AfricaIs aCountry

Weekend Music Break No.78

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

Weekend Music Break No.78

By
Boima Tucker

The‡ procession of El GaGa‡ de San Luis, Dominican Republic

South Carolina and the island that Haitians and Dominicans share is on our minds this weekend, so your music break reflects that.

The Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters kick us off with an African folk tale from the Sea Islands; then Fatoumata Diawara bridges the distance between Charleston and Timbuktu, with a Malian Blues from the movie Timbuktu; we move from there to the Dominican Republic with Enerolisa y sus Salves and their take on the classic palo “Ogun Balenyó“–a song that proudly celebrates Dominican African heritage; Pacheman y Griselito blur the lines between Haiti and the Dominican Republic tapping into the pan-island tradition of rara, or gaga in the DR, with their song “Pa ke suden lo cahetes“; this is what gaga looks and sounds like in Villa Central of Santa Cruz de Barahona, Dominican Republic; G-Dolph is Haiti’s most prolific Raboday producer, the Haitian equivalent to mambogaga; A little Kompas selection from Djakout Mizik that shows how love can cross all boundaries; Amara La Negra is the Dominican Republic’s black pride dembow princess, this time coming with a Brazil influenced Samba-Funk called “Ayy”; Keeping it in Brazil, Bahia’s OQuadro released “Jesus Cristin” before heading over to Europe to play summer festivals; and finally, Coreon Du brings it back to the DR by doing his best Enrique Iglesias interpretation on the pan-Afro Latin pop tune “Que Paso?“.

About the Author

Boima Tucker is a music producer, DJ, writer, and cultural activist. He is the managing editor of Africa Is a Country, co-founder of Kondi Band and the founder of the INTL BLK record label.

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

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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.