Africa Is a Country

Now or never

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

Now or never

By
Tom Devriendt

Apart from a heavy Senegalese presence, this Music Break, No.37, includes some other favorites of this site: Petite Noire, Laura Mvula, Rachid Taha and newcomer, Napoleon Da Legend.

Rachid Taha, via Wiki Commons.

Per usual, here are 10 new music videos to finish this week of blogging. Here is a video by photographer and graphic designer Laurent Seroussi for Salif Keita’s new “Tale a lbum,” produced by Gotan Project’s Philippe Cohen-Solal. The YouTube version of the clip seems not to be available everywhere. Weird record label thinking.

Next, a glorious video for Carlou D’s “Dooley Beuré” that switches into second gear halfway in (Carlou D of Positive Black Soul of Senegal talks a bit about the making of the video here)

Faada Freddy (real name: Abdou Fatha Seck, one third of Senegalese rap combo Daara J, jamming on “Borom bi” with the Clef de Sol choir.

A music video the Senegalese rap pioneer Didier Awadi shot for “Supa Ndaanaa” during a tour in Canada last summer organized by the people behind the documentary film, “The United States of Africa.”  Awadi is the other half of the legendary Positive Black Soul.

Napoleon Da Legend has new music out, but this one from last year is still nice. “African in New York” is his take on Sting’s classic “Englishman in New York.” Napoleon was born in Paris to parents from the Comoros, moved to New York which, by Afropolitan logics, makes him an “African in New York.”

Some rock’n’raï (whoever coined that term?) by Algerian-French Rachid Taha. For accolades, check his official – hilariously puff-toned – profile. This English and Arabic duet cover version (featuring Jeanne Added) of Elvis Presley’s “Now Or Never” is a polished but intriguing production:

Samba Touré introduces his new EP, ‘Albala’, recorded at Studio Mali in Bamako in the autumn of 2012. Also featuring are Djimé Sissoko and Madou Sanogo, with guests such as Zoumana Tereta and Aminata Wassidje Traore.

The Congolese-South African singer, Petite Noir, and his band played a session for a Brussels radio, in one of the city’s most respected venues (Brussels is the city where Petite Noir was born before moving to South Africa. Here’s a sample.

Just in case you still had any doubt, 2013 will be Laura Mvula’s year.

Finally, here’s Yassiin Bey looking sharp at The Shrine in Chicago.

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.