Bokani Dyer – Ke Nako
https://amf.didiermary.fr/bokani-dyer-ke-nako/
Bokani Dyer is a multi-award winning Motswana-South African pianist, composer and producer.
Bokani Dyer opens with “Ke Nako” (now’s the time), with an irony, because that was a slogan used to get voters to the polls in the first post-apartheid election. Now, Dyer’s using it to remind us to think again about who we are […]
Dele Sosimi & Estuary 21
https://amf.didiermary.fr/dele-sosimi-estuary-21/
Bamidele Olatunbosun Sosimi, known as Dele Sosimi, the UK based Afrobeat ambassador, former band member of Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80 and co-founder with Femi Kuti of the Positive Force finally unleashed his full debut album with The Estuary 21, entitled The Confluence LP in April 2024.
Afrobeat ambassador Dele Sosimi’s new album ‘The Confluence’ has […]
Jay Lou Ava – Soir au village
https://amf.didiermary.fr/jay-lou-manu-dibango-soir-village/
A cover of Manu Dibango’s “Soir au village”, from Ava’s album “Ebotan” in 2005.Guitarist Jay Lou Ava, born Israël Jean-Louis Ava in Cameroon, is often described by members of the French media as “the Wes Montgomery of Africa.” His signature music is a fusion of jazz and African music, drawing from both contemporary and traditional […]
Mulatu Plays Mulatu
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mulatu-plays-mulatu/
“Mulatu Plays Mulatu” is the first major studio album in over 10 years from the father of EthioJazz, Mulatu Astatke, featuring masterful new arrangements of some of his classic compositions. It was released in 2025. […]
Kippie Moeketsi – African Day
https://amf.didiermary.fr/kippie-moeketsi-african-day/
Jeremiah “Kippie” Morolong Moeketsi (1925-1983) was a South African jazz alto saxophonist, sometimes referred to as “the father of South African jazz” and as “South Africa’s Charlie Parker”.
Reissue of Kippie Moeketsi and Hal Singer’s collaborative album, Blue Stompin’ […]
Jimmy Dludlu – Tote
https://amf.didiermary.fr/jimmy-dludlu-tote/
Jimmy Dludlu (1966) is a jazz musician born in Maputo, who grew up in Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe and started playing guitar at 13 years old when he taught himself with a homemade guitar. […]
#Documentary #Jazz #LiveMusic #Mozambique #Remixed #AfroJazz
Nalbandian The Ethiopian
https://amf.didiermary.fr/nalbandian-ethiopian-ethiopiques-32/
“Nalbandian The Ethiopian, Either/Orchestra and Guests” is the second album (Ethiopiques 32) coming out from the “relaunch” of the Ethiopiques series, released last december. It follows “Muluken Mellesse With The Dahlak Band” (Ethiopiques 31).
Kamal Keila – African Unity
The music of Kamal Keila, known as the “James Brown or Fela Kuti of Sudan,” recorded some time in the 90s, although probably composed in the 70s (read below), got finally released in 2018.
“Muslims & Christians” features Ethiopian, Sudanese jazz, funk, blues and soul sounds with powerful lyrics. […]
Mulatu Astatke & Black Jesus Experience – Cradle Of Humanity
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mulatu-astatke-black-jesus-experience-cradle-humanity/
Cradle Of Humanity features Mulatu Astatke, the Father Of Ethiojazz, in collaboration with Australian musical collective Black Jesus Experience.
Cradle Of Humanity is the funkified product of seven years of performances together around the world, brought to fruition in studios in [...]
#Ethiojazz #Ethiopia #FullAlbum #Jazz #MulatuAstatké #AfroJazz
Mulatu Astatke & Black Jesus Experience
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mulatu-astatke-black-jesus-experience-to-know-without-knowing/
The legendary Mulatu Astatke blends his Ethio-jazz with the Melbourne-based group Black Jesus Experience‘s grooves on the 9-track album “To Know Without Knowing” in 2020.
Keletigui Diabate Feat. Habib Koite – Summertime at Bamako
https://amf.didiermary.fr/keletigui-diabate-habib-koite-summertime-bamako/
“Summertime at Bamako” is a track on Kélétigui Diabaté’s album “Sandiya” with Habib Koité on guitar. The master balafonist revisits American composer George Gershwin’s Summertime from Porgy & Bess (1935).
“The song soon became a popular and much-recorded jazz standard, described as ‘without doubt … one of the finest [...]
Group Theory Black Music
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tumi-mogorosi-group-theory-black-music/
“The Group Theory Black Music” documentary follows the creative process, and intentions between drummer Tumi Mogorosi and the many collaborators on the album.
Since his international debut on Jazzman Records in 2014 with Project ELO, Mogorosi has been in the vanguard of the South African creative music scene’s burgeoning outernational dimension, [...]
