LOS ANGELES — When the biggest names in music gather Sunday for the industry’s top honors at the Grammy Awards, they will hand out a new trophy for best African music performance.

The prize reflects the growing popularity of Afrobeats, and other music from the continent, which is gaining a global audience with help from social media platforms such as short-form video app TikTok.

Afrobeats originated in West Africa, primarily Ghana and Nigeria, though the term is often used as a catch-all for various music styles coming from Africa. It features percussion rhythms mixed with various genres from rap to jazz, R&B and others.

Modern Afrobeats “has a feel-good groove to it,” said Heran Mamo, R&B and hip-hop reporter at Billboard magazine, which created a U.S. Afrobeats chart in 2022. “It’s bound to reach a wider audience because it already contains a little bit of everything for everyone.”

On Spotify, Afrobeats music was streamed 13.5 billion times in 2022, up from 2 billion in 2017.

In another milestone, Nigerian singer Burna Boy became the first African artist to sell out a U.S. stadium when he played New York’s Citi Field last summer.

Musicians in the running for the new Grammy on Sunday include Tyla, a 22-year-old South African singer. She hit the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with the danceable Water, an example of a genre known as amapiano, a jazz- and piano-infused sound.

A TikTok executive in South Africa had noticed Tyla gaining attention in her local market back in 2020, and reached out to her with tips on how to maximize her presence on the app.

Water was released in July 2023, after Tyla signed with Sony Music Entertainment’s 6758.T Epic Records.

By September, TikTok users were replicating Tyla’s dance moves in the #WaterChallenge. To date, 1.5 million videos have been created using the song, and the #WaterChallenge hashtag has been viewed 1.8 billion times, according to TikTok.

“I think that TikTok has played the role of incubator, but also the distributor to the billion-plus global users and it’s just really landed,” said Ole Obermann, global head of music at TikTok.

Tyla’s success illustrates the power of TikTok and YouTube to help artists find fan bases around the world, a role once reserved for music labels.

“The proliferation of streaming along with new social media platforms (e.g. TikTok) has accelerated artist discovery, and have provided new mediums for artists to grow their fan bases globally,” Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said in a research note predicting media trends for 2024.

TikTok remains controversial in the United States because of its ownership by Chinese company ByteDance, which critics view as a security risk. The Biden administration has banned the app on U.S. government devices. TikTok officials say they have rigorous safeguards in place and they reject allegations of spying on user data.

The app also is in a dispute with Universal Music GroupUMG.AS over how much it pays for use of songs from Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and others. Music from many Universal artists was unavailable on TikTok as of Friday.

For U.S. teenagers, TikTok ranks as the second-most common music discovery source behind YouTube, according to a recent MIDiA Research survey that showed 45% of 16- to 19-year-olds found new music through the platform.

Other Afrobeats artists who found audiences on TikTok include Nigerian rapper Rema. He collaborated with Selena Gomez for a remix of his song Calm Down, which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won an award for best Afrobeats at MTV’s Video Music Awards last September.

TikTok is helping to forge new connections between U.S. and African artists. Obermann said he played a short clip of a song called Ojapiano from Nigerian musician KCee for Ryan Tedder, a songwriter and lead singer for the band OneRepublic.

Tedder liked the sound so much that he immediately reached out to KCee, who jumped on a plane from Lagos to Los Angeles two days later so the pair could make a remix of the song.

Obermann hopes the soon-to-be-released remix will give new life to Ojapiano, a combination of amapiano and a Nigerian flute called Oja, and keep fueling the Afrobeats craze.

“This is going to be a big, growing genre,” Obermann said.
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Hong Kong  — Frustrated Hong Kong residents say they have been unable to watch the online TV series Expats, starring Hollywood star Nicole Kidman, which was launched globally on Amazon Prime Video late last week and focuses on the former British colony.

The six-part show, directed by Chinese-born American filmmaker Lulu Wang, is based on a novel by Korean American author Janice Y. K. Lee.

The plot revolves around the lives of three women in Hong Kong in 2014, and the scenes include numerous Hong Kong elements. In addition to settings in familiar tourist sites such as Victoria Harbor, it reproduces scenes of the 2014 Hong Kong protests, also known as the Umbrella Movement, when protesters took to the streets holding umbrellas, demanding the right to choose the city’s chief executive.

