
It’s Friday night, so we’re unwinding with some nice videos. We start with Liberians Nasseman and Takun J, on a pan-African roots reggae tune. About these ads
Since we’ll be on break for a minute (details tomorrow) when the following central African countries celebrate their independence days, let’s do a quick roundup for Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, and Gabon. August 13, The Central African Republic is the home of Deep House DJ Boddhi Satva, who we talked about here before.
Côte d’Ivoire celebrated their 51st year of independence from France yesterday. Music has played a role in national political identity throughout the country’s conflict. I’m sure that it will continue to play a role as the country tries to move on from its recent turmoil.
1970 Britain, Jamaican duo Bob and Marcia‘s cover of “Young, Gifted and Black” climbs to no. 5 on the UK charts. They’re featured in a recent BBC documentary on the influence of reggae on 1970s British music culture, which also explains the use of orchestral strings in the song. So is Steel Pulse’s “Prodigal Son” […]
Single released April 11th, which is the 30th anniversary of the Brixton riots that levelled much of the town centre that both Linton [Kwesi Johnson] and I call home. DJ Haitus.
Anyone who makes songs about politicians eating all the money–what else do they do?–gets our vote. South African rock-reggae band, Tidal Waves (see also our earlier post) will be touring in the U.S. the next two weeks. Only in the American South, apparently, but don’t miss them if you’re around and you’re in for some […]
Meta and the Cornerstones is a Brooklyn based roots reggae band, headed by Senegalese singer Meta Dia. I spotted the video for their song Cornerstone at the Large Up blog (If you don’t know Large Up, it is a must-stop for Caribbean music culture). Here’s what they have to say:
I’m just back from a weekend away so this is my contribution for today. Just a little something to start your week off. From Ivoirian reggae artist Tiken Jah Fakoly comes “Un Africain A Paris,” a cover of Sting’s “Englishman in New York.” Lyrically, very interesting contrast between the two versions. And, while Sting has […]

I have blogged before about “Distant Relatives,” the collaboration between Nas and Damian Marley where they make explicit the connections African music and rap and reggae. Well, now two of the tracks off the forthcoming album have now leaked: “Strong Will Continue ” and “As We Enter” (is that a Fela sample?). I like “As We […]
The media blog that is not about famine, Bono, or Barack Obama. Contributors are: Sean Jacobs (he started AIAC), Daniel Magaziner, Neelika Jayawardane, Boima Tucker, Tom Devriendt, Elliot Ross, Basia Lewandowska Cummings, Sophia Azeb, Dan Moshenberg, Brett Davidson, Orlando Reade, Jonathan Faull, Caitlin Chandler, Gregory Mann, Dylan Valley, Emily Wood, Marissa Moorman, Lily Saint, Mikko Kapanen, Wills Glasspiegel, Melissa Levin, Loren Lynch, Olufemi Terry, Megan Eardley, Hinda Talhaoui, 'kola, Davy Lane, Siddhartha Mitter, Johan Palme, Steffan Horowitz, Justin Scott, Dennis Laumann, Kweli Jaoko, Jumoke Verissimo, Zachary Rosen, Shamira Muhammad, Maria Ximena Plaza, T.O. Molefe, Ts'eliso Monaheng, Maria Hengeveld, Corinna Jentzsch, Nicholas Barber, Serginho Roosblad, Roxsanne Dyssell, Cheta Nwanze, Sarah El-Shaarawi, Jimmy Kainja, Claudio Silva and Jacques Enaudeau. Pre-August 2009 posts are archived here.