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Thursday, June 19, 2008
African Rhythms Open Prospects for High-Risk Youngsters
" 'Axé' is a word that means 'positive
energy or life force' in the Yoruba language of West Africa, an important concept in the Afro-Brazilian 'candomblé'
religion," Fabiana Frayssinet writes in her article "African Rhythms Open Prospects for High-Risk Youngsters" for the IPS
news service. "For hundreds of children and young people involved in the Axé Project, it is indeed a force for life. "This non-governmental organization working in Salvador da Bahia, 1,200 kilometers north of
Rio de Janeiro, is bent on recovering traditional rhythms in this city where over 90 percent of people are Afro-descendants.... " 'Bahian music has grown from several different roots and is based on the culture of many
peoples, especially Afro-descendants who arrived in Brazil in colonial times. This tradition intertwined with European music,
brought by the Portuguese and others, creating a style that is unique to this city,' [the project's musical coordinator
Fernando Cerqueira] said. "The Axé Project is trying to bring prestige
and distinction to this style through its social programs with young people in high-risk situations, many of whom are former
street children. The bands give professional performances and provide the young people with an opportunity to make a living. " 'The young people we work with are mainly Afro-descendants, and the project is precisely
about increasing the prestige of their culture on the basis of its musical creativity,' Cerqueira said."
6:13 pm edt
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about upcoming events, as well as links to articles, photos and videos on Life in the Black Americas.
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The Sound of My Footsteps: Narratives of Migratory Jamaican immigrants
Interviews with over 30 Jamaican immigrants on their
pre-migratory perceptions of New York and England Click
here to view and purchase the book.
The Afro-Latin@ Reader:
History and Culture in the United States
 The Afro-Latin@ Reader focuses attention on a large, vibrant, yet oddly invisible community
in the United States: people of African descent from Latin America and the Caribbean. The presence of Afro-Latin@s
in the United States (and throughout the Americas) belies the notion that Blacks and Latin@s are two distinct categories
or cultures. Afro-Latin@s are uniquely situated to bridge the widening social divide between Latin@s and African
Americans. At the same time, their experiences reveal pervasive racism among Latin@s and ethnocentrism among African
Americans. Offering insight into Afro-Latin@ life and new ways to understand culture, ethnicity, nation, identity,
and antiracist politics, The Afro-Latin@ Reader presents a kaleidoscopic view of Black Latin@s in the United
States. It addresses history, music, gender, class, and media representations in more than sixty selections, including
scholarly essays, memoirs, newspaper and magazine articles, poetry, short stories, and interviews. Click here to view and purchase the book.
African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events by Karen Juanita Carrillo The proof
of any group's importance to history is in the detail, a fact made plain by this informative book's day-by-day documentation
of the impact of African Americans on life in the United States. One of the easiest ways to grasp any aspect of history
is to look at it as a continuum. African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events provides just
such an opportunity. Click here to view and purchase the book.
The
View from Chocó: The Afro-Colombian past, their lives in the present, and their hopes for the future by Karen Juanita Carrillo The View from Chocó: The Afro-Colombian past, their lives in the
present, and their hopes for the future is an introduction to the lives of Blacks in Colombia. Afro-Colombians
live in a resource-rich yet remote region of Colombia. They only recently won recognition as one of that nation's
distinct ethnic groups. But Colombia's on-going civil war has led many Afro-Colombians to reach even farther than
their nation's borders for recognition: many have made their way to the United States as refugees and as political
activists working for peace in their homeland. The View from Chocó introduces the lives and struggles of a too-long neglected community of Colombian Blacks. Click here to view and purchase the book.
Raise Your Brown Black Fist is a collection of essays
written by Kevin Alberto Sabio during his time as a Contributing Writer  for an online magazine.
The book combines his two article series, "Black
vs Brown" and "Black Thoughts: A Political Ideological Perspective
for Afrolatinos" into one volume, plus three other miscellaneous entries. The book
is currently available through his publisher, AuthorHouse. Click
the logo above to view and purchase the book.
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