/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-BRITAIN: Mediaeval Medium Tells A New South African Story

A string of mediaeval mysteries has come alive on stage in London to speak of a new South Africa.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE – KENYA: Playwright to Fight Govt Attempts to Ban his Work

Acclaimed Kenyan playwright, novelist, columnist and actor Wahome Mutahi is vowing to fight government attempts to ban his latest play Ngoma cia aka (The Whirlwind).

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Bounty Killer Bouncing Back

The year 2000 is one deejay Bounty Killer would want to forget in a hurry. The gangly entertainer was involved in several onstage skirmishes with rival performers, some of which saw him ending up in court.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-SOUTH AFRICA: Legendary Singer now Cultural Diplomat

Miriam Makeba, the legendary South African singer whose zest for life infuses her songs and make them seem eternally youthful, turned 70 last month, a fact that seems to astound her.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CINEMA-BRITAIN: Black Oscar Success Brings New Hope

The Oscars this year have brought new hope to black actors and actresses in Britain still struggling to break out of minor and stereotyped roles.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ARTS-AFGHANISTAN: Suppressed Art Thrives in Post-Taliban Era

Sitting cross-legged on a small mat in the dusty street outside the Sultan Ghiasudin school, Agha Malang Kohistani, a tall bearded Tajik, tuned his sitar and struck up a song.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/LITERATURE-CUBA: The Challenge of Author Leonardo Padura

Writing in Cuba implies risks and challenges that instead of being obstacles can turn into true stimuli for creativity, says Leonardo Padura, one of the most widely read local novelists in this socialist-run country.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ARTS-AFRICA: Multimedia Show Depicts 50 Years of Freedom Fighting

Countless books, art exhibits and films have addressed the issues of decolonisation and independence of African countries during the second half of the 20th century.

LITERATURE-PHILIPPINES: Eating Curses, Breathing Humiliation

In one of Nadine Sarreal's stories, a Filipino domestic worker who has been physically and sexually abused by her employers in Hong Kong says, "Ay, I have to work. I have to hold on. I can cry later, maybe at night. But while there is light, I must keep on working."

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-BRAZIL: Social Wounds Subject of Budding Genre

"Latitude Zero", the first feature-length fictional work by Brazilian filmmaker Toni Venturi, has joined a new cinematographic current that examines Brazil's social wounds under the harsh light of reality.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/TV-NICARAGUA: Musician Mejia Godoy Lands Role in Colombian Soap

Nicaraguan musician Carlos Mejía Godoy, a leading figure in Latin American popular culture, will be playing an important role in a new Colombian soap opera.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-ZIMBABWE: Dreadlocks in Vogue

Dreadlocks are in vogue in Zimbabwe, where Rastafarians have fought for years to gain recognition.

CULTURE-AFRICA: Beauty Contests Evolve a New Image

They are ubiquitous social and entertainment events, featured in virtually every non-Muslim African nation, and some nations where Muslim culture predominates: beauty pageants that display the talents and pulchritude of a nation's choicest young women, and in some cases men.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/TELEVISION-MEXICO: ‘Big Brother’ Stirs Up Criticism and Money

Conservative organisations, Catholic groups and business leaders opposed to the Mexican version of the reality TV programme "Big Brother", (Gran Hermano, in Spanish), failed in their objective of preventing the show from being aired, and may unwittingly have increased the viewing audience and filled the pockets of the producers.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-CUBA: Picasso’s Afro-Caribbean Cousins

Spanish artist Pablo Picasso may have made a secret journey to Cuba in the 1950s in a failed attempt to find members of his extended family, descendants of his grandfather, who lived on this Caribbean island in the late 19th century.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-BRITAIN: An Asian Musical Makes History

In the glamorous West End of London, history is in the making.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-JAMAICA: ‘Junior Gong’ Marley Poised for Big Push

After being stalled by the tragic U.S. events of Sep. 11, distributors of "Halfway Tree", the Grammy winner for Best Reggae Album, are gearing up to push their muscle behind Damian "Junior Gong" Marley's dancehall/hip-hop set.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/BOOKS-U.S.: Little-Known Black Explorer Finally Gets His Due

Novelist Pagan Kennedy knew that the dramatic story of William Sheppard, a little-known African- American missionary and explorer who traveled to the Belgian Congo in 1890, had to be told; she just wasn't sure if she should be the one to tell it.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-CENTRAL AMERICA: A Piano Serves as an Integrating Force

Costa Rican pianist Manuel Obregón achieved in a few days what Central American governments have failed to do after decades: achieve regional integration. And he did so by creating the Papaya Orchestra, the first group dedicated to the region's folk music.

CULTURE-VIETNAM: Foreign Comics Rule

Vietnamese children are reading more books than before, but parents and educators alike are not exactly ecstatic. That is because the books youngsters across the country are reading are not only comics, but foreign ones at that.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ART-SOUTH AFRICA: Living Positive Lives

A global exhibition about HIV and AIDS, now on in Cape Town, South Africa is a strikingly different response to the stock portrayal of the disease.