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The Growth of the African Gaming and Creative Industries

In recent years, many significant shifts have been noticed in the global business landscape. Some of these shifts are directly related to the growing potential of Africa. According to professor Benedict Oramah, the Chairman and President of African Export-Import Bank, this is mainly due to the way in which most African countries managed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The prompt reaction of most governments and authorities and the sufficient implementation of effective measures prevented devastation to the financial conditions of different industries of the continent. Moreover, it paved the way for immediate future successes. Of those, the most promising seems to be the cultural and creative sector, on the one hand, and the iGaming industry, on the other.

The Potential of Africa’s Creative and Cultural Sectors

Part of the success of the cultural and creative industries is due to the increasing global appreciation for African folklore and cultural heritage. Young Africans know how to successfully market their own cultural values, allowing the specific creative distinguishing traits of most different countries to stand out separately. 

As evidenced by the growing impact of Nollywood, for example, the world seems to be more interested in seeing and hearing what Africa’s cultural and creative community has to offer. Many young Africans are more than willing to provide just that. This has been best proven by the fact that the African Union named the year 2021 “Year of the Arts, Culture, and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want”.

As things are now, we have yet to see what’s to come, as things so far have only been a glimpse.

The Promising iGaming Market of Africa

In that sense, the iGaming industry’s achievements are much more tangible. As a result of limitations to physical gaming and sports betting globally, as well as of varying legal restrictions on these activities, iGaming (a predominantly gray area legally) has been both thriving in countries where it existed and expanding to those where it was formerly unknown.

More and more of them, including Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, and others, have opened their doors to many world-famous bookies and iGaming platforms. In all cases they are attracting astonishing numbers of customers. In 2021, Kenya had the most youth participating in gaming, with Nigeria and South Africa following suit.

This, in turn, has resulted in the opening of various job positions, essentially rejuvenating a stagnant job market during a period of global crisis. As iGaming legality is expanding, international brands are seeing the potential in this entirely new and unexplored market. 

Because of this, they are rushing to be the first to strike partnerships and deals, ensuring successful turnover for the future years and decades.

Such partnerships as BetKing and IBIA or Pragmatic Play and ChampionBet come to mind, especially as they’re quite recent and testify to the ongoing development of this particular sector.

Republic of Congo – Budding Market for iGaming

One of the most fascinating and peculiar examples is that of the Republic of Congo – a country that was almost nonexistent in the iGaming world until very recently. It was largely due to the efforts of Gia Janashvili, co-founder and co-owner of Veli Services. He believed that Congo could serve as a perfect example of the untapped iGaming potential of most African countries.

By bringing the Paridirect.com operator in Congo, an online gambling and sports betting platform in which he is a shareholder. Janashvili single-handedly launched the iGaming industry in this particular African country, proving his hypothesis.

Even though Paridirect, like most other international brands, is primarily established overseas, its implementation in African society is seamless enough to completely adapt to the local market and the needs of the local population. This gaming platform functions in all parts of the country – operated in every aspect, from banking to software, by local businesses.

Celebrity Partnerships

Considering everything mentioned, it’s easy to see why so many investors are betting the future of various global industries on the rapid growth of different African marketing sectors. Both the iGaming and the cultural sectors are standouts when it comes to successful ventures.

This is best evidenced by the trend of iGaming partnerships with local celebrity figures as a way to increase revenue on both sides.

Two such cases are Paridirect’s partnership with Brazzaville’s Sam Samouraï and Goliath Gaming’s partnership with FIFA’s Busisiwe “Busi96” Masango-Steenkamp. 

Both young people are household names with incredible talent and potential, and their collaborations with the massive iGaming industry giants all but seal the deal for skyrocketing future success.

Titus Andronicus Announce New Album ‘The Will to Live’, Share Video for New Song ‘(I’m) Screwed’

After announcing their return with ‘We’re Coming Back’, Titus Andronicus have detailed a brand new album: The Will to Live is out September 30 via Merge Records. The band’s Patrick Stickles co-produced the follow-up to 2019’s An Obelisk with Canadian producer Howard Bilerman at his hotel2tango studio in Montreal. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the new single ‘(I’m) Screwed’, alongside a music video from director Ray Concepcion. Check it out below and scroll down for the album cover and tracklist.

“In ‘(I’m) Screwed,’ we are introduced to the narrator of The Will to Live at the moment he realises the walls are closing in,” Stickles explained in a statement. “Be it real or imagined, he feels the pressure building on all sides, a feeling to which many of us can relate, I imagine. His faith and fortitude are tested like never before, and the narrative of the album will reveal whether that pressure crushes him or produces a diamond.”

