The love for our mothers

The series, Paris Is a Continent, is on number 6. Songs about our moms and break-up songs sung by men that women will like, among others.

Image: Stephane Pardo, via Flickr CC.

I thought I’d continue my focus on French women singers. First up is Kayna Samet: great voice, from Algeria. This song, titled “Yema” (mother in Arabic), is about the love for our mothers. It features Indila.

A medley of several French singers freestyle over Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin,” while promoting the first Zaho opus “Dima”:  Amel Bent, Kaylene, Lady Laystee, Melissa, all donate a verse. I know it’s old but it’s a freestyle with several singers so here we go.

Kenza Farah, featured here before, performing her single, “Sans jamais se plaindre.”

Finally, a breakup song women like that is made by a man: “Je regarde en l’air” by Mister You.

Further Reading

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.

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.