Music Wire: News for the global urban generation

As mentioned below, the death of Mamadou Konte was a great loss to African music (and indeed the US and European music fans that enjoyed the acts he promoted). The company he created, Africa Fête, is however continuing. On September 9 and 15 next, they are putting together a special homage to Konte with a […]

Reviews of the Seun Kuti live shows with Egypt 80 in North America have been very good, with reviewers again welcoming the arrival of a massive Afro-Beat band led by the son of the iconic Fela Kuti (not that anyone has forgotten his other son Femi yet). “The band was the most important thing in […]

Although largely unknown to the general audience, African rap has lost one of its most important players. Mamadou Konte founded the Africa Fête festival in France in the late seventies, later bringing it to the US and Canada. He also set up a label in Senegal that was responsible for uncovering Positive Black Soul and […]

We’re beginning to get a lot of press releases concerning summer festivals. One we thought we’d highlight is the annual Africa Fête show in Marseilles on June 30. First, because we’ve always wanted to visit the town and secondly as the event is quite cool. Headliners include Kristo Numpuby, Ashes to Machines, Oumar Kouyaté and […]

The bad news this week is that the Konono N°1 European tour has been hit by the visa blues. The group was due to fly to Europe via Switzerland but two members were refused as they didn’t have the requisite Schengen visas. These had been requested at the German embassy in Kinshasa but were […]

We’ve mentioned him before, but there’s no harm in mentioning him again as the project is an interesting one. Last year Cameroon singer Kristo Numpuby recorded a homage to the master of chanson, George Brassens. The unlikely combination, however, struck a chord at home in France, where Numpuby tours regularly and has appeared on prime […]

I have to admit that the Congolese outfit Konono N°1 is not my favourite band. In fact, their saturated sound drive me nuts. But they are unique, which is probably reason enough for Bjork to invite them to record on her new album alongside Timbaland and Antony. They have a new release out (”Live in […]

One of the most popular acts in France at the moment are Magic System, the Ivory Coast band that has chalked up a number of major hits such as “Premier Gaou” and “Bouger, Bouger”. They have so far totalled over 2 million singles in France alone, as well as 400,000 albums.
Their mainstream version of the […]

Anyone interested in the African scene might already know the BBC’s Africa Beyond, which celebrates African arts in the UK. The site covers the entire continent, illustrating the extraordinary diversity of the 54 African nations.
More specifically, the new site wil incorporate “Africa on Your Street” that covers everything from Afrobeat to M’balax plus gig listing […]

Ivory Coast’s Manou Gallo is one of the most in-demand bassists in Europe. After playing with Zap Mama for six years and appearing in a play, she released her first album, “Dida” on the IglooMondo label in 2003. A documentary now traces her worldwide tour and the release of the second album…