Music Break

By: Sean Jacobs

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA23GnvAXWQ&w=500&h=307&rel=0]

Yuri Da Cunha is a household name in Angola,and is on his way to becoming an international star. He has taken the older Angolan genre of semba music, and modernized its appeal to urban youth. His lingering vocals combined with his fluid dance style has captured fans from Angola to Portugal. His combination of dance styles from the Congo, Brazil and the United States can only be described in one word: Fresh.

Via The Bright Continent.

AFCON and the politics of Africanhood

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In Morocco, football has become a site for the slow re-Africanization of the country’s national identity.

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Garhe Osiebe

The Super Eagles don’t suffer from a shortage of talent, but represent a country unwilling to admit that greatness is not a birthright.

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Salah in isolation

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On the pitch

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This year, instead of taking a publishing break, we will be covering the African Cup of Nations. To transition, we consider why football still matters in an era of enclosure, mediated presence, and thinning publics.

Culture

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What does a museum mean here?

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Culture

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Culture

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At the UN’s annual Western Sahara debate, everyone gets heard except the Sahrawis themselves.

Culture

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Whose museum is it anyway?

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The dispute over Benin City’s museum project shows that returning stolen art does not settle the question of ownership.

Culture

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Minnesota was promised to us

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Somalis have answered Trump’s latest racist tirade not with outrage but with a tidal wave of trolling.

Culture

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The golden light of Pops Mohamed

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From Actonville to global stages, Pops Mohamed blended tradition, futurism, and faith—leaving behind a musical archive as luminous as the spirit he carried.

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Pints and powerpoints

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From IMF history to astrophysics, Nairobi’s Drunken Lectures turn casual drinkers into an engaged public.

Politics

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Guinea’s bet on iron ore

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A $20 billion iron ore mega-project is reshaping Guinea’s economy and politics, but communities in Simandou say they still lack water, electricity, and accountability.

Politics

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Culture

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Calling Trump’s bluff

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As the White House hypes “Christian genocide” and floats military action, northern Nigerians are responding with satire.

Politics

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Paying for citizenship

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What began as a revenue lifeline for small island states has become a global market where the wealthy buy mobility and sovereignty itself becomes a commodity.