Africa Is a Country

Unexpected Connections

Unexpected Connections

By
Boima Tucker

When you're surprised by the links between Afro-Peruvian roots-electronic music and Kuduro-Kizomba from Angola.

Statue of a young Afro-Peruvian boy outside the Dedalo Art Gallery in Barranco, Lima. Per (Joshua Alan Davis).

Novalema is an Afro-Peruvian roots-electronic crew out of Lima. Not too many people in the U.S. (or on the African continent) are aware of the existence of the African descended cultures on the Pacific coasts of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, even if there’s a community in the neighborhood. So I was really surprised when I saw Novalima’s song “Machete” on an Angolan chart a couple years back. If you listen close, you can hear some Kuduro-Kizomba type motifs in their style, and it’s not to hard to imagine the crossover potential. As evidenced by my obsession with the Colombia-Africa thing, it’s these types of unexpected connections I really get into.

Further Reading

Beyond the headlines

Recent violence across the Eritrean diaspora is being instrumentalized by populists. But the violence is a desperate cry for attention and requires the Eritrean opposition to seize the moment for regime change.

Action required

Held in Nairobi this month, the inaugural Africa Climate Summit is an important step for the continent’s response to climate change. Still, the disasters in Libya and Morocco underscore that rhetoric and declarations are not enough.

The strange non-death of Bantustans

That South African political parties across the spectrum were quick to venerate the politician and Zulu prince Mangosutho Buthelezi, who died last week, demonstrates that the country is still attached to Bantustan ideology.

Shifting the guilt

Even though Israeli novelist Agur Schiff’s latest book is meant to be a satirical reflection on the legacy of slavery and stereotypes about Africa, it ends up reinforcing them.

Banana Republics

Western leftists are arguing among themselves about whether there will be bananas under socialism. In Africa, however, bananas do not necessarily represent the vagaries of capitalism.