Angelique Kidjo’s ‘Sings’ Wins the Best World Music Album Award at the 58th...
The Recording Academy announced today the winners the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Angelique Kidjo’s album ‘Sings’ won in the world music category. Other nominees included: Gilbertos Samba Ao Vivo –...
View ArticleMyriad Expressions of Rokia Traoré
Rokia Traoré’s new album “Né So” reveals the various musical sides of the Malian singer-songwriter and guitarist. You’ll find folk-pop, Afropop, Malian roots music, French chanson and even jazz....
View ArticleReflection of Élage Diouf’s Musical Journey
Élage Diouf – Melokáane (Pump Up The World, 2015) Quebec-based Senegalese singer-songwriter and percussionist Élage Diouf incorporates various musical traditions in his latest album titled Melokáane....
View ArticleCongolese Music Star Papa Wemba Dies at 66
Popular Congolese singer Papa Wemba died April 24, 2016 after collapsing on stage during a performance in Ivory Coast. Papa Wemba was born Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in Kazai, in the former Zaire...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Waldemar Bastos
Waldemar Bastos is one of the best known artists from Angola. He’s been living in Portugal for the last years, working with musicians from various backgrounds. His style is characterized by warm laid...
View ArticleArtists Profiles: Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo is one of the African singers with more attraction and performance power. The direct rhythms, strong, energetic, taken from the traditions of her homeland, Benin (Western Africa), are...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Julien Jacob
Julien Jacob arrived in France during his early childhood. His West-Indian parents settled in the South of France. For him, who was born in Benin, Africa, it was the encounter with a new culture. But...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Alif Naaba
Alif Naaba has been steeped in the musical traditions of Burkina Faso, West Africa. His Afropop style combines pulsating polyrhythmic percussion, kora textures, and funky bass and guitar riffs. His...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Lokua Kanza
Lokua Kanza was born in Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire). His father is one of the Mongo people, known for their polyphonic singing, and his mother comes from Rwanda,...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Fatoumata Diawara
Fatoumata Diawara (a.k.a. Fatou) was born of Malian parents in the Ivory Coast in 1982. As a child she became a member of her father’s dance troupe and was a popular performer of the wildly flailing...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Ze Manel
Singer and multi-instrumentalist, Ze Manel is one of the most famous and influential contemporary musician to emerge from the West African country of Guinea Bissau. By the age of seven, Ze, playing...
View ArticleThe Hybrid Sounds of Belgium’s Zanzibar
Zanzibar – Fiali in Chicago (Home Records, 2016) Belgian multi-ethnic band Zanzibar plays an unexpected mix of rhythmic Afropop music, harmonica-based American blues, boogie woogie, jazz, Haitian folk...
View ArticleLikembe Meets Afropop
Lulendo – Mwinda (Buda Records, 2017) Mwinda is the fourth studio album by Angolan singer-songwriter and likembe (thumb piano) player Lulendo Mvulu. Most of the album is radio friendly likembe-fueled...
View ArticleDiali Cissokho Brings North Carolina and M’bour Together on Routes
Diali Cissokho and Kaira Ba – Routes (Twelve Eight Records, 2018) Routes is the new album by North Carolina-based Diali Cissokho and Kaira Ba. Diali Cissokho is a Senegalese kora maestro who moved to...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Amadou & Mariam
During the 1960s, in Bamako, Mali, a young girl of six used to appear at local festivals by popular demand. On the other side of the tracks, three blocks away, a ten year old boy played the tam-tam,...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Salif Keita
A master of West African rhythms and credited as one of the founders of the Afropop genre, Salif Keita is world renowned for his unforgettable live performances, soaring vocals and his...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Rokia Traore
Rokia Traore was born in 1974 and comes from Bamako. Though-steeped in tradition, Rokia Traore’s music is thoroughly integrated into a contemporary sound, thanks to her upbringing in a multicultural...
View ArticleRocky Dawuni’s Reggae for Positive change
On Beats of Zion, African reggae star Rocky Dawuni continues to demonstrate he’s one of the most exciting artists coming out of Africa. His style goes beyond traditional roots reggae by incorporating...
View ArticleThe Colors of Africa
Pierre Akendengue – La Couleur de l’Afrique (Lusafrica, 2018) Pierre Akendengue, one of the most iconic singer-songwriters of Gabon, released La Couleur de l’Afrique last year. This 4-track EP presents...
View ArticleArtist Profiles: Osibisa
Osibisa exploded onto the music world in 1971 with a pulsating and vibrant sound. Translated from Ghanaian, Osibisa means “criss-cross rhythms that explode with happiness”. Their innovative music style...
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