Weekend Music Break No.75

By: Boima Tucker

Wanlov the Kubolor

Here’s your weekend selection for May 23rd, 2015. To kick things off, just stop what you’re doing, watch and listen to this by Wanlov…

A message from Sierra Leone to South Africa (to the World) — relevant to many of the posts going up on this site as of late — Kao Denero asks, “Why?”…

A song is so good, it kind of hurts… Nneka channels the spirit of Bob Marley in “Book of Job”…

Also in the “conscious” vein, a sax-backed message from Togo’s Elom 20ce…

Continuing the rap section of today’s selection, Pappy Kojo teams up with Sarkodie on “Ay3 Late”…

South African rap duo Gods on Drugs sent us this video for their track “Garage Dragon”…

Switching gears a bit, Djeff turns in a high-energy video for his mind-blowing “Ser Kazukuta” track!

Wunmi shows us how to keep a “Fit Body”…

Going through the Africa is a Country email archives we ran into this from Boston based Kina Zoré…

And finally, an interesting artifact from the Okayplayer family, Questlove goes to Cuba…

Small

Here’s your weekend selection for May 23rd, 2015. To kick things off, just stop what you’re doing, watch and listen to this by Wanlov… A message from Sierra Leone to South Africa (to the World) — relevant to many of the posts going up on this site as of late — Kao Denero asks, “Why?”… […]

Medium

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No one should be surprised we exist

Guido Melo

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.

Politics

04.20.2023

More than meets the eye

Umar Aminu Yandaki

The personal archives of Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, a Nigerian pro-democracy activist, suggests that same-faith presidential tickets are not necessarily about religious domination.

Culture

04.19.2023

Reading List: Barbara Boswell

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.

Politics

04.18.2023

The politics of maandamano

Abdirashid Diriye Kalmoy

Kenya’s cost of living demonstrations have as much to do with popular discontent as they do with the opposition capitalizing on frustrations.

04.18.2023

Demystifying austerity

William Shoki

Government’s around the world are talking about tightening their belts. Austerity is a common economic policy, but what is it actually? On the podcast, we discuss.

Politics

04.17.2023

Making sense of Sudan’s unrest

William Shoki

For democracy to succeed in Sudan, the process towards civilian rule must itself be democratized, rather than largely driven by top-down efforts.

Politics

04.17.2023

Kenya’s stalemate

Joe Kobuthi

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?

Politics

04.17.2023

Why Thabo Bester’s grift worked

William Shoki

South African con-artists Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana are not good people. They’re also an outcome of a system that predisposes individuals to avarice, selfishness and deceit.

Culture

04.14.2023

How to fight for democracy

Omole Ibukun

The events of May Day 1998 in Nigeria and lessons from Ola Oni on fighting for democracy in multi-ethnic societies.

Culture

04.13.2023

An annual awakening

Nancy Dantas

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

Culture

04.13.2023

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.

Culture

04.12.2023

A worldly Nubian energy

Fungai Machirori

The music and art of Lauryn Hill and Chiwoniso Maraire combined sexiness with political consciousness, offering Black women a way out of rigid categorization.

Politics

04.11.2023

Buharism is dead, long live Buharism

Sa’eed Husaini

Buharism, the social and economic outlook of Nigeria’s outgoing president, did not seek an alternative to neoliberal globalization, but sought to consolidate Nigeria’s place in it.

Culture

04.10.2023

The impossibility of actual politics

Nihal El Aasar

After the Arab Spring, the African left was left demoralized and disorganized. However, a recent book argues that the revolution continues in quotidian life.

Culture

04.07.2023

The new Zimbabwe soundtrack

Liam Brickhill

Zimbabwe is not Mugabe, Nkomo, Mnangagwa or Chamisa. A new Afro-electronic music duo is giving the country’s complexity a soundtrack.

Culture

04.06.2023

In defense of precolonial Africa

Ọláolúwa Òní

How are we to discuss and deal with colonization in Africa without using language that acknowledges that we were something before colonization?

Politics

04.06.2023

Defund the police

Policing in postcolonial Kenya is at an impasse. What is needed is disinvestment from this system of repression and reinvestment in communities.

Politics

04.05.2023

Ms. Harris goes to Africa

Elizabeth Schmidt

For all the coverage about Kamala Harris’ Afrobeats Spotify playlist, or her search for her grandfather’s house in Lusaka, her African trip is about shoring up US positions.

Culture

04.04.2023

The valley is getting wider and deeper

Scott Timcke

Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. The question is whether we align AI to promote human rights or to defend private property and exploitation.

Culture

04.03.2023

Reading List: Joel Marie Cabrita

Joel Marie Cabrita

Instead of listing the books that help her write ‘Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala,’ the author notes five books that shaped Regina Gelana Twala.

Africa Is a Country