[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzE2nTCtxE&w=480&h=295] I love Akinmusire and his band’s flow. I want to see him live.

The New York African Film Festival was just voted the fourth best festival in the city–no mean feat. The 17th edition of the festival kicks of later this week at Lincoln Center and a few other venues around New York City.  Highlights include Oliver Hermanus’ claustrophobic “Shirley Adams,” about a mother in a coloured township […]

The new 5 minute trailer for the new Nas-Damian Marley collaboration, “Distant Relatives”–out next month–where they engage with the music of Africa. (I’ve blogged before about some of the leaked tunes from the album.) Can’t wait for this. They’ve announced a tour schedule in the US and Europe this summer to promote the album. Sadly, […]

The murder of  South African white supremacist leader, Eugene Terreblanche, over the weekend, will surely be exploited in the next few days. (Terreblanche was beaten and hacked to death by workers on his farm on Saturday who, according to reports, had “argued with him over unpaid wages.” Terreblanche had a violent history himself, including spending […]

Celebrating the World Cup does not mean we can’t ask hard questions . No, not that the annoying vuvuzelas are banned, but that thousands of informal traders will lose income because of Fifa-imposed “exclusion zones” around stadiums which permit only approved businesses, that street children are forcibly removed from Durban’s city centre, and in Cape […]

There’s more to Kenyan popular music than Just a Band (even CNN’s David MacKenzie has taken notice of the band’s viral activity) as Chief Boima at Ghetto Bassquake has shown recently. He has been posting videos and links–based on a recent visit there and with reference to sites such as Get Mziki–of some of the […]