It's Afro-Pop Week!
 

Africa is a continent of 47 countries, I think, and pop music as such has been around for about sixty years, so if we posted just one pop song from each country, for each year, this thread would accumulate 2,820 clips.

Let`s not be too intimidated, though.
Pretty much at random, here are a few clips which illustrate what I see as a common trait in Afro-pop: musicians who don`t mind sounding, and showing themselves to be cheerful :



^ Tarika pretty much re-invented Madagascan pop music, and this is their irrepressible hit from 2001, celebrating Koba, a local pastry. If you don`t click on anything else today, you should at least give this one a go !



^ In 1999 Cheikh N`Digel Lo from Senegal had a hit with M`Beddemi. OK, maybe he doesn`t look too cheerful, but he`s got a great voice.



^ In 2006, Samba Mapangala, from the Congo, showed us how to live it up in style. ( To see this one, you have to click where it says Ver en Youtube )

So that`s three countries and three years; only 2,817 clips to go ...

Yo! Excellent thread!
Here are some of my favourite vintage African tunes:
Ochestra Super Mazembe: Kasongo (Kenya) - guess where I took my dj name :)

Juma Muhina: Dada Mwajuma (Kenya)

Sir Victor Uwaifo: Guitar Boy (Nigeria)

Prince Nico Mbarga: Aki Special (Nigeria)

^ Yes, as always, Pedestrian has done an excellent job of setting up the thread and providing some fundamental info about the genre.

^ With a name like that you must be a real fan ! I`ve heard of Orchestra Super Mazembe before, but never heard their music, so I was interested in your clip ; I liked the loose structure of the song, and the way it takes several unexpected turns.

This is a much more tightly structured song from Nigerian hit-maker Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey; it`s short, but he finds time for some trademark guitar playing half-way through. :-



Your other clips are all new to me, djsupermazembe ; great stuff !

:) This music makes me happy. I love love LOVE afro-pop in all its varieties. I'd be remissed if I didn't mention one of the absolute greats of afrobeat and jazz, Fela Kuti.



The above song actually sparked tremendous violence in Nigeria when it was released in 1977. The song is a biting satire of the Nigerian military of the time, using "zombie" as a metaphor for their military tactics. One thousand Nigerian soldiers attacked Kuti's commune where he lived with his family, friends, and fellow musicians. During the attack he was nearly beaten to death, and the soldiers threw his mother out of a window, sustaining injuries which killed her a few days later.

The government initially denied responsibility for the attacks, claiming it was the work of a lone, yet identified soldier. In response, he sent his mother's coffin to a Nigerian barracks.

Powerful stuff.

Naturally, Fela...

Fuck yeah Expensive Shit! I was going to post that one but figured I'd do the Zombie anecdote instead.

i don't really listen much to African "pop"

jazz, blues and ethnic music yes

blues like Ali Farka Toure

jazz like "Township Jive"

and ethnic like "mbanqa" and "mbalax"

hardly ever touch pop - the closest is "The Bundu Boys" and "Fela Kuti" (even if I only have Confusion/Gentleman, which is more psyche than pop, anyways)

Here`s a song from a Guinean band who became so popular that the president nationalised them and they were obliged to add "National" to their name. This is a single that they released in the early 1970`s; a happy mix of interesting instruments recorded with great clarity :-

From Equatorial Guinea, Hijas del Sol (1992-2006):

^ 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. :-