AFRICA IN YOUR EARBUDS #12: LAMIN FOFANA

Lamin Fofana crafts "music without category out of found sounds, human voices, digital synthesizers, analog synthesizers and drum machines."

AFRICA IN YOUR EARBUDS #12: LAMIN FOFANA


Sierra Leone-raised NY producer — and Dutty Artz familia — Lamin Fofanacrafts "music without category out of found sounds, human voices, digital synthesizers, analog synthesizers and drum machines."

He handles the decks on Africa In Your Earbuds #12, delivering a slow burning eerie concoction of cuts from the likes of Sade, Cesária Évora (RIP) and some of his own edits. In Lamin's own words:

There wasn't a great deal of digging for this mixtape. All the songs and sounds presented here [come] directly from my phone/portable media player. These are the songs I enjoy listening to while riding the subway or walking around Brooklyn and Manhattan. It's fairly calm, maybe a little dark.There's a little obscure edit of... Drexciya's "Unknown Journey I" ... I added this extremely beautiful vocal from a Malian singer. It's a raw field recording from a Sublime Frequencies compilation from some years back.

Lamin Fofana just released the excellent Dubious Prey EP which you can grab from UK imprint Sticks "N" Stones. Stream and download AIYE #12: Lamin Fofana below!

TRACKLIST

- Remi Kabaka / Black Goddess // Nigeria

- Sophia Shibabaw / Oh Enie Man Negne // Ethiopia

- Mark Ernestus Meets BBC // Germany, South Africa

- Selia And His Accordion / Tondo Muya // Sierra Leone

- Cesaria Evora / Sodade // Cape Verde

- Sade - The Sweetest Taboo // England, Nigeria

- Drexciya / Unknown Journey I (Lamin Fofana Original Autorail Edit) // Somewhere deep in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Mali, West Africa

- Bembeya Jazz National / Petit Sekou // Guinea

- Sekouba Bambino with Kandia Kouyate / Doumaya // Guinea

- Lamin Fofana / A Room in Brooklyn // Sierra Leone, sometimes Guinea

Previously on Africa In Your Earbuds: CHICO MANN, DJ UNDERDOG, DJ OBAH, SABINE, BROTHA ONACI, DJ AQBT, JUST A BAND, STIMULUS, QOOL DJ MARV, SINKANE, CHIEF BOIMA.

Best West African Songs of 2025 So Far — Mid-Year Roundup
Latest

Best West African Songs of 2025 So Far — Mid-Year Roundup

As more West African artists create sounds that inspire internet trends and extend their longevity, others are experimenting with new forms and doubling down on storytelling. Read ahead for the best West African music of the year so far.

​Photo illustration by Kaushik Kalidindi, Okayplayer.
Poetry

The 10 Best African Poems of All Time

These are the lines that have woken imaginations and stirred souls across the continent and beyond.