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…
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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…
Arts + Culture
Highlife, lovers rock and soukous in one voice: Kojo Antwi, Ghana’s Mr Music Man
Kojo Antwi, born Julius Kojo Antwi in Accra on 24 November 1959 and raised in Darkuman, released his…
Arts + Culture
A laboratory scientist who became the king of palm wine guitar: Koo Nimo
Koo Nimo, born Kwabena Boa-Amponsem on 3 October 1934 in Foase in the Ashanti Region, is the leading…
Music
The featured-verse economy
Why the guest verse is currency in African music: the remixes that made careers, the hook specialists, and…
Arts + Culture
Six Grammy nominations and a new Shrine: Femi Kuti’s decades out of his father’s shadow
Femi Kuti, Fela's eldest son, formed his band Positive Force in 1986 and opened the New Afrika Shrine…
Arts + Culture
Kose Kose, Iron Boy and the Apollo High Kings: Amakye Dede, the highlife king of the 1980s and 1990s
Amakye Dede, born on 5 January 1958 and known as Iron Boy, formed his band the Apollo High…
Arts + Culture
Talazo 84 turbo-charged fuji: King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, KWAM 1, and four decades at the top
King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, known as KWAM 1 or K1 De Ultimate, was born on 3 March 1957…