We’re not sure if it’s the smoky humility to Michael Kiwanuka’s voice or the lessons-we-wish-we-could-learn-already that fill his lyrics, but there is something irresistibly human to his music. The British/Ugandan soul crooner (who won BBC Sound of 2012) has launched an interactive video with wireWax for his song “Tell Me a Tale” that has a competition built in – find the star logo and you might win a signed Guitar.
The Arab spring, started in the African countries of Tunisia and Egypt, came and have yet to leave. While the spring continues to struggle in the Middle East, they seem to just be budding in sub-saharan Africa. Needless to say, there were many stakeholders involved in all the revolutions from scholars to activists to business people to the military. Then, there are the artistes, especially the Rap and Hip Hop artistes. The years 2011 and 2012 have shone strong light on how this art form of rapping is being skillfully utilized by the young generation in mobilizing the “streets” and giving a voice to the frustrations of the everyday wo/man in Africa. Of course, rap has not been the only musical expression of the various revolutions on the continent. The greater soundtrack would certainly include Egyptian poetry in song, e.g. “Egyptian Intifada” by the poet Ahmed Fouad Negm and Sheikh Imam (below), and traditional mainstream music like “Le Vote” by Ousmane “Ouza” Diallo in Senegal.
However, on a continent with individuals under 30 years of age accounting for the largest age group, rap artists seem to have struck a chord with this large demography. This revolution period also seems to have solidified a bourgeoning genre of rap – Conscious rap/hiphop that focuses on social and political issues (usually dissenting). Conscientious/Conscious rappers are to be found all over the continent from El General (above) who was the voice of the people in the Tunisian Revolution to Y’en A Marre who mobilized and stared the authority in the face to protect the constitution of Senegal from being hijacked by a long term president. While there is no concrete definition of this genre of rappers, as one person’s social issues might be another’s repressive issues, these revolutionary times have honed some attributes that one can identify in conscious rappers:
- Dissenting voice against a long term ruling elite in the country
- Diminishing number of media outlets to express art form in country of origin
- Constant threats, arrests and, sometimes, beatings and tortures by the local authorities
- A consistent string of tunes that touch on shared social experiences nationwide
*above rapper Kab II Seus recording in a studio in Dakar, Senegal. Shot by ‘kola.
Conscientious rappers being currently persecuted on the continent include MCK in Angola and Mouad Belghouat in Morocco, usually for no other reason than giving a voice to what others are thinking but are afraid to say. These are examples of internationally known conscious rappers. Majority of them are local and have no international media or benefactors to speak about their plights. Authorities who persecute these artists depend on the apathy of the international community to the plight of these artists, unless some major event like the shooting of mass demonstrators takes place. Most people outside the countries also never hear of these rappers because many of these countries close outlets and sources of independent information constantly. In the age of social networking and new media, hope might not be dead. Various twitter handles and blogs, like GlobalVoices, are filling the gap and providing some information about these artists.
Included here is a draft mapping of conscious rappers around the continent. This mapping is still in its infancy and hopes to crowd-source information from readers in and outside Africa with which to populate it. This will eventually be used as a means to know and track these young people who are using their voices and talents in the service of their countries and humanity; and hopefully discourage ruling authorities from persecuting them. Please, feel free to submit the names and locations of conscious rappers in your neighborhood on the continent. The voices of these talented and conscious young people must not be silenced.
View Unw-Rapping Politics in a larger map
On the tails of his disgustingly danceable LargeUp Mixtape Monday feature, J-Boogie (“SF’s Best Club DJ” according to SF Weekly and your favorite artists’ favorite opening act) is prepping the release of his latest album Undercover. In true J-Boogie fashion, the album combines the best and catchiest from genres as varied as classic soul to bhangra to dread bass.
On this “No Freedom” remix, the final single from the forthcoming collection, Kush Arora weaves dream-like horns under a steady stomping 808 for a club-ready burner while MC Zulu uses the uptempo jam to make a statement on freedom of speech and expression. We’re having a hard time not dancing to this one. Download and make your neck work.
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>>>Download: J-Boogie – No Freedom feat. Afrolicious & MC Zulu (Kush Arora Remix)
The Harare International Festival of the Arts, or “HIFA” wrapped up on Sunday after 6 days of blasting music, art, and ideas from the center of Zimbabwe’s capital. We checked out the festival over the weekend.
For the past 13 years, HIFA has been a dependable festival in Zimbabwe. Step into the Harare Gardens, where HIFA locates itself, and you won’t really know where you are (the abundance of Shona statues might be a give away). Run by Manuel Bagorro, a program manager at Carnegie Hall most of the year, and supported by a volunteer staff of local students and artists, HIFA is an extremely welcoming and exciting place to visit.
