Music
Marrabenta: the dance music of Maputo’s suburbs and Mozambique’s national sound
Marrabenta grew in the suburbs of colonial Lourenço Marques, today's Maputo, in the mid-twentieth century. Combining local rhythms…
Music
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Arts + Culture
Francis Bebey: the Cameroonian musician, writer and thinker who played the world’s instruments
Francis Bebey was a Cameroonian guitarist, composer, novelist and musicologist. He wrote the prize-winning novel Agatha Moudio's Son,…
Music
Bobby Benson: the Lagos bandleader who helped build Nigerian highlife
Bobby Benson returned to Lagos after years at sea and formed one of Nigeria's first modern dance bands.…
Music
Semba: the Angolan rhythm behind kizomba and the songs of independence
Semba is a dance music from Luanda that rose in the mid-twentieth century and became tied to Angola's…
Music
“Malaika”: the Swahili love song from Kenya that Miriam Makeba took around the world
"Malaika", a Swahili love song recorded in Kenya by Fadhili William around 1960, became one of the best-known…
Music
William Onyeabor: the reclusive Nigerian synth-funk pioneer the world found decades later
William Onyeabor recorded eight albums of strange, synthesiser-driven funk in Nigeria between the late 1970s and mid-1980s, then…
Music
Celestine Ukwu: the philosopher of Igbo highlife
Celestine Ukwu was one of the most admired Igbo highlife musicians of the late 1960s and 1970s. With…
Music
Boomplay: the African music app that came preinstalled on millions of phones
Boomplay launched in 2015, backed by Transsion Holdings, the maker of Tecno, Itel and Infinix phones. Preinstalled on…
Music
Hamza El Din: the Nubian oud master who carried a drowned homeland’s music to the world
Hamza El Din, born in Nubia in 1929, became the best-known Nubian musician in the world. His oud…
Music
Remmy Ongala: the Dar es Salaam bandleader who sang for the poor
Remmy Ongala, born in Congo and based in Dar es Salaam, led Orchestre Super Matimila and became one…