CNN, Glo partner to celebrate 10 years of ‘African Voices’

Cable News Network, CNN, is celebrating 10 years of promoting African values through the broadcast of African Voices, a 30-minute magazine programme that promotes exceptional and talented Africans who are making a mark in different areas of life. The programme, which made its debut on March 7, 2009, is sponsored by national telecommunications operator, Globacom.

According to CNN, this week’s episode will take a look at some of the characters who have featured in the programme. They include distinguished novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, and Afrobeat musician, Femi Kuti, both of Nigeria, and Morocco’s Sanaa Hamri, a television and music director.

African Voices has in the last 10 years celebrated outstanding individuals on the continent whose success stories may ordinarily not be told on the global stage. Chimamanda is described in The Times Literary Supplement as “the most prominent” of a “procession of critically acclaimed young Anglophone authors (who) is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature.” She came to prominence with her books including Purple Hibiscus  (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), Americanah  (2013), the short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck  (2009), and the book-length essay, We Should All Be Feminists (2014).

While Chimamanda has made a name for herself in writing, Femi Kuti, who inherited his father’s passion for music and activism, has equally become a household name in entertainment. His musical skills were sharpened in his father’s band, Egypt 80, where he played the saxophone and keyboard from the age of 16. He formed his own band, Positive Force, in 1986. Hamri is a Moroccan-American film, television, and music video director who has directed music videos for outstanding musicians including Prince, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Sting. She is reputed for her 2010 film, Just Wright and the 2008 movie, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, as well as for her music video for the Nicki Minaj song, Super Bass.