To wrap things up for 2015, next week Africa is a Country will have a few best of lists and long form posts for you to ponder into the New Year (as we take our annual December break). But for now let's have a briefer interlude with our weekly music break, the last one for this year. Our selection of tunes this week is honestly a bit of a (holiday work party?) grab bag, but at Africa is a Country we only deal in quality. You won't be disappointed. Kicking things off we have Badi and Youssoupha's ode to the Congo of many names, peoples, and political geographies, so appropriately they just use the telephone country code 243 to signify exactly where and what they mean; To follow up we have the grandmaster of Ndombolo style of the rumba-soukous-decale axis, Kofi Olomide, who proves he can be relevant in the social media age with "Selfie"; Mr. Jayvic brings us uptempo dance vibes from Ghana; and then, Yungsal brings us nice Ghana-inspired downtempo vibes from Sierra Leone; Philadelphia, USA's Doelife turns up for their squad with "Moment"; and then as promised in a previous music break, we said when the clip arrives we'd once again share Scotland's Young Fathers' "Old Rock N Roll", live from Malawi; Boyzn Bucks members Cassper Nyovest and Riky Rick turn in a dark Cape Town tale with "Le Mpitse"; Afro Lisboa's Black Sea Não Maya crew releases one of the few videos coming out of that scene, hopefully many more to come; And finally, we take a holiday pan-African turn to the Caribbean with some Trinidadian-Venezuelan Parang-Soca and Puerto Rican Parranda-Salsa vibes. Happy holidays, and see you at the next music break in 2016!

I've never been to the Northeast of Brazil, but I have paid R$5 to walk through the doors of the Feria Nordestina in Rio de Janeiro's North Zone. Doing so, one clearly realizes they've entered a new world. It is a world that in the United States or Europe would represent an ethnic immigrant neighborhood, a place with all the trappings of a distant home, foreign to the place a certain group of people have chosen to congregate, in search of a better future. The food, the knick-knacks, the clothes, and above all, the music all instantly transport one to somewhere else. Perhaps a familiar unfamiliarity for both tourists and for second-generation Southeastern Brazilians whose parents want to give them a taste of their roots! This is the place where you can get access to musica nordestina, without fail, any time of the year in the Southern metropole thatis Rio de Janeiro. There are hundreds of music venues, from the two big stages on either side of the fair grounds, to the impromptu freestyle sessions of repente in the center, to the reggae sound system of Maranhão roots that wouldn't be out of place in Kingston, Jamaica -- save for that the language they call for wheel ups in is Portuguese. And this is all immediately what I think of when I listen to Kafundo Vol. 3: Electronic Roots from Northeastern Brazil. Rio de Janeiro with its samba, bossa nova, and funk sounds, exported to the world have claimed a Monopoly on Brazilian national identity for too long. And it is the young globally plugged in and hip electronic music producers that may be the ones to develop a take on Northeastern rhythms that might just supplant a conservative Rio de Janeiro cultural scene. Coco, forro, brega, carimbó are the names of the Brazil do futuro, even if most Brazilians are yet to catch on to this reality. Kafundó records' intention to focus on Northern and North-Eastern Brazil, a region with a large Afro-descendant, indigenous, and mestizo population, and a music scene that is heavily influenced by Caribbean sounds, will only speed this process along, as they expose these exciting new/old sounds coming from Brazil's too long underrepresented cultural North. Kafundó Records Vol. 3 is out this week at all your favorite digital stores.

On this day two years ago, Nelson Mandela passed. Madiba and his legacy has been covered widely on this site already, so for this weekend's music break we're going to jump into the archives and feature a collection of favorites we've already dedicated to him, as well as some new new new... If you have some reading time as well this weekend, check out our Mandela archive here.

