Janelle Monáe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xktMnfb0Q0A&w=500&h=307] Janelle Monáe featuring Big Boi of Outkast, “Tight Rope.” James Brown is in the building.
Music
Uju
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np72mq3M-9s&w=500&h=307&rel=0] I like the flow of this Johannesburg band, Uju (formerly known as Sound Republic). Their
Zaki Ibrahim, 'Daylight'
Live video for “Daylight” by Canadian singer Zaki Ibrahim shot in central Cape Town as part
Weekend Links
Things I have read quickly, seen or watched, listened to, been forwarded, did not really have
Teargas
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt6otC_a_ZY&w=480&h=295] The video for the first single, “Go Away,” off the album “Dark or Blue” by
Toto meets Mango Groove
FIFA and the South African organizers of the World Cup unveiled the official World Cup tune: It's called "Waka Waka."
People's Culture
[vodpod id=Video.3322857&w=450&h=370&fv=] Priceless footage of 1980s Community Arts Project in Durban, which, according to one of
The music video is not dead
An incendiary piece of video art, more like a short film–of raids, profiling and state terrorism–done
Guru, 1963-2010
The brilliant rapper Guru, who also recorded as Gang Starr (with his music partner, the equally
Kon and Amir goes to Africa
Next week (April 26), Brooklyn’s Kon and Amir will release “Off Track Vol III: Brooklyn, ”
Timeless
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjddFpAp6z0&w=480&h=295] This blog does not waste any opportunities to post visuals of Mulatu Astatke performing. Via
Traces of Bhekumuzi Luthuli
White South African and Americans musicians have borrowed heavily and built a careers off the Maskandi music pioneered by working class musicians like Luthuli.
Prodigal Son
A white man dressed like Mobuto with two black "assistants" in tow, throw around fake money in Basel. What's this about?
Madlib’s Radio Freedom
Madlib's "Medicine Show No. 3: Beat Konducta in Africa" is about African liberation in the 1970s, especially south of the Limpopo.
The Trumpet King
Zeal Onyia was a master Nigerian trumpet player from the 1950s treated as an equal by Louis Armstrong.
Addis Swing
The revival of Ethiopian jazz, a tradition that dates back to the 1920s, and had its heyday under Emperor Haile Selassie.
Die Antwoord is Blackface
Die Antwoord is basically blackface. But blackface is also tricky, argues poet and writer Rustum Kozain.
Akon’s Africa
The Senegalese-American crooner's uninspiring "Oh Africa" reminds of bubblegum South African pop from the 1980s.
Songs for Nelson Mandela
The top tunes dedicated to Nelson Mandela, arguably the most recognizable liberation figure from South Africa.
The Transformation of K’naan
How a political song about the aftermath of the Cold War, refugees and statelessness was defanged, first for FIFA and then for Coca Cola.