^ Very good choice, Zaqarbal, and thanks for the wiki link about Equatorial Guinea, the first line of which said, " Not to be confused with Guinea " - the first thing that I had done, as a matter of fact.

What I like about the songs you posted is that they are very African, but also conform to international notions of pop. To begin with, I thought your third clip, which starts "oo-wey, oo-wey, oo-wey" was fabulous, but by the end of my first listen through, I already found it irritating. If that`s not pop, I don`t know what is.

So far no-one has mentioned two undeniable giants of Afro-pop:
First, "The Lion of Cameroon", Manu Dibango, whose 1972 single is, according to the sleeve notes I`m reading, "the single most influential African record to date" :-



It was one of the first African records to get international recognition, and years later seems to have inspired Michael Jackson to write "Wanna Be Starting Something".

Next up is Franco, "arguably the greatest African musician of the twentieth century". This song from 1962 was a big hit in the Congo, and is sung in a Spanish that even I can understand; " Caramba, yo te quiero !" :-

Cool stuff! Guinea is one of those countries whose music is pretty hard to find. Certainly not the most prominent music market in the continent, at least from a Western point of view.

I just realized that Nigeria has a population of 170 million people, making it the world's 7th(!) most populated country surpassing Russia, Japan and Mexico. Or two of the most populated European countries (Germany and France) combined! So, it's no big wonder that Nigeria has been able to produce such a prominent music scene with big superstars like Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade.

Anyways, one of my favourite African bands is Malombo. Their sound is quite unique even though they're not particularly trying to invent anything new or experimental. It's very laid back, mainly instrumental jamming lead by percussions and Tabane's guitar. And it's more about the feeling than showing off your skills. Perfect Sunday music. Sometimes they might even get a bit psychedelic, like on that 2nd track where Tabane is actually singing.

Glad you liked the clip from Guinea, djsuperm! The population figures for Nigeria also help explain why there is a bitter feud on some of the Ebenezer Obey sites about is he Nigerian, or is he some other tribe/nationality that I don`t recall.

I really liked the Malombo clips; guitar-driven African music is one of my favourite sounds. So using that as an excuse, I`d like to move away a little from Afro-pop and share a clip which is more like Afro-rock, I guess, because it sounds like the guitarist listened to some Zappa solos before he picked up his instrument. Anyway, Tamikrest come from Mali and this is a live version of a song from their excellent 2010 album:-

Yes, this desert-blues scene is awesome! One of my favourites of the scene is Group Inarene, from Niger. I love the screaming sound that the ladies are making in this video:

^ Yes, some great female vocal effects. Did you notice the girl at the right-hand end of the line ? Starts out like she`s embarrassed to be there, but then loosens up a bit ....
Tiris, from Algeria are another Desert Blues band that are pretty good.

Back to a more pop sound, Shwi Nomtekhala were very popular in South Africa a few years back. Don`t have a date for this particular clip, I`m afraid. :-