Tag Archives: obituary
Papa Wemba’s popularity
Here’s a link to an excellent background story from “the Beeb” on legendary Congolese musician Papa Wemba’s central role in the African music and culture scenes through six decades. I was not aware that he led the Sape movement, which has gotten some recent popular attention in the media over the last few years. He became […]
Obituary for John O. Hunwick
The Program of African Studies at Northwestern University shared the sad news of John Hunwick‘s death this week. He may be best known for his discovery of 3,000 privately held manuscripts in Timbuktu in 1999. Northwestern University Professor Emeritus John Owen Hunwick…discovered a treasure trove of historic Arab literature stored in trunks in Timbuktu, Mali, died April 1 […]
André Brink obituary
The South African novelist André Brink died on February 6th, according to the Guardian newspaper on Sunday, February 8, 2015: “André Brink, who has died aged 79, was the first Afrikaans writer to have a book banned by the South African government in the decades when the National party was in power.” The British Council has a biography, […]
Obituary for Terence Ranger
A brief announcement from the British Zimbabwe Society was distributed via H-Africa on January 4, 2015: “Terry Ranger passed away in his sleep last night in his home at Oxford. Marieke was asked by Shelagh to send the news around. May he rest in Light and peace. There is so much to say but let this simple information […]
Ivor Wilks Obituary
The Program of African Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois today announced the sad news that Professor Emeritus Ivor Wilks (African history) died at his home in Wales on October 7, 2014. In 1984, Wilks was appointed Melville J. Herskovits Professor of African Studies by Northwestern, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. From 1961 […]
Obituary for Nadine Gordimer
From Helen T. Verongos published in the New York Times on July 14, comes this obituary for the South African writer Nadine Gordimer who died at 90 on Sunday, July 13th, 2014. She never wrote an autobiography. “Autobiography,” she said in 1963, “can’t be written until one is old, can’t hurt anyone’s feelings, can’t be sued for libel, […]
Kalashnikov dead at 94
Mikhail Kalashnikov, the Siberian born inventor of the “Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947” or AK-47, an assault rifle that is among the most easily recognized and influential inventions of the 20th century, has died. The gun’s iconic silhouette appears on the flag of Mozambique: .
Webcasts of Mandela services
Many thanks to Peter Hanes for his guide, copied below, Webcast Alerts: Live and recorded webcasts of memorial and funeral services for former South African President Nelson Mandela, December 10 to 15, 2013. Mr. Hanes encourages free sharing of the guide. NELSON MANDELA (1918-2013) Webcast Alerts: Live and recorded webcasts of memorial and funeral services […]
Obituary for Tabu Ley Rochereau
Tabu Ley, “King of Congolese Rhumba” will be remembered at a funeral service today. A report at http://www.worldmusiccentral.org includes the following tribute: Throughout his career, Mr. Rochereau wrote some 3,000 songs and produced some 250 recordings. He also earned the Honorary Knight of Senegal and Officer of the National Order, the Republic of Chad during his […]
Doris Lessing obituary
The New York Times today describes how the author in 2007 “approached her house in sensible shoes to find journalists gathered at her door waiting to tell her that she had won the Nobel Prize for literature. ‘Oh, Christ!’ she said upon hearing the news. ‘I couldn’t care less.’” “Among the major influences on her […]
African Studies library 