Afropop Worldwide

The 27 year-long Angolan civil war was also an international crossroads of the Cold War as well as a regional resource war, involving Cuba, the Soviet Union, Zaire, South Africa, and the U.S. When it was over, Namibia was independent, apartheid had fallen, Angola was a nation, and the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. Through music, interviews, and historical radio clips, producer Ned Sublette, author of Cuba and Its Music, tells the story of Cuba’s massive commitment in Africa, from the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the subsequent independence of Congo, to the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. We’ll talk to guest scholar Piero Gleijeses, foreign policy specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and author of Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa 1959-1976 and the forthcoming Visions of Freedom, and to Marissa Moorman, author of the forthcoming Tuning in to Nation: Radio, State Power, and the Cold War in Angola, 1933-2002, who will share with us rare archival recordings. We’ll talk to Cuban trovador Tony Pinelli, who traveled in a brigada artística playing music for Cuban soldiers and for Angolans, and to Angolan composer, instrument builder, and musicologist Victor Gama, who traveled in remote areas of the interior recording music. And from Cuba, Angola, Zaire, and Portugal, we’ll hear some of the music that accompanied the struggle. Produced by Ned Sublette. [APWW #653] [Originally aired 2012]

For over 10 years, Eric Nelson Efa and members of his association, the Azania Way Culture, have crisscrossed almost half of Cameroon's 10 regions: the deep North, around Lake Chad, the central region, the Adamawa and the south, to record traditional musicians who are getting very old and are the last repository of traditional music in Cameroon. In this episode of Afropop Worldwide, Georges Collinet takes us to Eric's village in the deep forest of southern Cameroon to listen to his story. We also meet young musicians influenced by the art of their ancestors - including an opera singer! APWW #834 Produced by Georges Collinet

Central America, a narrow, mountainous, and largely impoverished stretch of land spanning seven countries, is a surprising and underexposed Latin American musical hot zone. The region’s bizarre and tumultuous history has led to a fascinating mix of cultural influences – Spanish conquistadors, British pirates, and American banana companies have at one time or another vied for power. Add to this mix the presence of large indigenous enclaves, Anglo-Caribbean migrants, the Afro-Arawak Garifuna and Miskito peoples, and the many musical influences of the Caribbean, and you have the makings of a very interesting musical tapestry. Salsa and merengue, soca and calypso, reggae and reggaeton—it all comes together in Central America. In our program, we visit Panama, a little-known musical treasure trove. Here on the isthmus, music from around the Americas mixed together in a unique stew: American, Cuban, Colombian and Jamaican influences combine to form a highly complex and unique musical culture. We’ll hear interviews from Spanish reggae star Kafu Banton, Afro-Spanish linguist John Lipski, traditional Afro-Latino princess Marcia Rodriguez, the dancehall duo Los Rakas, and many more. APWW #596 Produced by Marlon Bishop

Miami’s Afro Roots Fest is back on stage at the North Miami Beach Bandshell. Mostly. The 2021 edition featured live performances by Afro-Nicaraguan singer/songwriter Philip Montabán and by sacred steel guitar master Roosevelt Collier, with special guests Richard Bona and Weedie Braimah. There were also remote concert sets from Vieux Farka Toure in Mali and Fulu Miziki in Uganda. The Afropop team was there to capture the excitement of socially distanced live music under the stars. The program features recordings and interviews as we look to the dawn of a new post-pandemic era. Produced by Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow.

To make this unprecedented program, producer Ned Sublette traveled to Mbanza-Kongo, the ancient seat of the Kongo empire located in present-day northern Angola, where he spoke to Dr. Bárbaro Martínez Ruiz, professor of art and art history at Stanford. We’ll learn about the simbi, the spirits that Martínez Ruiz describes as “the multiple power of god”; hear Antonio Madiata play the lungoyi-ngoyi, the two-stringed viola of the Kongo court; attend a session of the lumbu, the traditional tribunal of elders; and talk to Pedro Lopes, a nganga mawuko (traditional healer). With C. Daniel Dawson and Angolan composer and musicologist Victor Gama, we’ll explore Kongo-Ngola culture in the diaspora – in Brasil, Haiti, Cuba, and more. A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY TO MBANZA-KONGO is supported by a 2012 Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion. The fellowship is a program of the University of Southern California's Knight Chair in Media and Religion. APWW #651 Originally produced by Ned Sublette in 2012

The Money Show Every day, money changes hands in Ghanaian cedi, South African rand, and Brazilian real as music is created, traded, performed, purchased and pirated. In this episode we look at the business side of African music, through a series of vignettes from around the continent and diaspora that illuminate the deep connections between musical creation and the economies that sustain it. We start with the story of how cellphones are transforming Africa's music industries. Then, we see how economic competition drove the creation of Colombian champeta music. We take a look at the role of copyright in Jamaican dancehall, and follow the legal struggle over royalties from "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in South Africa. Originally produced in 2014 by Marlon Bishop Assistant Producers: Briana Duggan, Joe Dobkin, Ryan Kailath APWW #685

"Dakar Muse" takes us to one of the most exciting musical cities in Africa. We'll meet young stars on the Mbalax scene, Senegal's national music, including Tarba Mbaye, Sidy Diop, Sidy Samb and Pape Diouf. And we'll hear rappers making their mark in the huge Hip Hop scene including Dip Doundou Guiss and Ngaaka Blinde. Finally, we pay tribute to the brilliant Mbalax pioneer Thione Seck, who recently died of Covid-19. APWW #832 Produced by Sean Barlow

When you think punk, a few locations tend to come to mind- New York, London, LA. But Durban? Jo’Burg? South Africa? In this program, we are taking a trip to a time and a place where punk had a very different meaning, exploring the music and the legacy of the mixed race bands that challenged apartheid. Little known to the outside world, and often overlooked even within South Africa, groups like National Wake, The Genuines, and The Kalahari Surfers used music to articulate their disgust with the society around them, calling out the conformity, repression, and political hypocrisy that defined the apartheid era. As time went on and theory was put into practice, the music became increasingly adventurous, drawing from the full diversity of South Africa’s musical culture, and fusing it to the raw energy of punk. In doing so, they created a model that continues to inspire bands to the present day. APWW #656

On this program we survey the careers of two giants within their genres. Bunny Wailer is the last surviving member of the original Bob Marley and the Wailers trio. Right up to his 2016 tour, where we met him, this architect of reggae music has continued to carry the banner with new concerts and recordings. And he tells his story with bracing poetic candor. Meanwhile in Egypt, Hakim, the lion of shaabi music, remains a superstar and a player in that country’s turbulent pop scene. On a rare visit to New York, Hakim gives us a tour through his post-revolution songs, and offers personal insights into Egypt’s equally turbulent politics. APWW #737 Originally produced in 2016 by Banning Eyre

On March 6, 1971, a group of some of the top musicians from the United States -– Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, 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 as an invitation to a “homecoming” for these noted African-American artists to return to Africa. This episode revisits the famed music festival on its 50th anniversary 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.