Africa

African Popular Music
The term African Popular Music doesn't refer to any particular genre or sound, it's a commonly used generic term to describe all forms of modern music from Africa. Most of these genres incorporate western influences like Rock, Rhythm & Blues and Jazz into the basic sounds of African Folk Music.

Afrobeat
A movement and genre created by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and singer Fela Kuti in the early 1970s. Musically, afrobeat is a blend of Jazz, Funk, Highlife and Yoruba percussion, although the term is often attributed quite liberally to any African music with funk influences. Typically, afrobeat is played by large ensembles, with Fela's bands occasionally including over a hundred members. An essential part of the original movement was also pan-African ideology and political radicalism. Since Fela's death the most notable artists have been his son Femi Kuti and the American Antibalas.

Essential (Compilations)

 * AFRICA 100 by Joe Tangari, courtesy of Pitchfork (by far the greatest contribution pitchfork has given the world). (tracklisting)
 * Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife Afro-Sounds This compilation pulls off the trick of being a fine place for the curious novice to start, but also of great interest to specialists.
 * Reviews: BBC, Pitchfork. Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Nigeria Special Volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds And Nigerian Blues - Also good
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * The World Ends:Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria A slightly different focus from Nigerian Special, but same high quality compilation from the same label.
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Nigeria Afrobeat Special: The New Explosive Sound In 1970's Nigeria
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-79
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-Rock & Fuzz Funk in 1970's Nigeria
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Ghana Special:Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Ghanaian Blue 1968-1981 Almost a "sequel" to Nigeria Special.
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Rare Grooves Africa another great series


 * Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70s Ghana
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Ghana Soundz, Vol.2: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70s Ghana
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify


 * Rare Grooves Africa another great series
 * AfricaFunk yet another great series
 * Love, Peace & Poetry vol. 8 is a bit more of a psychedelic collection than an afrobeat one, but it definitely kind of bridges the gap between the two scenes. Contains a lot of S. African as well Nigerian, Ghanaian, etc. musicians. And even some white folks make it on this one. Here is a great track from this one, called "My Ancestors" by Chrissy Zebby Tembo and Ngozi family for an example of the hybridization of the two styles.

Notable artists

 * Fela Kuti is the Elvis, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson and Bob Marley of Afrobeat rolled into one. Early stuff as Koola Lobitos
 * Fela's sons Femi and Seun proudly carry the torch. Seun is more like his dad.
 * Tony Allen was in Fela's band for many years, but also had an accomplished solo career. When Cream broke up, Ginger Baker moved to Africa to learn to drum from Allen and played with him and Fela for about six years before moving back home. Some of Allen vs. Baker's drum battles are things of mythic proportion.
 * Babatunde Olatunji (you might recognize this if you are a fan of Santana since their cover version is famous). The album "Drums of Passion" from 1959 is simply mind blowing and hypnotic.
 * Sahara All Stars Jos - check out this track called "Enjoy Yourself", it's one of my favorites
 * Shina Peters (Afro-juju)
 * Chrissy Zebby Tembo and Ngozi Family - This is even better (far funkier) than the one linked above
 * William Onyeabor brought the keys/synths to the party
 * Hugh Masekela
 * Ebo Taylor really fucking makes me shake my ass like this
 * Papa Wemba
 * Antibalas (formerly known as Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra) - carrying the torch. These guys formed in NY, but they are so good that they were hired for the FELA musical on broadway. Pretty hardcore touring band, but they seem to be a lot more busy in the last couple years and don't do as many club gigs.
 * Bisso Na Bisso are not afrobeat, but they are bridging the gap between traditional afrobeat and modern hip hop. Like this

Bongo Flava
Bongo Flava is a creation by Tanzanian youth beginning in the late 1990s. The genre takes roots in Hip Hop from the United States of America and fusing various other genres including Rhythm & Blues, Afrobeat, Dancehall, as well as some of the native Tanzanian music of Taarab and Dansi.

Highlife
Highlife originally began in Ghana as a blend of brass band music with the more danceable and less "official" rhythms of rumba and Calypso in the 1930s. Later the genre became more Jazz & Swing influenced and has often been somewhat incorrectly called a jazz subgenre. Highlife is very popular in Nigeria, Ghana and their neighbouring countries and also paved the way for the globally better known Afrobeat.

Notable artists: Sir Victor Uwaifo, Eddie Quansah, Otarus, Celestine Ukwu, The African Brothers, Gasper Lawal, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, The Anambra Beats.

Essential compilations

 * Rough Guide To Highlife This Rough Guide is jam-packed with some of the biggest hitters in highlife history. Enjoy Victor Uwaifo’s Nigerian joromi stylings, the gentle Ghanaian palm-wine of Koo Nimo, and even an early recording of Afrobeat superstar Fela Kuti presenting a firmly highlife vibe.
 * Listen on: Deezer, Rdio Spotify

Jùjú
A style of Nigerian pop music derived from Yoruba music traditions and influenced by Western rock, funk and reggae. More percussive oriented, no horn section, much more psychedelic then Afrobeat.

Notable artists: King Sunny Adé, Ebenezer Obey, Tunde Nightingale.

Soukous
A blend of Cuban rumba and other Latin American music with the folk music of the Congo area. Originally called just "African rumba", the name soukous is now used for the various rumba derivatives of Central Africa.

Southern Africa
Southern African popular music encompasses popular music genres from Southern African regions such as a cappella Mbube, jazz genres like Marabi, Mbaqanga, Kwela and Cape Jazz, local Electronic Dance Music styles Kwaito and Shangaan Electro, and other local popular genres. These popular music styles mainly consist of a combination of a worldwide popular genre like Jazz, Gospel, Rock or Electronic music, with the melody, the rhythm, the traditional instruments, etc. of a local, regional or ethnic Southern African traditional music, for examples Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaan or San (Bushmen) folk music leading to local specific style, playing and interpretation.

