Africa Is a Country

Friday Bonus Music Break, N°27

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

Friday Bonus Music Break, N°27

By
Tom Devriendt

Azonto and its growing global reaches… Somebody should write a book about it. ‘Tribal Azonto’ above: Ghana via the UK — sampling South African electro? Next, from Accra proper, a rap convo with Trebla, Hotjam, EL and Stargo (and many other cameos):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMCpxdneQCw

Rap from a different kind and country: here’s a new video for Milk Coffee & Sugar (that’s Edgar Sekloka and Gaël Faye):

Nigerian D.i.s Guise’s track ‘Mr Bambe’ now has a video:

And one last rap. The video is older, but Tanzanian collective X Plastaz released the long (and excellent) Shule mixtape this week. Ziggylah’s ‘Bang Bang’ is on it:

‘Mabone’ is a dance tune by Lesotho-born Refiloe “Chocolate Soul” Thoahlane. It comes with a glorious video:

We haven’t included too many Mozambicans here recently. A pretty wild video for Dama do Bling’s poppy ‘Champion’:

More pop, from Uganda come Radio and Weasel (remember their 2010 classic ‘Heart Attack Vuvuzela’ — they’ve upped the production quality of their music videos since):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZpinLkjyi8

Meanwhile in London: DJ Yoda, Afrikan Boy and Soom T throwing a party on a bus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvirURDc1

And Melina Matrsoukass shot the video below in Jamaica for Chicago dance-hall duo Wild Belle’s (brother and sister in fact) track ‘Keep You’. It has elicited some interesting YouTube comments:

H/T’s to @zach_rosen, @TIholie (via @nemesisinc), @ianbirrell, @Tribalmagz, @25toLyf and @Birdseeding.

Further Reading

Leapfrogging literacy?

In outsourcing the act of writing to machines trained on Western language and thought, we risk reinforcing the very hierarchies that decolonization sought to undo.

Repoliticizing a generation

Thirty-eight years after Thomas Sankara’s assassination, the struggle for justice and self-determination endures—from stalled archives and unfulfilled verdicts to new calls for pan-African renewal and a 21st-century anti-imperialist front.

Drip is temporary

The apparel brand Drip was meant to prove that South Africa’s townships could inspire global style. Instead, it revealed how easily black success stories are consumed and undone by the contradictions of neoliberal aspiration.

Energy for whom?

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.