All posts tagged: Ivorian

Afro B celebrates his Ivorian roots on ‘Mapouka’ – arts24

Afro B celebrates his Ivorian roots on ‘Mapouka’ – arts24

In this edition of our arts24 music show, Jennifer Ben Brahim chats with British Afrobeats superstar Afro B. He is the brains behind the smash hit “Drogba (Joanna)”, one of first Afrobeats songs to break the US charts. He has collaborated over the years with the likes of French Montana and Chris Brown. He is back with a new single called “Mapouka”, a love letter to Ivory Coast. It’s the first taste of his upcoming album, “Afro Ivoire”. We also shine a spotlight on a rising star of the French music scene. Singer-songwriter Yoa actually trained to become an actress. But during Covid, she started making music in her bedroom and has since go on to sell out huge venues. She has garnered praise for her deeply personal lyrics, on subjects like mental health and sexual assault. Last year she won best new live act at France’s top music awards, the Victoires de la Musique. She spoke to FRANCE 24 about re-releasing her debut album “La Favorite”.  Source link

How the Ivorian president’s niece acted as Epstein’s go-between

How the Ivorian president’s niece acted as Epstein’s go-between

Nina Keita, in New York, in 2016. NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES/AFP/LE MONDE The sprawling Epstein case also has a lesser-known African dimension. In Côte d’Ivoire, several high-profile public figures were named in the three million documents published on January 30 by the US Department of Justice. Chief among them is Nina Keita, niece of the country’s president, Alassane Ouattara. The 44-year-old former model and one-time adviser to the budget minister, Abdourahmane Cissé (2014-2016), is married to Employment Minister Adama Kamara. Since 2019, she has been serving as the second-in-command at Gestoci, the public company managing Côte d’Ivoire’s oil funds, and is a key figure within the ruling circle in Abidjan. The extensive correspondence – hundreds of messages between 2011 and 2018 – between Keita and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in New York in 2019, reveals a close friendship and a partnership that blurred boundaries, typical of the American financier. According to the documents, in 2011, Keita introduced her uncle, then newly elected president of Côte d’Ivoire, to Epstein in New …