Lionel Loueke

For those of you who are jazz fans, I am sure you are similar with the very talented guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke. Born in Benin in 1973, this artist has had a very long journey to the fame that he is now garnering.



Loueke grew up in a middle-class family listening to Afro-pop beats performed by his older brother and samba which was popular in his mother's village due to Portuguese-Brazil influence in Benin. He was also inspired by traditional African music from countries such as Nigeria, Congo, Zaire, and Mali. Jazz came into his life when a friend of his brother went to Benin with a CD by guitarist George Benson and it basically touched a major chord within him.

Even though he did not pick up the guitar until he was 17, once he got a hold of it his world journey took off. Getting serious about music, he moved to Ivory Coast to attend the National Institute of Art. Unfortunately jazz was not a popular subject at the school so Loueke eventually moved on to American School of Modern Music in Paris. Upon graduation, he received a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. It was there that he would meet his bandmates and eventually make several albums including the latest Karibu.

One of my personal favorite tracks on the album is Nonvignon which is a great blend of African beats mixed with his passion for jazz. In additional, he sings in his Fon language on this track which makes it a unique song on the album.

Click here to read more about Loueke in the New York Times or here to buy the Karibu album.

{Photo from the New York Times}

Angélique Kidjo

Wow! I can't believe the end of the week has already arrived. To get your Friday morning started, you definitely need to watch this video to hear the amazingly talented Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo. There are so many great songs of hers to choose from, but I selected this particularly video for you to hear the acoustic powerhouse that she truly is.

Angelique Kidjo-Zelié
Uploaded by peakers. - Explore more music videos.

Born in Cotonou in 1960, Kidjo was on the airwaves by her teens and really her Grammy award was an inevitable milestone on her journey as an artist.

Personally, I've loved her music for so many years that I can't remember when the devotion began. I have so many memories with a Kidjo song as the main score. For example, I can still remember back in 2007 when I was driving into Eastern Equatoria in Sudan for the first time. I had a billion nerves all on full alert for so many reasons and I remember sitting in the front seat of the jeep, windows rolled down, taking in the scenery, trying to imagine all that was lying ahead of me with the Djin Djin album streaming through my iPod. Even today, when one of her songs pops up on my shuffle rotation, I'm unable to do anything but be 100% engaged (even if it means I'm doing a little dance number at the red light as I wait to cross).

On the Djin Djin album she collaborates with several amazing artists including Alicia Keys, Joss Stone, Josh Groban, and Ziggy Marley just to name a few. You can click here to hear her collaboration with Ziggy Marley and here for her hit with Joss Stone.

{Photo from The Vancouver Sun}

Cyprien Tokoudagba

Cyprien Tokoudagba has been working in art for the majority of his 70 years. While he originally worked on decorating Voudou temples with deities, his inclusion in the 1989 Paris exhibition "Magiciens de la Terre" eventually led him to painting on canvas.


At an early age, Tokoudagba was sent to a Voudou temple to learn the skills of the priesthood. While he would eventually follow a different path in life (in addition to his work as an artist, he also worked as an art restorer at the Abomey Museum in Benin), the religious symbols and traditions of Voudou can be seen throughout his work.


For example in this painting, this rainbow serpent is a depiction of the god Da who encompasses both the physical and spiritual earth. The blue color represents female and the red represents male.


See more about Tokoudagba's work here.

{Photos from Cyprien Tokoudagba & ARTExplorer}

Kifouli Dossou

Beninese sculpture gets really serious with Kifouli Dossou. These massive pieces are truly amazing. I especially love the one of what I believe is a colonial man with the hat riding a horse.




{Photos from ARTExplorer}

Gerard Quenum

I love these three paintings by Beninois Gerard Quenum. First they have a childlike element that would lead one to believe it's simple to copy, but as I am currently in a painting class I can promise you that these are anything but simple. Second, I love the slightly disturbed image that they evoke. I feel like this is something that if your kid came home from school with you would be like "do we need a visit to the feelings doctor cause I'm sensing some anger?" Low and behold, you have a creative genius as a child.



What's your take? Love it? Hate it? A little scary?

{Photos from ArtExplorer}

Itinerary: Ganvié

Since I started thinking about Benin week, I have been looking forward to sharing this top destination in Benin. Besides shopping for fabric until I drop, this would certainly be at the to of my "Must See" list. Working on their marketing skills, Ganvié is sold as the Venice of Africa due to the fact that the entire village of over 20,000 residents that is built in the middle of Lake Nokoué.
There are multiple versions of the history floating about the net, but basically back in the 16th (or 17th) century, the Tofinu people got tired of fighting against the Fon warriors from the Dahomey Kingdom. Since Fon traditional beliefs forbade them from entering water, the Tofinu put up a village smack dead in the middle of the lake. Not only were the Tofinu people safe from Fon warriors, I'm sure many of this tribe got to avoid slave ships.

So here's the gist:

• This is more of a day-trip so it's best to leave the hotel in Cotonou and head north to the lake as early as possible. As these life-size hats suggest, I'm sure it gets nice and blazing on the lake in the middle of the day.
  
