THE COMORIAN ESPIEGLE SINGER & FORMER MODEL, IMANY NADIA MLADJAO!

This is one of my fav' pics that I took of former Ford model and reconverted folk/pop/blues/pop singer miss Imany Nadia Mladjao. She performed last weekend in Dakar my hometown, I wasn't quite sure what expect, I didn't know if I was going to "vibe" to her music but my girl Maimouna and I loved it. In this pic, I tried to show her feminite, the little girl in her, she was wearing little ballerina shoes and was dancing around..quite cute...

You've probably seen many pictures of this beautiful girl in Essence magazine among other publications in which she has appeared ect..She has a beautiful rauque timbre de voix that matches the beautiful music played by her musicians. In between songs she was talking to us her public, many of us didn't know her music but were all charmed by her natural atitude, the cool and raw lyrics about failed love, about being different from the one that we love ect, about throwing the wrong man out of our lives..

"CAN YOU HELP ME, SOMEONE HELP ME BREATHE"

She invited on stage a few drummers as well as noted musician Habib Faye, mind you they had never practiced before the show, but it turned out great, senegalese rythm and her folk sound was a beautiful mix..

This girl just can't seem to take bad pictures, every time I tried to take pictures of her she was like "bam bam" shmizing as Tyra Banks would say all the way..beautiful beautiful and talented young woman.

"SLOW DOWN TAKE YOUR TIME IT WILL BE AIGHT"

Imany is still working on her first album and is signed with Thinkzik..

I caught myself wanting to hear more and more, she set a beautiful atmosphere, even though we were at the cultural center of Dakar it felt like we were in a small cafe somewhere listening to some beautiful soothing music teinted with Imany's truth.

Some of her musical heroes are India Arie, Diane Krall, Sting, Tracy Chapman, Etta James....

In person she reminded me an espiegle comorian Billy Holiday, her music was really hers, it was original, it didn't sound like your regular R&B joint no it sounded like Imany Mladjao.

Her webbie is: www.myspace.com/imanyeasy

For those of you living in Paris, she'll perform on December 15th at New Morning (10PM) Here's a video clip, right HERE

Djaa my Comorian sistas sont dedans:) Eyeee Wayee:)

WHAT HAS TUNISIANA/ALGERIAN ACTRESS MISS HAFSIA HERZI BEEN UP TO LATELY?

Le Roi de l'Evasion

Hafsia at the premiere of "Le Concert" last week

Hafsia at the launch of the watches collection by John Galliano

Haven't checked in a little while on the 2009 Berlin shooting award winner the pretty pinup size Hafsia Herzi . The algerian/tunisiana young'un is def' doing her thing in the French cinematographic world. Her latest movie "le roi de l'evasion"came out this past july, by the way this movie sounds "hella funny"..it's an impossible love stroy between a 43 years old repressed homosexual man and a difficult teenager....I would have thought that the movie would have been really "dark" but after seeing the trailer and reading the reviews..I had a smile on my face and I knew that I wanted to see it..:)

Hafsia has plenty of projects set to come out sometimes between the end of this year and 2010. Among them, I the movie she did with tunisian movie director Raja Amari called "Les Anonymes"..will keep you posted:)

In the meatime here is the trailer for "l'evasion du roi"HERE

Djaa my Tunisian/Algerian sistas sont dedans:)
Eyee Wayee:)

HERMAN MFUANANI , THE CONGOLESE CROWN JEWELS MAN!

W & w Joiaillerie

W & w Joaillerie

W & w Joiallerie

W& w Joaillerie

From Wechi Wecha "classy street wear" as he prefers to describe it to high end jewelry house next to the likes of Chanel, Van Cleef & Arpels, and so many more powerful fashion and jewelry houses....

