Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break 56

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

Weekend Music Break 56

By
Tom Devriendt

Three South African videos to start with. Cape Town rapper Youngsta moves between the city’s neigbourhoods of Wynberg and the CBD:

…while fellow Cape artist HemelBesem went for a stroll in Utrecht, Netherlands earlier this year. EJ von LYRIK who was on tour with him gets a cameo:

Mafikizolo seem to find a lot of fun in creating retro-styled videos lately:

A Nomadic Wax production for Diamondog, an MC from Angola, currently based in Berlin, Germany:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMXM3SC908

From Jumanne’s archives: Kali Kwa Wote Unit from Zanzibar, ‘Tatizo Coins’ (an older song):

Baloji (who no longer needs an introduction) has two songs on the latest (and great) Red Hot compilation, both Fela interpretations. Here’s one of them:

Dinozord — from Kinshasa — could be seen dancing in a KVS-sponsored production recently but rapping is still what he does best:

A new album and a sweet video for guitarist Hervé Samb:

Rap from Québec, Canada: Webster (real name Ali Ndiaye — he has a Senegalese dad):

And another one from Angola: Puto Português and ‘Minha Passada’:

Further Reading

Requiem for a revolution

A sweeping, jazz-scored exploration of Cold War intrigue and African liberation, Johan Gimonprez’s “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” lays bare the cultural and political battlegrounds where empires, artists, and freedom fighters clashed.

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.