Keletigui Diabate Feat. Habib Koite – Summertime at Bamako
https://amf.didiermary.fr/keletigui-diabate-habib-koite-summertime-bamako/
Summertime at Bamako is a track on Kélétigui Diabaté’s album “Sandiya” with Habib Koité on guitar. The master balafonist revisits American composer George Gershwin’s Summertime from Porgy & Bess (1935).
Tony Allen – Film of Life
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tony-allen-film-life/
“For his tenth album [‘Film Of Life’ in 2014], the human metronome of afrobeat has pulled out all the stops.“
At his side are The Jazzbastards, a trio of producers at the cutting edge of contemporary sound, and fellow world-class musicians, including Damon Albarn, who […]
Nubiyan Twist – Jungle Run
https://amf.didiermary.fr/nubiyan-twist-jungle-run/
Now one of the leading lights in the UK’s new generation of soulful, genre-fluid artists, Nubiyan Twist, the Leeds-born and now London-based 10-piece collective have created their finest recordings to date, effortlessly weaving together elements of jazz, soul, hip hop, African styles, Latin, dub, hip hop and electronics in a flow of thought-provoking and [...]
Mulatu Plays Mulatu
The first major studio album in over 10 years from the father of #EthioJazz, Mulatu Astatke, featuring masterful new arrangements of some of his classic compositions (out 09/26/2025).
https://mulatuastatke.bandcamp.com/album/mulatu-plays-mulatu
Wrapped In Rhythm, Vol. II - Tutu Puoane & Metropole Orkest (teaser)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUN_jT407GI
Based on poems by Lebo Mashile from "In a Ribbon of Rhythm."
PS: see comment to this post for links to these albums on Bandcamp.
iPhupho L’ka Biko – Azania EP
https://amf.didiermary.fr/iphupho-lka-biko-azania-ep/
iPhupho L’ka Biko describe themselves as “children of Biko” and their music as Afrikanist Experimental Jazz. Azania is their first EP.
In the bustling city of Johannesburg, black classical music comes alive through the sounds of the powerful experimental jazz group, iPhupho L’ka Biko. Emerging from the influential student movements of 2015-2016, this group has […]
The Trance of Seven Colors
https://amf.didiermary.fr/trance-seven-colors/
Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders
#70smusic #Gnawa #Jazz #Morocco #OldAfricanMusic #PharoahSanders
Hugh Masekela – Bring Back Nelson Mandela
https://amf.didiermary.fr/hugh-masekela-bring-back-nelson-mandela/
“Bring Back Nelson Mandela” is one of Masekela’s composition at the time of apartheid in South Africa, as he was a clear anti-apartheid activist.
Also known as “Bring Him Back Home“, the song is an anthemic anti-apartheid protest song written by South African musician Hugh Masekela.
#Apartheid #HughMasekela #Jazz #Madiba #QOTD #SouthAfrica #OldAfricanMusic
The Liberators was a band of some of Sydney’s best musicians playing Afrobeat and AfroFunk Jazz music.
For "Rags to Riches" from their 1st album, released in 2011, the accompanying music video was a tribute to Blaxploitation.
https://www.didiermary.fr/the-liberators-rags-to-riches/
Warning: this music video could be considered #NSFW…
Miriam Makeba & Hugh Masekela – Soweto Blues
https://amf.didiermary.fr/miriam-makeba-hugh-masekela-soweto-blues/
Freedom song! Soweto Blues, released in 1977, is a protest song written by Hugh Masekela and performed by Miriam Makeba.
The song is about the Soweto uprising that occurred in 1976, following the decision by the apartheid government of South Africa to make Afrikaans a medium of instruction [...]
#Apartheid #Documentary #HughMasekela #Jazz #Madiba #MiriamMakeba #SouthAfrica #AfroJazz
Balimaya Project – For Aziz Feat. Afronaut Zu
https://amf.didiermary.fr/balimaya-project-aziz-afronaut-zu/
The first track from album “When The Dust Settles”, “For Aziz” features Afronaut Zu with Balimaya Project.
See also “Seasons of Baraka” the promo single released a few weeks before.
If Balimaya Project’s debut album emphasised tradition & culture in a collective sense, their second album “When The Dust Settles” addresses the emotional and […]
Hailu Mergia – Yene Mircha
https://amf.didiermary.fr/hailu-mergia-yene-mircha-choice/
Yene Mircha is an album by Hailu Mergia released in 2019.