This 34 years old congolese young entrepeneur is the type of brotha who believes in the stars and live with them , for example after he quit school he worked as a pizza delivery boy, and also delivered fabric to different locations in Paris . It' s around that time that he designed his first shirt with the words "wechi wecha" which means in his native dialect: the good and the bad. It caught the attention of strangers ans friends who wanted to be "wechi wecha" out as well..thus started his first clothing venture. Herman had a vision , he had the perfect example in the line FUBU, he wanted celebs and everyday people to wear his line. As any good african he knew how to sell himself to others(you know how our brothas are) he partnered with some people in the industry which allowed him to sell his products all over france.

The clothing "thing "being crossed out of his list, Herman turned towards the high end jewelry sector, he took classes at one of the most prestigious schools to learn as much as he could, gained the respect of some his peers within the industry and opened his shop "W&w Joaillerie on Place Vendome.. What I also liked about his success story is that he never forgot his african roots, he founded a collective of talented artisans using and producing beautiful african jewelry, part of those profits

So yes Herman Mfuanani got a bit of that ego Beyonce was telling us about, but hey he worked hard to get to this point...respect and much success to him:)

You can see part of his collection here:

http://www.myspace.com/wwjoaillerie

Djaa les gars du Congo sont trop fort:)

Eyeee Wayee:)

"MAMA ZAMBIA", MAUREEN LILANDA!

La go a la forme dee!

What can I say? Another beautiful voice I'm discovering and sharing with you all.
If you like folk african music with a lot of soul , Maureen is your girl. This zambian woman mixes tradional rythm, reggae, soul,pop, def' tunes I would listen to on my ipod. Maureen has 20+years of experience on both local and international scene. This mother of four is also a four time recepient of the NAC award for best zambian female artist is well know in her native zambia where she's fondly called "mama zambia". She just released her latest album called "Soul Masala", a project on which she worked with both zambian and european musicians.
Check her out , she's def' interesting:
Maureen's video
Here's her webbie:

www.myspace.com/maureenzammo

Djaa my Zambian sistas sont dedans:)
Eyee Wayeee:)

CERAMICS BY MELANIE BRUMENT!

Courtesy of Melanie Brument
Courtesy of Melanie Brument

Courtesy of Melanie Brument

Courtesy of Melanie Brument

Courtesy of Melanie Brument

Courtesy of Melanie Brument

Courtesy of Melanie Brument

In love with french ceramic line "Petit a Petit" by Melanie Brument...I love the colors she uses, the millions of little dots painted on ceramics or kitchen textile...nice stuff:)

I 've been featuring a lot of kitchenware lately it seems lol..but anywhoo I hope that you fabulafricanas appreciate a nice set of china, or a pretty plate, a pretty nappe ..food appreciation also comes with great presentation I believe

Here's her webbie:

http://melaniebrument.canalblog.com/

LOVING THE JAZZY SOUND OF TITILAYO ADEDOKUN!

Titilayo Adedokun in the italian theatrical adaptation of Aida

Love the 50's essence

She almost was crowned miss America in 1994 (second runner up), she was Miss Ohio in 1993, she sings broadway tunes, she performs operas, she sings jazz..she..she..she. .what can't this young nigerian american woman do?

I was browsing through her website listening to her, and I I loved her sound, her music was just soothing and relaxing.

It transported into my imagination, I was just "chilling"imagining myself an early evening at a nice lounge sitting at the back and listening to her...I guess that's what good music does to u..:)

Titilayo latest album is called "A child again", this is her fourth album.

Apart from her solo effort and the other albums she worked on with other collaborators, she's also done theatrical adaptation of Aida in Italy, has performed for big broadway numbers such as "Porgie & Bess", "La Boheme" around Europe and the USA.

Def' a fabulafricana:)

http://titilayoadedokun.com/

Djaa my Nigerian sistas sont dedans:)

Eyeee Wayee:)

FACE....FACE YOURSELF!

How would I feel waking up and not seeing my little fulani/senegalese/malian nose, not seeing my crooked rabbit teeth, not feeling my round cheeks okay they are more than round lol ...man I think I would be devasted..

I'm ashamed to sound so superficial but I think it would feel like a cyclone had just destroyed my little life..why am I talking like this?

