Rounding up some music videos we've been tweeting over the past weeks, this is your Friday Music Break. Produced by the hardest working rapper in Kinshasa, Lexxus (that's him in the video, scouting for new talent in Kinshasa's streets), 'Bo tia K' is the first outtake from Bawuta Kin's upcoming album Ba Wu. Great video too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGy_rw77ogQ Next, smooth Kenyan rap from Muthoni The Drummer Queen in 'Feelin' it' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQUjueTWL9c London duo The Busy Twist recorded this music video in Accra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-OPl2CpD-I 'Bravo Papa' (now with English subtitles) makes us look forward to South African artist Jaak's Galant album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsxTZU_cEDY Aline Frazão plays an accoustic version of 'Cacimbo' (that's Angola's dry season): http://vimeo.com/41971844 After a long hiatus, South African TKZee artist Tokollo Tshabalala "Magesh" has recorded new kwaito tunes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2yDjYf3aV8 Gorgeous Sudanese a capella by Alsarah and her sister Nahid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPOnonHh6a4 I haven't counted the times 'Africa' gets mentioned in this mishmash video for Madlib's 'Hunting Theme' and 'Yafeu' (both taken off his 3rd Medicine Show), but it's a lot. http://vimeo.com/37488208 Maryland's Kendall Elijah belatedly got a video out for his track 'The Wild' (from last year): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQUzdQN51 And finally, Donal Scannell created this music video for Sahrawi singer Aziza Brahim's 'The Earth Sheds Tears' in which she remembers those who fought to liberate those parts of the Western Sahara which remain outside of Moroccan control. Aziza Brahim resides in Spain these days: http://youtu.be/GBXOl3QigfE

http://youtu.be/tLyhZlgWIpM This is a random selection of ten films we don't know much about, yet, but which we hope to see once completed or screened at the nearest film festival. 'The Door of No Return' (La Puerta de No Retorno) follows Santiago Zannou who accompanies his father, Alphonse, to his homeland, Benin, 40 years after he left it. Trailer above. 'Finding Mercy' (which premieres at the Tri Continental Film Festival in Johannesburg this month) is about retrieving a childhood friendship in a newly independent Zimbabwe: [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/40136444 w=500&h=400] 'Meanwhile in Mamelodi' is a documentary by Benjamin Kahlmeyer on life in a Pretoria township during the 2010 World Cup: http://vimeo.com/27998916 'Healers', directed by Thomas Barry, highlights the work of The Umthombo Youth Development Foundation and tells the story of how a doctor and a matron at a rural South African hospital in KwaZulu Natal started a groundbreaking scholarship programme to enable local youth to qualify as healthcare professionals: http://vimeo.com/43043823 'Gardens of my Ancestors' is a short film by South African filmmaker Tsholofelo Monare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpxQIxqeeWY 'After The Battle' is an account of two people caught up in the Egyptian revolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGeSEvrFrgw 'Fidaï' tells the story of an ex-fighter for Algerian independence, and has had its first screening at some recent film festivals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6l9-7pl5-Y 'The Hidden Smile', a short film by Ventura Durall, set in the streets of Addis Abeba: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoGy2uCTWBU 'Walking at Dawn' is a film by Silvia Firmino, set in Mozambique and premiering at the Dockanema Documentary Film Festival in Maputo this month: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4rUdcTYhL4 And the trailer for 'The Marshal of Finland' had a few people up in arms in Finland. True, having a Kenyan actor to play the country’s most famous military figure is quite the coup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upP-QNtrlqU

My grandmother had a pub where wayfarers, fishermen, their wives, officers and anybody who had trouble or was looking for a little happiness would come, buy tots of the local gin, “akpeteshie” and start pouring their souls out. I would crawl under tables, eaves dropping and soaking it all in. When I got bored listening to them, I’d run to the beach, sleep in a docked canoe, play soccer with my friends, catch crabs or help some fishermen pull in their catch of the day.

Picking up the thread from earlier this year, Ghanaian "storytelling" photographer Nana Kofi Acquah sent through his "5 favorite photographs", and explains why. 

"Impressive but Depressive." Those three words are stuck in my head and always pop up when I remember my exhibition in Bamako. I was showing The Slaughter Boys -- a series on animals slaughtered on the beach in commercial quantities for consumption across Ghana’s capital. Those were the words from one of the viewers and the photograph above is my favourite from that series.

