Weekend Music Break 47
Another week, another solid playlist of eclectic African sounds. Yo Chale, feeling fresh after a trip to the barbing saloon, C-Real and M dot prove they each embody the word “OPEIMU” (extraordinary individual) as they stroll and cruise through the Ghanaian streets. Complimenting the tinted gold visuals, the track makes ample use of a few gloriously golden highlife music samples.
An artist you don’t want to miss live, Taali M is a Paris-based singer of Congolese, Chadian and Egyptian heritage who has a dynamic voice and a captivating energy. In this live video of the song “Dance”, her style easily puts any Vlisco advertisement to shame.
Angolan multimedia artist and musician Nastio Mosquito conjures the technology of the elders in the trippy video for “Tecnologia do Anciao” off his album “Se Eu Fosse Angolano”. Download the track here.
Fresh Naija pop in all its glory. Efa and Dammy Krane come at ya with brightly colored lights, auto-tuned vocals, a 2Face cameo and endless variations of a catchy dance, the “Open and Close”.
Influenced by the sounds and rhythms of Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Maputo, Lusaka and Cape Town, electro duo John Wizards, made up of Rwandan Emmanuel Nzaramba and South African John Withers, delivers an intriguing sonic creation in their track “Lusaka by Night”. Emmanuel’s Kinyarwanda soothing vocals and John’s effervescent beats intertwine harmoniously over playful animated doodling.
Nigerian musician Bez romps around New York in the company of a mysterious woman known as “Ify Jones” in the video for “Say”, but is she ready to say what he wants to hear?
Leader in the UK “Afrobeats” scene, Mista Silva returns with his very danceable “Now Wats Up?”
Together for more than 10 years, the desert rock group Tal National from Niger are veteran axe shredders and they demonstrate as much in their song “Katako”. Look out for them if you’re in the U.S. as they embark on an American tour over the next couple months.
An auspicious collaboration orchestrated by the award-winning South African show Jam Sandwich, rising singer/guitarist Bongeziwe Mabandla came together with primer stove lyricists Dirty Paraffin to make “Sifun’iMali”.
And finally, to celebrate the life of the recently passed Zimbabwean legend Chiwoniso Maraire, we’ve got a live rendition of the powerful “Rebel Woman”. R.I.P.
Share your favorite new videos in the comments below.
