Arts + Culture
A track athlete in exile recorded Angola 72 in Rotterdam. Bonga’s voice became the sound of Angolan longing
Bonga, born Barceló de Carvalho, was a record-breaking Angolan athlete in Portugal before he became a singer. In…
Music
immerse yourself in a symphony of genres, from the latest chart-toppers to hidden indie gems. Gospel, HipHop, Highlife, Amapiano, Afrobeats
Arts + Culture
“Joromi” was a hit in 1969. Victor Uwaifo, the guitarist from Benin City, played it with a guitar in his mouth
Sir Victor Uwaifo, the Benin City guitarist and bandleader, became a star with "Joromi" in 1969, a song…
Arts + Culture
“Mannenberg” was recorded in a Cape Town studio in 1974. It became the unofficial anthem of the anti-apartheid struggle
Abdullah Ibrahim, the Cape Town pianist formerly known as Dollar Brand, recorded "Mannenberg" in 1974 with saxophonist Basil…
Arts + Culture
“Asimbonanga” asked where Mandela was. Johnny Clegg, the white Zulu, sang it until Mandela danced on stage with him
Johnny Clegg, a white South African who learned Zulu music and dance as a teenager, formed Juluka with…
Music
Black Sherif and the year he stopped explaining himself
From the Sermon freestyles to Kwaku the Traveller and The Villain I Never Was: how Black Sherif made…
Arts + Culture
Pedro Almodóvar heard “Tajabone” and put it in All About My Mother. Ismaël Lô, Senegal’s Bob Dylan
Ismaël Lô, the Senegalese singer and guitarist often called Africa's Bob Dylan for his harmonica and guitar, found…
Arts + Culture
Bob Marley sang “Zimbabwe” as the new nation was born. The night of 17 April 1980 in Salisbury
On the night of 17 to 18 April 1980, Bob Marley and the Wailers performed at Rufaro Stadium…
Arts + Culture
The kora had always been played by men. Sona Jobarteh, from a Gambian griot family, changed that
Sona Jobarteh, born in London into one of The Gambia's great griot families, is widely described as the…
Arts + Culture
They called him the Rainmaker: Majek Fashek, “Send Down the Rain” and Nigeria’s reggae moment
Majek Fashek's "Send Down the Rain", from his 1988 album Prisoner of Conscience, made him Nigeria's biggest reggae…
Music
Barack Obama danced the Lipala with Sauti Sol in 2015. How four Nairobi friends became Kenya’s biggest band
Sauti Sol, the Kenyan band formed by four friends in Nairobi in 2005, became East Africa's most successful…