http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4213327.stm







African music TV channel planned







South African Lebo Mthosa will feature on MTV baseA music television channel for Africa is to be launched next month by MTV - known as MTV base.
The 24-hour English language channel will feature African stars from across the continent as well as western acts.
It plans a weekly documentary series on emerging African musicians and promises to employ a continent-wide network of talent scouts.
It will be shown on the Multichoice satellite network from 22 February.
Multichoice say they reach about 1.3m households across the continent.
MTV's Brent Hansen said he hoped the company's 100th channel to be launched across the world would "provide a unique cultural meeting point for young people in Africa, using the common language of music to connect music fans from different backgrounds and cultures".
A major part of MTV base's agenda is a commitment to encouraging and developing grassroots African music talent, it says.


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is this good or bad for the african music industry and african culture

Idont know if this is a good idea.

Although ienjoy watching a satellitte channel called channel O when i am in zambia which is amix of african and black western music, the thing that concerns me about mtv base africa is that if they show mostly popular black american music then this might have a negative effect on the development of african music. It could also have a negative effect on african culture.

I suppose i just cant be sure what the true motives of the people who are doing this are.

That south african womans hair looks terrible. I noticed when watching channel0 that south african music was never really that enetertaning as a lot of it seemed to be poor imitations of popular american black music. I just hope that mtv base africa does not have this sort of effect on other up an coming african singers.

I posted this months ago.MTV will conquer the world.Soon little boys of all tribes will emulate american artists such as 50 Cents, and JaRule.The world is crumbling around us!!!

A lot of the popular black music has been more of a hindrance to the emancipation of black people, it glorifies money, portrays black women as hos and black men as pimps and gang bangers or simply just sex crazy.

I cant stand MTV base and prefer other alternative black music such as zap mama, jill scott, Dwele etc, but i know that the will not show these sort of artists and will show beyonce, snoop, 50cent instead.

With all of the problems that africa has already the last thing we need is to introduce endless amounts of popluar black american music into the picture.

Thats why in a way the french african people are lucky, as the americans cannot tamper with their music.

I hate to say this but obe is centred around western africa and the carribean i am south african and the only channel we have is full of afrikaans of which most black south africans dont want to speak - we speak zulu,xhosa and ndebele and i love english but when i watch only four countries come out on one channel when its mean to be original black entertainment it saddens me.The doe give us the news section but that aint enough compared to over eight hours of either ghana or nigeria or jamaica - i dont have anything against it but its not fair - at least put in zambia and mozambique or kenya or so.The mtv thing is also biased why my country and why not zimbabwe or nigeria - dont you think they also look at the criminal and corrupt rate of the countries.We have more criminals and more violoence in south africa but nigeria and zimbabwe are victims of media oppressions.I just hate it - i love south africa but truth be spoke.

TO GERALD

i understand what you say...

its a shame that south african tv is swamped with western african and west indian music, at leaston zambian tvyou do get music shows which focus on zambian music and other southern african music.

i just hope that this mtv base will show music from all parts of the continents and not just focus on western africa.

i hope so

http://www.eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=20010

SMITH, LUDACRIS HELP LAUNCH AFRICA’S MTV BASE: Rappers join African artists to kick off MTV’s first pan-African music channel.
Co-headliners Will Smith and Ludacris performed in Johannesburg, South Africa Wednesday in a concert marking the launch of MTV Networks 100th worldwide channel, MTV base – the company’s first pan-African music channel since its launch on the DSTV platform in February.



With DJ Jazzy Jeff behind him on the ones and twos, Smith performed his new single, "Switch,� as well as "Men in Black" and "Gettin' Jiggy With It,� while ten drummers and 35 dancers - many South African - joined in.

Smith’s South African show followed a smaller celebratory concert in the Nigerian city of Abuja, featuring Ludacris and 2 Face, whose video, "African Queen" was the first by an African artist to appear on MTV base.

