Africa Is a Country

August 3, Niger

August 3, Niger

By
Boima Tucker

Let’s celebrate Niger’s independence day with a recording of Omara “Bombino” Moctar, whose story of exile — and return — speaks to many youth in the country.

Along with Rap music:


[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd3rt3C-RzE&w=600&h=373]

that is sometimes danceable…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIPGzIWK5rU&w=600&h=373]

sometimes political…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1BfvP7Qa5g&&w=600&h=373]

and sometimes incorporates tradition.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJCLJlFRaJI&w=600&h=373]

Rap group Tchakey hops on the Night Nurse Riddim(!) to talk about freedom of expression.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCXJl1L1xNo&w=600&h=373]

Since independence, music from Niger’s various ethnic groups that had traditionally been separate, such as the Hausa, Taureg, Berber, Fula, and Songhai started mixing with each other, and with Western sounds like Jazz, Blues, and Reggae giving Nigerien music a distinct feel, a place where North, East, and West Africa meet.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0NuuWJscqg&w=600&h=373]

A live performance by Moussa Poussi where Mami Wata, the water goddess gets a roots reggae dedication:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAuYfQCgSQU&w=600&h=373]

This great Coupe Decale influenced Hausa song was shared not too long ago on Sahel Sounds:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkVjvbE_ApA&w=600&h=373]

Three of the countries top women singers get together for a song with a social awareness message.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TKKktqkQg&w=600&h=373]

Support from The Festival in the Desert, and both upcoming and established Western labels has benefited Nigerien artists such as Etran Finatawa who formed at the festival in 2004…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NjX1ziHVX8&w=600&h=373]

Happy Nigerien Independence Day!

Further Reading

Fuel’s errand

When Africa’s richest man announced the construction of the continent’s largest crude oil refinery, many were hopeful. But Aliko Dangote has not saved Nigeria. The Nigerian Scam returns to the Africa Is a Country Podcast to explain why.

Fragile state

Without an immediate change in approach, Somalia will remain a fragmented country populated by self-serving elites seeking foreign patrons.

Coming home

In 1991, acclaimed South African artist Helen Sebidi’s artworks were presumed stolen in Sweden. Three decades later, a caretaker at the residential college where they disappeared found them in a ceiling cupboard, still in their original packaging.

Imaginary homelands

A new biography of former apartheid homeland leader Lucas Mangope struggles to do more than arrange the actions of its subject into a neat chronology.

Business as usual?

This month, Algeria quietly held its second election since Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted in 2019. On the podcast, we ask what Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s second term means for the country.

The complexities of solidarity

Assassinated in 1978, Henri Curiel was a Jewish Egyptian Marxist whose likely killers include fascist French-Algerian colons, the apartheid South African Bureau of State Security, and the Abu Nidal Organization.