London-based drummer Jas Kayser is one of a growing number of musicians who are showing that females in jazz and in the drumming world is a norm rather than an exception to the rule. The 26-year-old drummer and composer – who released her debut album for Jazz re:freshed’s iconic 5ive series earlier this year – loves to explore the commonality between jazz and afro-beat. The … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Drummer Jas Kayser
Sahel Sounds have released a greatest hits compilation on vinyl, Music from Saharan WhatsApp, which brings together tunes from their popular WhatsApp EP series. The LP features tracks by Sahel Sounds artists including Etran de L’Aïr, Hama, Alkibar Jr, Amaria Hamadaler (of Les Filles de Illighadad), and artists new to the label like Bounaly and Andal Sukabe. In Africa, mobile phones have become a tool of … Continue reading Sahel Sounds release compilation, Music from Saharan WhatsApp
The back story of video game character, Niuma – the first superheroine with Albinism from West Africa – is the subject of a new comic book, Blind Frontier: Niuma’s Tale. The story follows the adventures of Niuma and her struggles with nystagmus, involuntary movement of the eyes. Like all children in Wadis City, Niuma dreams of exploring the outside world. Her disability excludes her from the … Continue reading Niuma’s Tale: Comic chronicles the story of West African superheroine with albinism
DIVINEANGEL are a London-based duo, who with their fusion of afro-rhythms, soul and psychedelic rock, create music and lyrics with the intention to motivate, inspire, heal, unite, and to remind listeners of their truth, their inner truth. A collaboration between Yoruba-British artist muva of Earth and Asante-British artist, Angel SEKA, the friends describe their sounds as “Afro-futuristic Punk”. Earlier this year, DIVINEANGEL released their first … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: DIVINEANGEL
Comicgen is a tool that makes it possible for storytellers to get their message across using comicstrip format. Developed by Gramener, Comicgen is a comic creator that adds comic characters whose characteristics such as expression, pose, and angle can be controlled by data. Comicgen aims to make storytelling with comics easy for everyone, including non-designers, non-programmers, and non-storytellers. The comic characters from Comicgen’s growing database … Continue reading Comicgen tool helping storytellers to become comic strip creators
The elements – fire, water, earth and air – are the focus of Pixar Animation Studios’ upcoming movie, Elemental. The film journeys alongside two characters, Ember and Wade, a fire elemental and a water elemental live in “a city where fire, water, land, and air-residents all live together”. The fiery young woman, Ember, and the go-with-the-flow guy, Wade, are about to discover something elemental: “how … Continue reading Elemental: Pixar’s upcoming movie tells the story of two city-living elements, Ember and Wade
Michigan’s only female-owned record store is going from strength-to-strength. Now both a physical store in Lansing and an online shop, The Record Lounge has seen a boom in vinyl sales in recent years. DeWitt resident and owner of The Record Lounge, Heather Frarey opened the store in 2008. She started out in the now-defunct local record shop Michigan WhereHouse Records in 1979, where she worked while … Continue reading Spaces & Places: Michigan’s female-owned, all-vinyl record shop, The Record Lounge
New Zealand-based artist Swiftmantis has been adorning walls in the North Island with stunning murals of cats. The large scale portraits are part of Swiftmantis’ Stray Stories, which tell the stories of stray cats who have found their forever-homes in interesting places. Among the stories that have been making crowds smile is Hangar the Cat on St Hill street in downtown Whanganui. The mural features local cat … Continue reading Swiftmantis: Cat murals tell stories of strays in New Zealand
Pixar has produced some much loved animations over the years and key to their success is a really good story. For Pixar fans and storytellers of all ages, Pixar offers free online lessons on storytelling. The Art of Storytelling series is available for free through online-education platform Khan Academy. Directors and story artists providing insights into Pixar’s creative process in the series include Pete Docter, … Continue reading Learning Resources: Pixar’s free online lessons on storytelling
Artist Derick Fabian creates character designs inspired by graffiti art, anime, and Sanrio such as Hello Kitty. Everything from “simple and cute to the more detailed and cool style”, the Hawai’i-based artist is not afraid to follow through on what he is intuitively guided. The 7Sketches founder says: “I illustrate characters. From simple and cute to the more detailed and cool style. I design original … Continue reading 7Sketches: Hawaiian artist Derick Fabian “just goes for it” after years attempting to combine art with “something sensible”
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