Luda, who last week shot a music video in South Africa's Kwa-Zulu Natal province, brought the African hip hop group Skwatta Kamp on stage to perform "Get Back,� and also joined the collective for its current hit, “The Clap Song.�



"I've traveled all across the world in my job and visited a lot a different places, countries and continents,� Ludacris told “Billboard.� “And I can honestly say that here in South Africa is the only place that I don't feel homesick after a few days.�

Staged at the Top Star Drive-In on the edge of Johannesburg's central district, “MTV 100th Live!� will be broadcast around the world on MTV channels beginning May 20.

Why are you people so backwards its like yoour enemies of african progerss what is wrong in bringing an insight of the rest of the world to africa which will make africanshave a better aim. you taalk of keping african values which i know is very im portant but what will be even better is seeing these both cultures fused . mtv africa will give afrucan artist larger exposure ont thing african artis are suffering is from corruption in the sales of their cd's this will promote legal buying. i believe this is all good news for africa before you were complaining why africa does not have mtv now your complainging why do they your confused. africa needs change and movement the way i is at the moment may preserve their values but is killing the people i ma and guinean- sierra leoneanfemale and i can see my country i know what mtv africa will dobring excitement anda sense of pride in thier music. pleas edont think im offending anyone.

hey siac, just had 2 reply u girl...my mum is guinean, dad liberian, and i did 4 years of primary and secondary schooling in moyamba, seirra-leone...i was born in liberia and raised in the usa..icurrently livein new york city (home to mtv) and have lived here 4 the past 18 years.....be careful what wish 4 girl...i watch mtv..sometimes....and black entertainment tv (bet) to see the latest in african-american music video (couldn't find 1 for african artist)...i'm not saying all...but the majority of these videos portray black women as hoochies, hos and victims....black men are portrayed as hustlers, pimps and wife beaters...so much so, they named an undershirt after them (hence the name wife beaters t-shirts)....i guess they feel that their music won't sell unless sex, drugs, disrespect,or violence is involved...no wonder the pregnancy, drug, hiv,and suicidal rate is so high among teenagers here...all in the name of the mighty dollar (and this is suppose to be a a highly educated society)..you would think that with hiv so rampant in this country they would slow it down a bit...not so...i truly hope that mtv is not intending to pollute the minds of our african youths...1 can only hope that their intention is 2 bring forth the work of african artist from all over africa...be it zouk, soukous, rap, native, and so forth....lets hope that all the flavors of mother africa are represented....i said it once and i'll say it again...be careful what you wish for girl...all that glitters is not gold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is bad news for africa.

Mbeki it's more than bad; it's tragic. Worst news I've heard for some time.

I can only imagine what's going to happen to our minds and the way others will perceive us.

A news headline from the BBC World Service website caught my attention last week: “MTV Launches Channel for Africa.� I was intrigued. I clicked.

The headline pretty well summed it up. It’s called MTV base. About one third of the music represented on the new channel will be authentically African. Weekly documentaries will highlight promising artists. Broadcasting will be beamed via satellite throughout the continent and will also be made available on “free-to-air� networks.

The article was meant to be informational and straightforward, but what was written between the lines disturbed me most. I did some further research.

The issue I have with MTV Africa isn’t the music. Nor is it the television. The problem lies in the calculated dissemination of the American brand of cultural insolvency MTV has created that has no place being in our own society, let alone being proselytized to another. MTV’s gross irresponsibility on this issue is the moral equivalent of cultural colonialism. Cloaked in the guise of “good intentions,� MTV purports to bring African music and culture to the masses. But their false altruism is transparent. In actuality, MTV does not want to bring African culture to the masses at all; it wants to take the wildly successful business model grown popular in the United States and abroad, and indoctrinate a new land with a message of decadence and moral corruption.

Now I know what you might be thinking—but don’t tune me out as the token über-conservative fundamentalist conspiracy theorist that you might be imagining. I’m not that guy. My college roommates and I watched more MTV than I care to remember. Believe me, I know the last thing an MTV-watching generation wants to hear is that the brain-numbing programming they watch on a daily basis is actually not as culturally constructive or mentally stimulating as they might suppose. But hear me out on this one.

