Weekend Music Break No.71

Credit: Okenyo Facebook

Boima is on vacation this week, so the rest of us scanned the music pages. We can’t promise it will be as eclectic as Boima’s choices. But here we go in short sentences. First up, the Kenyan-Australian singer Okenyo has a new video for her song “Just a Story.”

Fashawn, who sounds like Kanye West, loves his daughter:

De La Soul is working on a new album. While prepping, they just come up with new music, with special guest Nas. It just happens to them like that:

This is just a video of Youssoupha (son of Tabu Ley Rochereau) promoting his big concert in November in Paris:

Then there’s South African rapper Khuli Chana’s “Mahamba Yedwa/Mo Tsipe”:

Then there’s Kenyan singer Fena Gitu and her upbeat lyrics about her “African Jack Bauer” (no politics here):

Finally, The Kyle Shepherd Trio wants to fly without leaving the ground.

* Goodbye to John Shoes Moshoeu, Peter Makurube, Christopher Kindo and our friend Cristina Villeresi. We will always remember you.

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.