First Episode, New Webisode – Tales With Tosinger

Greetings everyone,

It’s been a minute and here is what I’ve been working on. I sing, I write, I act and I tell stories. I am a modern day griot and a cultural ambassador and my name is Tosinger. 🙂

Here’s introducing,  the first vlog/webisode/series, whatever you choose to call it, edition of my weekly (on Tuesdays)  folk storytelling project- TALES WITH TOSINGER,

Folk tales and fables are an educational and entertaining means of passing down traditions and customs from one generation to the next. An African tradition for several generations,  adults would tell tales by the moonlight while teaching morals and lessons. I have chosen to gather adults and children alike around a social app, a youtube video, the millennial way to get the world’s attention 😉

The inspiration….

Enjoy Episode #001 Dawu the Lion King.  DO SUBSCRIBE, like, comment and spread the word. Ese!  ( pronounced “E-shay ” — which means ‘Thank you’ in Yoruba)

✿

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing,

Tosinger

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Introducing French-Cameroonian Wazal Brand 2015 Collection

African Elegance Meets Paris Chic!

Ayissi creator of the Wazal Collection.

AYISSI NGA Joseph-Marie aka JJ DU STYLE is a fashion designer who creates very chic street wear. The French/Cameroonian designer whose father was a tailor, has decided to follow the footsteps of pioneer Cameroonian fashion designers such as Imane Ayissi and Martial Topolo by creating his own clothing line called ‘WAZAL’ which was launched in 2005.

In 2006, he launched his first designs which are worn by celebrities like  SINGUILA, Alpeco, WAYNE BECKFORD, ROMARIC Koffi and Lalcko. His brand “WAZAL” is a blend of “WAZA”, the name of a natural park in the extreme north of Cameroon and the letter “L” which stands for Lion, the Cameroonian symbol of power.

ABOUT WAZAL COUTURE:

WAZAL COUTURE fashion line that expresses innovations, new styles and creativity. Mixing various colors and prints, he adds and blends other materials/fabrics such as pure cotton, denim jean, wax, leather, fur, synthetic to create a blended ambiance. He got his professional training from VANESSA RUIZ fashion school in Paris and he later on specialized in creating tuxedo jackets. The first collection was in 2013 – “Tete fly.”

In 2013, he was part of the guests of the Ambassador of Cameroon to Paris for the exhibition of the feast of the Cameroonian youth and the Fashion Night Lounge at the Elysee Palace in Paris, where he presented his three concepts: WazalRock, fly Tété and Africafutur.

These concepts are based on values that symbolized his career: Daring, Respect and Creation. Wazal’s cuts and designs are impressive, modern and trendy.

His 2015 collection of tuxedo jackets  inspired by a Cameroonian slang, “tété” means wealthy (bourgeois) chic.

For more on the Wazal brand and to buy his collections visit: http://www.wazalshop.com/

Beautifully Dreaming… Positively Doing..

Tosinger

Afrodreamfest NYC 2015 Review by #VoiceOfAmerica (@VOANews) & #AIT (@AIT_Online) Journalist – Adanma Odefa (@AOdefa)

Afrodreamfest has come and gone but the glorious aftermath still linger in the hearts and souls of the attendees . Afrodreamfest, a touring concert to celebrate African Liberation Day ( #AfricaDay  May 25) and promote upcoming talented neo~afro fusion artists in the diaspora took place this year (May 22 at Meridian 23 and May 23 at Silvana Harlem)  in the vibrant city that never sleeps – New York City. It featured an eclectic line up of artists including myself (Afrosoul), Ayanbinrin – the female talking drummer (Afrofolk), Ogasilachi (AfroRnB), Eli Fola (AfroJazz), Laolu and The Afromysterics (Afrobeat), Aduke (Afrosoul) and bonus features Afro pop artistes – Ayo In Motion and Na!ra. To promote the event, you can also watch my Sahara radio interview with the Humble Prince here 

Below is a heartfelt review by International Journalist Adanma Odefa in the selfie below 🙂

Adanma and Tosinger

 

Afrodreamfest Experience in New York City

When a friend of mine told me about the Afrodreamfest in New York City, my first reaction was, ‘I might as well have an adventure, I’ve got nothing else to do!’. So I packed up and went to New York City from Washington DC not really expecting much. Although I had been in New York previously, the city didn’t fail in keeping me on my toes. Finally, we made it to Chelsea where the concert was holding.