2015's last episode of Africa is a Radio features a snippet from an extended interview with Pakistani-American journalist Rafia Zakaria, as well as a selection of tunes from Africa and the rest of the Atlantic world. Check it out below, and see you in 2016! Tracklist

Weekend is here so that means it's time for another music break! If there's any theme this weekend, it is artists who are looking back into the past to tap into some kind of inherited tradition or cultural roots... and then one just for fun. Enjoy! We covered Gabacho Maroconnection earlier this month in our Liner Notes series -- here they perform their song "Allah Moulena"; We also ran an interview with Somalia via Seattle rappers Malitia Malimob -- this song samples traditional Somali sounds; A throwback tune from Youssoupha (who's 2015 album NGRTD is pretty great) -- a dedication to his father the great Tabu Ley Rochereau; Fally Ipupa taps into some traditional rural Congolese sounds, updating them with a 2015 Kinshasa flair; D Banj and Akon also bring some new ancient rhythms to the club... it would be really great to hear this kind of rhythm on the dance floors of mainstream clubs in New York or Las Vegas... recent Instagrams by super producer Swizz Beatz point to the possibility of that reality not being too far away; Blsa Kdei taps into a classic Highlife sound, with the lilting guitar on "Mansa"; Featurist gets particularly traditional with his fashion style and moves in this video for "BABAAH" (the dance of grandfather!); Ghanian SK Kakraba is a master of the Gyil -- living in Los Angeles he recently released a record on the Awesome Tapes from Africa label; Malian Kora player Abou Diarra plays a live session accompanied by acoustic guitar; and finally, after seeing great success in the UK for his Afropop hit "The Thing", Atumpan goes dancehall and turns in a video for "African Wine" shot at this year's Nottinghill Carnival in London.

The 15th edition of WOMEX, Europe's premiere World Music trade show is happening next week in Budapest Hungary. As African music grows in popularity globally, it is events like WOMEX that serve as a first port of entry into the continent for many non-European artists; whether traditional, experimental, or pop. In light of this year's headlines around European migration, the need for programs such as WOMEX that inherently celebrate the diversity of human experience, and thus a truer vision of contemporary Europe, has become all the more sharp. As for the interest of Africa is a Country specifically, this year's showcases will host a series of artists with origins in the African continent. They will be putting their talents on display with the hopes of getting picked up by European record labels, touring agencies, and/or festival promoters. So, for this weekend's music break, Africa is a Country is happy to team up with WOMEX to present all ten artists presenting at this year's festival: Blick Bassey brings us "One Love" from Cameroon, a Central African smooth jam with Cello, Trumpet, and Slide Guitar accompaniment, Moh Kuyate represents with Mandinka Rock from Guinea via France; The Sarabi Band from Kenya sings against political corruption in an uplifting Ndombolo-inflected pop tune; Pierre Kwenders gives us Congolese Soul-Rap via Montreal; Vaudou Game hits us with West African Funk from France, rooted in Togo and Benin; Aziza Brahim, a displaced person from Western Sahara currently living in Spain, sings for her land and people, while showing how African Flamenco really is; Senegalese Mbalakh innovator Cheikh Lo is receiving a lifetime achievement award at this year's conference; Pat Thomas & The Kwashibu Area band revive classic Highlife for a new generation of audiences; Mamar Kassey from Niger a updates a repertoire descendant from the ancient Songhai empire, and is here performing it live in Amsterdam; and finally, Tarek Abdallah & Adel Shams El-Din perform Egyptian classical music on Oud and Riq, live in Montpellier, France. Visit WOMEX's website to see the full artist lineup, and read more on the artists featured above.

