Bongeziwe Mabandla Releases New Video for “Jikeleza”

2014 Fellow Bongeziwe Mabandla released a new video for his song ‘Jikeleza’. The song, which is sung in IsiXhosa (Jikeleza means ‘go round’) like most of his work, speaks about love giving us life. The South African Afro-folk musician released his third album, iimini, to critical acclaim in March. “Writing the song was a challenge,” Bongeziwe told Afropunk. “It took a lot of rewriting and getting feedback from the team, and I wrote many different parts before I got it right. The idea came together when we decided to play around with making each part distinct, with each verse coming from a different place.” Stream iimini in full here. Watch the video for ‘Jikeleza’ below.

Asam Ghanem Creates Soundscape Inspired by the Indian Ocean Gyre For New Collaborative Project

Syrian- Palestinian composer and visual artist- and 2017 Alumna- Asma Ghanem contributed to a new virtual art exhibition organized by the TBA21–Academy, where a group of South Asian artists composed pieces influenced by the soundscape of the Indian Ocean Gyre. Each of the 12 participating artists were asked to compose a sound installation within a limited frequency range, with Asma covering 1000-2000Hz. The piece is part of a larger project called the Ocean Archive, which translates current knowledge about the Ocean into shared language that “enables us to make better decisions for urgently needed policies.” Visit the Ocean Archive here. Listen to the piece on the Indian Ocean Gyre featuring the work of Asma Ghanem here.