If you think I have completely lost it, listen to what the president of MTV Networks International, Bill Roedy has to say, “Our aim is to be very aggressive, creative, even relentless in getting our channel out to as many households as possible in Africa.� Elsewhere he comments that the new network is symbolic, being the 100th MTV channel worldwide, 10 years in the making: “[It] is the most anticipated launch in our history—it’s our first dedicated African service and takes MTV’s global footprint to every region of the world.� Welcome to cultural evangelism—MTV style.

This kind of crusade-esque guerilla marketing is frightening when you consider the zeal with which it is elicited. Couple this with the fact that its initial offering will be made free-of-charge in some markets. OK, here’s a quick lesson in Business 101: nothing is ever truly free. MTV is counting on getting people hooked on a golden calf of image addiction and then selling it to them—be sure of it.

The deeper underlying issue that MTV needs to face is the gaping chasm between responsibility and exploitation. It is common practice for businesses to determine their target audience before coming to them with a product or service to sell—and rightly so, it is vital to know what makes your customers tick. Likewise, there is an ethical responsibility that corporations should maintain when targeting audiences. Common abuses of this concept include telemarketing scams directed at the elderly and the abundance of liquor stores in low-income neighborhoods. The companies that target these people do so with the full knowledge that they are taking advantage of some weakness that exists within the particular demographic for their own profit. This is the definition of exploitation.

Bringing MTV to Africa is exploitation. Africa is a continent wrought with war, devastation, disease, pestilence, drought, famine, governmental corruption and every conceivable ill. In some countries such as Zimbabwe and Botswana where sexual promiscuity runs rampant, one in every three people are suffering from HIV/AIDS. A Darwinian struggle for existence is lost on a daily basis with death counts sometimes in the thousands. Millions of people are homeless and living in primitive refugee camps hoping to receive one meal of porridge a day. War and death are a way of life. Racism is endemic.

Africa is in critical need of help.

MTV is offering help, but at what cost? While laying the groundwork for the launch of MTV base in Africa over the last 10 years, Bill Roedy has cleverly aligned himself with key political and business contacts in the international arena. He was named FCAA chair of the Global Business Council on HIV and AIDS and ambassador for the UNAIDS program. MTV base will include award-winning programming that attempts to tackle the problem of AIDS along with well-produced and visually appealing public service announcements. Additionally, MTV promises to give back to the people of Africa by providing the world with samplings of their own diverse flavor of music and culture. This could increase sales of music and help build the economies of struggling countries.

Assuredly, these are good things, and MTV should be commended for any efforts to eradicate HIV/AIDS from our planet and usher in new cultures and new ways of looking at the world. But there are strings attached to this façade. The imminent and aggressive attempt to indoctrinate this continent with a lifestyle of promiscuity, self-indulgence and hedonism is morally reprehensible and counterintuitive to the many laborious attempts by selfless aid organizations seeking to heal an already ailing land. It is almost unimaginable how MTV can even begin to think of airing an episode of the overtly ostentatious Cribs[/i], a show that details the houses and cars of the American entertainment industry’s elite, when millions of Africans don’t even have a solid roof over their heads. Yet they plan to do so. This is the pinnacle of irresponsibility.

The thought that Africa will be “used and abused� as it has been so many times in the past has already been anticipated. Charles Oputa, president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN, said this of the new MTV base network: “The idea of a music channel focusing on African music is a welcome idea. One can only hope that these people would not use it as an instrument to cheat us again.�

If the MTV network truthfully wants to help this continent, it would do well to stay as far away from it as possible. Their money is welcome, their time and manpower fighting AIDS and poverty would be coveted, but the exportation of an invented American pop culture ideology has no business being propositioned to Africa.

For centuries the white man has brought trouble and exploitation to Africa—trying to force his ways on a people too burdened to fight back. Africa has lost many battles with the West, and it will lose this one, too. And perhaps most unfortunately, it will become increasingly de-cultured rather than culturally enriched because of MTV’s insatiable appetite for “greener� lands. And I can’t help but wonder—will there be no shame?

[Adam Kortekaas is an American born-and-bred white guy who thinks that, all too often, Africa receives the short end of the stick. He hopes you’ll take action by researching the news and visiting http://www.savedarfur.org to help end the genocide in Sudan.]