Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break, N°35

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

Weekend Music Break, N°35

By
Tom Devriendt

We hardly ever feature Brazilian music, and even less their take on Afrobeat. The above tune by the Abayomy Afrobeat Orchestra dates from last year, but the video’s new. Hope to see more from them. We’ve got 9 more videos lined up for you this week. Ugandan duo Radio & Weasel came up with this: 

Nigerian artists are flocking en masse to Cape Town’s seaboard to shoot their videos (taking cues from Congolese artists ten years ago). Clearly not just for “the light”. Davido’s ‘Gobe’ one more example:

Lagos’ SDC Commandant Obaifeiye Shem’s clumsy reply when asked on TV about the address of the website of his Service was that “my Oga at the top” knows it. The rest is history (as is he, it seems). Your viral Naija meme of the week:

M3nsa and Sena repping it for Ghana:

Tanzanian bongo flava from Belle 9 (call it pop): ‘Listen’:

Also from Tanzania is duo Aika & Nahreel who got themselves a dance hit with ‘Usinibwage’:

Kenyan bongo sounds, here’s ‘Bum Kubam’ by Nikki Wa Pili featuring G Nako. Quite the video:

More Kenyan Hip-Hop by rapper Rabbit in ‘Adisia’:

And switching gears, this video by Just A Band:

H/Ts this week to @Birdseeding, @nemesisinc and GetMziki.

Further Reading

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.

The sound of revolt

On his third album, Afro-Portuguese artist Scúru Fitchádu fuses ancestral wisdom with urban revolt, turning memory and militancy into a soundtrack for resistance.

O som da revolta

No seu terceiro álbum, o artista afro-português Scúru Fitchádu funde a sabedoria ancestral com a revolta urbana, transformando memória e militância em uma trilha sonora para a resistência.

Biya forever

As Cameroon nears its presidential elections, a disintegrated opposition paves the way for the world’s oldest leader to claim a fresh mandate.

From Cornell to conscience

Hounded out of the United States for his pro-Palestine activism, Momodou Taal insists that the struggle is global, drawing strength from Malcolm X, faith, and solidarity across borders.

After the uprising

Following two years of mass protest, Kenya stands at a crossroads. A new generation of organizers is confronting an old question: how do you turn revolt into lasting change? Sungu Oyoo joins the AIAC podcast to discuss the vision of Kenya’s radical left.

Redrawing liberation

From Gaza to Africa, colonial cartography has turned land into property and people into populations to be managed. True liberation means dismantling this order, not redrawing its lines.

Who deserves the city?

Colonial urbanism cast African neighborhoods as chaotic, unplanned, and undesirable. In postcolonial Dar es Salaam, that legacy still shapes who builds, who belongs, and what the middle class fears the city becoming.