You must remember that I consider myself, first and foremost, a storyteller before a photographer. I love people and the stories they have to tell. When you take photos for a living, there’s always the temptation to treat assignments as just assignments but if I worked like that, my love for photography will die in no time. I need to always connect. Feel. Explore. Discover. Disrupt. Observe. Challenge. I made this quiet photograph of a woman harvesting maize on a very busy farm; in a hyper-charged atmosphere of laughter and celebration. Harvest is always a good time for farmers. It took a lot of effort to not get carried away, to get something simple and beautiful. I am happy to say this photograph graces the cover of a just released coffee table book.

I’ve been working on a series called 'Bedroom Portraits’. I’ve been looking at Accra, its people and where they sleep. In the pursuit of this story, I have photographed folk who sleep in cemeteries and those who live in mansions. One of my favourites from this set is of James. James hasn’t slept on his bed in eight years. He’s a self-employed IT guy and has a few companies that hire him as auditor.

On this particular assignment, I also got to photograph the two Liberian women who, not long afterwards, won the Nobel Peace Prize but it’s not their photographs I’m sharing with you. This girl is a seamstress’ apprentice. Trying to pick up life from where the war left it. I don’t know what her experiences were but the sticker on her sewing machine spoke volumes.

This last photograph is from Elmina, where my umbilical cord is buried. Elmina is my love and pain. I was born about 200 metres from where that slave castle stands but I never went in there as a child. My mother has never been in there. Most people from Elmina never go in there because it’s depressive. So imagine me walking out of that haunted edifice and then these noisy school girls, just walk past me shouting, laughing out loud in a language I love to speak: Fante. It really was a breath of fresh air and the whisper of hope my soul so needed to hear.

http://vimeo.com/26876381 This is a bit older, but still worth watching. Above is a short clip from ‘Silent Elections’, a 40 min. documentary film Belgian video artist Sarah Vanagt produced in 2009. In the opening scene, she explains how “[in] 2005, I met Tonton (15), Dodo (14), and Daniel (12), three street children living on the lava in Goma, Eastern Congo. One year later I sent them three digital cameras from Brussels. I asked them to document the election process, the first democratic elections since Congo’s independence in 1960. With support from a local arts center, Tonton, Dodo and Daniel wandered the streets of Goma with their cameras. Little by little they sent their images back to Brussels: glimpses of the run-up to the [2006] elections, the campaign, the first and second rounds of voting, the celebratory atmosphere... Looking at their silent images, reminded me of the early films from the Lumière brothers. As if these “videographs” from Goma offer the very first views of the very first elections.” All details here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGset8Etl4o Above is how people keep warm in Johannesburg winters. And below is what you hope to bounce to during long summer nights. Southeast from Johannesburg. Music video made in Durban. Band's from Durban. And they're named after Durban: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HrVn_S57KU Okayafrica tipped us off about the video for Ajebutter 22 (yeah...). Clubby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGdB_ccyipo Gazza's 'Friday Special' (the song; turn down the bass a bit -- quality's grainy): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unTWV4JxjHI Elliot ran into revoluçionista rapper Azagaia eating prawns in Maputo this week. Here he is with 'Minha Geração': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFGh4Qp4Qaw More conscious hip hop, recorded between Kinshasa and Brussels, by Didier Awadi, Fredy Massamba, Steve Mav and Lexxus Legal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxqDSj1ARyw Haven't heard Mikko--admittedly, in his spare time 1/3rd of Chuck D's Planet Earth Planet Rap program--as excited about a new release as over the past days. Must be the return of Public Enemy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLnINZ-cANI Two from Kenya. Xtatic... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdnOfvOrXY ...and Rabbit's 'Swahili Shakespeare' (in a slower mode): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx9z74iZsmU And to wrap up the week: I didn't know about Malian Sibiri Samaké until top music blog Tropicalidad (one day they'll drop the "world music" tag) mentioned him this week. This recording in Studio Bogolan is exceptional: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3PjwPoEXPQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKvRnvP3jY8 Fofo-born Shokanti released a video this week in celebration of Cape Verdean Independence (slipping in those famous words by Amílcar Cabral at the very end). Above. You've noticed our blogging went into holiday mode but there's always time for music. So 9 more below. Brazilian Kamau's 21/12 finally gets a video; not surprisingly it's another tribute to skate life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9_iSRpucyE Warongx (from Khayelitsha) live at Tagoras (Observatory, Cape Town; H/T Sixgun Gospel): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRvuYatvdvg Ghana pop for northern summers. 5Five's 'Bossu Kena': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AktSWz4Gowg And some Pan-African pop from Ruff N Smooth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JzlR4UeN_o There seems to exist a standard script for how to record a music video as a diaspora artist on a visit somewhere on the continent (in this case, Abidjan), as Soprano and R.E.D.K. confirm: http://youtu.be/fGhbJtZFkw4 And so do Sexion D'Assaut. Neneh Cherry knows her MF Doom classics (H/T Sarah): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jovsxh8FeYo Cameroonian Jovi throws Tabu Ley Rochereau's 'Pitié' in the mix: http://youtu.be/TpEJgaUnTjE True, Youssoupha did that better. A remix from a different kind: Brussels-based débruit "sampling lost African VHS and reinterpreting discovered African melodies and rhythms." Seriously though, his music is a lot more exciting than the selling line suggests: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXblKv8wsDc And lastly, via Ricci, "Senegal's political hip hop for effect". Red Black: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0J1E3LNJDo

