Three Kenyan videos to remember today’s Independence Day. Three popular tunes for our Independence meme. A ‘celebration’ of sorts turned out to be a useful lead for the first two. Madtraxx’s ‘Ida Waiter’ (with a nod to South African kwaito and that Prodigy video):

Camp Mulla’s making a buzz lately. What with ‘Party Don’t Stop’:

And Mejja’s going where few other popular Kenyan artists dare to go in ‘Landlord’ — talking politics (“usiniharibie siku bana landlord”):

Further Reading

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.