Music

Building the systems behind the music – Part 2

Ano Shumba

Jack White to perform in Johannesburg and Cape Town in December

Ano Shumba

Spotify debuts East Africa Offline/Online capture with Nyashinski

Ano Shumba

Nigeria: The Headies begins Road to Toronto ahead of 18th edition

Ano Shumba

SA: Listen to Tellaman and Nasty C’s joint album T’s & C’s Apply

Ano Shumba

Open call: Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation 2026 funding programmes

Ano Shumba

Rwanda: Somi releases new album What Does It Take to Bloom?

Ano Shumba

Lake of Stars Malawi Arts Festival postpones 2026 edition to 2027

Ano Shumba

COOKIE THEKID IS JUST GETTING STARTED WITH “PARTY DON START”

After turning heads with “Trouble” in 2025 and following it up with “Billion Boy” earlier this year, Cookie is back with “Party Don Start,” his latest…

Samuel Iroanya

Taves Is Living His Popstar Moment

The first thing that becomes clear when breaking down ‘Popstar – Side A’ is that the album was never designed to stand on its own. It…

Folake Ajao

An Electronic Music Scene Is Taking Shape in Abuja

It’s not often you watch a DJ play old and recent releases on vinyl, spinning analog turntables through a rotary mixer, but House House House gave…

Kufreabasi Eyo

Interview: KiDi Is On A Quest To Find Joy  

After years of wins, big records and the kind of career milestones most artists spend their lives chasing, KiDi is asking himself a different question: what…

The Native

uNder: Best New Artists (August, 2026)

In an ever-evolving industry dominated by mainstream giants, our dedicated monthly column uNder continues to serve as a vital platform for discovering authentic and exciting talents…

Wale Oloworekende

Xenophobia Can’t Break Africa’s Most Fruitful Musical Partnership

For decades, the Nigerian and South African music scenes have enjoyed a creative bonanza despite the tensions between their countries. From “Coolest Kid in Africa” and…

Tiléwa Kazeem

HIGHBREED Is Back With “Cyanide/Damage”

Coming off the heels of “Forlorn,”  his first single of the year, HIGHBREED is back with an emotive two-pack single. Although he only just started building…

Michelle Ejiro

DOTTi The Deity Is Exploring The Breadth Of His Artistry On ‘Cocoa Hue’

‘Cocoa Hue’ is one of those titles that instantly piques interest. What does the wordplay mean? What correlation is there between the elongated oval fruit and…

Michelle Ejiro

5 Projects to Expect in September

From Ghana's brightest star of the 2020s to an Alté giant down to mainstream neo-fuji excellence, here are 5 projects we'll be on the lookout for…

John Eriomala

5 Major Takeaways From the 18th Headies Awards Nominations List

Culture Custodian wrote about The Headies needing change in 2014, 2019, 2023, 2024, and 2025. There are only so many ways one can scream into the…

John Eriomala

On “Starrgirl,” Ayra Starr Remakes African Popstardom in Her Image

If we ever need to capture the ethos of the globalised contemporary African popstar via music and music only, the answer is Starrgirl. The post On…

John Eriomala

From Jamaica to Nigeria, D’Yani Wants All To Live and Prosper

“We tend to not appreciate music for what it is. It's beyond just the next song. It's beyond words. It's definitely much more spiritual than most…

John Eriomala

Rency Slows Things Down On The Jazz-Led “Serenity”

The appeal of Serenity is ultimately quite straightforward. It understands that relaxing music does not have to disappear into the background. Rency gives the listener enough…

Zainab Nasreen Muhammad

Orlahstrings Finds Two Sides of the Groove on “Gbedu Beatz”

Orlahstrings doesn’t need a vocalist to tell you what Gbedu Beatz is for. The two-track release moves through the producer’s interpretation of Amapiano, relying on percussion,…

Anjola Akinmade

“Starrgirl”: Ayra Starr Trades Becoming for Being

In Starrgirl, Ayra Starr does not ask you to reconsider Ayra Starr. She assumes you already know who she is and expects you to keep up.…

Anjola Akinmade

The Scoove Africa Wins “Best A&R Platform in Nigeria” at 2026 African Excellence Awards

At the 2026 African Excellence Awards, The Scoove Africa was named the Best A&R Platform in Nigeria. The African Excellence Awards is an annual initiative by…

Oluwanifemi Olawole

When Amapiano Met Gnawa Music on the Dancefloor

Picture the room going quiet for a second, the way it does right before something interesting is about to happen.Photo by Frankie Cordoba on UnsplashOn one…

African Music Library

Gengetone, Nairobi’s Unfiltered and Unapologetic Sound

Every so often, a genre comes along that refuses to ask permission. Gengetone is one of those.Club Scene in Nairobi (Photo by Dwayne joe on Unsplash)To…

African Music Library

The Cuban Heart of Dakar

Cuban music’s influence on African sound is almost impossible to ignore. It runs through Congolese rumba and soukous, through kizomba and semba, and further back still,…

African Music Library

If Highlife Music was our Long Lost Uncle …

If highlife music was our long lost uncle, we would not remember exactly when he left. Only that one day the house felt a little quieter,…

African Music Library

The Dance Born from a Thunder God’s Anger

Today we tell a story about Faran Maka Boté, a hero from the Niger river region, as if we were sitting together by the river, listening…

African Music Library

The Desert That Carried Music, Not Silence

When you hear about the Sahara, what comes to mind?Photo by Carlos Leret on UnsplashWe usually think of it as a place, hardly habitable, with endless…

African Music Library

Why do some lyrics refuse to translate?

Have you ever thought about it? Why do certain African songs feel weaker the moment someone translates them into English?Take Congolese rumba. So much of its…

African Music Library

The Genre that Hid a Revolution in Plain Sight

So we fell down a rabbit hole this week after a brief hiatus and landed on Chimurenga music from Zimbabwe, and we’ve got to tell you…

African Music Library

Shoday: Taking The Funnier Route

Shoday’s biggest song almost didn’t happen the way people think it did. Before “Paparazzi” launched him out the gates, before his first number one, before Davido…

Joey Akan

Wale Was Never Given the Benefit of the Doubt

“This shit ain’t never been easy for me.” It’s how Wale opened our conversation, unprompted, before I’d asked a single question. What followed was an inventory:…

Joey Akan

Mavo Wants You to Want Him First

His father named him for a promise. You know, you’re going to be famous, he told him, back when Marvin was young enough to still be…

Joey Akan

Dr Sid Is Still On The Field

There is a test Dr. Sid applies to his own life, and he returns to it often enough that it has become practice rather than a…

Joey Akan

Sarz Believes in Destiny, As Long As He Controls It

There is a story Sarz tells about the first time he sat in a real American studio, and it is not really a story about America.…

Joey Akan

Excel Joab: The Man Who Reads the Room

We are neighbors, Excel Joab and I. When either of us is frustrated about the industry, we walk to each other’s house and rant. It sounds…

Joey Akan

Kcee: The King Who Stayed

The night I watched Kcee perform at Bayelsa, January 1 of 2025, he did not do a regular set. He ran a ceremony. Three acts, a…

Joey Akan

Ladipoe: The Price Is Never on the Tag

It is December, and Ladipoe has just turned down a gig.Not because the money was wrong. But it was Christmas Day, and the logistics of getting…

Joey Akan