Maybe not the most popular artist in Benin today, but the country’s independence day is a good day to listen to Benin-born jazz guitarist Lionel ‘Gilles’ Loueke. This performance was recorded in Boston earlier this year:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nls0wvH1TTI&w=600&h=373]


Further Reading

Empire’s middlemen

From Portuguese Goa to colonial Kampala, Mahmood Mamdani’s latest book shows how India became an instrument of empire, and a scapegoat in its aftermath.

À qui s’adresse la CAN ?

Entre le coût du transport aérien, les régimes de visas, la culture télévisuelle et l’exclusion de classe, le problème de l’affluence à la CAN est structurel — et non le signe d’un manque de passion des supporters.

Lions in the rain

The 2025 AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco was a dramatic spectacle that tested the limits of the match and the crowd, until a defining moment held everything together.