The Panama Beat

The Kenyan capital is roaring into the 2020s. On this program singer/songwriter/producer Eric Wainaina introduces us to a rising cadre of artists rocking the Nairobi scene. From hip-hop and dancehall to r&b and Gengetone, the city’s cultural melting pot is coming to a boil at a time of political change when artists are finding their voices to speak out against government corruption and champion social justice movements. We meet artists on the front line--Juliani, Karun and Blinky Bill—and take a side trip to Kakuma, one of Africa’s largest refugee camps where music, including hop-hop, is literaliy a matter of survival. APWW #831

Sia Tolno escaped war-torn Sierra Leone to become a popular singer in Guinea. As her career blossomed, she shifted to Afrobeat, with deep grooves and strong political messages. But festivals and her record company discouraged her new, big band direction, and she set out on her own. That’s when Sia met American guitarist/bandleader Aaron Feder, leader of Alma Afrobeat Ensemble out of Barcelona. When Aaron set upon the idea of creating a collective of musicians to interpret Grateful Dead songs in African styles, Sia was intrigued, and the rest is history... This podcast tells the long, strange story of Sia Tolno and the Afro-Dead Collective. Produced by Banning Eyre.

Known as Australia’s music and cultural capital, Melbourne is a hub of creativity boasting a diverse arts scene. The African community in Melbourne has been growing with Africans from all parts of the continent bringing their fashion, food and music to the city. In this episode we’ll explore African musicians and music curators who are making their mark in Melbourne. Expect to hear a blend of traditional African instruments by the Melbourne African Traditional Ensemble (MATE); funky jazz fusion by Black Jesus Experience; South-Sudanese modern rock by Ajak Kwai, and hip-hop from IJALE and Sampa the Great. We’ll also meet the presenter of the longest running African radio program in Australia, Stani Goma. Guiding us through our journey of Melbourne’s African music scene will be DJ Kix, bringing to light some of the nuances of migration, identity and life in Melbourne. Produced by DJ Kix. APWW #836

On March 6, 1971, a group of some of the top musicians from the United States – Ike & Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, The Staples Singers, Santana, and more – boarded a plane bound for Ghana to perform in a musical celebration that was dubbed the “Soul to Soul Festival”. Thousands of audience members filled Accra’s Black Star Square for a continuous 15 hours of music. The festival was planned in part for the annual celebration of Ghana’s independence, but also an invitation for a “homecoming” for these noted African-American artists to return to Africa. This episode revisits the famed music festival and explores the longstanding legacy of cultural exchange with African diasporans originally set forth in the 1950s by Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. Tune in for interviews with noted musicologist John Collins, poet and scholar Tsitsi Ella Jaji, concert goers and more. Produced by Brandi Howell. APWW #829

Yamé is a French artist of Cameroonian descent who artfully merges R&B, hip-hop, and jazz in his music. On the strength of his breakout single “Bécane,” with a video shot in Cameroon, this young artist held firm at #1 on the Global Spotify Viral charts, accumulating over 68-million streams to date, and winning the attention of the producer Timbaland. Like Stromei before him, Yamé has made the unlikely journey from Paris’s underground jam-band scene to global fame in record time. In this episode, producer Elodie Maillot recounts the journey in conversation with the man himself, and we hear from another boundary-crossing Paris cosmopolitan, Lebanese trumpet maestro Ibrahim Maalouf.

They call Sam Mangwana "Le Pigeon Voyageur" - a roaming pigeon. He could also be called a rolling stone because wherever he lays his microphone is his home. In this episode, we behold the amazing return of rumba's living legend - Sam Mangwana. Produced by Georges Collinet. APWW #863

The Cumbia Diaspora: From Colombia to the World by Afropop Worldwide

When Zimbabwe’s dynamic roots band Mokoomba had a chance meeting with a house music producer and an American kamelengoni (Malian pentatonic harp) player, the sparks flew. A few weeks later, they all gathered for two days to write and record a song aimed at the lucrative Afro-House, DJ remix market. In this Zimbabwe-focused episode, we hear new mbira music from Mary Anibal and Othnell Mangoma Moyo, and go inside the creation of a future Mokoomba dancefloor sensation. Produced by Banning Eyre.

Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian musical giants have long enjoyed the spotlight, yet throughout Latin America there are other black enclaves producing some of the New World's most vibrant music. Their stories have gone untold for far too long. In this episode, Afropop explores these lost sounds, starting in an Ecuadorian desert valley where African and Andean traditions have mixed seamlessly into fiery dance music. Then we're off to mangrove-studded Esmeraldas to search out the last marimba legends living on the jungle waterways. We continue to Bolivia, where a tiny black minority uses their music to fight for recognition by the indigenous government and last, we'll listen to the driving carnival music of Uruguay, candombe. Tune in for exclusive interviews and recordings by everyone from marimba master Papa Roncon to Candombe-jazz legend Hugo Fattoruso. Produced by Marlon Bishop. Originally aired 2009.

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