Guest post by Rosie Spinks Hear the words ‘alternative energy in Africa’ and you might think of a massive solar plant somewhere in the expanse of the Sahara desert, churning out electricity courtesy of the relentless African sun without a human being in sight. While that image isn’t entirely inaccurate—construction on the behemoth North African Desertec project began last year in Morocco and is expected to supply 15% of European’s electricity by 2050—it doesn’t involve the group of people that stand to benefit most from alternative energy in Africa: citizens of the continent themselves. A new project called Africa Express, being carried out by Frenchmen Jeremy Debreu and Claire Guibert with support from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), is bringing attention to a different breed of alternative energy on the continent, one where Africans who lack access to energy are the main beneficiaries. For a period of ten months, the pair are traveling 20,000 km through 23 countries using trains and buses to survey a range of alternative energy projects. From a community refrigeration project in northern Senegal to a massive hydroelectric dam in Morocco, the size and nature of the projects differ, though they all have one notable in common. “Africa Express aims to promote energy projects with good practices that are intended to benefit Africans,” Guibert said. “We are not only talking about renewable energy, but with the access to energy to people at the base of the pyramid.” The United Nations named 2012 as the year of International Sustainability for All, hence the organization’s support of the project, but it’s notable that some of the high profile sponsors of Africa Express are not exactly names you would associate with alternative energy. In addition to the non-industry sponsors of the UNEP and the African Development Bank, energy industry giants EDF energy and Schneider Electric are listed as main backers. Asked how he would respond to criticism from environmentalists on this point, Debreu explained the logic behind the involvement of such large energy corporations. “It is true that part of the business model of Schneider Electric or EDF is based on fossil fuels and [conventional energy sources],” Debreu said. “But for them, access to energy is more and more linked to the development of sustainable energy and new development models. This is a strategic answer for them for different reasons.” Guibert also added that the 18 projects they are visiting were chosen independently and without input from their sponsors. After mapping the train routes and existing transport networks they would use to get around the continent, the pair consulted a panel of experts to select roughly 20 projects from 100 potential options. The selection criteria was based on economic, social and environmental benefits, impact on biodiversity, and replicability. Guibert and Debreu are planning to produce a documentary and a white paper outlining the findings of their trip, which they hope will show what kinds of projects are successful and fill a notable void of research about alternative energy on the continent. They also maintain that central to the ethos of their project is the idea that the model of NGOs and foreign aid fixing Africa’s problems is not effective. The most successful projects so far, they say, are those that train the local population to become contributors to the project and not just beneficiaries, that have support of local authorities, and have a self-sustaining business plan rather than an expectation of long-term aid. “The biggest challenge is actually to understand that a centralized electricity network over [a whole] country is not the solution everywhere, especially in countries where there are a lot of little rural villages,” Debreu said. “That is why we think that generally, projects developed by NGOs without any local implementation are going to fail.” A highlight of the trip so far has been the “ecovillages program” initiated by the Senegalese government. Far from the tourist resort that the name suggests, the 21 villages already initiated in the scheme form de-centralized electricity networks, which are using small-scale solar charging stations and bio-digestors in rural areas which the national energy company can’t yet afford to electrify. Debreu and Guibert are also excited about the level of social entrepreneurship they have seen, such as individuals engineering improved cookstoves and briquettes as an alternative to wood for fuel. A rural cooperative they visited in Burkina Faso was able to meet local demand for energy just one year after opening by offering training to local technicians, which meant problems could be solved easily when they arose. “It’s very important not only to consider that alternative energy is benefiting lives, but also to take into account individual and ongoing training before and after the installation.” You can follow the progress of Africa Express on Facebook and Twitter. * Rosie Spinks is a London-based freelance journalist. Her work has been featured in publications including Sierra magazine, GOOD magazine, The Ecologist, Urban Times, EcoSalon, Matador Network, and the Guardian Environment Network. You can follow her on Twitter and Tumblr.