I was just reading an article in the French Marie Claire Magazine about the life of Isabelle Dinoir couple years after her face transplant surgery..man I was reading it heart broken, crying, and just saaaad..thinking about how it must have felt after her dog chewed part of her face while she was unconscious after taking sleeping pills

Matter of fact how do u even start to feel?ahhh...I guess that's when you find out that what really matters is your soul , the core of your being .

I am taking an interesting class aimed to young creative entrepeneurs sponsored by the British Council and one of the professor shared something that spoke volumes to me yesterday.

He told us to ask ourselves a series of questions:

Who are you really, what are your values? not your ideal values, but the person that you truly are when you go to bed at night. He also illustrated this powerful lesson by saying that if you were a thief, when you go to bed at night you know it, if you have a good soul when you go to bed you also know it.

So maybe Isabelle or whoever is going through a major or minor face or body transformation is not just that body, just those eyes, just that nose , those features we learn to live with.

And maybe..yes just that ..maybe ....maybe she became more beautiful after this incident maybe Allah for me , God for you if you are more comfortable, gave her chance to enhance 1 million times more her beauty by becoming hopeful, patient , by finding joy in the smallest things...maybe the miss universe that we are looking for each year is in Isabelle Dinoir, face redone or not...yep afterall after sharing this with you guys maybe I'm finding a bit of warrior spirit Aline Sitoe in me afterall....

Actually reading this piece made me appreciate this human shell I've been given ten times more, realize that tomorrow is not guaranteed that I better take care of, love every single feature I'm given and remenber that it's just lent to me for an unknown length of time ..

Thank you God, real talk:)

Yaye

EGYPTIAN PAINTER , GHADA AMER!

"And the Beast" courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

check closely this painting, it's quite interesting!
"Barbie loves Ken, Ken loves Barbie" courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum
Work by Ghada Amer & Ladan Naderi courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

On this art work both artists tried to shed light on the social consequences of terrorism attacks on the Muslim communities

Red Diagonales courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum site

Aight back to exposing us to some great African artist painters.
Ghada Amer an Egyptian born painter raised between France and the USA, is know as a multi dimensional visual media artist who's not afraid to provoke through her art work.
Some of her most recurent themes are women sexuality, desire, her personal perception of beauty, the eternal question of women submission and male domination, violence, peace..She expresses herself through painting, installations, sculptures, illustration work
What I found interesting while doing research about her work is her use of texts embroided into her paintings, how do one even starts to do that? I don't know , God's given talents I guess .
Of course her work has been exhibited at the creme of the crop of all art shows, galleries, museums ect...
Here's a video presentation of some of her work:(really interesting profile/interview)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmuRXbeo6gM&feature=related

Here's her profile on the Brooklyn Museum site:

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ghada_amer/

Djaa our Egyptian sistas sont dedans aussi:)

Eyee Wayee:)

MARROCAN BABOUCHE SO U FABULAFRICANA CAN FEEL LIKE ALADDIN!

Golden Babouche for Bohemia, 20 pounds

Snake print babouche for Baboucheshop

Babouche for Marokesh/19,50 Pounds

Vinyl babouche by Babouche Shop for 14 Euros

Tan Leather Babouche for Bohemia, 20 pounds

Babouche with berbere broderie for Baboucheshop, 24 Euros

Funky babouche by Baboucheshop

Simple style, Babouchesop

So pretty, Bohemia

Babouches by Baboucheshop

Il etait une fois/Once upon a time there was a fabulafricana princess who wanted to find comfort and still be feminine in a pair of flat shoes, she found he way into a Maroccon e-souk and couldn't believe here eyes: there were babouches with paillettes, pink, blue, grey, yellow even gold and silver babouches, she knew that she had to share it with her other Fabulafricana sisters spread in the world, here's her story.

PS: She wanted me to give you the web adresses where u could find these lovely shoes

http://www.bohemiadesign.co.uk

http://www.marokech.com

http://www.baboucheshop.com/


Djaaa we can do the relax style, babouche style:)

Eyeee Wayee:)