“Wooye” by Ugandan crooner Maurice Kirya.  

From May this year: “… an unrehearsed, first-take cut” of Nicolas Jaar‘s remix (recorded in London) of Abdullah Ibrahim’s jazz track “Ishmael”.

Côte d’Ivoire celebrated their 51st year of independence from France yesterday. Music has played a role in national political identity throughout the country’s conflict. I’m sure that it will continue to play a role as the country tries to move on from its recent turmoil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqsCKlC0xW4 The Ivory Coast in the 70’s and 80’s had […]

The famine in the Horn of Africa has revived the debate about “starvation photography.” The blog of the Irish NGO, Dóchas, has compiled the different viewpoints in one place. * Related: What groundbreaking images of ‘Africa’ can we expect this year from The International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, France?, asks Duck Rabbit. Sadly, more of the […]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZriKcTa2YUk&w=600&h=373] Back in the states, I’m going to be able to fulfill my promise to post on Liberian music, and the vibrant growing scene there. I’m publishing another couple of articles for Cluster Mag about it, and am really excited about a compilation Akwaaba Music and I have decided to put together. So keep […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYngRIzG3Uk&w=600&h=373] “In South Africa,” anthropologist Jean Comaroff tells us in this lecture, “murder rates are held to be diagnostic of violence run amok, of governance haunted by a past of inequities that no constitutional reform, no right of reconciliation can fully dispel. Especially indicative is the failure of the police to protect the populace, to […]

This year’s edition of The Durban International Film Festival in South Africa was a pure cinematic treat. I attended master classes with Burkina Faso film legend Gaston Kabore and surf film legend Jack McCoy, hung out with some of my favourite filmmakers, and saw some truly great films from around the world. Of these, one […]

He’s not just a blogger. This Sunday, August 7, at Lincoln Center DJ Chief Boima, who has been traveling in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone this summer,  will warm up the crowd–along with Ahficionados–between sets by Iyadede, Spoek Mathambo and Blitz the Ambassador. It’s free. If you’re in New York City (I’m in Massachusetts till August […]

Nneka–a AIAC favorite–performing an acoustic version of her song, “Do You Love Me Now?” for the French website, NowPlayingMag.com.  

Let’s celebrate Niger’s independence day with a recording of Omara “Bombino” Moctar, whose story of exile — and return — speaks to many youth in the country. Along with Rap music:

Photo Credit: Doreen R [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/19741147″]