August Afrotonic hop artist Blitz the Ambassador recently began the first leg of his worldwide concert tour and this week he teases us with footage from a performance in Switzerland last year. He has uploaded the entire performance online, and we’ve embedded the video below for you. The rapper put the finishing touches on his album, Diasporadical, in January and he will be making his way across the globe to […]
AfriPOP! & Masauko Chipembere of blk sonshine presents “Daughters of Makeba,” a musical celebration of Miriam Makeba by women’s voices throughout the diaspora. March 4 would have been “Mama Afrika’s” 80th birthday. Join us in celebrating her life and legacy in song. Performers include Masauko Chipembere, Yolanda Zama, Tuelo Minah, and Samantha Thornhill & Mimi Jones as Medusa Strings Theory. we hope to see you there…
AfriPOP! commemorates South African Women’s Day (August 9th) by highlighting 30 women who have changed the game in their respective sectors — from a new generation to the old, in politics, culture, music and business.
Singer and poet Vusi ‘The Voice’ Mahlasela, Thandiswa Mazwai, who guested with Tony Allen at the Barbican last October and female vocal trio The Mahotella Queens are all set to celebrate and re-live the music of Africa’s greatest voice at the Hackney Empire as guests of Bra-Hugh. Get all the details under the hood.
Like most fantastic vocalists, Selloane Nkhela got her start singing in church, at three-years-old. The South African native went on to win the “Shell Road to Fame” competition (a throwback version of “American Idol”) in 1995 and later released two gospel-tinged albums Thel’u moya and Vuma before joining the Toronto and Los Angeles productions of “The Lion King.” Now settled in New York with a third album “Lerato” (“love” in Sotho), Selloane is ready for American debut. She spoke with AfriPOP! about her African sound and how the Big Apple inspires her music…
Available now on DVD is Soul Power, a documentary about the legendary Zaire ’74 festival which brought North American stars like Celia Cruz, James Brown, Bill Withers, Miriam Makeba and B.B. King to the stage during the famed “Rumble in the Jungle” match between Muhammad Ali and George Forman in 1974.
Just before her set for soulful London club night, Pause at Market Place, AfriPOP! catches up with BBC 1Xtra’s flyest b-girl, Mobo-nominated Hiphop DJ Sarah Love. A multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and MTV presenter, here the lovely Sarah talks about her relationship with Miriam Makeba, her South African heritage, her DJ influences and what constitutes a good look. Sarah Love spins on 7th Feb at the J Dilla Changed My Life […]
Why can’t continental Africans be the stars of their own stories? Is there some ancient film industry edict which states that famous black Africans can only be played by African-Americans or black Europeans? But ever thoughtful, in preparation for the next scramble for black Hollywood stars to play African icons AfriPOP! has come up with a list to give casting directors a head start:
Finally London steps up to the plate with a fittingly stellar tribute for Africa’s first lady of song. No less than Angelique Kidjo curates a show at the Barbican in memory of the late Miriam Makeba this Saturday 21 November. The line up is a generational mix of legends now and in the making: Veterans Baaba Maal andVusi Mahlasela will share the stage with Barbican first-timers Nigerian pop-soul singer Asa, Guinean singer Sayon Bamba and Ivorian […]
photo_NYTimes Civil rights era folk singer, and close friend of Mama Afrika (Miriam Makeba), Odetta passed away yetsreday. She was 77 years old. Read the obit here and here. mama Odetta, your thunderous voice and commitment to the truth will live on through us. Rest in Peace [youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VSDeROnTq64]
Come out and support…
Anyone who knows me knows how much Mama Africa means to me. What a treasure we have all lost. In fact there were a few times I was meant to meet her but something came up. I was meant to interview her for a magazine in South Africa a few years ago and she just never pitched, but no one – the photographer and makeup artist included – found it […]
The Celebrate Brooklyn festival is one the most anticipated in the free summer concert schedule, at least in our books. For this year’s kick-off, Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba would have performed one of two dates on her farewell tour. We just got word that Mama will no longer be making the trip. We were so looking forward to watching her do her thing on that stage. Ah well, there’s always […]
