Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break No.69

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

Weekend Music Break No.69

By
Boima Tucker

Still from Red Red's "Ghetto" Video

A general round-up of tunes that caught our ear this week at Africa is a Country, in no particular order.

Martinique-born Jazz composer and pianist, Chassol returns home to film a Carnival-inspired video for his song “Reich & Darwin,” off of his album Big Sun.

Here’s one for the DJs: UK-based Hagan is back with another EP for Italian-Liberian duo Pepesoup’s label Soupu Music. This one I’m pretty sure samples one of those Angolan Kuduro can players.

Liberia’s David Mell moved from Monrovia to Minnesota in the past year, but that didn’t stop him from producing Afropop heat!

South Africa’s Kid X has been turning heads in Africa is a Country circles.

Ghanian “AfricanEDM” duo Red Red release a video with Sarkodie and some great dancers in what looks like Jamestown.

Percy gives “Bonnie and Clyde” a Nigerian update.

The Very Best released their new album Makes a King last week. They have two videos already out from songs on the album. Here is one.

Nigerian rapper Kelvin King filmed a video (called “Freestyle”) in Johannesburg. It’s seems Pan-Africanism is contagious.

Stromae is endlessly pursued by a blue bird.

Last but not least, one big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Africa is a Country founder, Sean Jacobs!

Further Reading

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.

From Nkrumah to neoliberalism

On the podcast, we explore: How did Ghana go from Nkrumah’s radical vision to neoliberal entrenchment? Gyekye Tanoh unpacks the forces behind its political stability, deepening inequality, and the fractures shaping its future.

The Visa farce

The South African government’s rush to clear visa applications has led to mass rejections, bureaucratic chaos, and an overloaded appeals system—leaving thousands in limbo.