All The Way Live comes through again. Check out the info on the show and the recording below…

This week marked the release of K-Os’ first official live album and the airing of his live special on Much Music.  With this live album being an “unplugged” approach, k dash and his band put together some amazing new arrangements for the show.  Be sure to snatch up your copy now on either iTunes (Canada only) or on Amazon.ca (includes live DVD combo).  To celebrate the new release, we decided to put out our own exclusive K-Os live album.  Recorded at the Highline Ballroom in NYC last year by yours truly, this is a great compliment to the “unplugged” album as it contrasts the acoustic release perfectly.

Download it here: K-Os – Live in NYC (Full Show Download) *Exclusive* | All The Way Live.

…via.

Nigel Durrant put together a nice photoset on everyday life in Guyana.
Check out the full photoset here.

Ms. Fiona adds some Island flavor to her latest offering. This is off her The MF Mixtape, which is dropping soon. Check out the music below…

Download it here: Melanie Fiona – “Like I Love You”.

…via.

Interesting article over at Naked With Socks On dealing with the ongoing issue of Ethnicity vs. Race. I’ll let them tell it. Check out the excerpt below…

Black is a powerful word. More than a color, it represents an entire race of people. While some may prefer African American, Afro Cuban, Afrocentric or whatever variation that applies, when someone says “Black” (with a capital B) you generally know what they mean. That’s why I was taken aback when this man looked me in my eye and said, “I’m not Black.”

Despite having the same pigmentation as myself, he was adamant about expressing his Spanish heritage. He was Panamanian and proud. Being called “Black” was somehow an insult to everything that he was. Be that as it may, looking at him all I saw was another Black man like myself. I never paid attention to his last name, which I later discovered had Spanish roots, because for all I knew it could have just as well been Haitian. Even that was “too Black” for him.

I have no problem with someone holding on to their heritage but when I use the term “Black,” I include all people within the brown spectrum. It doesn’t matter if you’re from the South, North, Caribbean, UK, South America or the Motherland, if I look at you and see a person of color I feel you’re Black. We can all break things down in to different categories and sub categories, but at the end of the day if your skin is pigmented b the world looks at your outward appearance and puts you in a box called “Black” before you even open your mouth.

Still, many people of Spanish descent tend to distance themselves from being labeled “Black.” Whether or not you speak Spanish, Creole, Patois, English or Portuguese, chances are the bloodlines have been mixed with an African slave at some point down the line, but because being “Black” is often viewed as being a negative thing it gets shunned by those that can.

But why?…

Check out their full article here: African American vs. Latino, Racial Divide, Negro Documentary.

Whether they go by names such as Voodoo, Obeah, Santeria or Polu, West African religious traditions exist all over the world in regions affected by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. This past weekend, The New York Times explored the repercussions of the recent resurgence in the practice in New York among recent Haitian refugees and younger professionals alike.

It’s definitely an interesting read. Check out an excerpt from the article below…

…Long misunderstood and maligned in Western popular culture, voodoo has become a spiritual anchor in New York City’s vast Haitian community and in Haitian enclaves across the country as practitioners look for comfort after the devastating earthquake in the impoverished Caribbean nation last year.

In New York, where there are roughly 300,000 people who were born in Haiti or are of Haitian descent — the largest concentration in the United States — richly painted basement voodoo temples are sprinkled around Harlem and in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Mambos, or voodoo priestesses, say they can barely keep up with “demann,” or prayer requests; spiritual love recipes to lure recalcitrant lovers are the most popular. Voodoo prayer circles in which practitioners meet to commiserate have also proliferated, with a notable intensity in the months since the earthquake…

…and the video below that explores thing further…

Haitian-Americans are embracing the centuries-old traditions of voodoo, an often stigmatized religion that is undergoing a renaissance in New York City.

Read the full article here: Voodoo, Spiritual Anchor, Rises Again in New York – NYTimes.com.

For those who’ve never had it, I’d describe Hard Dough bread as a dense, slightly sweet, white bread. This particular recipe is Guyanese, but it’s most common in Jamaican food.

That all said, check out the recipe below…

Hard-dough Bread

Ingredients:

Sponge

• 1½ cups cold water
• 1 oz yeast
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 lb all-purpose flour

Dough

• 1½ cups cold water
• 1 oz powdered milk
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 oz soft margarine
• 1 lb all-purpose flour

(more…)

It’s been too long since I posted a weekly recipe on here. We’ll change that today. Check out the details on a Guyanese favorite below…

Callaloo Fritters

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw callaloo (spinach or Swiss chard can substitute), cut up
• ½ onion
• 1 tomato
• 1 oz margarine
• 1 cup flour
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• Vegetable oil for deep frying

Check out the rest after the jump…

(more…)

Interesting interview with the late Guyanese scholar. Check it out below…

Ivan Van Sertima, is a scholar of African Studies at Rutgers University. He maintains that Africans were responsible for advances in metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, medicine and other fields. He also believes that black Africans came to North America before Christopher Columbus. (Original broadcast 1997)

….via.

Another drop of music that I’ve held on to for way too long. Some newer than others. Check out the goods below…

Check out a few videos and links to download after the jump…

(more…)

A Guyanese recipe for a dish with West African roots. Check out the details below…

Peanut Soup & Yam Foo Foo

Ingredients

:

For Peanut Soup…

• 7 oz parched peanuts
• Meat or salt fish or dried fish
• 2 wirri-wirri peppers, or enough to taste
• 1 small onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1½ pints water or stock

For Yam Foo Foo…

• 2 lb hard yams (sweet potato)
• 1 lb cassava

(more…)