Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break, N°29

Weekend Music Break, N°29

By
Tom Devriendt

Here’s a resolution for the new year: to feature more Togolese pop. If you don’t know who the above Toofan duo is, google “Cool Catché”. Kuduro on the other hand we can never feature enough — this is a new video for MC Maskarado:

Don’t miss this week’s NPR piece on kuduro by the way, “The Dance That Keeps Angola Going”; they interviewed AIAC’s Marissa Moorman for it.

Next, from Uganda: Vampino and friends (arriving “from far”) visit a rural village; a party ensues. A different kind of dance-hall/pop/(add style):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q0mUEuMLQM

Gambian artists Xuman, Djily Bagdad, Tiat and Ombre Zion take a stand ‘Against Impunity’:

South African Tumi Molekane directed a video for MC Reason (who is signed on Tumi’s record label):

Talking about labels…here’s a new video for South African rapper Kanyi. The story is funny-sad, but probably quite real too:

A video for Fatoumata Diawara’s song about men trying their luck crossing the Mediterranean to get to Europe. Here’s a translation of the lyrics.

Malian trio Smod (remember them) is all for ‘a united Mali’:

Wonderful new video for Asa’s Bond-esque ‘The way I feel’:

And one of the albums I’ve been listening a lot to this year — more about that next week — is Carmen Souza’s Kachupada. This is her version of Cape Verdean artists Humbertona and Piuna’s 1970s classic ‘Seis one na Tarrafal‘:

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.