‘I am not a one-trick pony," Nelly Furtado sings on <i>One-Trick Pony</i>, the opening track of <i>Folklore</i> (Universal), the follow-up to her hit debut album Whoa Nelly!. And one has to agree wholeheartedly, writes Riaan Wolmarans.
"Bob Marley was great, but we all know that. Even if you don’t like reggae, you can’t ignore the fact that his music had an uplifting effect upon the music-loving world". Benjamin Zephaniah has worshipped Bob Marley since childhood. But as another ‘best of’ is released, he says it’s time to leave brother Bob alone.
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Mel Gibson’s Jesus movie, <i>The Passion of the Christ</i>, is stirring up, ahem, passions all over. But, more than anything, it demonstrates the way communal myths can be reworked again and again. Gibson’s version is just the most single-mindedly gory and reactionary to date, writes Shaun de Waal.
It all began with a perceived need for an art advisory facility in Johannesburg. Humble beginnings matured to realise a gallery called The Premises, 150m2 and 4,5m high, writes Robyn Sassen.
Chuck Palahniuk is in town to give a reading of <i>Guts</i>, the latest instalment in his gore-fest celebration of all things unAmerican. The author of <i>Fight Club</i> hopes his new short story will make people pass out. Dan Glaister met him in Las Vegas.
Following this week’s approval by South Africa’s competition authorities, global energy group ExxonMobil and South Africa’s Engen Petroleum will be teaming up in a lubricants deal, under which Engen becomes the sole marketer and distributor of a range of ExxonMobil’s lubricants in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Irish oil company Tullow Oil plc on Friday confirmed that it has made a $500-million bid for South African oil exploration and production company Energy Africa. Tullow Oil has entered into an exclusivity agreement with Engen and other shareholders who in total hold more than 90% of Energy Africa’s issued share capital.
Girl learners as young as 12 are being injected with contraceptives at schools by nurses from the North West department of health — sometimes without their parents’ consent. The Child Care Act states that no medicine may be administered to any child under the age of 14 without a parent’s informed consent.
A decision by some of its member organisations to call for a boycott of the national elections has split the Social Movement Indaba — an umbrella of 11 social movements. Social movements are divided on how best to boycott the elections.