Limbs in a Potion

DJ Sawa from Ghana, Supremos from Angola, and Irish-Nigerian Rejjie Snow, are part of Weekend Music Break, no. 30.

Y'en a Marre in Madrid

Once again, demonstrating Azonto’s global reach, the Azonto London Allstars conquer a myriad of urban landscapes with their indefatigable dance moves to the beat of a mix by DJ Sawa.

Next, with hair fit for the most flamboyant players in the African Cup of Nations, we’ve got Supremos with their video for “Namorado Cola.”

Dublin native Rejjie Snow (formerly Lecs Luther) who is reportedly half-Nigerian, has just dropped a new track called “Lost in Empathy“. With a voice oddly like that of Tyler the Creator, Rejjie, dressed in the video as a “far derrig,” spits about the tribulations albinos endure in some countries where their body parts are used as traditional remedies.

Swimming in the ocean

swimming in the ocean, vanilla face,

candy floss, limbs in a potion.

We can’t wait for ngoni legend Bassekou Kouyate’s new record to drop in early March. The record was recorded in Bamako last year just as the country’s political situation began to deteriorate. Here’s a sneak peek of what will be known as “Jama Ko.”

Because we know that fashion is circular, recycling and reimagining styles of the past, this new banging kuduro jam from Angola’s Da Magical proves that it is officially cool again to look like Milli Vanilli.

Here’s one we missed late last year: Gato Preto (Germany via Portugal via Mozambique and Ghana) worked with MC Zulu on “Musica Di Gato Preto.”

From Harare (“H-Town”, via Berlin), there’s also a new video for Zimbabwean rapper Synik.

And if you were wondering whether the Senegalese Y’en a Marre coalition was still kicking it in Dakar, here’s a 45 minutes concert recently taped at the Place de L’Obélisque, celebrating the movement’s second anniversary. (Ht NomadicWax.) Sound and image recording quality isn’t the best, but you’ll get the message.

Further Reading

Slow death by food

Illegal gold mining is poisoning Ghana’s soil and rivers, seeping into its crops and seafood, and turning the national food system into a long-term public health crisis.

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.