Jordan Abiola Bolade

Custodian Conversations: Guta Wakuma Chimsa on The Sound That Connects Us, CHIKKA and the Search for a New East African Identity

Jordan Abiola BoladeOctober 20, 2026October 23, 2026040 mins

After years of researching musical traditions across East Africa, Ethiopian producer and creative director Guta Wakuma Chimsa is developing CHIKKA, an ambitious cultural project that draws on the region’s shared rhythms, instruments and histories. In Custodian Conversations with Music Custodian, he reflects on the discoveries that shaped its sound, the people who guided its creation…

Before the Streaming Boom: How Big Brother Naija 2006 Helped Bring Nigerian Music to African Audiences

Jordan Abiola BoladeOctober 18, 2026October 18, 2026018 mins

Twenty years after Big Brother Naija’s inaugural season, Nigerian music executive Obi Asika revisits the decisions, relationships and broadcast infrastructure that helped Nigerian artists reach audiences across the continent. Long before Afrobeats became a fixture on international charts and streaming playlists, Nigerian music was finding its way across Africa through television, radio, music videos and…

Bien Joins Quality Control as Label Expands Into Africa, Releases New Single “I’ll Be Okay”

Jordan Abiola BoladeOctober 13, 2026October 13, 2026013 mins

Bien, The Kenyan singer-songwriter begins a new chapter through a joint venture between Quality Control and Courtesy Of, ahead of his forthcoming album, Alusa Continua, scheduled for November 20. Kenyan singer-songwriter Bien has entered a new phase of his solo career through a joint venture between American record label Quality Control Music and Courtesy Of,…

Nairobi Grooves: What If Nairobi’s Sound Is the Conversation Between Its Genres?

Jordan Abiola BoladeOctober 8, 2026October 8, 2026020 mins

From Wakadinali and Buruklyn Boyz to Njerae, Tina Ardor and Keemlyf, the latest Nairobi Grooves maps a city whose musical identity is becoming harder to reduce to a single sound. There is an old temptation when documenting a music city: find its sound. Give it a rhythm, a genre, perhaps a movement with a name….

Solana Tii Marks One Million Spotify Streams for ‘Okunkun’ as Her Yorupop Journey Gathers Momentum

Jordan Abiola BoladeOctober 5, 2026October 5, 202605 mins

For weeks, Solana Tii has been doing something deceptively simple: showing up for her music. Across a steady stream of videos and social posts, the Nigerian artist has continued introducing audiences to her sound, performing it, explaining it and repeatedly carrying the language of Yorupop into public view. Now, according to the singer, that persistence…

From the Townships to FNB Stadium: Amapiano Builds Its Own Stadium Economy

Jordan Abiola BoladeSeptember 18, 2026September 19, 2026014 mins

It would be easy to describe the moment simply as another milestone in Amapiano’s extraordinary rise, but filling FNB Stadium tells us that Amapiano is popular. As Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa prepare to bring Scorpion Kings Live to more than 70,000 people at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium, Amapiano’s journey is becoming about more than…

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

Jordan Abiola BoladeSeptember 4, 2026September 4, 2026014 mins

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…

Is Afrobeats Pricing Itself Out of Africa?

Jordan Abiola BoladeJune 13, 2026June 13, 2026014 mins

In a recent conversation sparked by our exploration of Afrobeats as an emerging institution, a new layer has been introduced; one that moves beyond ownership and infrastructure into something far more immediate: access. When Muthoni Drummer Queen weighed in, her perspective reframed the conversation in a way that is both practical and urgent. Her question…

Coachella 2026: Black Musical Centrality and the Expanding Logic of African Sound in the Global Festival Economy

Jordan Abiola BoladeApril 13, 2026April 13, 2026013 mins

Coachella 2026 highlights the rise of Black music and African sound as central forces shaping the global stage and music industry. The 2026 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is currently underway at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, featuring a historic headlining set by Karol G as the first Latina woman to headline, alongside performances…

Before the Gold Statues: What the Grammys Still Don’t Fully See About African Music

Jordan Abiola BoladeFebruary 1, 2026February 2, 202605 mins

As the global music industry turns its attention to the 2026 Grammys, the conversation once again drifts toward trophies, speeches, and red carpets. But long before the gold statues are handed out, the real story has already been written ; in studios across Lagos, Accra, Nairobi, Johannesburg, London, Atlanta, Kingston, and beyond. It lives in…

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