It’s been a long, winding road to Hailu Mergia’s sixth decade of musical activity. From a young musician in the 60s starting out in Addis Ababa to the 70s golden age of dance bands to the new hope as an emigre in America to […]
Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band – Skokiaan (1947)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/bulawayo-sweet-rhythm-band-skokiaan-1947/
Skokiaan (Tsaba Tsaba Dance) is probably better known in the version recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1954 with the Sy Oliver orchestra, but this track was originally released in Rhodesia in 1947 by the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm(s) Band.
The tune found it’s way to the U.S. and lots of folks covered it. Enjoy!
Mwandishi Sextet Project
Herbie Hancock‘s three records released in 1971–73 later became known as the “Mwandishi” albums, so-called after a Swahili name Hancock sometimes used during this era (“Mwandishi” is Swahili for “writer”).
Back in the early 1970s when Jazz met Afrofuturism, Psychedelism and electronic experimentation. […]
Somi – The Lagos Music Salon
https://amf.didiermary.fr/lagos-music-salon-somi/
The Lagos Music Salon is the 4th studio full-length album by jazz hybrid singer and songwriter Somi. It was released in 2014. Somi is an American Jazz and Pop singer and songwriter.
Her music is influenced by her Ugandan and Rwandan roots, and she resides between New York City and Lagos, Nigeria. […]
Somi revisits Pata Pata
https://amf.didiermary.fr/somi-revisits-pata-pata/
This cover of Pata Pata is from "Zenzile, The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba," released, at the end of 2022, in which Somi reinterprets 17 songs of Mama Africa with a jazzy approach. At regular intervals, we hear excerpts from an interview with Mama Africa who explains in no uncertain terms what apartheid is. Somi brought […]
#Jazz #MiriamMakeba #Rwanda #SouthAfrica #Uganda #AfroJazz #Apartheid
One Night in Pelican
https://amf.didiermary.fr/one-night-pelican/
“One Night in Pelican” is a compilation that features all the key groups and players of a special time and place. It captures the musical dreams escaping from Soweto’s first nightclub.
Ten seminal tracks journeying through Jazz, Funk, Fusion and Disco, detailing the incredible story and sounds behind the Soweto nightclub during the height of […]
#70smusic #AfroFunk #Apartheid #Jazz #SoulJazz #SouthAfrica #AfroJazz
Fela Kuti – Waka Waka
https://amf.didiermary.fr/waka-waka-fela-ransome-kuti/
“Waka Waka” and “Se E Tun De” on this 45T from the sixties by Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos.
There’s a live version on the 3-disc set Highlife: Jazz and AfroSoul (1963-1969) below. A collection of recordings made between 1963 and 1969 that provide unique insight into the beginnings of Kuti’s craft. […]
#60smusic #Compilation #FelaKuti #Highlife #Jazz #Nigeria #AfroJazz
Youssra El Hawary - Douri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvd9CuNO58A
Blending field recordings of Cairo with jazz, folk, and ambient music.
From Taraddud EP: https://youssraelhawary.bandcamp.com/album/taraddud
Saha Gnawa - Soudani Manayou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a14nLVZOYCc
Moroccan Gnawa paired with NYC jazz and groove. https://sahagnawa.bandcamp.com/album/saha-gnawa
Duke Ellington – Fleurette Africaine
https://amf.didiermary.fr/duke-ellington-fleurette-africaine/
Fleurette Africaine aka “African Flower” from album “Money Jungle” in 1962.
“African Flower” or “Little African Flower” (Petite Fleur Africaine) is a composition by jazz pianist and composer Duke Ellington. He first recorded it for his 1962 LP Money Jungle. Ellington originally named it “La Plus Belle Africaine” when he composed it for […]
The Past Is Unpredictable, Only the Future Is Certain
https://amf.didiermary.fr/past-unpredictable-only-future-certain-vuma-levin/
Vuma Levin is a multi-award-winning guitar player and one of the leading talents in South African jazz.
In September 2021, Vuma Levin achieved a major milestone in his career when he was named the Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz, a coveted award […]
Ayanda Sikade – Umakhulu
https://amf.didiermary.fr/ayanda-sikade-umakhulu/
Though he’s been a crucial figure in South African jazz for years, drummer Ayanda Sikade is only now achieving the recognition he’s long deserved—something one could say about the South African scene as a whole, given the increased worldwide profile it’s begun to enjoy in the last few years. His second album as a leader […]
Spirits Rejoice – Electric Chicken
https://amf.didiermary.fr/spirits-rejoice-electric-chicken/
Spirits Rejoice drew together some of South Africa’s most abundantly talented and forward-thinking jazz players and created a complex and challenging jazz fusion that shifted the terms of South Africa’s engagement with jazz towards new music being made by pioneers such as Chick Corea, Weather Report, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny and others. [...]
