Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break No.91

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

Weekend Music Break No.91

By
Boima Tucker

Chimurenga Renaissance at The Old Rainier Brewery - Seattle

We’re back with the first Weekend Music Break of 2016. A series of videos for you to enjoy as you ease into relax (or catchup) mode:

 

1) Our selection this weekend starts off with a video shot by AIAC film editor Dylan Valley — Niko10Long hips us to the real Politrix going down in Cape Town, South Africa. 2) Brooklyn staple with Guyanese roots, Jahdan Blakkamore ushers in an upliftment anthem to end all sufferation. 3) The multi-talented, Boston-based Sierra Leonean scientist/rapper David Moinina Sengeh brings a positive Afrobeat jam and video. 4) Mozambican-Canadian singer Samito releases a dance art video for his epic Tiku la hina. 5) Keeping it in the Mozambique realm, Spoek Mathambo reveals Batuk, his new partnership with Aero Manyelo, a deep house project inspired by the Afro-luso house scene based out of Maputo. 6) Daniel Haaksman proposes to Rename the Streets in the former colonial capitals (his being Berlin) to not celebrate the war criminals and crimes of the nation’s past, #NamesMustFall — respect Daniel. 7) Stephen Marley celebrates the great innovations from African history, alongside Wale and the cast from the Fela! musical. 8) Renown coreographer Maimouna and Les Ambianceuses out of Paris call for all women to take their power back via a little “Booty Therapy.” 9) Christain Scott aTunde Adjuah brings us back to an age where Jazz and politics were one, via an integral #BLM lens, at NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. 10) And finally, Seattle based Zimbabwe-DRC crew Chimurenga Renaissance reveal their new EP Girlz with Gunz via a beautifully executed thematic streaming video.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy!

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.