South Africa’s first lady of house music, Zinhle Jiyane, known behind the decks as DJ Zinhle, talks AfriPOP! on breaking through the ‘female DJ box’ and rocking the world’s good time capital, Miami. Signed to South Africa’s premier dance music label Kalawa Jazzmee, her set in Miami has lead to an international record deal. Your track, ‘My Name Is’ rocked Miami. What did that feel like? Did you produce the [...]
Music acts who dare to break the mold are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Spoek Mathambo’s Father Creeper album released by Seattle based Sub-Pop Records and Sony Africa was a neon sign that the world is ready to hear what urban South Africa has to offer. It’s so rare to hear the electro-kwaito-can’t-box-it-it-so-awesome beats that are propelling the likes of Mathambo and Dirty Paraffin to global recognition. Well, it [...]
‘The Endless Summer’, is out free to download on May 17th, until his for-real and for-sale album comes out later. Ski Beatz handles the production. This song features UK soul singer Terri Walker’s vocals.
South African house music darlings MiCasa charm their way through Brazil as lego characters in this brand new animated video.
In a parallel life, Spoek Mathambo might have been the vocalist for Popskarr, an electro-pop outfit he conceptualised with Terrence Pearce. But he had no time to be a part of as he was leaving his then Cape Town home to take root in Johannesburg before taking over the world. Instead he roped in a then teenage Yannick Ilunga whom he’d met during his Sweat X days to fill in. [...]
When Zimbabwean-born MC/singer/songwriter Tehn Diamond went to Australia, it was really to get as far away as he could from the tyranny of his parents’ wishes. Your typical middle class African family today looks like his: siblings flung across the globe (Tehn has a brother in China, a sister in UK and another in America), and parents whose professions have just about weathered economic conditions so volatile that as their [...]
Before they formally came to be known as Sub Pop-signed enigmatic new lords of left-field Hip-hop Shabazz Palaces, Ishmael Butler and Tendai ‘Baba’ Maraire met in a club in Seattle 9 years ago. Butler is also ‘Butterfly’ from the Grammy-Award winning post-Daisy Age 90s Hip-hop trio Digable Planets. While Tendai is an heir to the late Dumisani Maraire, renowned Zimbabwean composer, producer and ethnomusicologist. He toured, performed and recorded with [...]
I’m cheating. This spot is usually for blogs technically. But Buni TV, a web and mobile video channel, is too good and long overdue an idea to pass up. It’s an aggregation of innovative content you’re more likely to find off the beaten path of mainstream entertainment. It doesn’t say anything about curating just content from Africa, and it is brand new but so far that’s where the content appears [...]
Friends and long time collaborators, Simba Tagz produced The Sweet Life for Tehn Diamond’s current mixtape SOTG3: The Pursuit of Amazing. Shot in Harare, visuals are by Zambian director Mandiva Syananzu. Look for a follow-up interview with our favourite Zimbabwean star on the rise, exclusive to AfriPOP! Download #SOTG3: The Pursuit of Amazing Check out Tehn Diamond’s official site.
South African and Nigerian films dominate the 26 categories at this year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards taking place in Lagos on April 22nd, with Jimmy Jean-Louis as the host and musical performances from Asa and 2Face expected. Who will win? Here are 5 sure shots. AMAA 2012 BEST DIASPORA FEATURE – KINYARWANDA Already a Sundance 2011 winner, this feature gave us an idea of just how entangled and complicated the [...]
