THE AFRICA YOU NEED TO KNOW:
CULTURE FROM THE GREAT CONTINENT
years ago, Kanye West he midst of a tweetstorm own pleading with the likes rk Zuckerberg to help him with bts — tweeted this: “You’d rather one school in Africa like you really d the country.” t, appropriately, got dragged on social media for several reasons, but Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi was angry for just one: “Get some geography lessons. Africa isn’t a country.” The confusion is frustrating, but, sadly, not uncommon. In 2014, a group of African students at American colleges launched a campaign called “The Real Africa: Fight the Stereotype” because they were weary of being asked, among other things, if they “speak African.” Last month, President Donald Trump followed West into African social-media infamy when, during a meeting with lawmakers, he allegedly called some African nations
“s---holes.”
The fault doesn’t totally sit with an indebted rapper, clueless classmates and an apparently potty-mouthed president. The media often paint Africa with a single stroke, as only a riot of misery, disease, poverty, war and crime. Never mind that it’s a continent of 1.1 billion people, 11.73 million square miles (the second-largest after Asia), more than 1,500 languages, 54 countries and numerous religions and cultures.
Now, there’s a view of the other extreme. The blockbuster superhero film “Black Panther,” which opened Friday, is set in the idyllic, technologically superior and fictional African nation of Wakanda.
As USA Today asked in a 2015 piece about the myths of Africa: “Is there anywhere in the world that’s as misunderstood as Africa?”
Of course, as with anywhere else, the truth rests somewhere in the middle of the spectrum between “s---hole” and paradise. One way to begin to unearth that truth is through arts and culture. Films, music and literature can open a window to a new world and help put those often negative news headlines in context.
To that end, here’s a beginner’s guide for the curious. This isn’t meant to be definitive, and it’s totally subjective, concentrating on the sub-Saharan region of the continent and artists who are, perhaps, lesser known on this side of the world.
MOVIES ‘Black Girl’
Ousmane Sembene’s 1966 drama about a Senegalese maid’s experiences in Paris is considered the first sub-Saharan African film by an African filmmaker to gain global attention. Though very static by today’s standards, it lends a threedimensional humanity to its main character that was unthinkable for an African character in a mainstream movie of the era. Stream on: Fandor.com
‘Bunny Chow: Know Thyself’
Three guys get into all sorts of trouble on their way to Oppikoppi, South Africa’s version of Coachella, in John Barker’s low-fi indie comedy. Though hardly groundbreaking, it’s a window into the everyday lives of young black South Africans that Americans rarely see. Stream on: Fandor.com
‘The Future Sound of Mzansi’
Electronic dance music has exploded in South Africa among blacks and whites over the past few years, and this documentary, produced by groundbreaking producer/performer Spoek Mathambo, provides a fascinating glimpse. Covering everything from Shangaan electro to gqom (pronounced with an initial click sound, but “kwom” will have to do for most Westerners), a minimalist, glitchy groove that’s now making noise outside South Africa with the likes of DJ Lag, “Mzansi” (the Xhosa tribe’s word for South Africa) explores a world unknown to many. Stream on: YouTube and Okayafrica.com; search for “Spoek Mathambo”
‘Grey Matter’
In Rwandan director Kivu Ruhorahoza’s debut, an indie filmmaker struggles to make an art film even though the government funding body wants something more uplifting. It’s an intriguing film within a film. Stream on: Fandor.com
‘Half of a Yellow Sun’
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel about an upper-class couple who find themselves in the midst of Nigeria’s civil war makes for an enlightening and affecting film from director Biyi Bandele. Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”) and Thandie Newton (“Westworld”) lead a strong cast. Stream on: Fandor.com
‘Timbuktu’
Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Timbuktu,” nominated in the foreign-language Oscars category in 2015, is a visually ravishing story of a nomadic shepherd in Mali whose life is changed when jihadists take over his part of the country. Stream on: Amazon.com
‘They Will Have to Kill Us First’ and ‘Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love’
Senegal’s most popular singer, Youssou N’Dour, known in the West for his work with Peter Gabriel, found himself in religious/political hot water with his 2004 album “Egypt,” a work recorded with West and North African musicians that called for a tolerant version of his religion, Islam. This message didn’t sit well with some, and the eye-opening “I Bring What I Love” documentary chronicles how N’Dour struggled with his faith and his music.