Black Lightning – Dollar Brand
https://amf.didiermary.fr/black-lightning-dollar-brand/
A rare LP, recorded in 1976 for the Gallo label in South Africa and issued in the US, Black Lightning finds the great pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (still generally known as Dollar Brand at this point) in the company of a number of fellow South African musicians for a very fine session that focuses on his […]
Witchdoctor’s Son
https://amf.didiermary.fr/witchdoctor-son-johnny-dyani/
Johnny Mbizo Dyani with John Tchicai & Dudu Pukwana recorded “Witchdoctor’s Son” in 1978.
“The pieces reflect Dyani’s upbringing in the township style prevalent in South Africa, a joyous, surging music which seeks to transcend the horror […]
Manu Dibango – Africadelic
https://amf.didiermary.fr/manu-dibango-africadelic/
“The Panther” is the main AfroFunk track found on “Africadelic,” an album released in 1973 by “Manu Dibango And His African Pop Group”.
In fact, this album was released a year before as part of the Mondiophone collection, a “library of recorded background music”…
Music design by Papa Manu, what else?
Gasper Lawal – Ajomasé
https://amf.didiermary.fr/gasper-lawal-ajomase/
“Ajomasé,” originally released in 1980 on his own label CAP, is the groundbreaking debut album by legendary Nigerian percussionist Gasper Lawal.
Mixing traditional Nigerian percussions, Rock & Jazz, he starts working on his own compositions in 1976, in his spare time or when he can access a studio, with the best musicians available [...]
#70smusic #80smusic #FullAlbum #Jazz #Nigeria #Psychedelic #Rock #AfroJazz
IzangoMa – Ngo Ma
https://amf.didiermary.fr/izangoma-ngo-ma/
IzangoMa is a 15-piece ensemble from Pretoria, South Africa, led by vocalist and guitarist Sibusile Xaba with DJ/producer AshK.
Ngo Ma is their first release in 2023.
The fifteen-piece kaleidoscopic ensemble IzangoMa might only be releasing its debut offering on the esteemed UK-based label Brownswood Recording this coming Northern Hemisphere Spring, [...]
#FullAlbum #Jazz #Psychedelic #SouthAfrica #AfroJazz #Electro
Fela Kuti – Waka Waka
https://amf.didiermary.fr/waka-waka-fela-ransome-kuti/
“Waka Waka” and “Se E Tun De” on this 45T from the sixties by Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos.
There’s a live version on the 3-disc set Highlife: Jazz and AfroSoul (1963-1969) below.
A collection of recordings made between 1963 and 1969 that provide unique insight into the beginnings of Kuti’s craft. […]
#60smusic #Compilation #FelaKuti #Highlife #Jazz #Nigeria #AfroJazz
The SN Project – Afrikanization
https://amf.didiermary.fr/sn-project-afrikanization/
Siphephelo Ndlovu (The SN Project) is a pianist and vocalist from South Africa. In 2020, his debut album titled “Afrikanization” was released, incorporating structures of the jazz language, blended with rich harmonies reminiscent of the isiZulu culture of South Africa.
Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band – Skokiaan (1947)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/bulawayo-sweet-rhythm-band-skokiaan-1947/
Skokiaan (the Tsaba Tsaba Dance – also known as Skokiyana, Skokian) is probably better known in the version recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1954 with the Sy Oliver orchestra, but this track was originally released in Rhodesia in 1947 by the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm(s) Band. The tune found it’s way to the U.S. and lots […]
Club Africa
https://amf.didiermary.fr/club-africa-compilation/
Club Africa is the name of 2 compilations of “Hard African Funk, Afro-Jazz And Original Afro-Beat” released in 1999 and 2000.
Judith Sephuma – Iya Iyo (Stixx Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJI7XQwgI2E
"Education is the key, the key for many.
Let’s educate our children."
Judith Sephuma is a South African jazz and Afro-pop singer.
Mike Makhalemele – Going West
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mike-makhalemele-going-west/
Mike Makhalemele (1938-2000), from Alexandra, South Africa, nicknamed “Ratau” (“lion”), played saxophone, here with Jabu Nkosi (keyboards) and Sipho Gumede (bass) in a reissue of a classic album.
[He] was a force of nature with a robust yet soulful tone and seemingly endless breath. He embraced the pop music scene as an enthusiastic collaborator and […]
Tony Allen – Tribute to Art Blakey (Live)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tony-allen-tribute-art-blakey-live/
Tony Allen’s EP A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers paid homage to the American jazz drummer, who he named as one of his earliest musical influences.
The album was released on Blue Note Records in 2017.
Recorded live in Paris with a seven-piece band, A Tribute to Art Blakey features four of the […]
Amagoduka – Zim Ngqawana
https://amf.didiermary.fr/zim-ngqawana-amagoduka-migrant-workers/
The song Amagoduka, by Zim Ngqawana, tells the tale of migrant workers who’ve historically had to leave their homes in the hinterlands for big cities in search of a better day.
Zim Ngqawana (1959-2011)
South African flautist and saxophonist, composer and teacher, Zimasile Ngqawana affectionately known as ‘Zim’ (and later as ‘Zimology’) was born in […]
