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Showing posts from April, 2022

IANA Blog- April 2022

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Happy April. For those that don’t know, the Grammy Awards happened. The Grammys are one of the most major music Awards in the world…although, I’m not alone in saying that they get their picks wrong…most of the time. I do remember when Burna Boy won though, and he said his win was a “big win for his generation of Africans from around the world.” I also think of the many Nigerian musicians/artists that have won Grammys, and doing the research I found out it was Burna and the others are Babatunde Olatunji (the first Nigerian to win), Sikiru Adeponju and Wizkid.  As Bob Marley states, “one great thing about music, when it hits, you feel no pain.” Music definitely plays a part in our lives, it can be used to raise someone’s mood, get you excited, calm, enhance brain functioning and used for liberation. Here in the U.S., African American gospel music, Jazz, folk music, other genres of music played a part in the Civil Rights movement, and in South Africa, music played a huge role in the A...

IANA Blog- March 2022

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Although it’s April, for those that do not know, the 94th Academy Awards happened on March 27th, and of course every year, the best films of the year are honored.  Some of the greatest films have been nominated or won an Academy Award, or Oscar. Some legendary films like The Godfather, Lord of the Rings- The Return of the King, Schindler’s List, Forrest Gump and Casablanca .  Unfortunately for Black films, (or films that focus mostly on Black people) they still have trouble getting recognized. Just as an example, African-American filmmaker Spike Lee’s 1989 critically acclaimed classic Do the Right Thing which focused on racial tension on a hot summer afternoon in Brooklyn, New York, was passed by for Best Picture in 1990. Instead, the Best Picture went to Driving Miss Daisy , which was about a relationship between an African-American chauffeur and a Racist Jewish woman. The film was also criticized for its handling of racism. In 1993, African-American Actor/Legend Denzel Wash...