The weekend is here so let's take a break to enjoy some music... and dance! This week's edition is a collection of dance videos, official clips, fan made and otherwise. Enjoy a glimpse at the myriad of moves hitting dance-floors and streets across the world! We start off in the UK with a impressively growing Afro-House dance scene, dancers (and musicians) such as Reis Fernando and Milo & Fabio incorporate influences as wide as Hip Hop, Kuduro, and House; Then, we move to Trinidad where the Afropop take over continues unabated, making for some great Africa-influenced Soca moves; Yemi Alade releases a new video focused on dance, so we thought we'd include her and her dancer's Coupe Decale influenced moves here; Colombia does dancehall to great effect, and with this video by Leka El Poeta, we get a little "Choke" as well for those who are keeping track; Not relegated to history with Harlem's Jazz age, the Cha Cha makes it back to NY, and this rotating cast of Yak Films dancers do their best to update it to 2015; We are winning anytime Just A Band release a new video, and this dance-focused video definitely is one of their best yet; Former AIAC contributor Wills Glasspiegel co-directed this video (along side DJ RP Boo) focused on Chicago's Footworking phenomenon, shot at the South Side's Bud Billiken parade; which reminded me that Flying Lotus had drawn some specific connections between Jazz and Footwork earlier this year with his video for Never Catch Me featuring Kendrick Lamar; And, last but not least, Pantsula dancers also get the Jazz treatment in another former AIAC contributor (Allison Swank) produced video for the UK's Sons of Kemet.

Whether you're watching a game, having a drink with friends, or even getting some work in, we've got your weekend soundtrack covered! Here is your Music Break for the last weekend of September in 2015: We kick it off with dark hip hop vibes from a super roster of African rappers assembled by DJ Xclusive; Continuing in that vibe Mashayabhuqe KaMamba and Okmalumkoolkat release the long anticipated video for "Shandarabaa, Ekhelemendeh"; With a lot of carbon copycat beats still lingering out of the West African Afrobeats scene, it's nice to come across some real beat constructed innovation--VVIP and Sena Dagudu don't disappoint in that vein; In a more "traditional", but no less infectious Afrobeats vibe, Mazi Chuzk out of the UK turns in the video for his track "Hustle"; Yudi Fox and Big Nelo only want to slow wine with someone... Here's their ode to the sensual dance "So Quero Tarrachar"; Fresh off a successful appearance at Harlem's Apollo Theater, Sarkodie releases his latest album, surprisingly with a bit more vintage highlife sound; Daby Touré also released an album this past week, this is the video for the lead single "Oma"; Amerigo Gazeway has been doing some interesting re-imaginings of Soul and Hip Hop classics through his match-up mash-up series--he wins again with the best of two legends in their own game Pimp C and B.B. King; Keeping the spirit of B.B. King alive we move over to Mali's Songhoy Blues and their recent appearance at NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series; and finally, Orlando Julius takes us out with some real funk backed by the UK-based band The Heliocentrics.

Africa is a Country has been on break for about a month, and in that time we've accrued a bit more videos than the usual ten we post for our Weekend Music Break. So as we make our way back into our posting stride, enjoy the following set of twenty-five videos from across Africa and its diaspora: It feels good to be back!

Your weekend music break for July 18th, 2015

This week, master of the new school J. Martins, and master of the old school Koffi Olomide team up in Dance 4 Me, the remix; A busy week for Jidenna who angers Nigerian Twitter, apologizes, and then links up with Kendrick Lamar for the classic man remix; Holy Forest offers an impressive collaboration connecting different nodes in the Black Atlantic with "Africa Calling"; Kollins and Toofan link up for an Ivorian-Togolese party jam called "Crazy People"; Sierra Leonean crooner Famous sings on a London rooftop in "Throway"; Emicida, Inna Modja, and Killah Ace offer up political rap stylings; Tumi provides some more party rap offerings with "Visa"; and finally, top Jamaican artist Popcaan releases a new video this week called "Way Up".