• As in many places these days, carry a little extra in your wallet if you plan on snapping away with your camera.
• Since fishing is the main industry in the village, be prepared to eat fish for lunch, potentially at Hotel Carrefour.
• Once you have eaten lunch and relaxed to your hearts content, head over the the gift shop to see what's in store. Be sure to have your best game face on because bargaining is the only way to survive.
• By the time you are done, the sun should be a little more relaxed and you can head on back to the shore to start your journey through the rest of the country.

{Photos from E.B. Sylvester, Hugo, 10b travelling, Mike Ambach, unknown}

{Loving This!}...Textiles

It's pretty ridiculous how much I love colorful textiles so as you can imagine, most places in Africa just add fuel to my fire when it comes to this and clearly Benin does not disappoint. I love the complete fearlessness when it comes to wearing such vivid colors and most of the fabric seems to scream "you don't need to cut me up into something stylish...I'm the star of the show just as I am!" While I remain a slave of color coordinating my clothes, these women (and men) are able to make wrapping fabric around your waist and throwing on a top with a color scheme in another hemisphere look like a complete artform. What makes it particularly unique is that this is not an individual thing, an entire society takes part in this festival of color.

{Photos from Ferdinand Reus, rogerards, Sergio Pessalano, doseric, unknown}

{Loving This!}...Djimon Hounsou

Just in case you haven't seen Blood Diamonds, In America, Gladiator, Amistad any of his other movies or his turns on the Parisian catwalk, let me introduce you to the Beninese actor Djimon Hounsou. One of five children born to his parents in Cotonou, Benin back in 1964, Hounsou eventually move to France where he broke into modeling with the help of fashion designer Thierry Mugler. While modeling helped get him off the streets where he was homeless, his dreams really belonged in acting and in 1989, he moved to the City of Angels to successfully pursue his dreams.


While Hounsou has lived in the U.S. and France for his adult life, he remains deeply rooted in the continent his work, advocacy, and frequent trips to the continent.


Should these images be too gentle for you, you can certainly check out Hounsou in the Calvin Klein ads! There is only one word to describe him in those ads: STUNNING!

{Photos from The Insider, FilmGordon and Liz's Blog}

Tuesday's Design: Candycane Church

I first saw this building a few weeks ago while scouting out my Benin Week options and I just knew that I had to share it with you. I have never seen anything like this before and think it's so unique. Could you imagine even painting the outside of your home in red and white stripes? I'm bold in my love of color but I'm not sure I'm this bold. Thankfully someone else was and the residents of Cotonou have this amazing structure to admire whenever they want!





{Photo from MercyWatch and ~MVI~}

Erick-Christian Ahounou

The image of a nude African woman has been around just about forever. The minute one leaves the major cities and hits the villages in many African countries, that's what you see and that's what your camera captures. These images generally show a woman just as she is and does not usually convey anything sexual or erotic to the viewer (at least not to me).


In his The Naked Body exhibition, Beninese photographer Erick-Christian Ahounou took this standard image and challenged it. Using middle class African women, this collection put the sensuality of the African woman at the center stage.


In doing so, Ahounou challenged many societal taboo of showing nudes in public in his country.


{Photos from Noorderlicht, OS DOIS PILARES DA CRIAÇÃO}

For the Adventurous

I honestly fell in love with this picture the instant I saw it! Not only do I love the dark tones, I love the composition of this scene out of Cotonou, Benin. The women in bright, colorful fabrics juxtaposed against the off-white motorbike drivers is amazing not to even mention the lead driver who I can safely say is caring way too many goods in front of his line of vision. As this is the "best" way to get around in Kampala, I'm quite familiar with the thrill of zipping through a city on the back of one of these (even while fully loaded with backpack and other purchases). Fun as it may be, this is also a quick and easy way to get oneself injured or killed in many African cities (notice the lack of helmets) and Cotonou is no exception!

{Photo from Teresa & Pavle}

Benin in B&W

Here are a few black and white images from Benin that left me amazed...

Stunning!

I just love the texture of this picture

{Photos from ratso03, redhatkeeper, kenny_cakes}

Benin Week Kick-Off

Good Monday Morning!

I am so excited to kick off Benin Week here on Out and About Africa! Throughout this entire week, you will learn about various artists, musicians, and photographers hailing from this West African nation. You will also get to see some of the things I'm loving out of Benin as well as glance at one of the most unique places I've seen recently.

To get this rolling, here are a 7 quick facts about Benin:

1. On the map, this country looks really small, especially in comparison with some of it's bigger neighbors (Nigeria for example). At approximately 43K sq miles, it's a little bigger than the state of Virginia
2. Under the French colonial rule and even a little after, it was known as Dahomey. It didn't become the People's Republic of Benin until 1975, fifteen years after gaining independence.
   
3. Pre-colonial days, the Kingdom of Dahomey was a popular location in the slave slaving business and remnants of this history remain throughout the country.
   
4. Voudou still remains a top practiced (and recognized) religion right up there with Christianity and Islam.
5. Benin City and Benin...two completely different places. Benin City is in Nigeria and was the key city under the Benin Empire. I know...slightly confusing!
6. While Cotonou is the biggest city, Porto Novo is actually the capital. As you may have guessed, Porto Novo was named by the Portuguese before the French took over.
7. Many Afro-Brazilians migrated back to Porto Novo after emanicipation and there are strong Brazilian and Portuguese influences in the architecture and food of the city.

{Photos from Ferdinand Reus, E.B. Sylvester}