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.

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.