During the 1800's, a number of brands were invented that still are around today. Angostura bitters, invented by a German doctor to help the troops in Venezuela. Peychaud's bitters here, which is something that you might not see.
would park their money and then it would disappear, or if you were a major arms dealer and you needed to funnel a couple of billion dollars to like a warlord in Angola, you know, the money would go through Nauru. And right now in fact, because of the Iraq war and I'm going to get back on topic in a second about Vanuatu but because of the Iraq War for example you can get a Nauru passport because most of the industrialized nations have signed what they called anti-mercenary
I met them totally by accident. I was in Angola filming a completely different movie about Chinese construction workers that are rebuilding the train line that cuts through the middle of Angola. And the train line just stops in this town, Huambo.
ambassador x then Egypt Chad Sudan Bulgaria Mozambique albania Angola Senegal Pakistan Ivory Coast zambia
agencies and governments, IMF, World Bank, to organize a donor's conference, but everybody refused, because the country was lacking democracy and good governance. So then Angola turned to the Chinese, and they came in with about $10 billion in their suitcases. And they also moved in a lot of workers -- of which one is here -- doing a very simple work. So it's not very high qualified work, just moving your shovel in the side of the road. But the Chinese had built that road between
space and speaking from that place. I grew up-- I'm first generation Angolan, was born and raised in Atlanta. And I grew up from a political refugee family.
Mais qui est d'accord pour faire ça ? Donc c'est source d'angoisse plus d'autre chose. Donc c'est pas plus.
in a manner that meets a public good, not necessarily meets a private good, in that sense. You've seen what's happening in Angola with Wikipedia as well.
And I'm Jeremy Xido. I'm the director of Death Metal Angola. My background however is as a dancer and performer.
after Nigeria. So everybody is importing stuff there in such a rich place, and there is a long queue for boats to unload in the ports of Rwanda. Paolo Woods: And this is still in Angola. This is an engineer on his one day of a month in the warehouse of the company which also doubles as their sleeping quarters.
crops that they had. And then people from the more southern regions like Angola, Nigeria-- they were asking for sweet potatoes. So we see that kind of replication.
Les deux font bien leur boulot ensemble. Le stress, l'angoisse, tout ça, c'est transmis.
This is also an interesting element to look at, which you understand. Because when 13% of your oil comes from Angola, Angola is not next door. You need to secure your supply line.
Those who have money are actually paying twice the amount-- it's about $10,000 to go from Somalia to Europe-- to go to the United States. The illegal route, via Angola or South Africa, into Latin America and out through Mexico, is around $20,000, $25,000. But that is a route that is growing, that people are increasingly choosing.
Thank you. It's awesome. So one of the prevailing themes of Death Metal Angola is very much this idea of resilience, of about communities facing great adversity, whether that's adversity through economic or socioeconomic circumstances, or natural disasters.
tried everything to refuse us to go in, because they considered this as Chinese territory like if it was an embassy. Serge Michel: So now we just move to Angola. Angola had experienced 27 years of civil war. The country is at its knees. And after the war, the country asked the western
consequential elections in Serbia uh in Georgia in kyrgistan uh in a number of ones who have a really valuable natural resource Angola is one of the world's worst governed countries but it has the
at the ballot-- it only takes 10 people. And I only found out because I did a 6-hour tour of Angola, which is the biggest prison complex in the country. And I was I was asking one of the inmates, what don't I know?
for the _________. Paolo Woods: Yes, and it's not only roads are needed but also railroads. This is one of the very few stretches of railroad actually still working in Angola. And the Chinese have bid and are going to construct the railroads in the future.
So Chinese went there and are showing to the western powers that there is something to be done and there are some good reasons to go. And now, you can see -- for example in Angola -- many countries have wakened up, and are queuing in at the airport of Rwanda to make partnership with Angolese people. So for these reasons, I think it's good. But, you want to answer the first part of the question?
They're pushing for infrastructure, and they're pushing for their own interest of raw materials. And they are mostly in Nigeria, in Angola, in Zambia.
But that would be a place to look. And we've already seen, in other African countries like Angola, that essentially it's gone to the elite.
Well, I actually just answered a question similar to this yesterday for radio in Germany. I can speak just in terms of what I think about the people that I met in Angola and my experience there. A lot of people, when they see the film, they talk about what is the power of this particular form of music for this particular group of people.
Have a better understanding of its history. It's funny. Because what both of you are saying is exactly what people in Angola are saying about their worlds.
And we were taking a bush plane flight one day all the way up the coast towards the border of Angola.
They are doing three lines, all at different levels in the country. And this is very important. You know we have gone to the center of Angola, and you had farmers there cultivating carrots and other vegetables unable to ship them to the capital cities, so they were not knowing what to do with their production.
Serge Michel: We just had an interview with this man's boss in the office just behind the wall that you see here, and the company is building hotels in the south of Angola. Amongst other things, the boss told us that the relationship between Chinese workers and local women were forbidden, and that if any of his men would have been caught, he would
He would look through it. The countries were arranged alphabetically. A for Andorra, Angola, and so on. B for Belgium, Brazil, and
along the western coast of Africa. I define the area by starting off with Senegal in the north, going all the way to Angola in the south. Now, in West Africa, the typical meal is some kind of starch with a savory soup, stew, or sauce either served alongside of it or on top of it.
is introduced to the region. And then when you go further south-- starting off with Ghana, kind of going all the way to Angola-- it's more about root crops, so tropical yams, cassava, plantains, all right? Now, there was a wonderful Nigerian restaurant in Denver, and this is a meal that I had there just to give you
But that would be a place to look. Now, Ghana is a more hopeful country in that it's more democratic, got a more functioning civil society, unlike Angola.
And I'm happy to introduce our panelists; Jennifer Wright, the CEO of The Field, an artist service organization, and Earl Douglas, the executive director of New York's chapter of Black Rock Coalition, and Jeremy Xido, the director of Death Metal Angola, which we've just finished seeing. So I'll let you guys go ahead introduce yourself and a bit about your organization.
Great, thank you. I know that each of our communities very much addresses marginalization in each way. The artists in The Field community, and the artists in the BRC, and the artists in Angola are very much addressing this kind of marginalization. What kinds of specific artists or projects can you think of that have dealt with adversity particularly well, whether it's through Sandy, or through 9/11,
an outlet for storytelling. And one of things in terms of marginalized folks, even here in the States it's quite different from Angola, obviously, but who gets to be an artist? Who gets those opportunities, whether that's funding in the schools or the price of an MFA, or equipment to try and play guitar,
And it built over a course of a couple of years. And it was a partnership, really, between us and the Association for Angolan Rock as a friendship partnership.
This is the extreme part, the northern part of Namibia, along the Angola border.
They're pushing for infrastructure, and they're pushing for their own interest of raw materials. -- like a road or railway -- done by a western company, except Brazil is doing a few roads in Angola.
New York City, living with Kim in a basement apartment, and I somehow move to Angola, Africa -- 18 years old. And Angola was in the middle of a raging civil
And the book starts with this 'high adventure' -- hopefully, and kind of keeps the reader through one adventure after another, talking about my adventures there in Angola, and taking