By CHERISE JOHNSON
As this generation’s Afrobeats leader, Nigerian superstar Davido reigns supreme. Fresh out of an electrifying soundcheck for his sold-out Los Angeles show at The Wiltern, the cultural icon touted as the “King Of Afrobeats,” was gleefully surrounded by family, friends and his French Bulldog pup 30, backstage ahead of his performance.
Continue reading “Davido Is Bridging The Gap Between Africans And Black Americans With ‘A Good Time’”
Female hip hop artists are on the rise and a new Harlemite is too. Meet Felukah, the Harlem rapper repping Cairo via NYC. As an Arab woman in America and a westernized woman in Egypt, her purpose is to make her fans and those who come across her music find a place where cultural duality is the common ground.
Continue reading “Meet Felukah, the Harlemite Egyptian queen of hip-hop”
Organisers of the maiden edition of Ghana Music Awards USA have officially opened ticket sales ahead of the awards ceremony in Springfield, Virginia, on 3 July.
The reason for the early ticket sales according to the organisers is to help make proper arrangements for patrons.
Continue reading “Ghana Music Awards USA Opens Ticket Sales From February 14”
Senegalese-American Akon will be unveiling the first look inside Akon City in the coming months
By Alicia Adejobi
Continue reading “Akon teases new African city will look like Black Panther’s Wakanda with ‘futuristic technology’”
Angélique Kidjo won Best World Music Album for Celia at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards. This marks her fourth win in the category and fourth GRAMMY win overall.
During her acceptance speech, Kidjo celebrated a new generation of African artists coming up to represent the continent while thanking luminaries who came before her for their contriutions to world music, including Celia Cruz.
Continue reading “Angélique Kidjo Wins Best World Music Album For ‘Celia’ at 2020 GRAMMYs”
In less than a year, Nigerian superstar Burna Boy parlayed a quip at Coachella into a critically-acclaimed, record-breaking Grammy-nominated album, African Giant.
Burna Boy, née Damini Ogulu, has experienced an ascension that has been less meteoric and more piecemeal — marked by defining deterrents and gradual wins. His Best World Music Album Grammy nomination comes at no surprise to the fans and onlookers who have been following the 28-year-old afro-fusion artist’s rise over the better half of a decade. This development in the Afropop protagonist’s career represents the climax in a coming-of-age success story of one of Africa’s most successful artists of today.
Continue reading “Burna Boy’s Grammy Loss Shows The Issues With The World Music Category JANUARY 29, 2020”
Back in August 2018, in a South African school, a pair of sopranos sang and swayed together. Maya Tester and Thulisile Ntetha were from different choirs, different continents. But minutes into their first rehearsal, they were chatting and laughing.
“We just clicked,” said Ntetha.
More than a year later, the pair giggled as they told the story in a very different setting: Tester’s south Minneapolis kitchen.
Continue reading “Minnesota singers welcome South African choir into their homes”
BY MASEGO SEEMELA
DJ Tira is making major moves in the US, and it is all in the name of pushing SA music.
Makoya Bearings, as he refers to himself, made a guest appearance on Beats 1 Radio, hosted by Ebro Darden.
Continue reading “South African DJ Tira appears on Beats 1 Radio to push amapiano & gqom in America”
One joyful evening at the Barbican, London, in April 2014, identical Nigerian twins, then aged 65, appeared on stage in matching sparkly red dresses alongside musicians including Damon Albarn, Sinkane, Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and Beastie Boys collaborator Money Mark. They were there to sing the music of William Onyeabor, an elusive synth-pop oddball whose music had been rediscovered by David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label and was being toured by this unlikely supergroup. But the twins were also making their return to the spotlight following their own lost years, having languished in obscurity for decades.
Continue reading “The Lijadu Sisters: the Nigerian twins who fought the elite with funk”
American music collector Brian Shimkovitz has a keen ear for music that could be easily lost in the bargain bin of history. Before realising his Awesome Tapes From Africa (ATFA) music blog and DJ project, Shimkovitz had gone to Ghana to study the hip hop scene in the country. He returned to the US with a host of audio cassettes that one could only find at African markets.
Continue reading “Brian Shimkovitz on his quest to find awesome African albums”
Nigerian international music superstar, Davido, is set to make acting debut in Hollywood, with a performance role in the sequel of the 1988 romantic comedy classic, “Coming To America”.
Continue reading “Nigerian superstar, Davido to make Hollywood debut in Coming To America 2”
“My first seven years [developmental years] were spent in Enugu, Nigeria before I moved to the United States so that means I learned all the primary things here first. It means I learned how to speak English here first, I learned to walk here, my facial expressions come from here, I gained wisdom from Aunties and Uncles here so by the time I got to the U.S everything I saw was from a Nigerian perspective or a wider African lens.” —Jidenna
The highly regarded musician was in Nigeria to promote his new album 85 to Africa He spoke to CHISOM NJOKU while there
Continue reading “Classic man, Jidenna, reiterates that even though he is American, he was first African”
By GARY GERARD HAMILTON, ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK
Burna Boy was only six years old when Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti passed away, but that was enough time for the future musician to be inspired.
“Everyone’s got their hero,” the 28-year-old Nigerian performer said. “For me, that’s my hero.”
Kuti — the Nigerian musical icon and political agitator whose life and legacy was portrayed in the wildly popular Broadway musical “Fela!” — was once managed by Burna Boy’s grandfather, someone else he calls a hero.
Continue reading “Inspired by Fela, Nigeria’s Burna Boy blazes trail in the US”
by Amira Rasool
When walking up to the venue for New York City day party Everyday Afrique, the music greets you before you can even reach the door. Depending on the day or the DJ, you might be welcomed with a remix of Afrobeats star Mr. Eazi’s 2013 hit song “Bankulize” or embraced by Niniola’s 2017 Afrohouse single “Maradona.”
Continue reading “With African Music On The Rise, Afro-Themed Dance Parties Get To Win, Too”
The “Wash It” singer tells the Recording Academy about her multinational background, growing up in L.A., Tulsa, Nigeria and Kenya and breaking out of what can sometimes be an isolating music scene
By RACHEL BRODSKY
Everyone has an origin story, and R&B/Afropop singer Victoria Kimani‘s is especially memorable. Born in Los Angeles to Kenyan parents, the 34-year-old moved all over the globe—specifically to Tulsa, Okla., Nigeria and finally Kenya—during her teen years.
Continue reading “Afropop Queen Victoria Kimani Is Kenya’s Best Kept Secret”