Arts + Culture
C.K. Mann, the Takoradi bandleader who made Fante highlife sound like the sea
C.K. Mann, born in Cape Coast and based in Takoradi, led the Carousel 7 and other bands that…
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Arts + Culture
The Ghanaian drummer who taught American jazz about Africa: Guy Warren, later Kofi Ghanaba
Guy Warren, born in Accra in 1923, played drums with E. T. Mensah's Tempos, then took African drums…
Arts + Culture
“Didi” was sung in Algerian Arabic and still became a hit from India to Europe: Khaled, the king of raï
Khaled, from Oran in Algeria, became the most famous raï singer in the world. His 1992 song "Didi"…
Music
The album is back in Afrobeats
Burna Boy, Wizkid, Asake, Rema and Tems have turned the album back into an event. Why Afrobeats stopped…
Arts + Culture
Her concerts lasted hours and stopped the Arab world. Umm Kulthum, the voice of Egypt
Umm Kulthum, the Egyptian singer known as the Star of the East, performed monthly radio concerts that brought…
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…
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…