Africa Is a Country

Alicia Keys fails Brenda Fassie

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

Alicia Keys fails Brenda Fassie

By
Sean Jacobs

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9H1Rgx5VVU&w=600&h=373&rel=0]

I am catching up over the next few days. Lots to blog. (Too much football means I stop thinking about anything else, but I’ll try.)

I know there’s some love for Alicia Keys on this blog: But was it only me or did she sound out of tune and out of sorts when covering the late Brenda Fassie’s single “Too Late for Mama” with South African band BLK JKS at the pre-World Cup concert two weeks ago?

BTW, I only saw the performance on the net since both the public broadcaster in South Africa as well as ABC here in the US apparently decided not to show the collaboration between Ms Keys and  BLK JKS. (Separately during Shakira’s performance Zolani Mahola, who has a verse on the song, could only be heard and not seen.)

If you can’t bear Ms Keys, there’s always the original complete with cheezy video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC-JqKc1mx4&600&h=373&rel=0]

Further Reading

Kenya’s vibe shift

From aesthetic cool to political confusion, a new generation in Kenya is navigating broken promises, borrowed styles, and the blurred lines between irony and ideology.

Africa and the AI race

At summits and in speeches, African leaders promise to harness AI for development. But without investment in power, connectivity, and people, the continent risks replaying old failures in new code.

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

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.