It is still unclear whether the decision to block the program in Hong Kong was a business decision or whether it was due to interference from authorities there. Analysts suspect that local Amazon Prime users are unable to watch the program because of those reproduced scenes of the 2014 protests.

Some also worry it may be another sign of Beijing’s broader crackdown on the arts.

A Hong Kong government spokesperson told RFA: “We have no comment on the operational arrangements of individual businesses.”

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong government issued a statement late last month saying that the current Film Censorship Ordinance only regulates films and does not apply to streaming or Internet platforms.

VOA reached out to Amazon Prime Video’s Hong Kong office for comment on why the show is not available in the city but did not receive any response by the time of publication.

“Since this movie was shot in Hong Kong, the director of the movie is of Chinese origin, and the content has a lot to do with the true events, ordinary Hong Kong citizens will definitely want to see a show that truly reflects Hong Kong society,” said Guo Zhenming, a Chinese independent film director.

Guo told VOA he believes self-censorship by Amazon may have kept the show from airing in Hong Kong.

Kenny Ng, a film censorship expert at Hong Kong Baptist University, believes that the matter is not directly related to the Hong Kong government.

“So many new shows are created on earth every day,” Ng said. “I don’t believe that the officials of the Hong Kong government have the ability to know that such a series is about to be released. The current Hong Kong censorship regulations govern films shown in theaters, not streaming platforms. … A series not being shown is often the result of a compromise made after negotiations.”

He believes Amazon may have made a business decision to abandon the Hong Kong market for this show based on the territory’s political situation and social atmosphere.

Ng believes that no matter whose decision it was, Hong Kong people’s freedom to watch the show has certainly been violated. He said many Hong Kong people are going to movie and TV show websites in China to look for the show.

“If the public had a choice, they might not be so eager to see this show. But now they suddenly cannot see it, everyone is doing everything possible to go and see it,” he said.

He said there will always be a market for banned shows.
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MADRID — A poster in the southern Spanish city of Seville that depicts a young, handsome Jesus wearing only a loincloth has unleashed a storm on social media, with some calling it an affront to the figure of Christ and others posting lewd remarks and memes poking fun at the image.

The poster by internationally recognized Seville artist Salustiano García Cruz shows a fresh-faced Jesus without a crown of thorns, no suffering face and minuscule wounds on the hands and ribcage. It was commissioned and approved by the General Council of Brotherhoods, which organizes the renowned and immensely popular Holy Week processions ahead of Easter in Seville.

As soon as it was unveiled last week criticism of it went viral on social media and a debate erupted over how a resurrected Christ should be depicted. Many called it a disgrace, inappropriate, too pretty, modernist and out of line with Seville’s Easter tradition.

Spain is predominantly Catholic and church traditions such as marriage, baptisms and religious parades are immensely popular both among believers and nonbelievers. A campaign on Change.org to have the poster of Jesus withdrawn was signed by some 14,000 people from around the country.

The artist, García, defended the work and dismissed the poster’s critics as old fashioned.

“There is nothing revolutionary in the painting,” García told Atlas news agency. “There is contemporaneity, but all the elements that I have used are elements that have been used in the last seven centuries in sacred art.

“I don’t see at what point, at what element, people who don’t like it don’t like it,” he said.

In another interview published by El Mundo daily, Garcia responded to criticism from conservative groups that the depiction of Jesus was “effeminate” or “homoerotic.”

“A gay Christ because he looks sweet and is handsome, come on! We are in the 21st century,” García said.

The artist said he used his son, Horacio, as the model for the poster.

“It caught us a little more by surprise because everything was done with respect,” Horacio Garcia told Atlas.

“A lot of controversy comes from the fact that the model is too good, the Christ too handsome, too attractive,” he said. But it hasn’t been all bad: Horacio Garcia said he also has received many compliments and good wishes from people.

The General Council of Brotherhoods has so far ignored calls to replace the poster before Holy Week at the end of March. In past years, some posters for different Catholic celebrations were withdrawn following criticism.

Seville Mayor José Luis Sanz labeled the controversy “artificial.”