The Will to Live was created partly as an attempt to process the 2021 death of Matt “Money” Miller, a founding member of Titus Andronicus and Stickles’ closest cousin. “Certain recent challenges, some unique to myself and some we have all shared, but particularly the passing of my dearest friend, have forced me to recognise not only the precious and fragile nature of life, but also the interconnectivity of all life,” Stickles said, continuing:

Loved ones we have lost are really not lost at all, as they, and we still living, are all component pieces of a far larger continuous organism, which both precedes and succeeds our illusory individual selves, united through time by (you guessed it) the will to live. Recognition of this self-evident truth demands that we extend the same empathy and compassion we would wish for ourselves outward to every living creature, even to those we would label our enemies, for we are all cells in the same body, sprung from a common womb, devoted to the common cause of survival.

Naturally, though, our long-suffering narrator can only arrive at this conclusion through a painful and arduous odyssey through Hell itself – this is a Titus Andronicus record, after all.

The Will to Live Cover Artwork:

The Will to Live Tracklist:

1. My Mother is Going to Kill Me
2. (I’m) Screwed
3. I Can Not Be Satisfied
4. Bridge and Tunnel
5. Grey Goo
6. Dead Meat
7. An Anomaly
8. Give Me Grief
9. Baby Crazy
10. All Through the Night
11. We’re Coming Back
12. 69 Stones

Loraine James Announces New Album ‘Building Something Beautiful For Me’, Unveils New Song

Loraine James has announced a new album, Building Something Beautiful For Me, which pays homage to the American composer Julius Eastman by reimagining and responding to his works. It’s set for release on October 7 via Phantom Limb. Listen to lead single ‘Maybe If I (Stay On It)’, which reinterprets Eastman’s ‘Stay On It’, below.

Building Something Beautiful For Me began in the summer of 2021, when the UK label provided James with a drive of Eastman originals (courtesy of Gerry Eastman), Renee Levine-Packer and Mary Jane Leach’s 2015 biography Gay Guerilla, and transcribed MIDI stems from Phantom Limb founder and A&R James Vella. James then crafted the album by employing samples, motifs, and imagery from Eastman’s catalog.

Loraine James issued her third album, Reflection, in 2021 through Hyperdub. More recently, she put out a self-titled debut record under the Whatever the Weather moniker via Ghostly International.

Building Something Beautiful For Me Cover Artwork:

Building Something Beautiful For Me Tracklist:

1. Maybe If I (Stay On It)
2. The Perception of Me (Crazy Nigger)
3. Choose To Be Gay (Femenine)
4. Building Something Beautiful For Me
5. Enfield, Always
6. My Take
7. Black Excellence (Stay On It)
8. What Now (Prelude To The Holy Presence Of Joan D’Arc)

Julia Jacklin Shares Video for New Single ‘Love, Try Not to Let Go’

Julia Jacklin has shared another single from her forthcoming album PRE PLEASURE. It’s titled ‘Love, Try Not To Let Go’, and it comes paired with video shot by Nick Mckk and featuring a collaboration with visual artist Juliet Bryant. Watch and listen below.

“’Love, Try Not To Let Go’ was written one night during the recording period in my apartment in Montreal,” Jacklin explained in a statement. “It’s the first song I’ve ever written fully on piano. It’s the first time I’ve played piano on a record. I thought someone better would redo the take but we kept it so now I’m officially a pianist. We recorded it the next day. I made everyone watch the running scene from Rocky beforehand.”

PRE PLEASURE comes out August 26 via Transgressive Records. It includes the previously released tracks ‘Lydia Wears a Cross’ and ‘I Was Neon’.

Kiwi Jr. Share New Single ‘The Extra Sees The Film’

Kiwi Jr. have previewed their upcoming album Chopper with its latest single, ‘The Extra Sees The Film’, following ‘Unspeakable Things’ and ‘Night Vision’. Give it a listen below.

“This song is quite literally a change of pace for us,” the band’s Jeremy Gaudet said in a press release. “It’s more chill and a bit darker than previous Kiwi Jr. recordings. It’s a song about whether or not you’re the hero of your own story, or a smaller part of something bigger. It’s bragging that you’re in a movie and inviting all your friends and family, but when it screens, you’re barely an extra in it. A lot of our songs deal with reckoning, this one in particular. It’s what happens after you’ve told your story and the truth comes out later, and everything unravels.”

Chopper is set for release on August 12 via Sub Pop.

Wyldest Releases New Single ‘Tin Foil Girl’

Wyldest has unveiled a new single, ‘Tin Foil Girl’, the latest offering from her upcoming album Feed The Flowers Nightmares. It follows previous entries ‘Abilene’ and ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’. Check it out below, alongside a music video directed by Zak Watson.

