AFRICAN QUEENS: NJINGA.

Today I round up my article about one of the most powerful and fearsome African warrior, Njinga. The story that depicts the journey of an African war legend as I love calling her, takes in the northern part of Angola. The first thing to look at is the authenticity of the story especially when we are looking at the executive producer of the docu-series, Jada Pinkett Smith, an American.

Unlike most stories ever told by the Western world that depict the stories of Africans, they solely, or should I say entirely depended on American and British historians to tell what they know and think what happened, the Njinga story has made what I would love to say [an incredible job] by incorporating African historians to come onboard and help with the telling of the story as it happened. The list of historians includes: Rosa Cruz e Silva, Director of the National Archives of Angola (1992-2008) to provide accurate accounts of everything from European politics in the region to day-to-day life as a monarch of an African kingdom.

One of the most exciting voices to be heard is that of Queen Diambi Kabatusuila, HRH the current Woman King of the Bakwa Luntu People. A crowned traditional ruler of the Democratic Republic of Congo, she breaks down everything from ancestor worship to the practice of women of royal birth taking male consorts. With people like her in the storyline, it helps in crafting an authentic [story] that the world can relate to and learn the true events of what happened centuries ago.

There are stories that were misrepresented and never told the way they occur in Africa and one good example is the story of one of Zimbabwe′s spirit medium gurus, Mbuya Nehanda who led the war of the first [Chimurenga] in Zimbabwe.

The First Chimurenga is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First War of Independence. It is also known in the English-speaking world as the Second Matabele War. This conflict refers to the 1896–1897 Ndebele-Shona revolt against the British South Africa Company's administration of the territory.

It is believed that Nehanda led a very massive revolt that nearly took out the British army but fell short of the necessary equipment. Stories otherwise have been written by the white world uncovering how Nehanda led her people into battle against the mighty British army knowing very well informed of how powerful the enemy was.

Jada Pinkett and her writing team did a very good job of paying particular attention to what I say is the fundamentals of storytelling, for example in the case of Njinga′s father as well as her mad brother Mbande both had some kind of mental problems. Many scholars have subscribed to the fact that though what caused the death of Njinga′s brother was suicidal, mental depression took center stage.

However, one thing that I noticed so well is that many of the accent used especially by the main leading character is not that of an African. Why didn′t they find an African or a cast of all Africans to do the job for her? Of course, there are some in the story who did great but were just supporting characters with no full impact as compared to actors like Adesuwa Oni who plays the character of Njinga.

As far as I know, African actors can deliver the results in any production across the globe and I kept asking myself why in the world the producers and executive producers chose the cast they had to portray African stories. This question will forever remain unanswered I guess. Because if it had had an African accent in its 4 powerful episodes I think it would have appealed to many more African audiences.

Below is the link to African Queens: Njinga trailer by Netflix

African Queens: Njinga