Africa is a Country is now on Break for the weekend, so here is some Music we'll be relaxing to over the next couple of days: In this week's selection: Stocktown directs a 360 degree interactive clip from the top of a roof in downtown Addis Ababa for the band Ethiocolor; An appeal for support, gives the world a sneak peak into the recording sessions of Colombian Salsa super-band Ondatropica's new album; Fouma System brings electronic dance music to Dakar via the Akwaaba Music record label; Taking a peak at AIAC contributors Hipsters Don't Dance's site, revealed this wonderful London Alkaida-ish stomper from Kwamz, Flava and Mista Silva; We interviewed Uno July about his new EP last month, and this week he released a visual to "Skelem", one of the songs off of that project; 99K and Wanlov release a controversial track and video called "Kasa"; Chosan, releases "Show Goes On', a song and video that reads like a story of the life of the Freetown via London via New York via Baltimore rapper; Timaya dips his toes into Afrohouse with "Some More"; Becca and Ice Prince smooth things out with their own take on the genre; and finally, Uganada's Radio and Weasal have been making noise in Cartagena, Colombia of all places. Perhaps their latest video "Juicy" and it's Caribbean vibes will continue that success for them.

An abbreviated music break for the weekend of July 4th, 2015: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLseDnIPw8h8I7z-xv9TnRXEurFQBKTI6b   Joey B and the Akwaaba Sound System do an impressive live interpretation of his international hit "Tonga"; Blitz the Ambassador has a new track "Shine" produced by Soulection crew member IAMNOBODI; Kwaito continues it's resurgence with "Mr. Party"; Iba One from Mali declares his status as a "Rappeur International"; Kendrick Lamar says in spite of everything "We gon be Alright"; and Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux represents for the global South alongisde Palestinian Shadia Mansour.

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?".

Weekend Music Break, your weekly round up of hot tunes and music news from around the African Continent and its diaspora, is here! This weekend we have Belgium based Congolese artists Badi and Fredy Massamba's team up "Belgicain"; Show Dem Camp puts out an Afro-House song featuring Iye on the hook; still in the house zone, but in Angola, Maya Zuda and Bebucho Que Cuia present "Dois a Dois"; French-Senegalese rapper Booba heads to South America once again to shoot the video for his song "Tony Sosa"; Nigerian Davido sets his sights across the Atlantic by teaming up with Philadelphia gangsta rapper Meek Mill; Another cross-Atlantic collaboration sees a pair of Americans and a pair of Brits trading verses over a ominous R&B-trap beat; In preparation for the launch of his new album, Sarkodie also launches a trans-Atlantic gangsta-rap collabo this week, here he goes to dancehall territory with Stonebwoy and Jupiter; The Havana Cultura project recently shared "Madres" by Daymé Arocena, a live performance dedicated to the Orixa Yemaya (Yemoja, Iemanjá); Seattle-based Chimurenga Renaissance heads to the ruins of Great Zimbabwe for their track "Pop Killer"; and finally, F'Victeam, a Congolese dance squad, shoots a martial arts themed Ndomobolo/Decale video (embedding disabled so watch it here). Enjoy!

We took a break last week, but we're back experimenting with a new format. This Weekend's Music Break is in the form of a Youtube playlist so you can just hit play, sit back, and enjoy. Let us know if you have any thoughts about the new format in the comments! Our selection this weekend is: A dedication to today's Champion's League Final with the Eto'o Coupe Decale dance; P-Square and Awilo Longomba's new "Enemy Solo"; Angola's Mery with "Fogo cruzado" feat. Ksuno Beat; South African rapper Boolz with "Aphe Kapa"; Nigerian-American rapper hits the studio with friends in "Roslin's Basement"; Italian-Moroccan rapper Maruego brings a controversial subject to the small screen with "Sulla stessa barca," which translates to something like, "we are all in the same boat."; A group of DJs from around the world collaborate on an impressive live "Scratch Jam"; Lisbon's Batida releases a video for beautiful "Ta Doce" feat. AF Diaphra; Haiti's Beken sings "Tounen Lakay" in a live session; Finally, Y'en a Marre gets a half-hour documentary on MTV's rebel music series.

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...