http://vimeo.com/42715280 The text that comes with Agata Pietron's photographs of youth in Kiwanja and Rutshuru (North Kivu, Congo) flirts with the clichés (the Conrad reference; the brave missionaries; the photographer is a "muzungu" who "discovers" youth who are into R&B and rap, wearing "Chinese made sportswear knockoffs"; and despite the "absurd" circumstances people have "strong spirits"), but her portraits are striking, and introduce us to a music scene we won't find on Youtube. More below: http://vimeo.com/34757799 And the full series on Pietron's website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ASWQDUzNQ Quite the mixed bag this week. 'Disco Malapaa' by Arusha's Jambo Squad above; nine more below. Like Jambo Squad, Mokoomba (from Zimbabwe) switch into Latino mode halfway in their new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqZdaVNOHj0 Anbuley's 'Oleee' arrives just in time for European summer: http://youtu.be/3h-ptJ-nZ7g Also based in Europe, although his latest video (like the previous one) suggests a longing for elsewhere, is Gaël Faye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2HWKGObM8Q Simphiwe Dana decided to take a step back from social media a while ago and concentrate on doing what she does best: speak truth through music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=119OqGvXQg8 Still in South Africa, taxis and drifters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBGEAw3Juwk South Africa based poppy Cameroonian Denzyl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_1HP2fKWG8 From Guinea, the Matoto Family: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA8o5vICuI0 Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars signed up for a cause: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nhn1jmGocY And -- to turn it down a notch -- Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetze wrote a subdued lament for Haiti -- quite beautifully -- and recorded a video for it in Gorée: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFqfflQnSQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HyQCfTub0E Tchobari duo shot the video for 'Quem Mandou? (Me Nascer)' in Catambor, Luanda "to show a different side of our city". Ben Sharpa & Pure Solid were touring in Europe last month (I missed them -- bad scheduling), and also flew by Réunion recently, doing some radio appearances while there. Which reminded me we hadn't shared Sharpa's latest 'Heroes': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBsXC-kHAUs Sharpa and Pure Solid share a stable with Driemanskap. Nice to see the latter making waves recently, and being quoted as an inspiration for the video (H/T Ts'eliso) of Lesotho-based Dunamis's 'Destiny': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SThC0L0cr0E We never wrote about how it took the release of a Shangaan compilation album by a London label before some South African music critics took note of the genre's existence; but that doesn't mean we don't dance to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_v-2pHQ_SU Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu played their take on Simon's Graceland classic Live at Blue Note Milano earlier this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMn_hlRZUTU Always dependable Togolese-American Tabi Bonney releases a soccer/football themed video, alongside his dad!: http://youtu.be/JUXYW0tsx90 Since M.anifest came up with Y.O.L.A. (You only love Azonto!), here's a mad one by Keche: http://youtu.be/7W3XWP6s2-8 And finally, Sarkodie, Appietus and Kesse go on an Azonto fiesta for the weekend. If you're in NY come celebrate here or here tonight!: http://youtu.be/4_OYtBixrWI