Meanwhile, Johanna Schwartz’s gorgeously shot doc, “They Will Have to Kill Us First,” follows several Malian musicians — including the band Songhoy Blues and singer Khaira Arby — as they flee from religious hardliners who want to ban all music. As it turns out, the music is fantastic, too. Stream on: “Love” is available on Fandor.com and Amazon.com, “Kill” on Amazon.com
MUSIC Spoek Mathambo and Black Coffee
Spoek Mathambo is the godfather of electronic dance music in South Africa, having produced the film “Future Sound of Mzansi,” but he has also recorded pioneering techno tracks including his jittery take on Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control,” accompanied by a striking blackand-white video from Pieter Hugo.
Meanwhile, the DJ known as Black Coffee, who works in a more melodic, deep house style with such tracks as “We Dance Again,” seems to spend as much time outside South Africa — playing high-profile gigs ranging from the Coachella Festival to Miami hot spots — as in it. Stream on: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube
Hans Nayna
The small island country of Mauritius, east of Madagascar, doesn’t make global headlines, but its music scene is newsworthy. At the forefront is singersongwriter Hans Nayna, who has a fluid, soulful voice and a knack for melody that not only breathes new life into a cover of Enimem’s “Lose Yourself” — check out his concert version with a full band on YouTube — but turns such original tracks as the swaggering “Le King,” the shimmering “Let Me Dance” and the stirring “Music for the Soul” into impressive calling cards. He makes his American debut March 17 at Austin’s Russia House during South by Southwest. Stream on: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube
Songhoy Blues and Vieux Farka Touré
The music of Mali is known for its use of guitar, with many claiming that the roots of American blues and rock ’n’ roll can be found in this rugged, northwestern African country. That heritage comes gloriously and raucously alive in the works of Vieux Farka Touré, the son of the late guitarist Ali Farka Touré, and the quartet Songhoy Blues, whose most recent album, “Resistance,” features a guest turn from Iggy Pop. Touré can rock with the best of them, but his quiet side, on display on his albums with Israeli singer-songwriter Idan Raichel, is equally effective. Stream on: iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube
Lira
Model/actress/singer Lira — whom Essence magazine named one of five unique artists to change music in 2012 and whom L’Uomo Vogue made part of its “rebranding Africa” issue the same year — is a superstar in South Africa whose mainstream, old-school R&B echoes the work of Anita Baker, Toni Braxton and Sade. Stream on: Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon
Baaba Maal
One of the greatest voices on the continent and an inspiration for Ludwig Goransson’s “Black Panther” score, this Senegalese singer-songwriter artfully blends ancient and modern traditions. His latest album, “The Traveler,” his first in seven years, is transporting. Stream on: Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon
Just A Band
The Nairobi threesome/art collective is not only responsible for Kenya’s first viral video (the song “Ha-He”), but its music — gliding with ease from melodic house and jazzy R&B to dance-floor funk and tuneful electronica — shows off a refreshing sense of adventurism. The group’s three albums — “Scratch to Reveal,” “82 and “Sorry for the Delay” — blend groove and grace in equal, pop-savvy measure. The end to a two-year hiatus, begun in 2016, can’t come soon enough. Stream on: iTunes, YouTube, Spotify
Beatenberg
The guys in Cape Town’s Beatenberg mesh their smart-aleck lyrics referencing everything from Rafael Nadal to Nebechadnezzar with music from two worlds. It’s Beach Boys, Beatles, The Police and Brit-pop coupled with the sparkling Afro-pop guitar style of Vusi Mahlasela and the late Ray Phiri, who played on Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” The resulting blend on their debut album, “The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg,” is refreshing. The band has signed to Island Records, recorded an EP called “Johannesburg” with Mumford & Sons and Baaba Maal and appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.” Stream on: Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon
Patyatann
Mauritius prides itself on its vibrant blend of French, English, Creole and Asian influences. The folk-pop foursome known as
Patyatann — whose name means “it was not expected” in Mauritian Creole — personifies this ideal. The group’s debut album, “Sanpek,” possesses an enchanting and dreamy yet rustic sense of place. Stream on: YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon
