Dominic Piacentini
Watch a Botswanian actor perform, see a Zimbabwean art exhibition or dance with a Ghanaian DJ during the upcoming Africa Week. Organized by the African Students Union, all of the visiting artists and performers are young, innovative representatives of their countries and continent. They will be highlighting contemporary African culture, including fashion, music, sports, business and film.
First up this week is Botswanian actor Donald Molosi. Molosi is well known for his one-man political satires, and has performed for notable politicians including Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton. The award-winning actor will be presenting in Scheide on Saturday Feb. 9. He will perform a full show and later speak about political situations in and outside of Botswana. The evening will be entertaining and educational for his audience in a potentially unfamiliar environment.
Clyde Bango, a wire sculptor from Zimbabwe, will be setting up his art exhibition inside of Gault Library this coming week. Bango graduated from Bates University in Maine with a double major in Biochemistry and Visual Arts. As ASU Public Relations Officer Ngozi Cole ’15 noted, “He has two very different passions.”
Bango has described his sculptures as “figures drawn by index fingers curving into geometric shapes.” He creates the frame of an object — a tree, a house, a car — but leaves the rest up to the viewer. He wants the viewer to imagine the leaves on the tree, the color of the house, and so on. In his mini-biography Bango explains that, “I want my life to inspire. I want my artwork to spark ideas. I want my conversations to ignite bigger dialogues. More than anything, I want a chance to dream.” Stop by Gault Library this week to discover something new.
Rather than the usual dance party, this weekend the UG will be hosting DJ Zaga. The performer, who grew up in Ghana, will be appearing on Friday Feb. 15 in the UG from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Zaga began DJ-ing for his friends at house parties and other events while gaining his civil engineering degree at the University of Akron. He went on to perform in lounge bars, pubs and nightclubs. He has performed on several radio shows and hosts a regular show on “African Hit Radio,” a station that broadcasts from Ghana, South Africa and America. Cole encourages everyone to stop by because, “this dance party will be awesome!”
Along with these events, there will also be a panel discussion featuring the African Students Union and the Africana Studies Department in Lean Lecture Hall Tuesday Feb. 12. Food from Drelysi, a restaurant serving traditional African dishes, will also be served at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 in Babcock dining hall. Interested students should contact Cole to RSVP at ncole15@wooster.edu.
“It’s going to be a packed week and we really hope students will come to events,” Cole says. “Attending events will be to their benefit and they’re certain to discover something new!”