November 13, 2026

Music Custodian

Africa's Rhythm, Global Impact.

Tag: africa

MUSIC CUSTODIAN SESSIONS RETURNS WITH RIC HASSANI FOR EPISODE 8, EXPLORING LOVE, WORLD MUSIC AND LIFE AS THE LAGOS LOVER BOY

Admin07 mins

The Nigerian singer-songwriter joins Music Custodian Sessions for an intimate conversation about his creative journey, artistic identity, international experiences and the personal perspectives shaping his music. Music Custodian has premiered the eighth episode of its original audiovisual interview series, Music Custodian Sessions, featuring Nigerian singer-songwriter Ric Hassani. Titled “Ric Hassani on Love, World Music &…

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Onyach Pala’s Gweth Is A Reflection on Gratitude, Belonging and the Will to Become

Jordan Abiola Bolade010 mins

The Watendawili member takes a more personal route on his four-track solo EP, Gweth, drawing together faith, love, cultural expression and the determination to keep moving. There is a particular kind of confidence in recognising how far one has travelled without losing sight of how much further there is to go. It is an understanding…

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Wizkid Announced as Headliner for Nairobi’s Detty Dezemba Festival

Jordan Abiola Bolade08 mins

Afrobeats superstar, Wizkid, will perform in Kenya on December 12, joining South African DJ Uncle Waffles as the festival prepares to bring together artists from across the continent. Nigerian singer-songwriter Wizkid is set to return to Kenya this December as one of the headline performers at Detty Dezemba Festival, scheduled for Saturday, December 12, 2026,…

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Afrobeats Heat Different Fireboy DML

Afrobeats Heat Different: Damola Is Still on Fire as Fireboy DML Opens a New Chapter with ZUKO!

Admin024 mins

From Fireboy DML and Lojay to Blaqbonez, Cruel Santino, Victony, Gyakie, Sarkodie and KiDi, this week’s 15-track Afrobeats Heat Different follows African popular music through reinvention, collaboration, street expression and the expanding relationships between musical scenes. Fireboy DML returns to the centre of the African music conversation with ZUKO!, his fifth studio album and first…

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Bien

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

Jordan Abiola Bolade013 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,…

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Mr Eazi Afrobeats Heat Different

Afrobeats Heat Different: Mr Eazi’s “Comfort” Leads a Week of Old Languages Finding New Forms

Admin018 mins

From Mr Eazi and MOLIY’s Ghana-Nigeria conversation to Terry Apala’s reworking of Apala, DopeNation’s Ghanaian rhythmic vocabulary and a new generation of street-pop and rap voices, this week’s Afrobeats Heat Different finds African music moving forward without becoming distant from where it came from. African pop does not have to abandon its old musical languages…

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Tiwa Savage Spotlight Initiative

In Malawi, Tiwa Savage Saw Survivors Building What Comes Next

Admin016 mins

Tiwa Savage arrived in Malawi expecting to cry. She had prepared herself for it. As she later recalled, she had even packed extra tissues because she expected the stories of women and girls who had experienced violence to overwhelm her. Instead, after spending four days meeting survivors, activists, students, creatives, government officials and representatives of…

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Mama Afrika

Beyond the Anglophone Lens: MAMA AFRICA 26 Builds a Meeting Point for Lusophone African Culture in Lisbon

Admin015 mins

Across cinema, music, literature, fashion, food and art, the second edition of MAMA AFRICA offered something more consequential than another European celebration of “African culture”: a meeting point shaped around Africa’s Portuguese-speaking cultural worlds and the diasporic city they have helped build. African culture has never spoken in one language. Yet as African music and…

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Afrobeats Heat Different Young Jonn

Afrobeats Heat Different: Young Jonn Leads a Week Where African Music Refuses One Sound

Admin023 mins

Afrobeats Heat Different continues to document what those sounds are doing while the map is still changing. From Young Jonn and Rema to Yemi Alade, FOLA, The Cavemen., Gyakie, Medikal, Octopizzo and a closing South African movement, this week’s 19-track Afrobeats Heat Different documents an African music ecosystem becoming increasingly difficult to contain within a…

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JUA ESHI Mr LU Isat Irat

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

Admin014 mins

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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