When Tendai Maraire broke down his Chimurenga Renaissance mixtape for us last year, he said about “It’s Time For You To Go”, a song inspired by a family visit to Zimbabwe (“driving down the street bumping Biggie’s ‘Juicy’”): “Young Maraire Boys being crazy at home.”

Toronto, Canada-based Zambian artist Chansa recently released his debut single, titled “Immigrant”, and has a video for it too:

Simba, Milton Gulli and Zubz’s “Scenario”, a first single taken off their Tribute To A Tribe Called Quest, which is a production by Mozambican arts collective Grasspoppers:

We now also have images to go with Ghanaian-Swiss audio experimentalist Oy’s hair philosophy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZmcAXy_7Bo

Matshidiso goes for a run in and around Johannesburg:

New soul from Sandra Nkaké who hails from Yaoundé, Cameroon but resides in France:

Anoter soul-ish one from the Mozambican lady who’s got Lusophone Africa on lock: Lizha James’ highly-stylized ode to her mother:

Jacques Vergès, Femi Falana and Thomas Sankara are but a few names who feature in this new track and video by Togolese rapper Elom 20ce (which he dedicates to Gouyano Sinandare, the 12-year-old who got murdered by the police during the student protests earlier this year):

Bajah (from Sierra Leone) recorded a Last.FM session with Prince Polo at The Kennel Studios in Brooklyn:

And Oliver Mtukudzi and the Black Spirits played an almost 30-minute set on Seattle radio station KEXP:

* The photo of Sandra Nkaké by Claire Vinson.

Further Reading

The Mogadishu analogy

In Gaza and Haiti, the specter of another Mogadishu is being raised to alert on-lookers and policymakers of unfolding tragedies. But we have to be careful when making comparisons.

Kwame Nkrumah today

New documents looking at British and American involvement in overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah give us pause to reflect on his legacy, and its resonances today.

Goodbye, Piassa

The demolition of an historic district in Addis Ababa shows a central contradiction of modernization: the desire to improve the country while devaluing its people and culture.