by Gail Mitchell | Billboard Magazine
The next musical revolution is brewing in Africa.
Continue reading “‘This Isn’t a Fad’: Three of Africa’s Biggest Stars on Making the Industry Come to Them”
By Francis Addo | ModernGhana
Ghanaian rapper Kwaw Kese says he is thinking of seeking asylum in the United States of America, where he is currently stuck because of the closure of the country’s borders and airports as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
According to him, he has given himself up to the end of the month to concretise that decision.
Continue reading “Ghanaian rap star, Kwaw Kese, mulls seeking assylum In US”
By GhanaWeb
Ghanaian star, Stonebwoy, has once again proven to be the one of the best recording and performing artistes from Ghana, as his single “Nominate” featuring American singer, Keri Hilson, has made it into the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.
Continue reading “Ghana’s Stoneboy and US star keri Hilson make it into Billboard charts with “Nominate””
By Ebimo Amungo
With two covers of her song “Way Maker” hitting the Top 10 of the Christian songs category on Billboard, Nigerian gospel singer, Osinachi Okoro-Joseph, has topped the Christian songwriter category of Billboard.
Versions of “Way Maker” by Michael W. Smith and Madelyn Berry are concurrently in the Top 10, while two other versions are in the Top 40, making a total of four versions of the same song in the Billboard Top 50.
Continue reading “Sinach : Two versions of “Way Maker” on Billboard Top 10 propel Nigerian to summit of Christian songwriters chart”
By Masabata Mkwananzi | IOL
Apple Music has launched a month-long campaign to showcase the best playlists, artists and albums from all corners of the continent to celebrate Africa Month. This follows last week’s expansion of Apple Music into an additional 52 new countries around the world. This expansion gave 33 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa access to Apple Music.
Continue reading “Apple Music launches Africa Month celebration”
Our Top 5 afrobeat tracks will give you the best of the genre founded by Fela Kuti
By Jenifer Gonsalves | Meaww
Continue reading “Pandemic Playlist: Afrobeat music to connect you with Africa”
Cutting through the chatter of passersby on 18th Street deciding where to eat or waiting in line at Songbyrd, the sound of a saxophone floats from Bossa Bistro + Lounge. It is the first Thursday of the month, and that means Feedel Band is playing. Inside, about 20 people are gathered to see them, some of whom have been coming to Feedel’s shows since the band’s residency first started six years ago.
Continue reading “Ethiopian Jazz Supergroup Feedel Band Is Keeping Traditional Sounds Alive In The District”
Every Friday from 2016 until recently in a small, second-floor room of the Crystal City restaurant Enjera, Ethiopian guitarist Selam Seyoum Woldemariam has led his trio through minor key, groove-filled renditions of 20th century Ethiopian songs. For the crowd of mostly 40-something-and-up Ethiopians in attendance, Woldemariam’s catalogue brought back memories of when these tunes were the radio soundtrack to their lives. The band stands on a tiny stage jammed up against a wall, playing their lounge-funky East African jazz for an audience of roughly 50 people who enjoy plates of Ethiopian and Eritrean food with spongy injera or just drink and socialize at tables close by.
Continue reading “Ethiopian Jazz Greats Hailu Mergia and Selam Woldemariam release new albums in Washington DC”
By Alex Zidel |HNHH
It’s not every day that you hear about a rapper from Egypt making waves in America but, with the internet, anything is possible. The rising star has been expanding his network and his new seven-song project Glo Up gives us a good taste of what he’s about.
Continue reading “Egyptian Rapper pre kai ro Celebrates His “Glo Up””
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”
BY KEMET HIGH
Afrobeats has been steadily infiltrating the U.S. airwaves for the past few years. In fact, you may have heard Afro B’s “Drogba (Joanna)” thumping out of someone’s car speakers this summer, bringing the uplifting vibe you need when the sun is out.
The term afrobeats has been used to describe a collective campaign of different musical styles stemming from Africa, not to get mixed up with Afrobeat, which is a West African music genre blending fuji and highlife music with American jazz and funk, pioneered by Fela Kuti. Afrobeats is a word that’s used to bring awareness to African-influenced music from collectives like the Flight Club, artists like Davido, Burna Boy, and Wizkid, and producers like P2J.
Continue reading “How Afrobeats Is Influencing American Pop Music, According to Producer P2J”
‘Sometimes in a world where maybe the favour is not in your lane, you create your own favour’
By Thandiwe Konguavi · CBC News
A number of renowned African gospel music producers, who now call Edmonton home, are working non-stop to break African musicians into mainstream Christian radio stations.
Continue reading “African gospel music producers aim to break into Edmonton’s music scene”
By Rufaro Samanga
The devil works hard but Burna Boy certainly works harder. Last night, the indomitable Nigerian artist appeared on the late night American talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! alongside Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie, who were promoting their new film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Continue reading “Watch Burna Boy Perform ‘Anybody’ on Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The “live-action” Lion King remake hews closely to the original film, even recreating some scenes with shot-for-shot precision. But Beyoncé’s album that accompanies the film, The Lion King: The Gift, takes an approach that’s more inspired than a simple retread of familiar songs. Though the 27-track release is liberally woven with at-times distracting spoken word excepts from the film, the songs themselves are only inspired by the story, and you don’t need to be a Lion King fan to get on board.
Continue reading “A Guide to All the African Artists Who Appear on Beyoncé’s Lion King Album”
by Nick Duerden
When Burna Boy arrives three hours late to an east London studio on a balmy July evening, he is laid-back to the point of comatose — and monosyllabic. He asks that the photo shoot happen quickly, and when he sits down to be interviewed, the first thing he does is stand up again. “No,” he says, suddenly definitive. “Need a smoke. Come.”
Continue reading “How Burna Boy Became Nigeria’s Surprise Success Story”
The superstar’s new album will feature a number of African stars who rarely get exposure in the U.S.
By Elias Leight
Beyoncé has announced The Lion King: The Gift, an album that will accompany the remake of the famous Disney animated film will have a track list that includes stars from Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, artists who rarely get exposure in the American mainstream.
Continue reading “African stars Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy to feature in Beyoncés ‘Lion King: The Gift’ Album”
| DCist
| DCist
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