Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break, N°36

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

Weekend Music Break, N°36

By
Tom Devriendt

Not too long ago, a new video by Amadou & Mariam would have made a bigger splash. There’s no way denying their (?) questionable choice to get Bertrand Cantat on board for their latest record has somewhat tempered the global enthousiasm for their music. Which is regrettable — the end result is a fine record. And the above animated video for ‘Africa mon Afrique’, produced by No-Mad Films, ticks all the right boxes (including Africa’s launching of a “space program”). Next, Congolese artist Didjak Munya’s latest single, “feat. Bill Clinton” (yeh), before his album drops. (Via Akwaaba.) Filmed between New York City and Kinshasa: 

‘Dance For Me’ by Ghanaians “Ruff N Smooth” Ricky Nana Agyeman and Clement Baafo is a TUNE:

Something else. Let’s get this straight. Tunisian rapper Weld El 15’s track below might not be everybody’s musical cup of tea, but when the “actress” and the cameraman involved in the making of the controversial ‘Cops are Dogs’ video are both sentenced to six months in prison for their contribution to the video while “Weld El 15 (himself) remains on the run and was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in absentia,” Tunisian government needs to be called out on this loud and widely. Says Weld El 15: “As an artist, I chose the (police’s) violent language to criticize their violent behavior and harsh treatment. I tried to express my opinion freely thinking that Tunisia has democracy, yet I was mistaken.” Head over to Les Inrocks for a longer interview with the artist. Surely Tunisia’s Ministry of Interior’s got better things to do. We’ll follow up on this story.

http://youtu.be/6owW_Jv5ng4

Meanwhile, back in Nigeria, Ajebutter 22’s got other things to worry about. Pastors and stuff:

Abobolais and his Ivorian crew bring the better coupé-décalé moves this week:

There’s been more than one collective musical effort to unite Mali recently. Here’s another one. Featuring: Oxmo Puccino, Inna Modja, Féfé, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Doudou Masta, Rouda du 129H, Ousco, King Massassy, Abbba Mamadou Ba, Lélé, Elie Guillou, Toya, Rim, Ramsès, Lyor, Guimba Kouyaté, Camille Richard, Tanti Kouyaté, Amkoullel l’enfant peulh — many of whom are based in France:

You already know we’re a fan of Carmen Souza. Here’s a video for her ‘Donna Lee’:

Nicole Wray and Terri Walker are touring with (AIAC favorite) Lee Fields this spring. Can’t wait to see them bring this live:

And to conclude, there’s no official video yet for the trans-Atlantic “Family Atlantica” project, but Soundway Records released the following song on YouTube: ‘Escape To The Palenque’, featuring Mulatu Astatke — and that will do for this week:

Further Reading

On Safari

On our annual publishing break, Gaza’s genocide continues to unfold in real time yet slips from public grasp. This is not just a crisis of politics, but of how reality is mediated—and why we must build spaces where meaning can still take root.

The battle over the frame

As Hollywood recycles pro-war propaganda for Gen Z, Youssef Chahine’s ‘Djamila, the Algerian’ reminds us that anti-colonial cinema once turned imperial film language against its makers—and still can.

Fictions of freedom

K. Sello Duiker’s ‘The Quiet Violence of Dreams’ still haunts Cape Town, a city whose beauty masks its brutal exclusions. Two decades later, in the shadow of Amazon’s new development, its truths are more urgent than ever.

When things fall apart

Against a backdrop of global collapse, one exhibition used Chinua Achebe’s classic to hold space for voices from the Global South—and asked who gets to imagine the future.

The General sleeps

As former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s death is mourned with official reverence, a generation remembers the eight years that drove them out.

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.