Okayafrica's Guide To SXSW 2014

South By Southwest is nearly upon us (less than 1 week!!!). This year we're going down to Austin with tricks up our sleeves (4 to be exact). To recap: the cherry on top of the Okayplayer network-wide takeover of SXSW is a stacked to the tee bill that includes SA noir wave mastermind Petite Noir, Edinburgh's Scottish / Liberian / Nigerian art-rap trio Young Fathers, and Cape Town's Christian Tiger School (the beatmaking cornerstone of one of our favorite Player Xchanges to date). That's three Africa In Your Earbuds alums all in one night (like we said, cherry on top of SX for us). For FOMO's sake though, we'll be hitting the ground hard in between our own events. So in the spirit of tradition, we've sifted through South By's official showcase schedule, picking out our favorite artists across Africa and the diaspora that will be down in Austin next week. But before we get to that, there's two panels to note. The first is "Packed With Electronic Beats: Africa's Next Music Coming to America" (Thursday, March 13, 5-6pm). The second is "Africa's Mobile Music: A New Way of Listening" (Friday, March 14, 2-3pm). And now, without further adieu, Okayafrica presents 10 artists to catch (in alphabetical order) at this year's edition of SXSW.

* Denotes SXSW OFFICIAL showcase