Africa Is a Country

Music Break. Friday Bonus Edition, N°1

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Music Break. Friday Bonus Edition, N°1

By
Sean Jacobs

Girl Power is big among female West African pop singers.  Or so recent music videos suggest. We’ve featured Goldie Harvey and Lousika (Ghana) here before. Now here’s two more. First up is Ghanaian Efya with “Sexy Sassy Wahala,” from the soundtrack of 10-part Ghanaian movie “Adams Apple“:

Next up is Nigerian singer Zara Gretti:

Related: Jogyo, one half of whom is from Gabon:

Unrelated: The Congolese-American (is there a meme here?) Hugo Million is building a following back in the DRC, while mixing party and political music (not unusual to Congolese artistes, of course). Here, from a few months ago, is “Benga Nzambe,” which takes a political tone and which is appropriate given the volatile climate around elections in the DRC now:

Finally, some French rap “made in Normandy!” HVJ du Coeff & Jeune Karn with “Les égouts de l’underground’:

H/T: Okayafrica, What’s Up Africa, Tom Devriendt

Further Reading

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.