Africa is a Radio: Episode #15 – World Carnival 2016 Special!

The first Africa is a Radio episode of 2016 goes to Carnival with special guests Hipsters Don’t Dance! This month we run down some of the sounds of the World Carnival sound from Trinidad to Rio to Lagos and back!

Tracklist

Samito – Tiku la Hina
Baiana System – Playsom
Buju Banton – Champion (Maga Bo Remix)
Angela Hunte – Mon Bon Ami
Machel Montano & Timaya – Better Than Them (Jambe-An Riddim)
Runtown & Walshy Fire – Bend Down Pause Remix ft Wizkid & Machel Montano
Olatunji – Oh Yay
Patoranking – My Woman, My Everything… (feat. Wandecoal)
Banda Vingadora – Metralhadora
Delano – Devagarinho
Eddy Lover – Baja Pantalones feat. Aldo Ranks, JR Ranks & Mach & Daddy
Wizkid – Final (Baba Nla)
Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band – Amaehu

About the Author

Boima Tucker is a music producer, DJ, writer, and cultural activist. He is the managing editor of Africa Is a Country, co-founder of Kondi Band and the founder of the INTL BLK record label.

Further Reading

Afrobeats after Fela

Wizkid’s dispute with Seun Kuti and the release of his latest EP with Asake highlight the widening gap between Afrobeats’ commercial triumph and Fela Kuti’s political inheritance

Progress is exhausting

Pedro Pinho’s latest film follows a Portuguese engineer in Guinea-Bissau, exposing how empire survives through bureaucracy, intimacy, and the language of “development.”

The rubble of empire

Built by Italian Fascists in 1928, Mogadishu Cathedral was meant to symbolize “peaceful conquest.” Today its ruins force Somalis to confront the uneasy afterlife of colonial power and religious authority.

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.