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African Music

I've done quite a few posts about Asian music (mainly J-pop and K-pop) and also Turkish, so today I'm featuring some African artists. :)


Tiwa Savage

First up here are a couple of songs from Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage.

This is All Over which was released in May.




And here is Ma Lo featuring Nigerian singer Wizkid and producer Spellz. It's from Tiwa's new EP Sugarcane which was released in September. It's sung in Yoruba and English.





Vanessa Mdee and Mr P

Next we have Kisela by Tanzanian singer Vanessa Mdee and featuring Mr P (Peter Okoye who is one half of Nigerian twin music duo P-Square). The song is about a woman who discovers that the man she loves isn't as serious about her as she is about him. The main language is Swahili, I think and both Vanessa and Peter also sing in English.

Kisela came out in July.




For the full P-Square experience (both twins Peter and Paul) here's their 2015 song Collabo featuring Don Jazzy:





Flavour

Here is Baby Na Yoka by Nigerian singer and songwriter Flavour N'bania. His real name is Chinedu Okoli and he's known as the "Flavour of Africa" and Africa's Highlife King. Highlife is a music genre that originated in Ghana and Flavour's music is a mixture of that, African Rhythm and jazz. On his website his music is described as "Afro Hip-Life".

Flavour started out playing the drums in his local church choir. His music career kicked off when the pastor introduced to a music CEO and he started studying music. He has released 5 albums, debut Nabania (2008), Uplifted (2010), Blessed (2012), Thankful and Ijele- The Traveler. A few of his hit singles are Nwa Baby, Oyi and Adanma. He runs the record label 2nite Music.

Baby Na Yoka is from Flavour's 5th studio album Ijele- The Traveler and it came out in June. I think he is singing in Igbo, since he's known for singing in that language.



For more on Flavour visit these links:

Official site: http://mrflavournabania.com/

Record label site: http://2nitemusicgroup.com/



Yemi Alade

This is Johnny by Nigerian singer Yemi Alade. She has released several singles including Johnny (probably her most well known), Na Gode, Ferrari and Tumbum; 2 albums, King of Queens (2014) and Mama Africa (2016) and the EP Mama Afrique (2017).

I actually came across Johnny a few years ago but never got round to posting about it. It's all about a man (Johnny) who's been a naughty boy! He's a bit of a love rat, he has all these women on the go and by the look of it he's about to be a dad! The search for Johnny has become a local news story.

Johnny was released in October 2013 and was a hit. I would guess that Yemi is singing in Yoruba (as well as English) but I don't know for sure.  (She is half Yoruba and half Igbo). :)





You can watch the video for Yemi's latest song Nakupena here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adf2f1lD7F0

It's from the Mama Afrique EP and is sung in Swahili.


Like African music? Check out these links:

Article about the Top 10 Nigerian music producers: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/16/meet-the-top-10-music-producers-in-nigeria/

Info about Highlife:  https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/highlife-west-africa

Henri Dikongue (Cameroonian singer): http://starsparklex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/weekly-music-video_25.html

Perola (Angolan singer) videos:

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/09/weekly-music-video.html

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/11/weekly-music-video_18.html

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/01/weekly-music-video_18.html

Tanzanian singer TID: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/01/weekly-music-video_29.html

Mozambican singer Lizha James featuring Perola: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/02/weekly-music-video_12.html

P-Square's Away video:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/02/weekly-music-video_28.html


Hope you enjoyed the post! I plan to do more posts about African artists in the future. I'm half Cameroonian but don't know that many Cameroonian artists. I do know Henri Dikongue (see above) and I like Kaissa's Nika Pata Lambo. I've heard of Grace Decca and Wes Madiko but I don't think I liked their music that much. Let me know if there are any Cameroonian singers you recommend. :)


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