I’d never heard of the Congolese group by the name of Staff Benda Bilili until an envelope containing their new CD landed on my desk. I always get a little shiver of excitement when I get one of these padded envelopes, because I know there’s new music inside from somewhere in Africa. So many places, […]
Afropean Women Raise the Bar in Contemporary African Music
Posted November 26th, 2012 at 9:02 pm (UTC-5)
One of the things I learned quickly when I started doing my Music Time in Africa radio show last April was that there always seems to be a shortage of good female artists. “How can this be?” I asked myself and colleagues in our English to Africa Division. I know from experience living on the […]
Face to Face with Angelique Kidjo
Posted November 14th, 2012 at 7:29 pm (UTC-5)
Angelique Kidjo entered my musical world in 1991 when I was living in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. A singer myself, and thriving with my own Afro-jazz group of Ivoirians and Burkinabe, I was always listening to and even working with female vocalists from West Africa. At Studio JBZ, which was the ultimate recording studio during those […]
Fatoumata Diawara: Carrying on the Wassoulou Tradition in under 3 Minutes
Posted November 1st, 2012 at 3:13 pm (UTC-5)
Fatoumata Diawara (pronounced JA-WA-RA) came through Washington D.C. recently on her first US tour. I’ve been playing selections from her 2011 album entitled Fatou on my radio show for the past couple of months. Her lyrics are deep and well-written, exploring social issues that matter to Malians especially, but also to people in many other […]
1Beat Brings New African Music to Washington
Posted October 22nd, 2012 at 2:56 pm (UTC-5)
Comments are closed
A trio of musicians from different regions of Africa joined me in VOA’s Studio 4 here in Washington for some good conversation and music. The artists (from left to right) are Nigerian Kayode Kuti on bass and vocals, Kenyan Kato Change (pronounced CHAN-GAY) on guitar, and Mozambican Helio Vanimal on vocals and body percussion. They […]
Sierra Leone’s Sorie Kondi comes to D.C.
Posted October 11th, 2012 at 6:19 pm (UTC-5)
On Thursday, October 4th, vocalist and music innovator Sorie Koroma, a.k.a. Sorie Kondi, gave his debut US performance in Washington DC. Kondi, who has been blind since birth, gave an exciting performance of what his sideman and percussion player, Ibrahama, described as “cultural music.” I spoke with them before the show and learned that their […]
VOA’s Veteran Music Man Leo Sarkisian Says Goodbye
Posted October 2nd, 2012 at 6:32 pm (UTC-5)
Last Friday was a bittersweet day, particularly for me, as well as for my colleagues in the English to Africa Service and other departments at the Voice of America: At age 91, Leo Sarkisian, founder of the radio program Music Time in Africa and pioneering African music collector, officially retired from the agency after what he called […]
Emmanuel Jal Upbeat About Peace Despite Police Beating
Posted September 18th, 2012 at 5:10 pm (UTC-5)
Last Friday I had a phone conversation with Emmanuel Jal in Juba, South Sudan. Mr. Jal is a rising world music star, activist, and former child soldier whose personal story is as compelling as is his music. This Thursday and Friday, September 20-21, Jal and his entourage of American hip hop and rap artists will […]
Hip Hop/Rap Reigns in Africa
Posted September 10th, 2012 at 5:58 pm (UTC-5)
Something about hip hop/rap music is proving to be the most popular tool for African youths to organize and express collective resistance. Just last week, I wrote about the role of rap and hip hop music in Mali as a rising force of youth empowerment against perceived political injustice. This week, news reports from Angola […]
Malian Music Prevails in Troubled Times: Rap/Hip Hop Music and Festivals Rally to Rebuild the Nation
Posted August 30th, 2012 at 5:47 pm (UTC-5)
Mali Without Music? The African nation of Mali is often described as one of the most culturally diverse, tolerant, and musical places on the continent. Since the coup d’etat on 22 March 2012, however, when a faction of the military seized power from the government, it sent the country into a tailspin of unanticipated consequences. […]
