AfricaIs aCountry

Fighting Pop

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Fighting Pop

By
Dylan Valley

http://vimeo.com/41242490

Congolese/South African (via Belgium) musician Yannick Ilunga, AKA Iamwaves, has been rather busy lately. His group Popskarr, a new ‘electronic/Nu Disco/Misty Pop’ outfit, has just released a stylish single called Fighter; and as his alter ego Petite Noir he has released a mixtape for Okayafrica’s ‘Africa in Your Earbuds’ series (which earned him a tweet shout out from Questlove of The Roots) and a new video for ‘Till We Ghosts’ (above). He calls the music he makes ‘Noir Wave’, an African take on New Wave and Post Punk. It’s an interesting scene to be in, one that has produced genre-busting electronic acts such as Spoek Mathambo and (my personal favorite) Dirty Paraffin. While both those acts have been truly groundbreaking (both equally Afrocentric), Popskarr/Petite Noir’s nod to Bloc Party front man Kele Orekere’s solo stuff is unmistakable, including all the hipster-pandering that comes with it. However, this is something that — with a bit of guidance and experience — Yannick can easily outgrow over time. Personally, I’m looking forward to his future releases.

Further Reading

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A sick health system

The suspension of three doctors following the death of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s son has renewed scrutiny of a health-care system plagued by impunity, underfunding, and a mass exodus of medical professionals.

Afrobeats after Fela

Wizkid’s dispute with Seun Kuti and the release of his latest EP with Asake highlight the widening gap between Afrobeats’ commercial triumph and Fela Kuti’s political inheritance

Progress is exhausting

Pedro Pinho’s latest film follows a Portuguese engineer in Guinea-Bissau, exposing how empire survives through bureaucracy, intimacy, and the language of “development.”

The rubble of empire

Built by Italian Fascists in 1928, Mogadishu Cathedral was meant to symbolize “peaceful conquest.” Today its ruins force Somalis to confront the uneasy afterlife of colonial power and religious authority.

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.