The African Underground
From unsung pioneers of the past to the innovators shaping a new future, explore the African sounds and scenes bubbling just outside of the mainstream
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Yugen Blakrok and Kanif on Johannesburg’s Underground Scene, the Wu-Tang Clan and Black Panther
After Dark: Abidjan → A photo essay celebrating zouglou music in Côte d’Ivoire
Nightclubbing: Hibiscus → The Liberian nightclub that became a local favorite and international attraction before its untimely end
In Search of the Women of Zouglou → The unsung talents of the quintessentially Ivorian sound
The Voice of the Voiceless: An In-Depth Portrait of Mali’s Hip Hop Scene
Emmanuel Jagari Chanda → Maintaining an oral history of the once vibrant Zamrock scene
A Guide to As-Shams, South Africa’s Pioneering Jazz Imprint
How NON Worldwide Is “Decolonizing the Dancefloor”
Watch “Time Bomb,” A Documentary on Funky Ghanaian Ata Kak
Zamrock: An Introduction
Mbongwana Star: New African Rhythms
The Hal of Gnawa
How apartheid, exile and America helped shape Letta Mbulu’s In the Music...
The Rise of Gqom
OFO The Black Company’s Nigerian Acid Rock Cult
The DIY Stylings of Kinshasa’s KOKOKO!
FESTAC ’77 → The single greatest Pan-African celebration – and the beginning of the end for Fela Kuti’s Shrine
Mulatu Astatke → The father of Ethio-jazz on the debt modern music owes to Africa