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…
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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…
Music
From Tandale to a media empire: how Diamond Platnumz turned bongo flava into a business
Diamond Platnumz, born Naseeb Abdul Juma in Dar es Salaam, became East Africa's biggest pop star and built…
Arts + Culture
A Guinean kora player made “Yéké Yéké” a European dance-floor hit in 1988. Mory Kanté’s million seller
Mory Kanté, a griot from Guinea who once sang with the Rail Band of Bamako, released "Yéké Yéké"…
Arts + Culture
“Yaa Amponsah” was recorded in London in 1928. Its guitar pattern became the backbone of Ghanaian highlife
In 1928, Kwame Asare, also known as Jacob Sam, recorded "Yaa Amponsah" in London with Sam's Trio. The…
Arts + Culture
“Sweet Mother” came out in 1976 and never left. Prince Nico Mbarga’s song for every African mother
Prince Nico Mbarga and Rocafil Jazz released "Sweet Mother" in 1976. Sung in Pidgin English over a highlife…