Arts + Culture
“Umqombothi” was a 1986 party song about home-brewed beer. Hotel Rwanda put it on screens worldwide
Yvonne Chaka Chaka, known as the Princess of Africa, became one of South Africa's first black teenage pop…
Music
immerse yourself in a symphony of genres, from the latest chart-toppers to hidden indie gems. Gospel, HipHop, Highlife, Amapiano, Afrobeats
Arts + Culture
Lucky Dube sang about prisons and apartheid and sold reggae to a continent. A carjacker killed him in 2007
Lucky Dube, South Africa's biggest reggae star, began in mbaqanga before switching to reggae in the 1980s. Songs…
Arts + Culture
“Ebi Te Yie” was a song about animals in 1967. Ghanaians heard it as a warning about power
Nana Kwame Ampadu and the African Brothers Band released "Ebi Te Yie" in 1967, a highlife song built…
Music
Twelve years with Wizkid’s Ayo
Wizkid's 2014 album Ayo gave us "Ojuelegba" and set up everything from One Dance to Made in Lagos.…
Arts + Culture
Orchestra Baobab played Cuban-flavoured music in a Dakar nightclub in the 1970s. Their 2001 comeback made them world stars
Orchestra Baobab formed in 1970 as the house band at the Baobab Club in Dakar, playing a mix…
Arts + Culture
Oumou Sangaré sang against polygamy and forced marriage. Mali made her a star anyway
Oumou Sangaré, the Malian singer known as the Songbird of Wassoulou, became a star in 1989 with Moussolou,…
Arts + Culture
Kwaito was the sound of freedom in 1990s Soweto: slowed-down house, township slang and swagger
Kwaito emerged in the townships of Johannesburg in the early 1990s, as apartheid ended. Built on slowed-down house…
Arts + Culture
Reggie Rockstone rapped in Twi over hip-hop beats and called it hiplife. Ghanaian music has not been the same since
In the mid-1990s, Reggie Rockstone returned to Ghana from London and New York and began rapping in Twi…
Arts + Culture
Thomas Mapfumo put the mbira on the electric guitar and sang against Rhodesia. Then he turned on Mugabe
Thomas Mapfumo, the Lion of Zimbabwe, created chimurenga music by translating the patterns of the mbira to electric…
Music
How amapiano stopped being a South African secret
From Kabza De Small and the Scorpion Kings to Uncle Waffles and Tyla: how a patient South African…