Good Morning All!
It seems Tuesday is a better day for many than Monday, so I will continue sending it on Tuesdays for the time being.
Welcome to this 13th issue of the Cultural Reads Newsletter. A bi-weekly book, music, and movie recommendation from different countries all around the world.
In this week’s newsletter: Western Sahara, Colombia & Nigeria
Mariem Hassan is a singer from Western Sahara. My first thought when hearing this was: “but what country is that?”
It turns out that Western Sahara was long called the Spanish Sahara as it was ruled and occupied by the Spanish between 1884 and 1976. After international pressure, Spain gave up the region to Morocco.
Meanwhile, there was also pressure from the Sahrawi. The Sahrawi is the ethnic group Hassan belonged to and is a cultural mix of Berber, sub-Saharan African, and Arab elements. The tension between Morocco and the Sahrawi led to the Western Sahara War, killing some 10,000-20,000 people, including three of Mariem’s brothers.
Hassan and her family fled to a refugee camp in Algeria, where she worked as a nurse. Her musical career started in 1976, and after touring Europe, she moved to Spain in 2002. Her music is sung in Sawhari and occasionally Spanish.
My favorite song is Ana Saharauia.
Ignacio Carrillo is a musician in possession of a cursed accordion. The only way to lift the curse is to return it to its original master, which becomes his mission.
He embarks on a journey and is joined by Fermín, a young boy who hopes to become a musician one day. The two travel through the Caribbean region in Colombia to the La Guajira Desert.
The film shows an incredible variety of Colombia’s beautiful landscapes, topped off by the Vallenato Legend Festival in Valledupar. Vallenato is a popular type of Colombian folk music, and the festival is an accordion version of a rap battle.
Besides the diversity in landscapes, there’s also an immense cultural variety. The protagonist is an actual vallenato musician, and the scenes in the Sierra Nevada feature the Arawak, a tribe that needed a year of convincing before joining.
I rented this movie from my local library but couldn’t find it online. You can find the trailer here. If you want more movies from Colombia, check out these top 3 Colombian movies.
Nigeria is home to many different ethnic groups, has 527 different languages and over 1100 different dialects. The three largest groups are the Hausas, Yorubas, and Igbos. The Hausa are predominantly Muslims and primarily live in the North of Nigeria. The Igbo are mostly living in the Southeast and are predominantly Christian. The Yorubas predominate in the Southwest and are either Christian or Muslim.
All these different groups provide Nigeria with an incredible richness in culture. However, where there are differences, there is also the potential for conflict. This is precisely what happened in Nigeria during the Biafran war. This civil war inspired many works, including the (fictional) Half of a Yellow Sun.
The novel describes the Biafran war through the perspectives of three people: Olanna (the daughter of an influential businessman and wife to a university professor), Ugwu (a 13-year-old village boy that works as help in Olanna’s household), and Richard (an English writer with a passion for Igbo art).
Chimamanda Ngozi’s story gives an insight into a part of history that was largely unknown to me (and I imagine many others). It provides a historical account but is also highly personal, coming from someone who lost both grandfathers to the war.
For more Nigerian books and authors, check out these 3 Nigerian writers to start with and for more war inspired reads, check out the best war books.
