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

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.