PRIDE FASHION SHOOT.

I am proud to say that the first African Pride fashion shoot turned out great,despite the fact that we had no professional make-up artists.Thanks a million to Priscilla Gurupira who shot most of the pics.

Don't you think that my little sis Kapembwa should be The Face of Africa ?She did the jumping in the air shot.
So send ur comments and ur own photos of u representing the motherland.