“I like the poster,” he said, adding that not all Holy Week posters can be the same each year. “Some posters are riskier, some more classical, some are more daring.”
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NEW YORK — Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,” has died. He was 76.

Matt Luber, his manager, said Weathers died Thursday. His family issued a statement saying he died “peacefully in his sleep.”

Weathers was comfortable flexing his muscles on the big screen in “Action Jackson” as well as joking around on the small screen in such shows as “Arrested Development.” He was perhaps most closely associated with Creed, who made his first appearance as the cocky, undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1976’s “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.

“It puts you on the map and makes your career, so to speak. But that’s a one-off, so you’ve got to follow it up with something. Fortunately, those movies kept coming, and Apollo Creed became more and more in people’s consciousness and welcome in their lives, and it was just the right guy at the right time,” he told The Daily Beast in 2017.

Most recently, Weathers appeared in all three seasons of the Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian,” for which he earned an Emmy nomination in 2021.

Creed, who appeared in the first four “Rocky” movies, memorably died in the ring of 1984’s “Rocky IV,” going toe-to-toe with the hulking, steroid-using Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren.

Weathers went on to 1987’s “Predator,” where he flexed his pecs alongside Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and a host of others, and 1988’s nouveau blaxploitation flick “Action Jackson.”

He later added a false wooden hand to play a golf pro for the 1996 comedy classic “Happy Gilmore” opposite Adam Sandler and starred in Dick Wolf’s short-lived spin-off series “Chicago Justice” in 2017.

He also voiced Combat Carl in the “Toy Story” franchise.

Weathers grew up admiring actors such as Woody Strode, whose combination of physique and acting prowess in “Spartacus” made an early impression. Others he idolized included actors Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and athletes Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali, stars who broke the mold and the color barrier.

“There are so many people that came before me who I admired and whose success I wanted to emulate, and just kind of hit the benchmarks they hit in terms of success, who created a pathway that I’ve been able to walk and find success as a result. And hopefully I can inspire someone else to do good work as well,” he told the Detroit News in 2023.

Growing up in New Orleans, Weathers started performing in plays as early as grade school. In high school, athletics took him down another path, but he would reunite with his first love later in life.

Weathers played college football at San Diego State University — he majored in theater — and went on to play for one season in the NFL, for the Oakland Raiders, in 1970.

After the Raiders, he joined the Canadian Football League, playing for two years while finishing his studies during the offseason at San Francisco State University. He graduated with a B.A. in drama in 1974.

After appearing in several films and TV shows, including “Good Times,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Starsky & Hutch,” as well as fighting Nazis alongside Harrison Ford in “Force 10 From Navarone,” Weathers landed his knockout role — Creed. He told The Hollywood Reporter that his start in the iconic franchise was not auspicious.

He was asked to read with the writer, Stallone, then unknown. Weathers read the scene but felt it didn’t land and so he blurted out: “I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with,” he recalled. “So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.”

Weathers is survived by two sons.
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Bangkok — Members of the Russian-Belarus rock band Bi-2 who have been held in Thailand on immigration charges have been allowed to fly to Israel amid concerns they would be deported to Russia over the groups anti-war stance.

The band had been performing a concern in Phuket, a popular island in Thailand, but were arrested by Thai immigration officials for working without a permit last week.

The members were initially held in Phuket before being moved to detention in Bangkok.

Bi-2 has been a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s foreign ministry accused the group of supporting terrorism. Previously Moscow had labeled Yegor “Lyova” Bortnik, the band’s front man, as a foreign agent over his comments opposing Russian’s war in Ukraine.

Statements of the band’s detention in Thailand have been regularly posted on social media accounts. Some blamed the group’s legal troubles on outside pressure on Thailand.

Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director for Human Rights Watch, said Thailand made the right decision.

“Human rights concerns won out in Thailand’s decision to let all the Bi-2 band members travel to the safety of Israel. Bangkok was right to refuse Moscow’s demands to send these activist artists back to face certain persecution and worse in Russia. But while this particular Russian trans-national repression gambit failed, there is little doubt the Kremlin’s rights-abusing autocrats will keep trying to silence exiled Russian critics by hook or by crook, wherever they can,” he said in a press statement.