Here is our weekend round up of audio and visuals from around the African Internet... Kicking things off, Spoek Mathambo spearheaded band Fantasma premiered their video for Cat and Mouse this week, featuring a collection of young South African ballet dancers. Alabama neo-trap poster boys Rae Sremmurd saw Fantasma's video, and decided to head to South Africa for their latest as well. Some over here at Africa is a Country think they've spotted a Sean Jacobs doppelgänger. The Alkebulan project is a series of EPs accompanied by a series of short stories from prominent African artists. They released the first video from the project this week. Cape Town weirdo rappers DOODVENOOTSKAP jump in-to the Internet and dance around a bit in their video for "Protein Shake". 13 year-old Kudurista Buriana of Cabo Snoop's Power House crew brings us the video for "Pica malembe". Bebeto Bongo takes us to Burkina Faso and teaches us the Zoungou Zoungou dance. Ghana and Nigerian dancehall link up on Shatta Wale and PatoRanking's "Romantic". In honor of Afropop's Hip Deep special this week on Afro-Peruvian music and culture, here is Susana Baca's classic "Maria Lando" (Lando), live in Buenos Aires. Nigerian singer Asa launched the visuals for Eyo last week. Here it is for you to enjoy today! When Bono's not getting run over on American television, he is promoting an end to poverty through his One organization. Here they assemble an All Star cast of African women performers for their "Strong Girl" campaign.

Here's our selection of tunes for the weekend of May 9th, 2015 It's mother's day weekend in much (but not all) of the world... so let's start out with Vusi Mahlasela's "Thula Mama". Burna Boy turns in a really cool video for "Soke". Brooklyn artist Teleseen shoots a video on the coast of Brazil, documenting the lives of fishermen on Ilhabela for "Outlines". Sahel Sounds has a new Balani show album out. Here is "Danbe" from Supreme Talent Show, read up on them on the Sahel Sounds blog. Danbe by Supreme Talent Show Stones Throw artist Knxwledge goes "In the Dungeon" for a live performance of some of his beats. This week Meklit Hadero realeased a clip for "Kemekem" dedicated to your beautiful afro. Ismael & the Radiant Select is playing around New York these days. Here is their song "Sa Diatale". I can't wait for the clip for Young Fathers' crazy good neo-rap tune 'Old Rock N Roll', so here's the song in a youtube stream... This one might get a double posting on the Weekend Music Break if the video ever comes out. "Canto da lavadeira, Prelúdio das águas" from As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã sounds like it's coming from an island in the middle of the Atlantic equidistant between Cabo Verde and Brazil. As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã by As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã Not a new track, but a big one that we haven't put up yet. Here's Kiss Daniel's Woju Remix feat. Tiwa Savage and Davido Happy Mother's day and have a great weekend!  

Kicking things off this week, South Africa's BoysnBucks collective show off their "Umswenko" in a new video for "Mswenkofontein": A bit of Afrobeats from Sierra Leone, Lady Matto brings a nice London-shot video for her uptempo dance track "Oba": Nigerien Afro-Rock group Tal National released an album this week. Shabazz Palaces member, and AIAC contributor Tendai Maraire offered up a remix to celebrate the occasion: DJ Simón de la Onda sent over a couple videos from Guinea and Angola, just as I was putting together this list! First up Les Jumeaux Damaro bless us with "To Mara Fanyi": ... and some Angolan Kizomba from Marceny to give a little romance to your Saturday! Get it while it's hot! DJeff offers up a free download of his track "Ser Kazukuta" featuring Yuri da Cunha and BZB: São Paulo's MC Bin Laden is Brazil's craziest videoclip maker: Back to Sierra Leone via Idris Elba and his Krio rapping on Ghanian super group VVIP's remix for "Selfie" A bit of shameless self-promotion in the form of a new remix that I released last week. This one fuses the Afro-Bolivian Saya tradition with pan-African rhymes delivered by Mexican rapper Bocafloja: And finally, in honor of the "fight of the century" tonight (#TeamManny!), Wax Poetics offers up the most memorable boxing entrances. Let's see if Manny and Floyd's entrances can live up to the standard set by "Mr. Unbeatable" Roy Jones Jr.: