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☆ King Promise and other African artists don’t want to be boxed into Afrobeats
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-12 | by ( Lauren Lee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Over the last decade, Afrobeats has become a global phenomenon, bringing African music into the Western mainstream. While many African artists have been able to ride the wave of the genre’s international popularity, some musicians are now pushing for global recognition beyond its confines. If I feel like making Afrobeats I can make it. “The global impact that ‘Water’ had on the world just proves that African music can be pop music too,” she said. She added, “There’s a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats; it’s a thing, and even though Afrobeats has run things and has opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse.

Persons: Afrobeats, King Promise, Larry Madowo, Promise, doesn’t, ”, “, Fela Kuti, Afrobeat, Tyla, ’, Wizkid, Simi, ” Simi, Adele Organizations: CNN, MTV, “ Locations: Europe, Ghanaian, Africa, Nigeria

☆ Wole Soyinka on having his memoir made into a movie: ‘Turning my life into something people can watch, pains me’
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-24 | by ( Daniel Renjifo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Twenty-two months in total isolation, denied books, denied paper, my cell constantly searched, nothing at all to sustain my mind. Let me put it this way, turning anything in my life into something other people can watch, pains me. Nigerian playwright, novelist and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Wole Soyinka poses for a portrait in Johannesburg on April 4, 2024. But it was grand when one after the other (African Nobel winners) began to come in. WS: If Branson came now and said, I’ve found space for you, I would terminate this interview right now.

Persons: Nigeria CNN — Wole Soyinka, ”, Soyinka, CNN’s Larry Madowo, Larry Madowo, it’s, Wole Soyinka, MARCO LONGARI, Mrs, Ransome Kuti, Fela Kútì’s, Wole, PIUS UTOMI EKPEI, Sani Abacha, would’ve, Ken Saro, I’ve, Armstrong, Richard Branson, Branson, I’m Organizations: Nigeria CNN, Getty, WS Locations: Abeokuta, Nigeria, Southwestern Nigeria, Nigerian, Johannesburg, AFP, Lagos, Jose ( California

☆ I burned out trying to be an overachieving parent. I learned it's OK to ask for help.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Amanda Miller Littlejohn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Then, I'd put them down for their afternoon nap, during which I'd work on projects for my consulting clients. I saw my overachieving as a way to set them up for future success in a hyper-competitive world. I learned it's OK to ask other parents for helpMy girl-mom network has shared hand-me-down winter coats, barely-worn Easter dresses, and pediatric specialist recommendations. But I've learned relying on my network to hook me up doesn't make me lazy, unserious, or checked out as a parent. AdvertisementThe author learned it's OK to ask for recommendations from friends and other parents while parenting her daughter.

Persons: Fela Kuti, John Coltrane, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Jean, Michel Basquiat, We'd, I'd, Amanda Miller Littlejohn, —, hadn't, They've, I've, I'm, — I'm, they'll, It's Organizations: Service Locations: Tennessee

☆ Simi: Nigerian Afropop singer opens up about charting her path to stardom, and why she still engineers her own music
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Kamayah Scruggs | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —It seems like there’s nothing Nigerian music star Simi can’t do. A singer, songwriter, and one of the few women mixing and producing their own music, Simi is setting the stage for the future of Afropop and soul. Opening for 15-time Grammy-winning vocal powerhouse Alicia Keys on her 2023 tour and making waves on the Billboard World Album Charts has garnered Simi international stardom. Simi, whose real name is Simisola Bolatito Kosoko, began her career as a gospel singer, releasing her first album “Ogaju” in 2008. She followed up with her second studio album, “Simisola,” which peaked at No.

Persons: Simi can’t, Simi, Alicia Keys, Kosoko, Simi “ didn’t, ”, CNN’s Larry Madowo, ” Simi, “, Afropop “, Tiwa Savage, Adekunle Gold, Coco Jones, Doja, “ I’m Organizations: CNN, Simi, Kodak Locations: Lagos, Nigeria, Ojuelegba, North America, Nigerian

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 2024 Grammy Awards are fast approaching — and it is never too early to plan your viewing experience. The 66th annual Grammy Awards will take place Sunday, Feb. 4, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Lipa and Rodrigo both have three Grammys; Lipa is nominated for two awards and Rodrigo is nominated for six. Period,” Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr. told AP at the time. “What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”___For more coverage of this year’s Grammy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/GrammyAwards

Persons: Noah, He's, WHO'S, “, SZA, Victoria Monét, Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Brandy Clark, Jon Batiste, Jack Antonoff, Gracie Abrams, Fred, Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan, Eilish, Rodrigo, Lipa, ”, Harvey Mason, “ What’s Organizations: ANGELES, Recording Academy, CBS, Paramount, Showtime, Hulu, YouTube, WHO, Academy, Lipa, Associated Press, Twitter, Ethio Jazz, AP Locations: Los Angeles, Dua Lipa

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A nurse was identified on Friday as the “principal suspect” in the mysterious death of a Nigerian Afrobeat star, which triggered dayslong protests by thousands demanding justice. Investigations into the death of Ilerioluwa Aloba, better known as MohBad, in the commercial hub of Lagos have pointed to the nurse who treated the late singer before his death, Lagos police chief Idowu Owohunwa told reporters on Friday. Questions about the cause of his death prompted protests, rallies and grief spilling onto the streets across the West African nation. The outrage over the singer's death was also directed at Naira Marley, his former boss and controversial musician currently on trial in Nigeria for alleged internet fraud. “She acknowledged that it was the injections that she administered on the deceased that triggered the reactions which eventually led to Mohbad’s death.”

