AfricaIs aCountry

Music Mondays

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Music Mondays

By
Sean Jacobs

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From an article in last week’s “Detroit Metro Times”: ‘… In the ’60s, Motown was so popular in Italy that Berry Gordy had his artists record translated versions of their songs specifically for the Italian market. Back then, the transistor radios of teens from Turin to Palermo were blaring such hits as The Supremes’ “Se il filo spezzerai” (“You Keep Me Hanging On“), Stevie Wonder’s “Solo te, solo me, solo noi” (“Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday“) or even The Four Tops’ “Gira Gira” (“Reach Out I’ll Be There”) …’

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I like Rox, the London-based half-Iranian, half-Jamaican musician. Here she is doing an acoustic version of one of her songs.

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The new Africa is a Country co-conspirator, Brett Davidson, pointed me to the beautiful sounds of singer, Lindiwe Shuttle, born in Atlanta and based in Cape Town. This video is of a live performance of her song “Jungle Book” when she opened for Finlay Quaye in Cape Town in May this year. Sample her music here or  watch her talk about her music here.

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Now for some history: Nowadays Atlanta rapper, Big Boi of Outkast, goes by the name of  Sir Lucious Left Foot.  He is saying that he is still doing the same thing, but don’t blame  me if I am not convinced and want more of that 90s countryfried music like 1993’s “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik” (above) or “Git Out, Git Out.”

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This is probably viral by now and does not need this blog. “Window Seat” (The Remix) by Erykah Badu and Rick Ross. Remember the original version? (I am not talking about the non-controversy around the video for the song, but the genius of the original song itself.)

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Finally, on a somber note. My friend Suren Pillay sent me a notice of the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town’s August 19th inaugural Dulcie September Memorial Lecture.  If you have forgotten, Dulcie was the ANC activist murdered in broad daylight by South African death squad in Paris, France, in March 1988. (When in Paris a few years ago, I went and pay respect to Dulcie’s memory at the scene of the crime.) Having the event on August 19 carries some significance as Dulcie was born on August 20, 1937.  If you know me, I had to think about music. I remembered electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Marre’s homage to Dulcie, “September.” I had it on repeat for a whole day.  Go to the lecture if you’re in Cape Town. (The video is not embedded, so you can click on it and go watch over at Youtube.)

— Sean Jacobs

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Reading List: Barbara Boswell

While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

An annual awakening

In the 1980s, the South African arts collective Vakalisa Art Associates reclaimed time as a tool of social control through their subversive calendars.

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.