Fela Kuti Re-Issues: The Best of the Black President

Fela Kuti, arguably the biggest African recording artist ever, left a peerless mark on music with his non-stop funk and his legendary swagger. So re-release are on the common side. But Knitting Factory Records is kicking off its existence with by re-releasing his 45 album catalogue. The first installment is appropriately named The Best of the Black President and it hits stores on October 27, just after his birthday on October 15th.

And Fela fever is in the air with the acclaimed play Fela! hitting Broadway in November and the first official website Fela.net on the interwebs.

Douster “King Of Africa”

The cool kids at The Fader just put up this rowdy video by French producer Douster. Suspect Disney sampling aside, the beat is rather bumpin.’

Ory Okolloh: Mother, Blogger, World-changer

I love twitter. You can do all the lurking you want to legitimately. Which sounds like a waste of time – and it can be – as tens, hundreds or thousands of tweets vie for your attention by the second but that’s also down to who you follow.

We check for Kenyan social activist and Harvard-schooled lawyer Ory Okolloh. She lives in South Africa and blogs over at Kenyan Pundit, at Mzalendo, and is one of the masterminds for Ushahidi, the only African winner of the 2009 Knight News Challenge. All the other winners are American.

For innovatively delivering news to their communities using crowd sourcing and mobile technology, they got to split $5.1 million. It’s a good look for the site which in its barely 2-year existence has propagated a model for citizen reporting in South Africa, DRC and India. Some of you will remember Ory’s inspiring TEDtalk presentation in Arusha back in 07.

Check out our chat with one of our generation’s true forces for change after the jump.

Box N Locks video

And now here’s Mpho Skeef’s video for the single Box N Locks. We only hope this means that there really is an album on the way after all these years.

Mpho Skeef’s new heat

Always one to fight the stereotype, “Friday night in Brixton sounds like Friday night in Leeds” to South African via South African pop+soul+electro+whatever-she-feels-like-singer Mpho Skeef. Here’s a first listen for her new joint Box N Locks. Thoughts?

Fela Kuti uncovered

Everyone knows here at Afripopmag we are proper Fela stans. So for us, this blog run by Punch records (the good folk who also bring us the annual Bass music festival) is required reading. It’s got a ton of inside-info from Nigerian artist Lemi Ghariokwu, ‘inventor of Lagos Afro pop art’, friend to Fela Kuti and credited with amongst other things, designing 26 of his album covers over 19 years.

From Monday 8 June to 6 July Arts own Kind – Afrobeat and the art of Lemi Ghariokwu, the largest exhibition of Ghariokwu’s work to date comes to the UK.  Kicks off in London at the Rich Mix Cafe before touring nationwide.

Lemi also joins Tony Allen, Rich Medina, Wunmi and Dele Sosimi (Keys/Egypt80) for The Edge09 Afro-beat forum on Wednesday 10 June.

Afrotronic #2

We loves it when promoters put on progressive events like this. More Pan-Africa themed parties please!

Afrotronic part 2 is going down in the heart of soulful Jozi this Saturday 6 June 2009. Check the mix South African, French and  Malawian musicians will bring live on stage:

Zubz the last letter and premier ambassadorial Zim/Zambian MC whose latest single Part time Lover – Full time Freak is all over S.A radio right now.

There’s French/Malawian Hiphop crew The Latitudz. Check them out on Myspace.

And then there’s Ashes to Machines – a transient group in which S.A’s The Kwani Experience,the mighty Pops Mohamed and France’s DJ Oil collaborate.

Last but not least, house music supremo and Black Coffee brings his flavour to the decks.

Full on!

Get To Know: Ayo

Photo by Tom Munro

Nigerian singer brings her unique sound to new audiences

By Uzy Igweatu

You’d think Ayo has it all figured it out, with her first album, Joyful, having reached double platinum status in France, platinum status in Poland, and gold status in Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. But little do you know. The Nigerian-Romanian, German-born, reggae/soul/folk singer has faced her share of roadblocks, both personal and professional. But she’s quick to admit that she’s a stronger person because of them. Currently on a sold-out 34-city world tour for her second album, Gravity at Last, Ayo is ready to share her music with those who’ve not yet had the chance to experience it. AfriPOP! had the opportunity to meet up with Ayo while she was on the U.S. leg of her tour. Just like her music suggests, she proved to be undeniably authentic, unmistakably passionate about life, and definitely not afraid to speak her mind.

AfriPOP!: You’ve talked before about your background – your parents, your upbringing, and your various life experiences. How have these experiences shaped the kind of music that you do?

Ayo: I believe that the very soul you’ve been surrounded by as a child – my dad’s soul and my mom’s soul – created my soul, all the influences, everything that they gave me, everything I used to listen to. Even things I didn’t like influenced me in a natural way. My dad is a Nigerian man. He would listen a lot to Afrobeat, and he would listen to soul music, but also to funk and rock music. And always the good stuff. This musical background and the way he would bring me up and teach me is what created this sound, a natural sound. I’m not trying to do this or do that. I just do whatever I love. It just comes always from the same place—my soul and my heart-without thinking too much.

AP: It’s great that you were surrounded by that early on. I can’t help but think how rare it is. When you think of Nigerian parents, they always emphasize school and the traditional careers, medicine, law -

Ayo: … And engineering. My father is an engineer.

AP: Exactly. Mine too. So, what did your father initially think about your career choice?

Ayo: In the very beginning, my father was like, “Oh, you have to go to school, you have to study.” But he did not know that I was singing. So, when he heard me singing, he said if I don’t want to go to school anymore, I don’t have to. By then, I was 18 already and decided to leave school. He believed that God had something else for me and that I should follow that. He was always supportive of my music. When I wouldn’t believe in myself, he would believe in me.

Dear Mama

Zap Mama’s new album ReCreation is due out May 26th. They kick things off with Hello To Mama, the lead single released in partnership with itunes and CARE -  a non-profit organisation especially concerned with the welfare of women in developing countries.

Cop the single on itunes now and help fund basic maternal health for women who so badly need it.

Here’s the video to tide you over till AfriPOP! hooks up with the Afropean hotties. That’s a promise.

We’re diggin’ this: Nneka’s Heartbeat

Get to know this chca, asap