The seven-member band, which includes citizens of Russia, Israel and Australia, had been in diplomatic limbo after initial plans to deport them to Israel were cancelled. But Bortnik was allowed to fly alone to Tel Aviv earlier this week.

The band’s official Telegram channel confirmed they have left Thailand. “All musicians of the Bi-2 band have left Thailand safely and are heading to Tel Aviv. Details tomorrow.”

Given Thailand’s close relationship with Moscow, there were concerns that the band members could be sent back to Russia or Belarus.

Thailand has not ratified the U.N.’s 1951 Refugee Convention, meaning it has no specific domestic legal framework for protection of urban refugees and asylum-seekers.  But Thailand did pass the Act on Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance in 2022.

“In the enforced disappearance act, in article 13 Thai authorities or officials are not allowed to send anyone or deport anyone to a country if it is believed that those countries are going to violate human rights or human dignity,” Krisanaphong Poothakool, vice president and chairman of the Faculty of Criminology and Justice Administration a Rangsit University, told VOA.

Bangkok and Moscow are close trade partners, and Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin praised the two countries’ long-standing close relationship after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing in October.

Thailand is also a popular holiday destination for Russians. But in recent years, the Southeast Asian country has seen an influx in arrivals of Russians fleeing conscription for the war in Ukraine.

Thailand saw more than 1 million arrivals from Russia in 2023, one of the country’s highest numbers of international visitors. Thai authorities expect that number to double this year after Bangkok extended Russia’s arrival period to 90 days.

Since Putin ordered Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine two years ago, Moscow has been hit with western sanctions, and international isolation has somewhat impacted the nation’s economy. Russian tourists have been unable to visit a host of western countries, but Thailand and other Asian countries welcomed arrivals.

Thailand also chose to abstain from a U.N. vote to condemn Russia for its so-called annexation of four territories in Ukraine in 2022.

Mark S. Cogan, associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Kansai University, Japan said Thailand didn’t want to disrupt relations with Israel.

“Thailand has a history of evaluating cases like this based on economic relationships and perceived threats to national security. When the risk is low that it would not violate either, as many were Belarusian and others had dual Israeli citizenship, I think the Thai government had every reason to allow them to get on a flight to Israel,” he told VOA.

“With so many new opportunities, and FTAs (free trade agreements) forthcoming, the environment is different. Srettha was less likely to disrupt a mutually beneficial relationship by securing their release into Israeli hands and maintain a growing relationship with the Netanyahu government,” he said.

But Cogan said under Thailand’s previous military government led by Prayut Chan-o-Cha, the decision might have been different.

“It’s possible that the result might have been different under Prayut as the landscape was more dire. Prayut around the time of APEC was very concerned about post-pandemic recovery and pleaded with Putin to open up more flights to Thailand. It’s very difficult to guess a ‘what if’ scenario, but it would not have been out of character for him to do so,” he added.
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TEHRAN, Iran — Lighting fires that brightened the night sky, followers of Iran’s minority Zoroastrian religion marked the Sadeh festival in several cities Tuesday, celebrating the end of the coldest winter days.

Every year on January 30, Zoroastrians gather after sunset to celebrate the 50 days and 50 nights remaining until spring. Sadah, which means “the 100,” is an ancient feast from when the religion was the dominant faith in the powerful Persian empire, which collapsed after the Arab invasion in the 7th century.

On the southwestern outskirts of Tehran, several Zoroastrian priests and priestesses, dressed in white from head-to-toe to symbolize purity, led young followers to light a giant bonfire in a joyful ceremony.

Around the fire, people listened to bands and theological lectures as they milled about while eating and celebrating.

In a rare move, the Islamic Republic’s air force band played the national anthem, among other tunes, to the excitement of the attendees.

Iran’s 85 million population is mostly Shiite Muslim. The country has been ruled by hardline clerics who preach a strict version of Islam since the 1979 Islamic revolution. They discourage people from following pre-Islamic feasts and traditions.

Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion that predates Christianity and Islam. It was founded 3,800 years ago by the prophet Zoroaster. It stresses good deeds, and fire plays a central role in worship as a symbol of truth and the spirit of God. Zoroastrians stress they are not fire worshippers but see fire as a symbol of righteousness.

