Category: Regional Soundscapes
Explore the diverse musical traditions and contemporary sounds from different regions across Africa
Africa Took Centre Stage at FIFA’s Historic First World Cup Final Halftime Show
On Sunday evening, as Spain lifted the FIFA World Cup trophy before more than 80,000 fans inside New York New Jersey Stadium and millions more watching around the world, football introduced a new tradition. For the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history, the FIFA World Cup Final paused for a halftime show. The spectacle…
Spotify Wants Nairobi to Experience Music Beyond the Algorithm
Spotify Greasy Tunes arrives in Kenya as a 12-day cultural programme celebrating the communities, conversations and creativity shaping one of Africa’s youngest music cities. By Music Custodian For years, streaming has changed the way we discover music. Playlists have become modern mixtapes, algorithms have introduced us to artists we’d never have found otherwise, and a…
Custodian Conversations : Mich Straaw on Beautiful Hearts, Faith & Finding His Voice
Nigerian singer-songwriter Mich Straaw joins Music Custodian for an intimate conversation exploring creativity, surrender, faith, integrity and the making of Beautiful Hearts. From the Editor Every so often, Music Custodian encounters conversations that resist being reduced to promotional interviews. This was one of them. What began as a discussion around Beautiful Hearts gradually evolved into…
FIFA World Cup 2026 ! ONE WORLD. ONE TOURNAMENT. ONE SOUNDTRACK.
How African Music Became One of the Defining Sounds of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Every FIFA World Cup leaves the world with two enduring memories. The first belongs to football. The second belongs to music. Long after the final whistle blows, long after medals have been lifted and trophies paraded through city streets, the…
Future Announces THE REAL ME : A New Album Framed Around Growth, Survival and Self-Reflection
For much of the past decade, Future has built one of hip-hop’s most influential catalogues by turning pain, excess, ambition and emotional contradiction into an unmistakable sound. Now, the Atlanta icon appears ready to open another chapter. Across a series of posts shared on Instagram, Future officially began unveiling what appears to be his forthcoming…
Is Afrobeats Pricing Itself Out of Africa?
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…
Afrobeats Heat Different: African Music’s Global Moment Is No Longer Coming. It’s Here.
There was a time when African artists were fighting for space in global conversations. Today, many of those conversations begin with them. This week’s edition of Afrobeats Heat Different arrives as another reminder of just how far African music has travelled and how much further it continues to go. Leading this week’s selection is Victony,…
CHIKKA: Searching For The Rhythm That Connects East Africa
What if East Africa has been singing the same song all along? Not the same lyrics. Not the same instruments. Not even the same languages. But the same pulse. That question sits at the heart of CHIKKA, an ambitious musical and cultural project conceived by Ethiopian producer, researcher and creative director Guta Wakuma Chimsa. What…
Nairobi Grooves: The Sound Of An East Africa Growing Into Itself
This week’s edition of Nairobi Grooves is less a playlist and more a reflection of a region discovering itself in real time. Every city has a soundtrack. Every generation leaves behind a collection of songs that capture its ambitions, anxieties, celebrations, heartbreaks, and hopes. Every music scene experiences moments of transition. There are periods when…
On ‘Ka bu bai’, Karyna Gomes Sings About Love, Distance & The Fear Of Goodbye
Ka bu bai (Don’t leave) gives life to the feeling of emptiness. The anxious goodbye when a lover has to leave yet the warmth of the last embrace makes distance impossible to bear. Karyna Gomes (GBR) is bringing us a gentle side, a song that celebrates the fragility of love when distance is mandatory. In the videoclip released…