“‘Tin Foil Girl’ is about finding your own superpower to achieve a real state of flow and what I’m coining ‘organic happiness’,” Wyldest explained in a statement. “The kind of happiness that can only be achieved by doing something active rather than passive, activities that truly encourage growth.”

She continued: “Having dealt with more anxiety than ever in the past few years, I’ve really had to battle this temptation for ‘quick fix’ happiness, as it doesn’t last and it can sometimes lead to worsened problems. I’m not particularly good at skateboarding, but it is therapy for me. I use it as a way of getting out of dark places and it works because I have no ego attached to it. Have a party with your body, make shapes and have a wonderful time doing it.”

Feed The Flowers Nightmares arrives September 9 via Hand in Hive. Check out our Artist Spotlight interview with Wyldest.

Xenia Rubinos Releases New Song ‘Dia Libre en el Yanky’

Xenia Rubinos has released reworking of her Una Rosa track ‘Working All the Time’. It’s called ‘Dia Libre en el Yanky’, and it features piano from Leo Genovese, guitar from Yasser Tejeda, and guest vocals from Cuban rapper El Individuo. Check it out below.

‘Dia Libre en el Yanky’ is the third in a series of reimagined songs Rubinos recorded for the Sonos podcast Music Is Everything!, following ‘Madrugada’ and ‘No Me Dejes Caer’. “This was the first track we worked on as a group during this session,” she explained. “It was an all-star cypher with musicians who had never met or played together coming together to improvise on tracks off of my record. My friend and poet/actor Modesto Flako Jimenez came in to overdub some hypeman vocals and kicks off the track with his characteristic Dominican swagger, then El Individuo just knocked it out of the park freestyling about his story as a rapper coming up and how he now found himself ‘En el Yanky’ rapping with us in the studio. It was one of the first sessions he did since arriving in the states and we were so honored to have him with us.”

Watch Alex G Perform ‘Runner’ on ‘Fallon’

Alex G was the musical guest on last night’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing ‘Runner’, the latest single from his forthcoming album. Watch it below.

God Saves the Animals, Alex G’s ninth studio album, is set to drop on September 23 via Domino. ‘Runner’ – which landed on our Best New Songs segment – will appear on the LP alongside the early single ‘Blessing’.

Taking a Dip into the Art History

Art history is the history of human activities or products that were made by humans in the form of visuals to express their ideas, communicate their visions, let know of their emotions, or simply for a general and overall worldview. Over time, the concept of visual art has been changing and is being classified in various diverse ways. Art has shown diversion from the medieval mechanical arts and liberal arts distinction to the distinction in the modern world, between applied arts and fine arts or other contemporary definitions of art that aim to manifest various human creativities. You can visit artfilemagazine.com and see how art has manifested itself over time.

As per the list of arts created in the 20th century, nine art diversions form the entire concept of art. These nine diversions include; painting, architecture, music, dance, poetry, sculpture, photography, film, and graphics. With time, there have been new additions along with these old forms of art. The new additions include computer, video, advertising, performance, animation, videogames, and television.

Understanding the History of Art

The history of art or art history is a very popular multidisciplinary branch of arts and science. It aims to seek various aspects of art over time by establishing periodization, classifying various cultures, and observing the influential, distinctive, and unique characteristics of art as a whole. The study of art started during the popular and world-famous Renaissance period. Although the scope of the study was extremely limited since the entire study was based on Western Civilization. However, over time, the aspect of study became much wider, and the study much broader, and comprehensive. It spread over various civilizations and started analyzing their artistic productions according to their culture and their cultural values and not western art and its history. This brought cultural relativism into the picture.

In the present times, art has a wider network and enjoys a better perspective of stud, preservation, and dissemination, of all the major artistic legacies that happened all over the world, throughout history. The 20th Century witnessed the growth of various institutions, art museums, foundations, galleries, etc. In both private as well as public sectors. These were solely dedicated to providing an analysis of the various artworks and also exhibiting them at the mainstream level to the general audience. During this period the media started flourishing too. The influence of media played a crucial role in the study of art and helped to improve it. It also proved itself vital for its dissemination. The various exhibitions and events that happened on an international platform, had major contributions to the development of various new trends and styles. The various prizes were given also helped in promoting the best creativities all over the world on an international level. Preservation of the best artistic creativities was established too. Institutions such as UNESCO helped to conserve the various monuments all around the globe that are considered important and have been listed as world heritage sites.

