AS THE music industry searches for new voices and talent, entrepreneurs are pinning their hopes on emerging African artists both from the continent and the diaspora. Africa Unsigned is an Amsterdam-based start-up music label founded by Pim Betist that promotes African artists. Under Mr Betist’s watch, Africa Unsigned has invested €525,000 (about $725,000) in...
Seun Kuti, an Afrobeat bandleader and the youngest son of Fela Kuti, is on tour to support his new album, “From Africa With Fury: Rise“, produced by Brian Eno. With its strong horn melodies, grooving rhythms and punchy song titles (“African Soldier”, “Rise”), the album is a mix of classic, energetic Afrobeat rhythms and...
In 2004 Florent de La Tullaye and Renaud Barret encountered Leon “Ricky” Likabu playing music on the streets of Kinshasa. A victim of poliomyelitis, he was joined by fellow wheelchair-bound musicians and street youth. Together, with old beat-up or hand-made instruments, the group played what could only be described as folk music: honest, heart-felt...
Onstage, 68-year-old Mulatu Astatke is as subtle and understated as the Ethiopian jazz he created. The music, a hybrid of traditional Ethiopian music and jazz, is subdued, somewhat melancholy, and at times psychedelic. Mr Astatke, the originator and composer of songs in this canon, plays his principal instrument, the vibraphone, with a light touch....
But while local businesses enjoy the benefits of tourism, Morocco’s surfers want their breaks back. The surf companies here are foreign-owned, and although they employ Moroccans as instructors, drivers, guides, cooks and cleaning crews, they are still outsiders. Graffiti scrawled on the crumbling wall of a former anchor factory at Taghazout’s most amazing break,...
“I’m traveling, and I’m interested in chocolate,” is how April Banks introduced herself to folks during a three-month trip to cocoa farms in Africa and Cuba. She had no press credentials, and no agenda. She traveled alone. Her full story is at POP AND POLITICS and also continues here, after the jump.