Arts + Culture
From Luanda’s parties to dance schools in Lisbon and London: how kizomba grew out of semba
Kizomba emerged in Angola in the late 1970s and 1980s as an evolution of semba, softened by the…
Music
immerse yourself in a symphony of genres, from the latest chart-toppers to hidden indie gems. Gospel, HipHop, Highlife, Amapiano, Afrobeats
Arts + Culture
His songs got him exiled from Côte d’Ivoire: Tiken Jah Fakoly, Françafrique and a concert for every school
Ivorian reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly, born Doumbia Moussa in Odienné, released his internationally successful album Françafrique in…
Arts + Culture
Still singing on stage past 100: Bi Kidude, the queen of Zanzibar’s taarab
Bi Kidude, born Fatuma binti Baraka in Zanzibar around 1910, was called the queen of taarab and unyago…
Arts + Culture
Three strings, iron castanets and a trance that lasts all night: Gnawa music of Morocco
Gnawa is a Moroccan musical and spiritual tradition with roots in sub-Saharan Africa, brought north by enslaved people.…
Arts + Culture
Born in a Paris nightclub, raised in wartime Abidjan: how coupé-décalé began with Douk Saga and La Jet Set
Coupé-décalé began among Ivorians in Paris around La Jet Set, a group founded in 2001 whose leader Douk…
Music
The king of coupé-décalé died at 33: DJ Arafat and the stadium that sang for him all night
Ivorian star DJ Arafat, born Ange Didier Houon and known as the king of coupé-décalé, crashed his motorbike…
Music
Ghana kept one foot in highlife, and it shows
Kuami Eugene, KiDi, Kofi Kinaata, King Promise and Black Sherif: how highlife still shapes Ghanaian pop and why…
Arts + Culture
“Premier Gaou” means “first fool”: how four friends from Anoumabo took zouglou to Paris
Magic System, formed in Abidjan in the 1990s by friends from the working-class neighbourhood of Anoumabo, recorded "1er…
Arts + Culture
An Ivorian reggae star recorded with Bob Marley’s band at Tuff Gong: Alpha Blondy and Jérusalem
In 1986, Ivorian reggae singer Alpha Blondy released Jérusalem, recorded at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, with…
Arts + Culture
Exiled from Soweto, she became the voice of Roots: Letta Mbulu
South African singer Letta Mbulu toured with the musical King Kong as a teenager and left for the…