Here it is, your live stream of "If you can't see me, are you really there?" concert series from Coffeebeans Routes headquarters in Cape Town. Select the audio or video stream below to join the festivities: LIVE VIDEO STREAMING by Ustream LIVE AUDIO ONLY STREAM ON Mixlr

As we announced earlier this month, Africa is a Country is teaming up with Coffeebeans Routes in Cape Town to bring you a live concert series called "If you can't see me, are you really there?" The first edition will happen this Thursday at 19:30 Cape Town time. Visit the site at that time (use the previous link to calculate your own time) to participate live, and read up on what Coffeebeans Routes has to say about the first act below!

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FIRST CONCERT – LOIT SOLS & CHURCHIL NAUDE The Coffeebeans Routes concert series “If you Can’t See Me, Are You Really There?” opens on Thursday the 25th of June with a goema rymklets folk hip hop collaboration between acclaimed published poet and performer Loit Sols, and Afrikaans hip hop artist Churchil Naude aka Kroeskop, Koos Kombuis’s favourite rapper. This is their first live collaboration. The show comes on the tails of Churchil’s debut album release, Kroeskop vol Geraas, and their studio collaboration on the Wasgoedlyn project. Goema is what connects Loit and Churchil. Goema, the geographically distinct, historically unique, rhythmically inflected, culturally outerclass, irreverent, scatological and deeply spiritual indigenous masala. Brandishing a Khoekhoegowab language dictionary, Loit points to the Khoesan etymology of Goema: “Goma”, meaning the hide of an ox. The drum, says Loit, is not a drum without the stretched hide. Goema is also derived from the Indonesian “Gumum” meaning murmur, indicative of the drumbeat of dissent among the Cape’s West Indies slave ancestors. Drum. Bush Telegraph. Language. Goema – sameness and difference.  Visible and invisible. Loit is a poet, musician, graphic designer, performance artist, Goema lexicologist, and now also radio presenter – he has just started a weekly slot on Radio Sonder Grense, RSG, on Friday mornings 0745 – 0800. Born in Retreat in 1957, he started writing at age 8, and taught himself music starting at age 21 with a guitar. He has performed variously, locally and internationally, including the Winternachten Festival in the Netherlands, Stellenbos Woordfees, Infecting The City Cape Town, and the Riddu Riddu Festival in Norway. He has two published anthologies: his debut being My Straat En Anne Praat-Poems (1998), and Die Faraway Klanke vanne Hadedah (2006). His recorded music & poetry include: A Moment In Cape Town, Sierjis Kak-Praat and the Goemarati Compilation. Churchil is a hip hop artist and carpenter. Fine woodwork is his day to day. As he says about hip hop as an income, “daasie geldie, there’s no money. You do it because you have a passion. That’s it”. Loit says the same about being a poet. Churchil has been an MC since the mid 1990s, starting out in English. “I’ve got albums full of English material, but it was the discovery of Koos Kombuis’ album Elke Boomelaar’s se Droom that woke me up to my mother tongue as ‘great’, as the tongue that I had to use”. Churchil has collaborated widely in South Africa, recording with a number of his own musical mentors, including Anton Goosen, who he grew up hearing on the radio and TV (check out their video below, Boy from the Suburbs). The Loit Sols Churchil Naude session will be intimate, just the two of them with guitar, voice and harmonica. If you're in Cape Town, book your tickets here. If you can’t be there, catch the live stream with us!

Africa is a Radio has a Football (is a Country) focus this week. Things have been moving so fast in FIFA's controversial world that this show is a bit behind on the latest news. But we think you will enjoy the discussion anyway. Also included is a brief discussion around today's UEFA Champion's League Final. And, a new segment in our show is an interview series we will have with various public figures. Our first interviewee is Kenyan author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. The audio included in the show is only a brief excerpt, so visit the blog later on this week to get the whole thing. Of course, as always, the show includes a selection of tunes from across the African continent and its diaspora. Stream it here via Mixcloud, and download the archive from Groovalizacion.

