Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break No.95—Afro-Europe special!

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

Weekend Music Break No.95—Afro-Europe special!

By
Boima Tucker

Fresh of a trip to the UK and Germany, with stops in Afro-European strongholds of London and Berlin, I thought I’d theme this week’s Music Break around some of what I saw and heard there. So enjoy this brief (and not comprehensive by any means) trip around young Afro-Europe, with stops in London, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon and Rome.

Music Break No.95

  1. MHD was a revelation for me on this trip, first getting hipped to his #AfroTrap series by a friend in Bristol, and then being treated to an onslaught of it in Berlin for their Carnival weekend.
  2. Belly Squad out of London come with a bit of a naughty song and video to show the youthful energy of the UK-Afrobeats scene.
  3. Amsterdam via London’s Jaij Hollands’s gravely flow is taking Afrobeats in a little harder edged direction.
  4. Maître Gims‘ Sapés comme jamais was also on repeat in Berlin, also coming from the Paris scene.
  5. YCEE who bursted on to the scene with Jagaban last year takes his new video to the streets of London, showing how many artists, even those based in Africa, prefer to go to London for their aesthetics.
  6. Aina More is killing it over this beat by DJ Juls!
  7. On the other side of Berlin, Daniel Haaksman recruits Spoek Mathambo for this chugging Mbaqnga influenced Afro-house jam.
  8. Lisbon’s Throes + The Shine recruit Argentina’s La Yegros for this high tempo Afro-latin-rock number.
  9. A few years old classic out of Rome, Pepe Soup’s Pump Tire!
  10. And finally, the absolute Dona of the Lisbon Afro-electronic scene in her Boiler Room Lisbon appearance to take you out!

Happy week’s end!

Further Reading

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

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.