Music, sex and politics: it’s an explosive cocktail, and just the stuff to feed the kind of controversy that Koffi Olomide is used to. Not only is he the target of anti-Kabila campaigners who apparently pirated his album Abracadabra by pre-empting its release, the Congolese star is also at the heart of a rape case currently appearing before the French courts. But did he really turn up for trial in the Paris suburbs last February as he claims to have done?

There are times when you need a helping hand to reach a new milestone. To put together his fourth album, Nimissa, Guinean singer and musician Ba Cissoko was assisted by reputed producer Philippe Eidel, who has managed to draw out each song’s potential and assure some ship-shape production.

For the second year in a row, Togolese singer King Mensah has picked Lomé’s Kégué Stadium to give a concert to his fans on the last Sunday of the year. The perfect opportunity to celebrate a career spanning fifteen years.

The prolific artist Franco, who died in 1989, is still a central figure in Congolese music. The compilation Guitar Hero pays tribute to the rumba giant with an unusual collection of songs remastered with debateable dexterity.