Martell’s Swift Academy Starts in Nairobi – But the Bigger Investment Is African Music Infrastructure

Created by Martell and curated by Africa House, Swift Academy has selected 25 emerging creatives and music professionals for its inaugural Nairobi cohort. Behind the mentorship, grants and industry access sits a larger question: what can global brands contribute to African music once sponsorship moves beyond visibility and begins investing in the people and infrastructure…

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JUA ESHI Mr LU Isat Irat

Jua’s “Eshi” Finds Pan-African Connection Without Asking Africa to Sound the Same

Bringing together Maa, Swahili, Sesotho and Amharic alongside musical traditions stretching from Kenya and Ethiopia to Lesotho, Mozambique and North Africa, on Eshi, Jua’s latest CHIKKA experiment asks a more interesting question about Pan-African music: what if connection does not require sameness? Africa has spent generations being described through its differences. Different languages. Different borders….

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AJE? Xenia x Ywaya x Ukweli

Xenia Manasseh, Ukweli and Ywaya Tajiri Ask “AJE?” as Nairobi’s R&B Ecosystem Keeps Building Outward

The new collaboration AJE? arrives as one of the early releases emerging from Cinq Music and Nairobi-based Soul HQ’s developing relationship – bringing three distinct creative voices into a record whose significance extends beyond the song itself. There is something increasingly interesting happening around Nairobi’s contemporary music ecosystem. Not simply more releases. Not simply more…

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