The HIFA program for 2012 featured a diverse range of female artists from across the continent. We caught up with Maria de Barros, Liz Ogumbo, Maia von Lekow, and Edith WeUtonga to learn more about their experiences at HIFA (although there were many more).
Maria De Barros is a musical ambassador for Cape Verde. She calls her music “Africa meets Brazil and the Caribbean.” De Barros calls Cesaria Evora, arguably West Africa’s greatest vocalist, a godmother and inspiration. Now living in Los Angeles, De Barros plays her west African creole music around the world. Her fourth album is a ways away, but the process is interesting. The bassist and drummer are De Barros’s producers and they collect about 70 new pieces from Cape Verdean (young) writers and musicians in Cape Verde and the diaspora, compile them, and Maria choses what will go on her album. Maria says that her favorite thing is to introduce people to Cape Verde.
Liz Ogumbo was waiting for us with one of her designed handbags, after her friends Tumi and the Volume finished a set. Ogumbo calls herself a “Beautiful Creative Entity,” which we think is starting to catch on. From her latest music video, you’ll see how Liz is a hybrid artist–part designer, part singer, part model. Though expensive, Ogumbo’s favorite project right now are her “Fashion meets Music” shows, where she produces a fashion show with a live girl band. We appreciate her fun, chic humor.
Maia Von Lekow, also hailing from Nairobi doesn’t have an album out yet (it’s on its way), but she has a lot of experience playing and writing. At her performance in the Lay’s Stage at HIFA, reactions included “She’s stunning!” and lots of laughs at her playful relation with her band and jokes; like how she describes herself as a “Point 5″. Her tunes bring a new sense of “chill” to the African music scene.
Edith WeUtonga, though a musical and theatrical hit in Zimbabwe, she has yet to play outside her native country. Walking through the HIFA grounds, everyone stopped Edith to say hello. She explained to me that initially people were taken with the fact that she sings and plays the bass in her band. Pulling from groove, jazz, and tradition, Edith’s messages are about social issues. On her album, Utonga, one song called “Hutungamiri” asks “What’s leadership?” Some people in Zimbabwe have been reluctant to play the song on the radio in case of government backlash, but she keeps performing it wherever she goes. Another album is due out at the end of the summer, so keep your eyes peeled.
Lastly, we didn’t get to talk to Netsayi, but the Zimbwean “Electrofolk” singer made an appearance at HIFA. After starting her career in London where she grew up, Netsayi has moved back to Zimbabwe and has her own take on traditional music and jokes about her time abroad. Her two albums, Chimurenga Soul and Monkey’s Wedding are chocked full with fun and serious tunes.
Our last stop was at a legendary Harare hangout–the Book Café. If you plan to visit Harare, the Book Café is where Zimbabwe’s leading artists congregate and perform. It turned out that many HIFA artists also made the Book Café a stop on their Harare visit to talk with the director, Paul Brickhill and see the venue’s new space. Most evenings one can find live music or poetry on the Book Café stage, and with a new pizza oven on board, it may also make good stop for others.
To keep up with HIFA and be the first two know the details of the 2013 festival, you can sign up for a newsletter or follow the festival on Twitter or Facebook.
Nominated 13 times at this year’s African Movie Academy Awards, Otelo Burning is a coming of age of story set against the backdrop of political conflict in South Africa during the late eighties. Directed by Sara Blecher (check out her remarkable earlier project, Surfing Soweto) the film charts the lives of three ‘township’ youths who, in the midst of the mayhem, discover freedom and solace in surfing.
To accompany the release of the film, the creators teamed up with hip-hop poet Tumi Molekane’s Motif Records to produce the Otelo Burning Mixtape. Sara Blecher told the press that the 13 track free-to-download compilation “comprises music from the film that captures the spirit of the time, while the new, more modern tracks give the story a great contemporary edge”.
Echoing Blecher’s statement, Tumi said of the mixtape: “it’s a mixed, non-linear audio narrative of the ideas that live in the movie. Dialogue from the movie is weaved throughout the soundtrack into one continuous musical flow.”
The 45-minute long mixtape is well curated, featuring an amazing cast of well-known names such as Zaki Ibrahim (“Something in the Water”) alongside lesser known acts like the neo-jazz collective The Fridge (“Ucash”) and up-and-coming emcee, Perfecto (“What the Hell is a Perfecto”).
Washington DC/LA’s Nadastrom — a joint DJ duo of moombahton architechts Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom — tackle The Very Best‘s new banger “Yoshua Alikuti”. The pair strip the original, placing Esau Mwamwaya‘s untouched vocal stems over an underwater, bass-bubbling beat. Download the remix for free below!
