rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

Music from East African countries is relatively underrepresented here, and it tends to be mainly the chart-oriented stuff by people like Diamond Platnumz and Rayvanny. However, there was a bit of singeli/Nyege Nyege Tapes discussion on
the Rolling herky-jerky thread earlier this year, as mentioned upthread, and I posted a Jay Mitta track here - which is of course also featured on
this Spotify playlist of most of the African stuff posted on various threads.

https://www.nyegenyege.com/2019-artist-lineup/

This is the lineup for the Nyege Nyege Festival, to be held in two weeks’ time. Dozens of names, of which I know only a few. Feel free to post interesting tracks!

ah cool. i was so keen to go to NN this year but it was a mission and i didn't go in the end, mch to my current disappointment

that line up looks intriguing even though i've heard of maybe 2% of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxQ9MRxm9Uo

Mr Eazi ft. Simi • Doyin

Glorious production by Killertunes

oh, there’s a video already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBMredVuy7M

gorgeous

Not all that random Ghanaian highlife rap I’m loving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNCFKjB_x8
NiiQuaye ft. Kirani Ayat & Akan • Twa Wonan Ase

This is fantastic. A Best of Flavour and Flavour-featuring songs would be so great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie6HixFu_IE
Jay Fashion ft. Flavour • Ikuwago

(what’s that kick-ass high-pitched instrument that plays during the chorus and is most clearly heard in the final 18 seconds?)

(I guess it could be a distorted version of the traditional flute that Igbo musicians like Flavour sometimes use when they “take it to the village”)

Two from Liberia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO7KxEhzAdY
Kobazzie ft. Davido • Bounce (Remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbOEQklxDFs
JSB ft. D. Pretty • Bluetooth

Obama has Rema’s Iron Man on his summer playlist, lol.

never catching up on the thread this year, but "Doyin" is lovely

a friend just told me Koffee is on there too. If he tweets about "Balloon" we'll know he's a lurker

Koffee is on “Doyin”? Doing what? Backing vocals?

HOWEVER, Killertunes has a 🎈in his Twitter bio, so I don’t know anymore...

koffee is on O's playlist i think rob mean

aaah lol

Barack BALLOON Obama

haha sorry that is what I meant, should have put an xp on that

a promoter friend is traveling through E Africa at the moment and heard this on the radio. It's brilliant

https://youtu.be/9VSz1gKlfmk

B Gway (et al) - Ndembe

weird'n'warpy Kenyan trip hop from Nah Eeto - Kichaa. This is from very late 2018 but there's a new album out soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZxDQM7gcRM

That’s the spirit!

Loving “Ndembe”, especially when it goes into overdrive during Sholo Mwamba’s section.
(unfortunately, this remix is not on Spotify, so it’s the original version [minus Sholo] on the playlist. Still good!)

Still hardly any singeli “singles” on Spotify by the looks of it, but this is Sholo Mwamba’s most recent video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8enq4afCTqw
Sholo Mwamba • Kimbia

This one is from a year ago and sounds like a bit of a pop move:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbDAHF-pUc
Sholo Mwamba • Anataka Uma

Live scenes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ3OyRYryt8

As for BGway himself (who does have stuff on Spotify), he makes “trap mdundiko” rather than singeli.
“Ndembe” seems his most exciting track by far, precisely because of the singeli injection, and there’s some bongo flava there as well, I think.

(just trying to school myself here, feel free to ignore)

no it's interesting. I only recently learnt the terms singeli and bongo flava

Very sad news, I only learned about this today:

DJ Arafat, a giant of coupé-decalé and one of the biggest stars of francophone Afropop (and beyond: he also worked with Nigerian artists like Davido and Yemi Alade, for instance) died two weeks ago in a motorcycle accident in Abidjan. He was 33.

https://www.france24.com/en/20190831-ivorian-music-star-dj-arafat-gets-royal-send-off-with-grand-funeral-concert

His funeral was today. His life was celebrated with a stadium concert featuring performances of many fellow artists. Here’s (all?) seven hours of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xld7GMoqKyc

His most recent hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuk8PdGKv9c
DJ Arafat ft. Naza • Ventripotent

This one, from a year ago, is pretty damn awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkpsWXpRmSY

DJ Arafat • Pandou Koulé

Horrible news.

