Tag: africa

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(via M.anifest)

Thank you M.anifest for this photo. God bless you. Also, “B.E.A.R” is a great track.

M.anifest:

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(via Praiz)

HEADPHONE NATION IS BACK FROM MINI-VACATION BACK TO WORK!

Nigerian R&B/Soul singer Praiz has a new single out, featuring Burna Boy and rapper Ikechukwu. It’s called “69” and it’s about exactly what you think it is. At least the song sounds good, with Praiz producing the song himself and adding subtle guitars and sparse production that has all the peaks and valleys of a good Frank Ocean song. You can find Praiz over at X3M music.

Praiz:

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(via King Lutendo)

Lutendo Muthala, aka King Lutendo, is a rapper, producer, illustrator, and designer from Venda, a former republic and Bantustan and now a province located in northern South Africa. His latest release, Electric Jungle, is 10 tracks of driving rap, with a sort of production that refuses to be simple. The results are compelling, Muthala is an artist I’m excited to now follow.

“I approach the way I make music the exact same way I paint,” Lutendo tells The African Hip Hop Blog, “I like for the overall sound (and not just the lyrics) to be as expressive as possible, almost like the music version of Basquiat. If I had to put it into a word I would describe the sound as cinematic. I like to imagine I’m creating art film soundtracks when I make music, with the story already told in the lyrics.”

King Lutendo:

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(via Worlasi)

Accra rapper Worlasi‘s “One Life” is a calm, introverted, and beautiful 7-minute track that’s part rap and part hymn. Six Strings’ acoustic guitar plucks to a train-like drum, shuffling along as the Ghana rapper looks at the world moving around him and wondering out loud what it all means in a melodic, auto-tuned voice similar to Kanye West’s own moody lament, 808s & Heartbreak.

From Beehype: “‘One Life’ is probably the most extraordinary and multifaceted video to have emerged out of Ghanian music scene this year yet…what stands out most are Worlasi’s melancholic, auto-tuned, and multi-layered verses contrasted with the heartening part of Sena Dagadu. She literally pops up in the fifth minute of the video (directed by Abstrakte Films), and she changes the mood entirely.”

“You only got one life to live / If you happen to have a good one, be grateful”

Worlasi:

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(via TCIYF)

TCIYF is a thrash punk band from Soweto, a Johannesburg township and the largest township in South Africa that, until recently, wasn’t known for producing any punk scene worth talking about.

The name TCIYF is an acronym for “The Cum in Your Face,” so you should know what you’re getting yourself into. Fans of Bad Brains and The Circle Jerks will love that most of their songs are under a minute long and that the guitars and vocals are distorted so heavily that they almost bleed into the mix. And to drive home the Ramones influence, each musician shares a fake last name: Pule Cum (vocals), Thula Cum (guitar), Toxic Cum (bass), Jazz Cum (drums), and Sthe Cum (“metal vocals”). The music is blatantly and aggressively sexual and doesn’t go anywhere near politics. Yet at the same time, it feels that the band, regardless of its youth, is aware of the politics of being a rising punk band in a South African township; the band may only care about sex and skating, but they know what they’re doing is special.

Thula Cum described Johannesburg’s punk scene to Okayafrica: “There’s a whole lot of good bands that are kicking ass, like The Moths and Hellcats. Jozi has a lot of good hardcore bands that are straight up not messing around. Chances of you coming across an acoustic guitar from a Jozi band are very small. We don’t wear sandals. We wear sneakers. And we skate, and punch each other in the face…We’re not trying to change the world. But it is going to change. It’s changing slowly, anyway. But we’re not trying to do that.”

The band’s latest release, the 3-track The Cum EP, is out now via SoundCloud.

TCIYF:

YouTube

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(via Yemi Alade)

OkayAfrica declares Yemi Alade‘s latest song, “Want You,” to be this year’s feel-good summer jam, and I agree. Produced by Maleek Berry, the Nigerian Afropop singer’s latest release is the follow-up to her last album, this year’s Mama Africa (The Diary of an African Woman). Hopefully this is a preview of a new album, but at the very least, the upbeat, electronic Caribbean groove stands strong on its own as a welcoming late-summer hit. The video, directed by Ovié Étseyatsé, is equally sunny, with Alade dancing on the California beach with her friends (I need friends who can dance as well as Alade’s friends. Also, I need to live near a beach.)

Nigerian Afropop, as Pitchfork noted a while back, was one of the world’s most exciting scenes that most Americans weren’t paying attention to. In our defense, we don’t pay attention to most things outside America (and Alade’s 2014 hit, “Johnny,” did get some decent airplay here), but we need to do better. If Alade is any indication, Nigerian Afropop is still alive and well, and Americans need to shape up and listen.

Yemi Alade:

Website

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(via OBie Mavuso)

Cape Town’s OBie Mavuso is a black and queer artist making a stand against the perception of alternative (specifically non-straight or non-male) artists in South Africa, and she has the songs to back her up.

The 25-year-old songwriter, filmmaker, and curator of Jam That Session and Queers On Smash, is a self-described “hip-hop soul singer” who sings over minimalist beats that wouldn’t sound out of place on The Life Of Pablo. On “Cosmic Fire,” my favorite Mavuso track so far, she sings like a mellow Laura Mvula under a Jamie xx-like beat. But her refusal to be boxed into any one genre reflects her mission to make South Africa’s very straight and very male music scene more inclusive.

“I think it’s up to me to try and change how people view the ‘alternative’ being,” Mavuso tells Okayafrica. “Power dynamics are something that the local scene is still struggling with. Change is not easy to accept, but promoters and the media can start by including a wider range of musicians and artists in their line ups and write ups.”

Mavuso describes her latest release, the three-track EP Cosmic Fire, as “A journey through my mind and being, barely making sense of things, but so aware of things that have to change, and things I can change.”

OBie Mavuso:

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(via Moken)

Moken’s debut, Chapters of My Life (Bantu Records), owes much to Nina Simone and Van Morrison. Originally from Victoria, Cameroon, and now based in Atlanta, GA, he has lived throughout Africa and the United States as a working musician and fashionista. During his travels, he gathered various global inspirations for his own personal blend of Pan-African Pop.

“Astral Weeks is one of my favorite albums of all time,” says Moken. “My voice came from Van Morrison, from Nina Simone, and from Manu Dibango. If you put it all together, it’s me, it’s all me.”

Simone and Dibango make sense, considering the melding of storytelling and groove. Morrison, while harder to grasp on first listen, is the most telling of Moken’s vocal ability. What strikes me with “Wild Wild Ways” is the same thing that strikes me with Morrison’s best work – the vocalrange. In seconds, Moken moves from lax whispers to bold trills that make him sound as old and wise as the earth itself. His supporting band, mostly acoustic, gives his voice more movement. Like Morrison, this performer uses the voice not as a communicator but as an instrument; you won’t understand every word, but you’ll get lost in its beautiful sounds.

Moken came to America to study fashion, and he insists that fashion can make as big of a statement as music. If Chapters of My Life was a piece of clothing, it would be a colorful patch quilt depicting his journey from struggling troubadour to one of Cameroon’s most versatile songwriters.

Moken:

Website