Africa Is a Country

Summer in the City

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

Summer in the City

By
Wills Glasspiegel

The pick of summer 2012's shows and parties in New York City.

Africa is a Country doesn’t always claim a city or even a continent. But we do claim New York as one home among many for live music in the late summer.

We’ll be taking a break from posting during August. For many of the site’s contributors, summer’s finally here so you’ll find us outside. The editor asked the collective to let readers know what they were up to: which shows, exhibitions, happenings they think we shouldn’t miss out on, which books they’ll be reading, or what music they’ll be pumping at their garden parties, and share it in the form of a list. Here’s my pick of upcoming shows and parties in New York City.

Below is a short list of recommended shows and parties. Some we’ve discussed on AIAC; some we haven’t. Please feel free to add your own show and party recommendations in the comments section.

Shabazz Palaces’ short film for Black Up is contemporary visual poetry at its best. Butterfly (is it ok to still call him that?) brings his critically-acclaimed fever-dream rap project to Ft. Green Park tonight.
Shabazz Palaces
7.24 | Ft. Greene Park

Venus X and $hanye’s legendary (at least around these parts at AIAC) NYC party returns to Manhattan with some of the artists that were there in the beginning when this party first developed its trend-setting tendencies in 2010.
GHET20G0TH1K ft. Total Freedom, Nguzunguzu, Slink, $hayne and Venus X
7.25 | 200 Varick St.

Check out Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto’s classic Smithsonian Folkways release and you’ll hear the high lonesome and not-so-secretly African sound of America (the continents). It’s gaita music from Colombia and it’s definitely the realest shit happening on Bleeker Street in late July.
Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto w/ Geko Jones (Que Bajo?!)
7.26 | Le Poisson Rouge

It’s hard to believe Turkish psych folk goddess, Selda Bağcan, is coming to NYC for the first time.
Selda Bağcan
7.28 | Lincoln Center

DJ Spoko, an underground South Africa house music genius behind DJ Mujava’s transcendent “Township Funk,” arrives in the US for the first time straight from Pretoria where he’s a local legend for making “Bacardi House.”
DJ Spoko, MJ Cole, Micachu & the Shapes
7.28 | PS1 Summer Warmup

WizKid is massively popular throughout the continent and the Diaspora. People often call him the African Justin Bieber.
WizKid, Banky W, Skales, Rotimi
7.28 | Grand Ballroom

Following on the success of their opening exhibition which focused on gothic futurism of multimedia sculptor and art-rap genius Ramellzee, Susanne Geiss has put together a superb series of concerts this summer in their intimate SoHo space. This one looks particularly good:
James Ferraro, Tim DeWit, Wu Tsang, Shayne Oliver
7.28 | Susanne Geiss Gallery

Timbuktu diva extraordinaire Khaira Arby is back yet again in NYC with her indomitable band.
Khaira Arby
8.1 | Lincoln Center

Sidi Touré, The Pedrito Martinez Group, Wouter Kellerman
8.6 | Marcus Garvey Park

And 2Face is a really good reason to love Naija pop right now, as he has been for years:

2Face, M.I., Brym
8.8 | Irving Plaza

Further Reading

On Safari

On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.

Rebuilding Algeria’s oceans

Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.

Ibaaku’s space race

Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.

An allegiance to abusers

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.

Shell’s exit scam

Shell’s so-called divestment from Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a calculated move to evade accountability, leaving behind both environmental and economic devastation.

Africa’s sibling rivalry

Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.

The price of power

Ghana’s election has brought another handover between the country’s two main parties. Yet behind the scenes lies a flawed system where wealth can buy political office.

Beats of defiance

From the streets of Khartoum to exile abroad, Sudanese hip-hop artists have turned music into a powerful tool for protest, resilience, and the preservation of collective memory.