This month we will be kicking off a special partnership with Coffeebeans Routes to bring you a concert live from Cape Town on the last Thursday of every month. This concert series is  a celebration of Coffeebeans Routes 10th year of existence. The organization is a cultural tourism company that just received an award for their dedication to "engaging people and culture" in the Cape Town region. Says founder and creative director Iain Harris: “We would like to share with the city and the world some of the best examples of music performance and composition that Cape Town has to offer.” Read more about the organization's history, and their intimate connection to the Cape Town music landscape on their blog. The first concert will be Thursday June, 25th 2015, and it will feature Loit Sols in collaboration Churchil Naude. It's a fascinating partnership between Loit, a goema rymklets folk singer, and Churchil an Afrikaans hip hop artist. The show comes on the tails of Churchil’s debut album release on 24 May, Kroeskop vol Geraas, and their studio collaboration on the Wasgoedlyn project. If you're Cape Town you can join the festivities live. But if not, you can also just tune in here at Africa is a Country where we will be live streaming each concert. And look out for deeper profiles on all the participating artists here on Africa is a Country.

Tributes are pouring in from around the world for Raphael Tenthani, who has died in a traffic accident aged 43. Known to BBC World Service listeners for his excellent reporting from Malawi, and to all Malawians as "The Muckraker" for his fearless column in the Sunday Times, Tenthani was a scourge of corrupt political elites and a fierce defender of press freedom. Over at Nyasa Times, Thom Chiumia paid tribute to his colleague and friend. Malawi and Africa has lost a pillar of strength, and a brave and compassionate voice. We must protect our journalists. Rest in power, Muckraker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41bCIHf4Nnw Hamba kahle, B.B. King (1925-2015)

In this edition of Africa is a Radio, the Africa is a Country team discusses the Nigerian Election results, #CadaanStudies, the Garissa Attacks in Kenya, and South African Cricket. Plus music from all over Africa and beyond.

"Soldiers in Maiduguri, the embattled capital of Borno state, which has been under constant siege by Boko Haram, celebrate Nigeria’s election to music by Nigerian recording artist Davido" (via CCTV Africa): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIKH0IlBGdc CCTV Africa sites top African footballers like Emmanuel Adebayor (is he still around?) and Samuel Eto’o for popularizing Skelewu beyond its Nigerian base. Davido's official music video--posted on Youtube--has had more than 10 million views thus far when we checked earlier today). Skelewu "is variously said to refer to money, love or elation." In any case, the video (UPDATE: which may be a few weeks old) is a neat bit of--unintended?--propaganda for Nigeria's army assailed by the people it claims to protect, in Western media media and by its neighbors for its seemingly inept reaction to Boko Haram. UPDATE: We were just informed those can't be Nigerians--the patterns on their uniforms either indicate Cameroon or Niger and in any case, "no Nigerian would dance Skelewu so badly!"

Africa is a Radio Season 2 is here! In our inaugural episode, we have added two hosts, Sean Jacobs and Elliot Ross of this site! In the first episode they have a discussion on the African media sphere, The South African student protest "Rhodes Must Fall", and the upcoming Nigerian elections. There is also of course a selection of music from Chief Boima touching on all corners of the African diaspora.

In 2013 South African alterna-rockers, BLK JKS and The Brother Moves On, met in Paris to represent their country in a show called "Rock in Johannesburg." Although both groups hail from the same place, they found it hard to collaborate there, and found it strange that they were first uniting (and bonding) in a European capital. So to rectify the situation they put together a "dream gig" combining the talents of both bands with some special invited guests that include: Moonchild, Joao Orecchia from Motel Mari, Nosisi Ngakana from Kwani Experience, Neo Hlusku, Makhafula Vilakazi, and the Blk Diamond Butterfly Thandiswa Mazwai. The show will take place this February 28th somewhere in Johannesburg. Want to find out where? Follow the hashtag #FOLLOWTHEBLKRABBIT for details in the lead up to the day!