Persons: ”, Ilerioluwa, Idowu Owohunwa, “, ” Owohunwa, Aloba, Naira Marley, Marley, maltreating, wasn't, Owohunwa Locations: ABUJA, Nigeria, Nigerian, Lagos, West African, Aloba

☆ How Asake developed a boundary-pushing sound that’s changing Afrobeats as we know it
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Lauren Lee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Nigerian singer and songwriter Asake is creating a new Afrobeats sound that is deeply African and completely global. But to me, I think I do a lot of things because, you know, I love to come with the vibe. It’s just like a bit of Amapiano, a bit of Afrobeat, a bit of Fuji, a bit of R&B, a bit of hip hop, just to make Asake. I think I’m going to be somebody who puts on a show’? I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but the most important thing for me is to keep going.

Persons: Asake, Mr, “ Mr, Larry Madowo, I’m, Fela, Kuti, ‘, Paras Griffin, I’m Ahmed Ololade, Olamide, what’s Organizations: CNN, YBNL, Vibe, Barclays Center, Fuji Locations: Nigerian, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, New York, Miami, Dubai, London, Africa, Atlanta , Georgia

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Thousands marched across Nigeria on Thursday over the mysterious death last week of an Afrobeat star whose body has been exhumed for an autopsy as authorities investigate the cause of his demise. Lagos police said the body of the late Ilerioluwa Aloba, better known as MohBad, was exhumed Thursday afternoon in response to complaints about the unclear circumstances surrounding his death. The police in Lagos said it received complaints about the singer’s death, leading them to set up a criminal investigations team to “aggregate all allegations, suspicions and insinuations from various sources on the death of the singer." In one of his songs titled “Sorry”, the late star spoke about coming from a poor background and his struggles to earn a living through music. In another, “Peace”, he spoke of himself as a “survivor... money chaser — faster than a bullet.”

Persons: —, Aloba, Babajide, Olu, “, MohBad, ” “ Organizations: Lagos Locations: ABUJA, Nigeria, Lagos

☆ Rhiannon Giddens Is a Songwriter, Too
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Jon Pareles | More About Jon Pareles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Giddens amassed the songs on “You’re the One” over more than a decade, channeling and mixing favorite styles, mingling homages and hybrids. Its oldest song is “Hen in the Foxhouse,” a cheerful yet pointedly feminist funky blues — with a scat-singing bridge — that she wrote 14 years ago. “In terms of my own songwriting lineage, my lyricist lineage, it’s a through line: Stephen Sondheim, Tom Lehrer, Tin Pan Alley. “She wanted this new album to be brighter and lighter and open and colorful,” Jack Splash said in a phone interview, and she wanted all of her musical influences to come into play. It has a large room where a band of a dozen musicians — merging Giddens’s folky regulars with Jack Splash’s R&B experts — could record together live.

Persons: Giddens, “, ”, Stephen Sondheim, Tom Lehrer, Tin, Jack Splash, Valerie June, Kendrick Lamar, CeeLo, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Allman, Jack Splash’s, — Organizations: Bee Locations: Miami, Louisiana

☆ Seun Kuti: Nigerian musician in court after arrest for alleged police assault
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —Nigerian singer and saxophonist Seun Kuti, youngest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, appeared in court on Tuesday following his arrest for allegedly assaulting a police officer. A Lagos court denied a request by prosecutors to detain Kuti for 21 days, his lawyer Femi Falana told CNN. Seun Kuti Getty ImagesKnown for his music activism and outspoken criticism of the government, Kuti has been a vocal advocate against police brutality. Together with his late father’s former band, Egypt 80, which he now leads, Seun Kuti has performed for audiences worldwide, touring extensively in the United States, France, Japan, and the UK. With his brother Femi, Kuti has carried forward the Afrobeat legacy of his father who died in 1997.

The Vintage Gala, as 23-year old founders Prince Quist and James Edem Doe Dartey dubbed it, brought together a movement of young vintage enthusiasts pushing back against the global fast fashion industry by encouraging their peers to shop secondhand. "The idea is just to inspire everybody to thrift vintage, because secondhand goods aren't second class stuff," Dartey added. Ghana receives around 15 million items of used clothing each week from Western countries and China, offloaded in bulk, often at negligible prices and questionable quality. Much of it passes through Accra's Kantamanto, one of the largest garment markets on the continent, where bales of used clothes are sold based on the expected quality of the garments wrapped up inside. "Remove the whole notion that you only wear vintage when you are poor, or you only wear thrifted stuff when you don't have money," said creative Myra Davis outside the Vintage Gala event.

In one of TikTok's latest trends, the Brazilian team's love of dancing, flair and adoration of funk carioca, also known as favela funk or baile funk, has inspired a new generation of listeners on the platform. Funk carioca is a hip-hop subgenre that draws on an array of international music genres including Afrobeat, samba, Miami bass and electro, among others. Funk music group Os Quebradeiras dance on a street decorated for the Qatar 2022 World Cup at Tijuca neighborhood, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Dec. 8, 2022. Mauro Pimentel / AFP - Getty ImagesVideos with the hashtags Brazilian funk have gathered more than 94.7 million views; Brazilian music has reached more than 46.9 million views; and Brazilian dance has received more than 121.8 million. The hashtag funk carioca has more than 540 million views by itself.

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