(H/T Fader)
Brooklyn’s go-to afrobeat outfit Antibalas is prepping the release of their first album in five years. “Sare Kon Kon (Redux),” the closing track on the self-titled Antibalas LP, follows in the vein of the 12-piece group’s horn-flanked, intricately rhythmic concotions. The tune features vocals about restlessness that, saxophonist Stuart Bogie says, “encapsulate the rushing anarchy that keeps the band together. It’s the idea that we’re all kind of on this train, and there’s no director, no engineer, no brake; everybody just has to run, and go or not go.” Stream the track below and look out for the album dropping August 7 on Daptone Records. Plus check out our Earbuds mix from ‘balas singer/guitarist Chico Mann.
Young Guru, the man who’s held down the decks for Jay-Z since The Dynasty days, is launching a Scholarship Fund at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE Institute) in Cape Town by hosting two workshops this coming Monday— one on-campus and another at Mitchell’s Plain. According to Sowetan Live,
More than 180 people, made up of students and other up-and-coming producers will spend time with [Guru] over the two days, with a few students being short-listed and screened, before he is to make his pick for one to receive tuition worth R60,000 to study at the Institute in Cape Town. [Guru]’s Scholarship Fund would be an annual event- and the Institute said a 5-year plan
While in town, Guru will also lay down a set at Long Street’s Zula Bar, alongside local DJs Ready D and DJ Azuhl. See the flyer below for more info.
Christian Tiger School, a Cape Town based duo comprising of Luc Vermeer and Sebastiano Zanasi, are definitely one of the city’s best kept secrets. They are the creators and manipulators of beats that open portals and transport the listener to alternative realms.
On first listen to any of their productions or mixes, it’s clear that they are well-versed hip hop heads. Indeed, the group began as a trio of high-schoolers, pioneering “boom-pop” hip hop and aspiring to be rappers. However, they have developed their tunes to urban music of a bastardized and hybrid nature, fusing a little bit of that electro whimsicalness in methods reminiscent of the tendencies of such like Flying Lotus and SAMIYAM. “I went to America for a while, east coasting… and while I was there I hit him up (Flying Lotus). I also got a chance to work with 9th Wonder,” reveals Luc Veneer, validating the suspicion of their possible influences and sources. “Our music is anything and everything really,” he tries to explain, his sentence stunted by the sheer enormity of the scope and the ambiguity of their sound, making it impossible to condemn it to one specific genre.
*Stream “Carlton Banks” below
Even though they’ve only known each other for 3 years, on stage Luc & Sebastiano function like a well-oiled machine. Their productions are brought alive with expert disc jockey manipulations, unexpected cuts incorporating rap adlibs with street snares that give a sense of familiarity, and bass drops that explode giving a sense of euphoria (evidenced by hardcore head bumps). The technicalities are intense, the sweat drips and every ounce of energy is transferred out of that Macbook and SP-4D4 SX, fuelling the moshpit below. “Insane,” is all one can say, including Sebastiano, when all is played and done.
Although currently showcasing at every other odd gig, Christian Tiger School’s time as a closet band is limited, “We’re working on an EP for release later in the year, although we’re only 3 songs in at the moment,” informs Luc. In the meantime, their bandcamp is substantial to the fiends.
Wiled Women: Kehinde Wiley’s “An Economy of Grace”
Nigerian-American portrait artist Kehinde Wiley’s newest collection, “An Economy of Grace,” opened to a packed house of artists and enthusiasts, all present for Wiley’s most significant transition to date: Female subjects and costuming in his portraiture. The exhibit is a collaboration with Givenchy designer, Riccardo Tisci, by whom the subjects were costumed in long gowns. “An Economy of Grace” is a highly anticipated departure from Wiley’s signature to-date portrayal of black males, often depicted in plain clothes per his “World Stage” series. The metamorphosis is ever important to the ongoing conversation of women of color as subjects in art. The collection, Wiley states, “attempts to reconcile the presence of black female stereotypes that surrounds their presence and/or absence in art history, and the notions of beauty, spectacle, and the ‘grand’ in painting.”
©2012 photo by Rameen Gasery for Gasery Gallery, LLC.
The women, all scouted and cast by Wiley personally on the streets of NYC, are portrayed in varied postures, a nod to portraits of society women by artists such as Jacques-Louis David, Thomas Gainsborough and John Singer Sargent. All of the paintings are underscored by a sense of activity. The women, — some in pairs, others in repose — seem to interact within their settings and background in a manner that previous subjects of his paintings did not. Nonetheless, they embody a familiar grandeur present in all his body of work; the women command your attention.
Check out “An Economy of Grace” now through June 16, 2012 at Sean Kelly Gallery, 528 West 29th Street, NYC. And, if you have not already, check out “The World Stage: Israel” up at the Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, NYC, through July 29, 2012.