Bulawayo Jazz
Bulawayo jazz is a style of afro-jazz that emerged from the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in the early 1950s. The lead is assured by the alto sax in ensembles including tenor sax, trumpet, guitars, double bass, tubas and trombones.

Bulawayo jazz has been brought in the occidental world by Hugh Tracey, who recorded the material of Bulawayo Jazz: Southern Rhodesia, Zimbawbe 1950, '51, '52 in the early 1950s. Along with Gypsy Jazz, it's the sole jazz scene existing outside of the USA in the late-1940s/early-1950s.

A prominent Zimbabwean jazz player from the 1950s was August Msarurgwa. Msarurgwa was the leader of The African Dance Band of the Cold Storage Commission of Southern Rhodesia and composed the hit "Skokiaan". This may be the most well-known Bulawayo jazz song and has been covered by such artists as Louis Armstrong, The Four Lads, Alma Cogan, Bill Haley and His Comets and Herb Alpert, among many others.

The style is no longer leading the scene in Zimbabwe, replaced by modern popular genres like Kwaito. Nevertheless, some artists like The Cool Crooners are still playing Bulawayo jazz in clubs in Bulawayo and Harare.

Kwaito/Cape Jazz
Emerging from South Africa in the early 1990s, Kwaito is a music genre that takes influence from Disco, Hip Hop, and - most obviously - American and British House music. Its songs usually feature deep basslines, looped samples from more traditional styles of African music, and often sung or rapped vocals, which are usually male.

Kwela
This sound from South Africa emerged from Marabi in the early 1950s. Kwela is rooted in Malawi and local South African traditional music such as Zulu music, and is influenced by Jazz as well. The four bar themes get repeated and mildly varied. The happy melodies of Kwela are mostly played by different flutes such as pennywhistle flutes and are often accompanied by banjo or guitar. Kwela became popular in Malawi as well and was prominent worldwide in the 1950s. The most significant artists are South African Lemmy "Special" Mabaso and Spokes Mashiyane, Malawian Donald Kachamba, as well as South African Elias & His Zig Zag Jive Flutes who performed in 1958 the internationally famous song Tom Hark.

Marabi
Marabi is a Jazz and Southern African Popular Music style with origins in the 1920s. This genre came to existence in the ghettos and the shebeens of Johannesburg and is rooted in traditional South African music. The formerly simplistic organ and piano style (resembling Ragtime to a certain extent, and often accompanied by different percussion instruments and later on also played by reeds) was brought to a larger audience and taken to a higher artistic level by artists such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Johnny Dyani, Basil Coetzee, The African Jazz Pioneers, Miriam Makeba (early period) and others. This sound came to prominence as it was used as a form of protest against the exploitation of the people of South Africa. From a more Swing-based Marabi combined with Zulu and Xhosa cultures emerged Kwela and Mbaqanga. These made the international popularity of Marabi music genres increase respectively in the 1950s and the 1960s.

Mbaganga
Mbaqanga is a popular Zulu genre of South African music, that emerged from the traditional Marabi Jazz and Swing as well as Kwela popular South African genres. Mbaqanga is much more based on Big Band Swing. It appeared in the early 1960s from South African shebeens. Like Kwela, Mbaqanga has rural Zulu roots and continues to influence musicians worldwide today. The early prominent Mbaqanga artists were Makgona Tsohle Band, Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens, Sipho Mchunu accompanied by Johnny Clegg with Juluka band. Today this genre is less active although Mahotella Queens reduced to three members are still performing.

Mbube
Mbube is a form of Southern African Popular Music, traditionally performed A cappella in a powerful and loud way.

Notable artists: Solomon Linda, Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Compilations

 * Soweto Never Sleeps: Classic Female Zulu Jive
 * Mbube Roots - Zulu Choral Music from South Africa, 1930s-1960s

Shangaan Electro
Shangaan electro is an Electronic Dance Music genre from South Africa with very fast BPM (around 180) and features MIDI keyboard sounds and marimba. The genre took form around 2005 with the productions of Richard "Nozinja" Mthethwa who wanted to make marimba-based Shangaan music but with a faster pace.

Notable artists: Penny Penny, Tshe-Tsha Boys, Mark Ernestus, Anthony Shake Shakir.

Compilations

 * Nkulungwani wa Nwalungu, Vol. 1
 * Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa

Music blogs with downloads

 * Aduna
 * African music Russian language
 * Africolombia Spanish language
 * AfroCubanLatinJazz
 * Awesome Tapes from Africa
 * Groove Monzter
 * Likembe
 * Lola Vandaag Dutch language
 * afrobeat, afrofunk, afrojazz, afrorock ...
 * Dial Africa
 * Oro
 * Rhythm Connection This site is dedicated to rescuing music marginalized or obliterated by global commercial culture. Home will be provided here for recordings abandoned by commerce, and they predominantly will be African.
 * Soul Safari
 * Voodoo Funk
 * Worldservice african, latin

Southern Africa

 * Afro Synth South African bubblegum/disco vibes from the 80s & early 90s
 * Electric Jive We focus on out of print South African, and other African music that is very difficult to find.

west africa

 * Highlife Haven A site dedicated to Nigerian and Ghanaian Highlife music
 * Sahel Sounds exploration of sound and music in west africa, particularly in the sahel region of mauritania, senegal, mali, and niger.

Northern Africa

 * Jewish Morocco
 * Moroccan Tape Stash

Africa sub-Reddits

 * Afrobeat