Nowadays we’re doing multiple #musicbreaks on Twitter and Facebook when the spirits move us. We figured we’d put the ten favorite ones up every Friday as our #BonusMusicBreak. First up, old school jazz man Pharoah Sanders is still doing it. Here’s a video (uploaded this week on Youtube; recorded last year) of him and his band playing (and him getting down):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N3kd5NAWeM

Since we’re on the old schoolers. Here’s the video for Ebo Taylor’s ‘Ayesama’, shot in his hometown of Saltpond (Ghana):

I really like Lee Fields. You’re The Kind of Girl:

Zimbabwe celebrated its independence this week. Here’s Tendai, one half of Shabazz Palaces with “rhodZi” (the video is directed by Seattle-based filmmaker and critic Charles Mudede):

California-based Ethiopian artists Meklit Hadero, Gabriel Teodros and Burntface combine to form CopperWire (H/T: siddhmi):

‘Bang Bang’ by one of Sean’s New School students, Selena Dhillon (originally from Toronto) featuring Humble The Poet:

THEESatisfaction’s “funk-psychedelic feminista sci-fi epics”:

Nicki Minaj is selling ice water in Accra? Zongo!

http://youtu.be/Zk9_FcuX4Jk

Boima: “Yup, I’m a fan.” PR: “Sierra Leone’s Premier Rap Guy From Freetown Releases His Long Awaited Video Featuring Farda G. Shot Entirely On Location In Freetown The Vid Promises To Be Raw, Grity & Strictly Hip-Hop”:

Finally, kuduro baile from Germany; Gato Preto’s ‘Tschukudu’ (H/T: TropicalBass):

Further Reading

The grift tank

In Washington’s think tank ecosystem, Africa is treated as a low-stakes arena where performance substitutes for knowledge. The result: unqualified actors shaping policy on behalf of militarists, lobbyists, and frauds.

Kagame’s hidden war

Rwanda’s military deployments in Mozambique and its shadowy ties to M23 rebels in eastern Congo are not isolated interventions, rather part of a broader geopolitical strategy to expand its regional influence.

After the coups

Without institutional foundations or credible partners, the Alliance of Sahel States risks becoming the latest failed experiment in regional integration.

Whose game is remembered?

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations opens in Morocco amid growing calls to preserve the stories, players, and legacy of the women who built the game—before they’re lost to erasure and algorithm alike.

Sovereignty or supremacy?

As far-right politics gain traction across the globe, some South Africans are embracing Trumpism not out of policy conviction but out of a deeper, more troubling identification.