Alongside other minorities, including Christians and Jews, they have one representative in parliament, Esfandiar Ekhtiari.

During Tuesday’s ceremny, Ekhtiari said the celebration belongs to everyone and is a symbol of “felicity, respect to humanity and nature as well as human beings.”

In 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recognized Sadeh for its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity from Iran and Tajikistan.

Although they have common elements, such as lighting fire, the Sadeh festival is different from Nowruz, which marks the Persian new year.
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washington — South Korean kimchi exports hit a record high amid a global surge in the popularity of Korean culture, hitting 44,041 tons in 2023, a 7.1% increase from 42,544 tons exported in 2021. 

Kimchi, a traditional Korean dish made by fermenting cabbage or other vegetables, was exported to 92 countries from South Korea last year, with the United States and Japan being the top customers, according to BusinessKorea, a monthly magazine.  

The United States imported more than 10,000 tons of kimchi in 2023, and Japan imported more than 20,000 tons. Kimchi exports to the United States have grown significantly in the past few years, increasing from $14.8 million in 2019 to $29 million in 2022, according to The Korea Daily. 

Some experts see a connection between this rise in exports and the rising popularity of Korean entertainment content, such as K-pop and K-dramas. According to Forbes, U.S. viewership of Korean dramas rose 200% from 2019 to 2021, with TV shows like “Squid Game” topping the Netflix viewership charts in the United States.  

Others attribute the rising popularity of kimchi to its health benefits, as fermented foods expand the diversity of digestive tract microbes.  

Patrice Cunningham, founder and CEO of Tae-Gu Kimchi in Washington, spoke about the increase in popularity of kimchi in the United States. 

“Kimchi is a huge part of the Korean diet,” she said. “They eat it as a side dish with almost every meal. … In the states now, we’re kind of implementing that same style of eating.”  

Cunningham makes and distributes kimchi with her mother, selling both vegan and non-vegan varieties made from napa cabbage.  

“I always knew that my mom had a really great kimchi recipe, and I remember saying to myself for a while that I wanted to bottle it one day and sell it,” Cunningham said.  

She attends 15 to 16 farmers markets a week in the main season and has won multiple grants for her business, contributing to its growth. 

She said many of their customers focus on their “gut health … and so they buy our kimchi for that.”   

K-culture boosts popularity

Another Washington business that sells kimchi is Rice Market. Partner Sak Pollert said kimchi sales have increased significantly over the past two years.  

He said more customers come in “with recipes on their phone, looking for Korean and other Asian ingredients, too.”   

As to kimchi’s rise in popularity, particularly in the United States, Pollert said that many in Washington are world travelers already familiar with kimchi but don’t like the smell.  

“But now, they learned it’s probiotic foods that taste good and help with digestion,” he said. “It helps make other foods taste better, so they get over the smell quickly.”  

Pollert said he thinks that K-content has played an important role in bolstering kimchi’s global popularity. K-dramas “did a phenomenal job promoting kimchi and Korean food and drinks, especially soju,” a Korean grain-based alcohol.  

He noted that restaurant and dinner scenes in many K-dramas feature ajummas — Korean for married or middle-aged women — gathering around a table to gossip and make kimchi before winter.  

South Korea promotes its cuisine 

This rise in popularity of kimchi, though influenced by multiple factors, is a part of a broader plan by the South Korean government to push Korean cuisine worldwide.  

“South Korea’s government and corporations are thinking of ways to promote Korean food and profit from it,” National Public Radio’s Anthony Kuhn said in an interview with Yang Joo-Pil, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.  

Yang said that each year, about 10 food items are chosen for product placement in popular dramas, and Korean foods are sold at K-pop concerts. 

In Washington, efforts to promote Korean food and spread Korean culture are evident in the work of the Korean Cultural Center. Last November, the center partnered with Tae-Gu Kimchi for “DC’s First Kimjang: Making and Sharing Kimchi.”  

Kimjang in Korea is an event that occurs once or twice a year “as a way for communities to collectively stock up on and share essential foods,” according to the Korean Cultural Center’s event page.  

At the kimjang event, participants had the opportunity to try kimchi over rice and make their own kimchi in a hands-on workshop. 
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