Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break, N°34

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

Weekend Music Break, N°34

By
Tom Devriendt

Pretty much all of this week’s artist are regular guests on the blog. First up: Pitcho. Remember him. Second, lifted from his ‘Jama ko’ record, here’s a Mali-shot video for Bassekou Kouyate: 

There’s Anbuley’s “pushing African music” even further into the future:

Nuru Kane (born Papa Nouroudine Kane, in Dakar) has got a new record out:

New video for Ian Kamau as well:

Marques Toliver & The Sometimes in the studio:

Zakwe gets help from Danger and Zuluboy on ‘Bathi Ngiyachoma’:

And Danish duo Okapii sent us through their new video for ‘Don’t mind the rain’, recorded in Barbados:

Further Reading

On Safari

On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.

Rebuilding Algeria’s oceans

Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.

Ibaaku’s space race

Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.

An allegiance to abusers

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.

Shell’s exit scam

Shell’s so-called divestment from Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a calculated move to evade accountability, leaving behind both environmental and economic devastation.

Africa’s sibling rivalry

Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.

The price of power

Ghana’s election has brought another handover between the country’s two main parties. Yet behind the scenes lies a flawed system where wealth can buy political office.

Beats of defiance

From the streets of Khartoum to exile abroad, Sudanese hip-hop artists have turned music into a powerful tool for protest, resilience, and the preservation of collective memory.