Nomadic Wax
Nomadic Wax is a fair-trade international music, film, and events production company specializing in hip-hop and underground music.[1] Nomadic Wax works with a network of artists and musicians worldwide who use art as a medium for activism, social change, and community development. American Ben Herson founded Nomadic Wax in 1999, while living in Brooklyn, New York. Herson graduated with a B.A. in African Studies and Anthropology from Hampshire College in 2000 and did post baccalaureate studies in Wolof (a West African language) at Columbia University.[2]
Nomadic Wax has since expanded, with an additional office in Washington DC run by Creative Director, Magee McIlvaine.[3]
Background
During the summer of 1999, Nomadic Wax founder Ben Herson discovered a local independent hip-hop scene in Senegal and became fascinated by the music which contained politically and socially conscious lyrical content .[2] His attempts at persuading existing labels to publish the music met with difficulties.[4]
Film and television
Nomadic Wax began working with film in 2007, with the film “African Underground: Democracy in Dakar" [5] co-produced with non profit film company Sol Productions. The film is a feature-length documentary that explores the role of youth hip-hop activism in the 2007 Senegalese elections. On December 11, 2008, “Democracy in Dakar” was screened on LinkTV.[6] In 2009, it was screened on WHUT in Washington DC. Since then, “Democracy in Dakar” has been shown at dozens of film festivals and universities internationally.[7]
“Democracy in Haiti” [8] is Nomadic Wax's third documentary project. It follows a variety of young people to examine why Haiti's youth have become so separated from mainstream Haitian society and the democratic system.
Notes
- Sherwood, Seth (6 December 2009). "The Songs of Senegal". The New York Times.
- http://benherson.com/
- Currier, Cora (21 April 2009). "Democracy, on Mic and on Camera | The Nation".
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: Cite magazine requires|magazine=
(help) - Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (12 September 2009). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 12. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
- "Democracy in Dakar". nomadicwax.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-14.
- "Link TV | Programs | Democracy in Dakar". www.linktv.org. Archived from the original on 2008-12-12.
- "Democracy in Dakar". sol-productions.info. Archived from the original on 2011-01-02.
- "A documentary film project about youth, hip-hop and politics in Haiti". democracyinhaiti.com. Archived from the original on 2010-11-25.