10 songs we've been listening to this week. First up -- and fresh -- Gaël Faye and Tumi (who needs no introduction): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJtN-PQbHRk Also from Burundi: Mudibu has a story and a song to share (H/T Karl Steinacker): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cVgJwYcjOg The exceptional Y'akoto tells us a bit more about how she goes about writing songs but in between her French words there's an example too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NghjO2V5ggE Jitsenic (Jitsvinger and Arsenic) dropping verses and truths on South African Bush Radio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3ZJ-leUK2w Akala and Selah wrote 'A Message': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdrojUHZ1TY From Mali, remember Ben Zabo? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHdmcOaTzs0 From the band named after a Nigerian state capital, Benin City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTc9no4V_w Iyadede gives Mark Ronson & The Business, Andre Wyatt and Boy George a makeover: http://vimeo.com/41596984 The Mighty Third Rail -- the alternative hip hop trio that combines beat-boxing, poetry, violin and upright bass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoYrRyKYbT0 And a full concert by Rachelle Ferrell and George Duke band. Live in Montreux (1997): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of6l1JTLjok

By the end of 2004, Côte d'Ivoire’s civil war had cooled to a simmer, but the country remained split, with a rebel-held north and a government-held south. What do these divisions mean to people on the move, late for christenings, doctor’s appointments, and dinners with friends? In an essay that will be published in the forthcoming issue of Transition, Siddhartha Mitter recalls a slow road trip to Korhogo:

The filling station was no longer a filling station. The pumps had been removed, but the plaza remained, and so did the fluorescent lights, which now bathed in their tepid glow a low-slung cement building and, to either side, a clutch of white-sided vans parked tidily in a row, some with passengers sleeping on board. It wasn’t clear where one might go to get fuel, but the larger question was whether we could leave at all. At the checkpoint at the entrance of town, the rebel soldiers told us the roads were closed for the night, and that our van should park with the others and proceed at first light. Because of the innumerable checkpoints it had taken five hours instead of the usual three to get from Bouaké to this place, Niakara, where the road to Korhogo branched off from the main highway that ran north toward Mali. [...]

Prior to the issue’s release, read Siddhartha's full piece here. Photo credit: Camille Millerand.

Your weekly #musicbreak roundup. Mokobe and Oumou Sangare pray for peace in Mali: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqptS0Kt_Ns Yasiin Bey, Dead Prez and mikeflo's Trayvon Martin Tribute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcmUAG210oM Finest South African hipsters Dirty Paraffin (H/T Phiona): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HITto4e6BK4 Optical Illusion and friends (H/T Mikko) -- the video comes with a long by-line, but the track itself will do: http://youtu.be/3rk7ea6jQ0s Finland's Gracias: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSu5nB29jGs Stephen Marley went to Africa and returned with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkerRz1adDU From Namibia, not your ordinary Nam tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74H6MC2XIbc Chris Dave (H/T Okayafrica) gives Fela (and Tony Allen) the remix treatment: http://vimeo.com/41434050 Finally, I was 13 when my taste in music took a drastic turn. R.I.P. MCA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru3gH27Fn6E

Cécile Mella (remember her portraits of the Cape Town ad world) will be showing her photography series 'Dreamland' in Montpellier, France this month (at the Galerie Saint Ravy). Come through if you're in the area.

Since 2004, Le Salon africain (part of the annual Geneva Book Fair) awards the Ahmadou Kourouma Prize to an 'African oeuvre, essay or fiction that reflects the spirit of independence and creativity which is the heritage of [Ivorian novelist] Ahmadou Kourouma'. This year the Prize goes to Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga for her latest novel 'Notre-Dame du Nil'. Of the past 8 winning books, not one is available in English: 2011 Photo de groupe au bord du fleuve (Emmanuel Dongala) 2010 Si la cour du mouton est sale, ce n'est pas au porc de le dire (Florent Couao-Zotti) 2009 Solo d'un revenant (Kossi Efoui) 2008 Le Bal des princes (Nimrod) 2007 Le paradis des chiots (Sami Tchak) 2006 Babyface (Koffi Kwahulé) 2005 Matins de couvre-feu (Tanella Boni) 2004 Survivantes, Rwanda 10 ans après (Esther Mujawayo & Souad Belhaddad) In a recent profile of French-Congolese (RC) author Alain Mabanckou, the L.A. Times blames "the parochial tastes and pinched profit margins of the U.S. publishing industry [for] hav[ing] restricted Mabanckou's visibility on U.S. bookshelves". I can't think of any other reason why these 9 Prize-winning works haven't yet been translated. By not doing so, the Anglophone publishers are keeping their readers from accessing a Francophone world of imagination that spans more than a quarter of the African continent -- not to mention the Francophone diaspora. Don't tell me there's no interest.