Here’s our selection of tunes for the weekend of May 9th, 2015

It’s mother’s day weekend in much (but not all) of the world… so let’s start out with Vusi Mahlasela’s “Thula Mama”.

Burna Boy turns in a really cool video for “Soke”.

Brooklyn artist Teleseen shoots a video on the coast of Brazil, documenting the lives of fishermen on Ilhabela for “Outlines”.

Sahel Sounds has a new Balani show album out. Here is “Danbe” from Supreme Talent Show, read up on them on the Sahel Sounds blog.

Danbe by Supreme Talent Show

Stones Throw artist Knxwledge goes “In the Dungeon” for a live performance of some of his beats.

This week Meklit Hadero realeased a clip for “Kemekem” dedicated to your beautiful afro.

Ismael & the Radiant Select is playing around New York these days. Here is their song “Sa Diatale”.

I can’t wait for the clip for Young Fathers’ crazy good neo-rap tune ‘Old Rock N Roll’, so here’s the song in a youtube stream… This one might get a double posting on the Weekend Music Break if the video ever comes out.

“Canto da lavadeira, Prelúdio das águas” from As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã sounds like it’s coming from an island in the middle of the Atlantic equidistant between Cabo Verde and Brazil.

As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã by As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã

Not a new track, but a big one that we haven’t put up yet. Here’s Kiss Daniel’s Woju Remix feat. Tiwa Savage and Davido

Happy Mother’s day and have a great weekend!

 

Further Reading

How to unmake the world

In this wide-ranging conversation, para-disciplinary artist Nolan Oswald Dennis reflects on space, time, Blackness, and the limits of Western knowledge—offering a strategy for imagining grounded in African and anti-colonial traditions.

A migrant’s tale

On his latest EP, Kwame Brenya turns a failed migration into musical testimony—offering a biting critique of ECOWAS, broken borders, and the everyday collapse of pan-African ideals.

What Portugal forgets

In the film ‘Tales of Oblivion,’ Dulce Fernandes excavates the buried history of slavery in Portugal, challenging a national mythology built on sea voyages, silence, and selective memory.

Trump tariffs and US Imperialism

Trump’s April 2025 tariff blitz ignited market chaos and deepened rifts within his own coalition. Beneath the turmoil lies a battle between technocrats, ultranationalists, and anti-imperial populists, all vying to reshape—or destroy—American global power.