Rokia Traore
This Malian singer’s lithe and lean Afro-pop, exemplified in tracks such as “Zen,” is understated yet compelling. She has recorded with the classical Kronos Quartet and wrote the music for the Toni Morrison play “Desdemona.” Stream on: iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube
Tinariwen
These Tuareg musicians from the deserts of Mali mix the call-across-the-Sahara longing of their nomadic ancestors with guitar-powered jams and grooves that have earned them a large following with European and American rock fans. Such disparate performers as Robert Plant, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Carlos Santana have sung their praises. Seeing them on stage, where their hypnotic rhythms reach glorious heights, is mesmerizing. Stream on: iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube
Amadou & Mariam
The blind married couple from Mali play what’s been dubbed Afro-blues, a slinky and soulful mix of guitars and percussion that’s impossible to sit down for. Their “Dimanche a Bamako” album is a classic. Stream on: iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube
Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti
Sax player and singer Femi Kuti, the son of pioneering Nigerian Afro-beat musician and activist Fela Kuti, continues the tradition of combining funk, jazz and African rhythms with outspoken political sensibilities. The same goes for younger brother Seun, now fronting his father’s former band, Egypt 80. He has crossed musical borders, appearing with Puerto Rico’s fiery Calle 13 on the brassy Afro-Latin jam “Todo se Mueve” (Everything Moves). Stream on: Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube
Sarkodie
Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie is one of the continent’s best and most popular rappers as he blends African and American styles in his flow. Stream on: Amazon, Spotify, YouTube, iTunes
Samite, Geoffrey Oryema and Boy Ge Mendes
Ugandans Samite and Geoffrey Oryema along with Cape Verde’s Boy Ge Mendes craft some of the most exquisite Afrofolk-pop music to come from the continent. Oryema’s 1997 album “Night to Night,” Mendes’ 1998 “Lagoa” and Samite’s 1999 “Stars to Share” are stellar examples of African tranquility, the sonic equivalents of discovering an oasis of cool on a hot day. Stream on: Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube
Die Antwoord
The duo, whose off-kilter, funky electro hip-hop is sung in English and Afrikaans, is the sound of underground, urban South Africa distilled into beats and rhymes. Stream on: iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube
LITERATURE ‘That Thing Around Your Neck,’ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nigerian Adichie is best known for her novels “Half of a Yellow Sun” and “Americanah,” but this short-story collection, often set in the nexus where Nigeria and America meet in the universe of immigrants, offers a good introduction to her world. Find on: Amazon
‘The African Trilogy,’ Chinua Achebe
Nigerian Chinua Achebe may be his country’s greatest writer, and this celebrated trilogy — “Things Fall Apart,” “No Longer at Ease,” “Arrow of God” — is like a century’s worth of history as seen through the lens of characters caught up in the changes wrought by British colonialism. Find on: Amazon
‘Johnny Mad Dog,’ Emmanuel Dongala
Imagine coming of age as a teenage fighter in a Congolese civil war or coming of age as a high school student in the same conflict who just wants to get an education. Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala does just that brilliantly in this novel about young lives forever changed by conflict. Find on: Amazon
‘Black Star Nairobi,’ Mukoma Wa Ngugi; ‘Treachery in the Yard,’ Adimchinma Ibe; ‘Mixed Blood,’ Roger Smith
Nordic noir, thrillers set in Scandinavia, have been popular for some time, but if you’re a crime-fiction fan looking for a new region to explore, African noir fills the bill. Kenyan-American poet/author Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Nigeria’s Adimchinma Ibe and South Africa’s Roger Smith pen some of the best in the genre, stories filled with the requisite jealousy, duplicity, corruption and murder but also an unmistakably vibrant sense of place. Find on: Amazon
‘Tram 83,’ Fiston Mwanza Mujila
Congolese writer Mujila uses the rhythms of jazz to narrate this story about two friends meeting at a club called Tram 83 in an unnamed country in a state of war. Its staccato style is offputting to some readers, but it’s nothing if not original. “Tram 83” won the Elisalat prize for debut African fiction in 2015 and was nominated for the Man Booker International prize in 2016. Find on: Amazon