Ogasilachi

Laolu

My first thought was, ‘wow! What strong vocals! What powerful lyrics! What artistic sincerity!‘. This was the reaction the young lady Aduke evoked when she sang. Reeling from that, I sailed through several other performances including the beautiful ‘Naira’ who struck me as sleek, chic and distinct with her rap style. Naira effortlessly executed a marriage of American rap culture and African uniqueness.

Aduke

Na!ra

The icing on cake for me was Ayanbirin. She has such a presence on stage that depicts Africanism in a way that was almost tangible. I gawked in awe as she dominated every single person in the room. Her power was all the more enchanting with her backup drummer and sidekick. Day one ended with dancing and exhaustion. I went back to my lodgings wondering what day two would bring.

Ayanbinrin

By the end of day two, I was glad it was a two-day event. I had missed some of the performances from day one so I got the experience of fresh excitement. It was on this day that I got the opportunity of falling under the musical enchantress’s spell. Tosinger endeared me with her beautiful all African costume and her lively stage presence. Day two icing on the cake for me was AyoInMotion. I am not trustful of my capacity to put into words the powerful emotions this artist invoked in me. He reached deep into my soul and pulled out all things African within me and left me feeling sad for those who are unable to claim African roots.

Tosinger

Ayo in motion

Altogether, Afrodreamfest was precisely a dreamy artistic romance with Africa. I look forward to the next one with a barely contained feverish excitement.

Adanma Odefa
International Journalist,
Voice of America.

To see videos, do visit https://www.youtube.com/user/AfroDreamFest

For photos visit, click https://www.facebook.com/AfroDreamFest/photos_stream

Don’t forget to leave a comment and share your thoughts. Visit www.afrodreamfest.com, sign up on the email list to stay updated on future events.

Beautifully Dreaming Positively Doing

Tosinger

So You Know You Are Beautiful? – ‘ Miss Africa USA Pageant’ – BHF Call

A Beautiful Wednesday to all You Beautiful People 🙂

I have always followed BHF Magazine Africa for some years now and I have been impressed with how they promote the beauty and style of any and everything Africa.  I was actually  a guest at one of their fashion shows in DC back in 2011 and been featured once on their ‘Yes! I am African’ project. They are currently putting out a call for you African beauties out there so I thought to help them spread the word. They are an official media sponsor of the ‘Miss Africa USA Pageant’  taking place in Washington DC in 2014. See below for more info. If you are beautiful and you know it, go for it 🙂

For more info, check out BHF Magazine FB Page and take a look at their lovely shopping catalog.

All the best,

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing…

xoxo

Tosinger

HISTORY IN BLACK AND WHITE & Some Music

Bonjour,

Pictures and Music … Not a lot of words today..

Music is from Oriri, a young upcoming Afro~soulful artist who also featured in my Ile music video (playing the bass guitar). Unlike the regular incorporation of the Yoruba language prevalent in most neo-afro music originating from Nigeria, he is making his people of the Benin Kingdom of Nigeria proud by incorporating his very own Bini local dialect in his music. It’s beautiful.

Follow on Twitter @oririmusic

More about Oriri here. I have chosen 3 black and white poignant historical {in the spirit of Mandela, South Africa relevant} photos to accompany the theme of 3 of his songs. Enjoy ’em.

