Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break 63

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

Weekend Music Break 63

By
Ts'eliso Monaheng

We kick off our weekly installment of new music videos with OttawaParis-based Mélissa Laveaux riding the crunchy electronics with flair on her new offering, ‘Triggers’, in a video directed by Terence Nance — remember also this other video he shot for her earlier this year:

Some trippy and transcendental downtempo music from YellowStraps (that’s Yvan Murenzi, Alban Murenzi, Ludovic Petermann and Thomas Delire) alongside Moodprint:

A boom-bap retrospective from Soular Razye, the Zimbabwean duo comprised of Depth and Synik. They’re working on a soon-to-be-released EP:

Eighties-style fashion and joyous dance styles adorn this video from Uganda’s Fantom Lovins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKv-vCAMUoc

Life suddenly makes sense when this song by Kalawa Jazmee’s Uhuru plays in the club. Oskido, who makes a cameo, is celebrating his birthday today. Bless up!

Still in South Africa, new work by Zola:

A catchy Bob Marley make-over from Senegal. Visuals courtesy of the illustrious Lionel Mendeix.

Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack collides with Congolese musician Jupiter on this subterranean robotic banger. The pair met on the Afrika Express adventure in 2012.

A visual and musical collaboration between dj Khalab and Malian talking drum master Baba Sissoko:

And to round it all off, a bit of kuduro never hurt anyone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTfBFb2Dc1s

Further Reading

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.

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.