Hi all

Here's an thread-relevant mix I made over the weekend featuring a lot of songs ITT and from elsewhere. Tracklisting is partially complete as I need to wait till I get home tonight and check through my Serato history

https://soundcloud.com/charlieframedj/akrakabo-2019-more-afrobeats-pop-and-dance

Enjoy!

FOKN Bois - African Holiday
Juls x Mr Eazi - Cake
Tiwa Savage - One
E.L. - Ehua
Rema - Dumebi
Zero12Finest - Baby Are You Coming?
A-Star - Solege
DJ Tunez x Busiswa - Majesty (Fuck It Up)
Sefa - Suga

Mina x Bryte - Sentah
Bryte x Busy Twist - Hustler
A-Star x GuiltyBeatz - Bogada
Eazzy - Away
Goldlink x Maleek Berry x Bibi Bourelly - Zulu Screams
Material Culture - Ngenzan
Mina x Bryte - Make Money (SNØW Remix)
Scró Q Cuia x Neru Americano - O Pintin
Tshegue - The Wheel
Petrah - Tiaso

B-Gway ft Mesen Selekta - Ndembe
Jay Mitta x Dogo Janja - Taitzo Pesa
Nihiloxica - Kadodi

I love Rema “Dumebi” . Great song

It’s been out since March, so I am a bit late.

https://www.thefader.com/2019/06/24/rema-dumebi-interview

There’s a Spanish version too

Didn’t know about that Spanish version, it’s fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuQiQFHgzDM
Jthyago x Oscar el Ruso x Samueliyo Baby x Irrita el Indio • Dumebi (Spanish version)

Might as well post the Panamanian version of Skiibi’s “Sensima” too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNN-TBgAD9A
Italian Somali x Dubosky • Loco Fefo

Dumebi is beautiful. I prefer it to Ma Lo

not Ma Lo, I meant Manya which it's loosely based on

“Ndembe” is so fucking good!

I had to rip it from YouTube in the end cos the version I bought on Google Play was quite different and nowhere near as good

Is that the version I mentioned above with just G Nako that’s on Spotify? It’s not as singeli-larly spectacular, but still very good in its own right imo.

In other news:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOoNEi8BlgM
Tiwa Savage • 49-99 (produced by Pheelz)

re: Ndembe - it's not bad but the video version is jaw dropping in how it ramps up a gear every couple of bars. Goes from this loping reggaeish best to full throttle singeli in the course of 4 mins. The Spotify version is more straightforward rap / bongo flava

totally agree, only your “not bad” is my “still very good in its own right”

Nigerian music writer Joey Akan profiles five Naija artists (Blaqbonez, Wavy the Creator, Fireboy DML, Odunsi and Teni) for the New York Times Style Magazine:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/t-magazine/nigerian-musicians-fireboy-dml-odunsi-the-engine.html

(I note that, just like in his recent Burna Boy review for The Fader, he uses the term “Afrobeats” for his American audience. Guess we’re stuck with that one)

Been absent here due to major surgery a few weeks back, but saw this: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/world/africa/zimdancehall-the-music-that-moves-zimbabwes-uneasy-streets.html

Probably more appropriate for the dancehall thread, but an interesting read nonetheless...despite the music being a bit meh to my ears, the messages seem urgent, and sometimes that's enough.

Hope you’re doing better, table!

Don’t know much about the Zimbabwean scene, but this was one of my favourite jams of 2017:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFzDqKRb7zc
ExQ ft. Killer T • Nhema

GoogleTranslate told me the lyrics are about haters telling lies. I was going to say it’s hard to read a line like “we are free spirits” as completely nonpolitical, but then I came across this.

:

TNS has the Midas Touch as far as I’m concerned. “My Dali” and “Joburg” (with Mampinthsa) are two of the best tracks of the year. This is his latest - and there’s an album on the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVRbI2Pjjog
TNS ft. Mpumi • Umona

Nice low-key EP from Blackmagic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Busrs7LGw
Blackmagic - BM19001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kzum0bAFZ4
Blackmagic - BM19007

Just heard this on Eazzy's EP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ8jNU1US2k
Eazzy - Away ft. Medikal

Away is so great

Ghetto love, made in Lagos.

So good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSHff6H5Wxc

AVala • Mo Fe Be