Winnie and Nelson Mandela, 1962

Miriam Makeba ~ Kalk Bay Modern: Jurgen Schadeberg – THE BLACK & WHITE FIFTIES

Ernest Cole (1940 – 1990) Handcuffed blacks were arrested for being in white area illegally South Africa 1960-1966

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing…

xoxo

Tosinger

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT : TOSIN

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.  ~Berthold Auerbach

Hello Peeps,

Hope everyone is doing alright. There’s always music to make you feel a little better. Right?  The spotlight is on a very good, personal, musical friend of mine, coincidentally a namesake, TOSIN (Tosin is a Nigerian (Yoruba) unisex name, short form of Oluwatosin which means ‘God is enough to be worshiped or God is worthy to be worshiped). Tosin is a songwriter, vocalist, drummer extraordinaire, composer and arranger. He is one of ‘us’ carrying the torch of African music in the US diaspora. He is  a renowned drummer & percussionist (oh I said that already :)) former – Ayetoro band member who has played with who’s who in the industry including Spyro Gyra, Femi Kuti, Andres Levin, Jon Carroll, Antibalas, Julie Dexter among others. More on his site. I absolutely love his sound and vibe, afro feel with a touch of contemporary lacings, and his use of the Yoruba language, just like my music. Keep scrolling. 🙂

Tosinger (Left) Tosin (Right) at AfroDreamfest

I will let this video of his interview with Heather Maxwell do the talking. Enjoy.

Music Time in Africa presents TOSIN with Host Heather Maxwell

Click on Tosin’s image below to learn more about his music, connect with him and get his latest project ‘Life Begins’

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing..

xoxo

Tosinger

NAIJABOYZ ARE BAAAAAAAAACK!!

Top of the day to you all,

So this musical comedic duo, ‘The Komolafe Twins’ aka Naijaboyz have been in hiatus for a while. I’ve always been amused by their African take on mainstream pop music through their intentionally satirical videos and spoofy remixes. So they just launched their comeback with an ‘African Parents’ spin on disciplining their wayward teenagers, influenced by  ‘Miley Cyrus’  using her “Wrecking Ball” music video. You need to be conversant with all the drama surrounding Miley Cyrus and the ‘Wrecking Ball’ video and maybe a little more familiar with the ‘legality’ and regularity of corporal punishment back in Nigeria ( and maybe Africa in general) especially pre-MTV generation to enjoy the video. Funny enough I was just having that conversation yesterday about how we got spanked in secondary school albeit as innocent students alongside the perpetrator if no one owned up to the accusation ha ha.:D.

Nevertheless, this is just plain and simple – hilarious.

NaijaBoyz

So here goes NaijaBoyz Music video Miley Cyrus performing ‘Wrecking Ball’ The African Remix.. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball (Chatroulette Version) By the way, “Chop Igbati” means “Give you a dirty and resounding slap” (not a literal translation lol but that’s the idea, “chop”- pidgin for “take it”, igbati – “slap” in Yoruba)

Young generation ‘Africans in America’, or in the ‘West’ in general, you have to relate.. 😀

For more of NaijaBoyz, check out their YouTube Channel

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing…

xoxo

Tosinger

You Tie your BowTie, I Tie my HeadTie

Happy Sunday Friends,

‘Tis a beautiful day to be Afro~bohochic and that is exactly what I did.

So I like doing things out of the box, going against the norm type o’ person I am. Creative peeps are like that right? so there goes a sigh of relief. 🙂

So here’s a fashion accessory that will be live on the Afrodreaming store soon.  Georgietta’s SkirtyHeadwrap© (I’ll tell you the story behind that tag soon)  The fabric pattern is so beautiful and the texture very malleable …it’s not your regular accessory, I’ll tell you why soon.  Unique Colors, and patterns, …you’ll have it. .for all the ladies out there who admire and want the look…..Watch out 2014! “Georgietta’s Afro-Boho Line”   on the Afrodreaming Store Site.

(This is a teaser)

What’s more, you can lift that lovely wavy  handle and complete the wrap around  to get the look below

Well till then have a laughter filled week. …And to my American friends….Have a Happy thanksgiving!! There’s a lot to be thankful for!

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing..

xoxo

Tosinger