rolling afro 2020

I went ahead and created a new thread for afrobeats / afro-pop btw
Rolling Afrobeats 2021

I guess someone can come up with a fancy title for a South African thread (rolling amaKhosi nezIndlovukazi yAmapiano, gqom, house neKwaito 2021)

not sure we need a Rolling South African thread. we have plenty of active and ongoing SA-themed threads as is.
what do others think?

I'd like to be less of a bystander re: afro-pop this year, but that's more likely to happen on a Nigeria/Ghana thread than a SA one so I defer to the experts here. FWIW I like the Sun-Et Al. thread, it feels very classic ilm, so I def wouldn't want to pre-empt that one

i think a rolling south african thread to collect everything might be good actually, it's a little awkward at the moment with everything split over about three different threads, and it's helpful to delineate the new year too

we can make threads for any particular albums that deserve more attention of course but having a single rolling thread to collect everything else would be my preference

it would also make it much easier to keep up with things which is the biggest benefit

I think it made sense in 2019-20 to have individual threads with the guys driving the new sound, but now as it grows organically it does feel complicated to assign a logic to each thread.
Things are working rather well on the afro-pop front with the rolling thread + individual threads for main artists - albums that are big events - occasional polls

I agree that there’s a strong case for a Rolling SA thread, even if like rob I’m very partial to the Sun-El thread. it’s definitely true that the logic behind those threads is getting increasingly difficult to maintain. a Kabza-produced Samthing Soweto amapiano release could go on all of the current three main ones, for example.

If it’s alright with you folx I will make that Rolling thread and try to wrap up the other ones to some extent. Don’t think I will go for anything fancy as a title tho, wouldn’t want to create any new confusion!

more likely to happen on a Nigeria/Ghana thread

oh for sure, was just alluding to my own biases there. That said, I watched a Baloji-directed short on the Criterion Channel the other night (Zombies, highly recommended) that made me want to check out the Congolese scene.

I endorse the rolling SA plan.

If anyone has moderating powers I'm happy to have Afro-Pop added to the title, which I also slightly prefer as a catch-all, although imo afrobeats is still okay as a term despite the slight controversy it has attracted, it's known by listeners by now and it's also what we post :)

If anyone has moderating powers I'm happy to have Afro-Pop added to the title, which I also slightly prefer as a catch-all, although imo afrobeats is still okay as a term despite the slight controversy it has attracted, it's known by listeners by now and it's also what we post :)

let me ask a moderator

yeah sure, but it appears a little arbitrary to me to consider that afro-pop is acceptable as an umbrella term for bongo flava but that afrobeats is not, especially if we accept that the term is now international and, correct me if I'm wrong, still in use.
I'm no expert in the genre, but there used to be a plurality of terms (Azonto etc) corresponding to the different styles and dances even in NIG-GHA, so I always thought of afrobeats as an umbrella.
The fact that the Tanzanians so easily collaborate with the Congolese for example also muddles waters and would almost make you wonder about having other umbrella terms
Anyway, I don't mean to be argumentative here, just saying it's hard to cut clear and reconcile all views (international, African, national etc).

still in use *in Africa (and West Africa most relevantly).

like I said, we’ve done this before, but “afrobeats” has been controversial from the start, as a term coined in the UK a decade ago for the burgeoning new pop scene in Ghana and Nigeria, with a play on “afrobeat” (because Fela Kuti cs was the only reference people had in the UK), that had no currency in those countries themselves - and still isn’t universally accepted there (Burna Boy insisting on “afro-fusion”, Adekunle Gold naming his album “Afro Pop”). it was never meant to include the pop music of other African countries (where the Fela Kuti connection would make even less sense to begin with). It’s unfortunate that the term has caught on in the US music press as well, but it doesn’t mean we have to toe the line. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t think of describing Sun-El’s music as “afrobeats”, and yet that is the trend as it is internationally.

“Afropop” or “African pop” are simply much more neutral as descriptive terms. the only problem you run into is where to draw the line for what constitutes “pop music”, but that’s a general debate that has nothing to do with *African* music specifically.

our two new Rolling threads for 2021:

Rolling Afropop / Afrobeats 2021

MZANSI MUZIQ 2021 🇿🇦 Rolling South Africa thread