Gata Misteriosa and Lee Bass (the Mozambican-Portuguese-Ghanaian-German duo who go by the name of Gato Preto) dropped this new video for “Pirao” last night: no longer strictly kuduro, not yet sure what to call it, but right in time for our weekend special of ten. Video above. Janka and the Bubu Gang (Sierro Leone via Brooklyn) also surprised with this belated video for “Feba”, lifted from their 2012 record “En Yay Sah” out on Luaka Bop:

NPR did a nice feature on Jeri-Jeri recently, the collaboration between the Senegalese Bakane Seck-led drum collective and German producer Mark Ernestus, and premiered their new video, “Gawlo”, featuring Baaba Maal (below). Remember Jeri-Jeri. But there’s more. They’ve been uploading some other studio material onto their YouTube channel as well. Here.

Navio and Unique lay down their rhymes over “1960’s Ugandan beats” on “Leka Kwenyumiriza”.

More conscious Hip-Hop: Senegalese rap group A-J One (feat. Xuman and Ceepee) on “Ndjite” (there’s so much rap coming out of Dakar recently it’s hard to keep up; we’ll write about it shortly):

When Maître Gims (real name: Gandhi Djuna) isn’t collaborating with Sexion d’Assaut or his dad (Franco band singer Djanana Djuna) he’s putting out records by himself. This is from his latest: “VQ2PQ”:

Recorded in Bamako, Mali, in September 2012, ‘Troubles’ is the new album from Dirtmusic, the band headed by Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts) and Hugo Race (Fatalists/True Spirit/Bad Seeds), featuring musicians Ben Zabo, Samba Touré and Zoumana Tereta amongst others. Here’s “Fitzcarraldo”:

Aline Frazão also has a new record out (hoping Claudio might have time to review it soon). Here’s the first single, “Tanto”, with a lovely video:

Omar’s “The Man”, taken from his forthcoming album of the same name (where has he been all those years?):

And finally, Charles Bradley, who we can listen to any day. Live @ KUTX:

H/Ts this week: Zachary, Sean, Ts’eliso and Claudio.

Further Reading

After Paul Biya

Cameroon’s president has ruled for over four decades by silence and survival. Now, with dynastic succession looming and no clear exit strategy, the country teeters between inertia and implosion.

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.