Art history began in the west and initially only dealt with European history of art. The defining standard of this art history was drawn by Renaissance. Art history is often put together as a chronology of several masterpieces that were created over various periods and in different civilizations. Therefore, it can typically be framed as a story that revolved around different high cultures epitomizing the wonders of cultures around the globe. On the other hand, historical art narratives also include the various vernacular expressions of art and are commonly called folk art or folk craft. The closer one gets engaged with these forms of culture, the better one will be able to understand their work and be able to contribute to fields related to the history of art and culture.

A dig into the Renaissance Period

We are all quite aware of what Renaissance was all about. The famous paintings created during that period by popular artists like Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and various other artists are still considered to be historical marvels, even after centuries. While these artists are all we can think of when talking about the Renaissance, in reality, Renaissance is way vaster than this. The period of the “newborn” revived various classic cultures. Art faced several struggles during middle age along with Europe. People living during that era could barely figure out survival strategies to get spared from the ruling authority, while the rulers concentrated on expanding their rule over the nation and the lives of people. Hence, there was no time to spare and look into the art and think of devoting time towards it. The Renaissance after this period brought hope to the world of western art.

Conclusion

Renaissance brought a ray of hope to the world of art that had no scope of getting noticed. Renaissance made art reach the highest level of stability and made it spread all over. Though there is no clear date as to when Renaissance exactly began, the phase lasted somewhere between 1150-1600. Art thus began to spread its wings, and ever since then, there has been no stopping at all. It has made its place all around the world and is doing major contributions even in the modern age.

7 Most Crazy IO Games of 2022: The Ultimate List

Small but bright and addictive, io challenges do attract attention. Even if you’ve never played them, they burst into your life. There are lots of enticing YouTube shorts and Let’s Play videos by prominent bloggers. They look so engaging that you even decide to put away PUBG or other favorite titles. And enjoy a crazy minimalistic journey. But which adventure to start from? Don’t worry, we’ve compiled a list of io games that are fun to try!

What Kind of a Genre Is That?

We won’t go too deep into defining this group of toys. To make it short, io options are free, online, and multiplayer (2-player, etc.). They have dynamic and short rounds, with simple and satisfying mechanics. They’re easy to dive into: you’ll know the controls naturally.

And they run right through the web! All the heavy lifting is done by browser tech. Now let’s come to cool, time-killing, and crazy io games 2022.

Best Web Games

Dynast IO

Top-down perspective is a new trend these days. Become a warrior, collect resources, and craft tools and weapons. Large spiders and other environmental dangers will threaten your life. Besides, other participants will be happy to kill you, too. You can join the same server, play with friends and develop your characters together.

JumpFall IO

This simple but challenging title is perfect to play when bored. Controlling a cube-like jumper, you run over tricky tracks and proceed to the finish line. Attention: abysses are everywhere. Master the controls to be better than others. The website the toy is published on has many other similar addictive options to enjoy.

ChessArena IO

You’ll get warriors from chess pieces and explore a squared map. Your characters move according to the traditional board game’s rules. For example, a knight jumps at an L-shape. The goal is to collect coins, buy new fighters and destroy other participants. For no-mouse players, it’s possible to give out orders using a touch screen.

Stabfish 2 IO

This battle royale is among the best browser games out there. You dive into the depth of an ocean and control a water creature. Consume food to accumulate enough points and become a stronger beast. Cut other players into pieces with a huge horn! Registration is not obligatory. But you can sign in to avoid losing your progress or continue as a guest.

Daud IO

Welcome to ship battles! Traverse sea waves with your fleet, find and sink your enemies. Shoot from all weapons simultaneously to unleash your firepower. The title has a training mode with a bot. It’ll show you the basic moves and prepare you for grand multiplayer mayhem!

SlitherCraft IO

Imagine a game like Minecraft and Snake? This is what this adventure looks like. The visuals and characters are taken from the famous pixelated crafting-based hit. But the mechanics are like in Slither IO. Slide around the map, collect cubes and become a longer worm. Kill at least 4 players to feel the rush. Dominate over other participants and be the best!

Hedz IO

This is a dynamic shooter that lasts about 3 minutes. As the title hints, you’ll become a head armed with a gun. Jump around platforms and make as many kills as you can. If you’re taken down, don’t worry. Get respawned, find the one who did it and take your revenge! There are customization options. Earn in-game coins to buy rare good stuff and improve your outlook.

Wrapping Up

Now you have a mini list of the best web games to start with. Enjoy them alone or invite friends for a 100% fun party. But remember about security issues. Consider using a VPN to feel safe (this applies to any adventure). Especially when visiting unknown game sites or wanting to avoid other dangers. It’ll also help if you want to trick the network’s filters at school or work. To get any digital toy unblocked, read this article.