Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break No.72

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

Weekend Music Break No.72

By
Boima Tucker

Manny and Floyd

Kicking things off this week, South Africa’s BoysnBucks collective show off their “Umswenko” in a new video for “Mswenkofontein”:

A bit of Afrobeats from Sierra Leone, Lady Matto brings a nice London-shot video for her uptempo dance track “Oba”:

Nigerien Afro-Rock group Tal National released an album this week. Shabazz Palaces member, and AIAC contributor Tendai Maraire offered up a remix to celebrate the occasion:

DJ Simón de la Onda sent over a couple videos from Guinea and Angola, just as I was putting together this list!

First up Les Jumeaux Damaro bless us with “To Mara Fanyi”:

… and some Angolan Kizomba from Marceny to give a little romance to your Saturday!

Get it while it’s hot! DJeff offers up a free download of his track “Ser Kazukuta” featuring Yuri da Cunha and BZB:

São Paulo’s MC Bin Laden is Brazil’s craziest videoclip maker:

Back to Sierra Leone via Idris Elba and his Krio rapping on Ghanian super group VVIP’s remix for “Selfie”

A bit of shameless self-promotion in the form of a new remix that I released last week. This one fuses the Afro-Bolivian Saya tradition with pan-African rhymes delivered by Mexican rapper Bocafloja:

And finally, in honor of the “fight of the century” tonight (#TeamManny!), Wax Poetics offers up the most memorable boxing entrances. Let’s see if Manny and Floyd’s entrances can live up to the standard set by “Mr. Unbeatable” Roy Jones Jr.:

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.