Fed-up with the phony playback performances of stars like Justin Bieber, Beyonce and Madonna, the Cameroonian Richard Bona champions authentic music on his new album Bonafied, while working on future collections by Lauryn Hill and Stevie Wonder. He may be a wizard on the bass and have music running through his veins, but whatever you do, don’t ask him to change a light bulb.
The four boys from Versailles have left their guitars and carefree tunes to one side and revamped their sound. Bankrupt! might come as a surprise to anyone used to the Phoenix pop style.
Femi’s new album, No Place For My Dream, flies the flag for afrobeat, which his father Fela made popular on the international scene. Fela’s heir knows the role that France has played in the development of his career.
It’s almost like the good old days of the French Touch: Gallic electro is enjoying a revival on the global scene thanks to old hands like Daft Punk, Martin Solveig, Bob Sinclar and Miss Kittin, and the new wave represented by C2C and Madeon.
After a childhood of exile and rebellion, Bombino is taking the Tuareg tradition forwards armed with his hypnotic guitar. With two albums already under his belt and slice of global fame to his name, the artist recorded his new collection in Nashville at the studios of the indie rock star, Dan Auerback from the Black Keys.
On her fifth album, Beautiful Africa, Rokia Traoré infuses intimate poems with energetic rock, profound blues and some rare heart and soul. RFI Musique interviewed the Malian artist.
Back in the nineties, Madagascar made a foray onto the world music scene with artists like Jaojoby, D’Gary, Tarika, Njava, Rajery and Régis Gizavo, yet contemporary Malagasy musicians haven’t taken up the torch.
Singing about society in Côte d’Ivoire is no easy task. After a decade of crisis that has left the social fabric in tatters, Alpha Blondy’s hopeful new album, Mystic Power, is an invitation to “recycle” pain, trauma and conscience.
Two years after winning the RFI Découvertes award, Ugandan singer Maurice Kirya unveils the expression of his artistic musings with The Book of Kirya, a soul album bearing snippets of Africa.
Coming fifty years after her first album, L’Amour fou is Françoise Hardy’s most brazen offering to date, and is paired with an emotional confessional novel with the same title.
They’ve performed their Bantu Groove at venues all round the world. Thirteen years after their first album, and despite losing several of the group’s charismatic members, Mascase are back centre stage. The band boasts a new line-up and some brand new tracks, but their desire to blend Bantu music with modern rhythms is unchanged.
