Hausa hiphop artist Nazir Hausawa (Ziriums) featured in Recording a Revolution: Hiphop and Social Change in Africa, Alachua County Library Headquarters, Gainsville, Florida, USA, 23 February 2013

Hausa hiphop artist Ziriums (Nazir Hausawa) will take part in an African Hip Hop event at the Alachua County Library Headquarters, in Gainesville, Florida, USA, on Saturday 23 February 2013. Ziriums was featured in the documentary Recording a Revolution, by Alex Johnson and Saman Piracha, which will screen 10am-11am. Ziriums will host a Q&A from 11am-12pm The event also features discussions with founding member of Dead Prez M1, Kamau Ngigi, founding member of Kalamashaka, a Kenyan Hip Hop group, and Michael Wanguhu, the director of the award winning documentary Ni Wakati (It’s Time), which will screen from 1-2pm.

The event is sponsored by the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida and the Alachua County Library District.

For more information, see the poster and the press release below.

Recording a Revolution: Hip Hop and Social Change in Africa

Event Time: Saturday February 23, 2013: 10 am-5 pm

Event Location: Alachua County Library Headquarters, 4^th floor

Recording a Revolution is an event that brings together artists, scholars and documentary filmmakers to discuss hip hop, the visual arts, and political activism in Africa. Two new documentaries will be presented along with a panel including the films’ directors/producers and featured hip hop artists, including American hip hop artist M1, founding member of dead prez. This panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the representation of and by artists/activists of Africa and the African diaspora, and open up a public dialogue about social and political concerns in Africa. As it coincides with Black History Month, this event will also encourage a discussion between the historical linkages between Africa and its diaspora.

The two African hip hop artists – Nazir Hausawa (aka ‘Ziriums’) of Nigeria and Kamau Ngigi of Kenya – will arrive several days before the event. If anyone is interested in meeting with them on Thursday or Friday (February 21-22), or would like more information about the featured movies or artists, please contact Sue O’Brien (smobrien@ufl.edu).

This event is sponsored by the Alachua County Public Library, as well as the Center for African Studies and the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida.

Hausa rapper Ziriums Show, Amarachi Lounge, Brooklyn, New York, midnight, Friday 9/10 September 2011

Ziriums performs "Hausa Fulani" at the 2010 Savannah International Movie Awards in Abuja (c) Carmen McCain

Hausa rapper Ziriums (Nazir Ahmad Hausawa) will be performing in what his invitation to the event calls  “the first Hausa Rap concert ever in Brooklyn”

Time: 12am midnight

Date: Friday, 9/10 September 2011

Venue: Amarachi Lounge , at 325 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11238, United States

$10 cover fee

Ziriums has previously performed at The Shrine in New York; SUNY Purchase, New York; the Savannah International Movie Awards, Abuja; the pre-parlour Music Festival in Niamey, Niger; the British Council, Kano, among other appearances. He has collaborated with musicians Mecca2Medina, Yoye, Supreme Solar, Billy-O, Abdullahi Mighty, Adam A. Zango, Murja Baba, Maryam Fantimoti, Alfazazee, Malo Men, Osama bin Music, and others. He released his first album This is Me online in 2010. It can be purchased on Myspace, Amazon, and itunes.

Ziriums is featured in the forthcoming documentary Recording a Revolution and has also been featured on CNN, NTA International, Fim Magazine, and has made appearances on radio shows and other print and online publications, including translation of an interview and translation of lyrics on A Tunanina and a feature on Sahel Sounds.

For more information about Ziriums and to listen to his music, see his Facebook page, myspace page, reverbnation page, and youtube page.

Ziriums’ show in Brooklyn follows on another recent Kano-Lagos Connection concert featuring much Hausa hiphop that took place in Kano, at the Goethe Institut.

Other hiphop artists who use Hausa include Abdullahi Mighty, Adam A. Zango, Big Daddy Fresh, Billy-O (featured in TY Shaban’s video here), Buzo Danfillo, Daman Sounds, Japs, Jesse Jagz, Kano Raiders, K-Boyz, Lakal Kaney, Lt. John, M.I., Nomiis Gee, Osama bin Music, TY Shaban, Vtime Faya, among others. For more sampling of Hausa hiphop and popular music listen to this free sampler at dandali.com, put together by Hausa popular culture scholar Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, which includes songs by Billy-O, Soultan Abdul, Abdullahi Mighty, Menne, Lakal Kaney, Neba Solo, and the “traditional” musician Dan Maraya Zamfara [actual name is Babangida Kakadawa].)

Here is Zirium’s music video from the title track of his album This is Me.