Read Banning Eyre's Exclusive Interview with Seun Kuti

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)

Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti (commonly known as Seun Kuti) is an award winning Nigerian musician and the youngest son of legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. Seun leads his father's former band Egypt 80. Kuti began learning the piano and saxophone at the age of 8, and soon after began performing on stage with his father’s band at only 9 years old. His father, famous for his songs protesting the military junta in Nigeria, gave his son a true musical education, and now the younger Kuti has truly stepped in to his father’s shoes. Seun Kuti's style of Afrobeat – a fusion of sounds from funk, big-band jazz and more traditional African music – is executed with skill, energy and palpable enthusiasm by the fantastic musicians in Egypt 80. You shouldn’t miss an opportunity to catch Seun Kuti live!

Visit the official myspace page of Seun Kuti & Egpyt 80!

Watch a video of Seun Kuti and Egpyt on YouTube!


Rachid Taha (Algeria)

Rachid Taha is an Algerian-French musician. His music is influenced by many different styles such as rai, techno, rock, and punk.  Based in Paris, France, where he began his solo career after his beginnings as the leader of the French rock band "Carte de Séjour," he usually sings in Arabic. Taha moved from Algeria to Alsace and then Vosges in France, where his father had already emigrated, in 1970. In 1981, while living in Lyon, France, Taha met Mohammed and Moktar Amini. The three of them, Rachid, Djamel Dif and Eric Vaquer would later form the band Carte de Séjour ("residence permit") and record their first maxi single Carte de Séjour in 1983. Their first LP Rhoromanie, came out in 1984. Their second and last LP entitled Deux et Demi was released in 1986 and included their famous and ironic cover of Douce France, originally sung by Charles Trenet . The band dissolved in 1989. Politically-engaged, he has always stood up to defend democracy, tolerance and altruism against racism, fundamentalism and discrimination. His breakthrough album as a solo artist was Diwan, featuring remakes of songs for the Maghrebi and Arab traditions.

Check out the official homepage of Rachid Taha!

Visit the official myspace page of Rachid Taha!


Bachata Roja Legends-Ramon Cordero, El Chivo Sin Ley,  Joan Soriano, Augusto Santos, Edilio Paredes (Dominican Republic)

These gentlemen combine to form three decades' worth of classic bachata cabaret music, providing an instant education in the popular Dominican folk form for some, or a walk down memory lane for others. Bachata music flourished in the explosive era after the murder of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in the early 1960s. While still alive, Trujillo frowned upon bachata and other guitar-oriented sounds, as the music of the hoi polloi. After his death, a defiant populace played, recorded, and listened to bachata with a vengeance. The lyrics are often naughty, juxtaposed with a gentle, romantic guitar backing, and will appeal to anyone with a sense of humor and an ear for melody.

Read more on these legends at rockpaperscissors.com!


Bajofondo (Argentina)

Bajofondo is a South American  music band consisting of seven musicians from Argentina and Uruguay. Formerly called "Bajofondo Tango Club", they changed their name to only "Bajofondo" since they felt their style had broadened to "contemporary music from the Rio de la Plata as was announced on their live concert in Berlin in April 2008.  Their music is a fusion of acoustic tango and electronic music, part of an evolving tango genre which is known as "Electrotango" or "Tango Fusion" which is greatly helping to bring tango back into the mainstream. The band, which prefers to refer itself as a "collective of composers, singers and artists," has a characteristic style that can be considered--aside from the aforementioned mixture of tango and electronica, as an innovative form of DNB, house, and trip-hop.

Visit the official myspace page of Bajofondo!

Watch a video of Bajofondo on YouTube!


Abdel Gadir Salim (Sudan)

Abdel Gadir Salim is a folk singer and bandleader from Sudan. He was born in the village of Dilling, Korofan province, amidst the Nuba Mountains in the west of Sudan in the 1950s. He is one of the most well-known Sudanese singers in the West, having performed around the world and recorded in many nations including England. Salim trained in both European and Arabic music at the Institute of Music in Khartoum beginning with Oud at the behest of a friend. By 1971, he changed from composing urban-styled music to country tunes. Rarely writing his own lyrics, the songs he finds range from politically-aware, educational arguments to love ballads. Salim is noted for maintaining a neutral repertoire that keeps him from irritating the Islamic government of Sudan.

Visit the official myspace page of Abdel Gadir Salim!


Albino (California)

Albino is a 12-piece Afrobeat ensemble that honors the fiery legacy of Nigerian musical revolutionary Fela Kuti. Albino’s high-energy grooves and explosive stage show thick with hypnotic percussion, a heavy horn section, African dance, outrageous costumes, and infectious group choreography have established the band as the West Coast's premier Afrobeat act.

Check out the official homepage of Albino!

Visit the official myspace page of Albino!


Mayra Andrade (Cape Verde)

Born in Cuba to Cape Verdean parents (her father fought in Cape Verde’s war of independence, in which Castro’s Cuba was an ally), she grew up in Senegal, Angola and Germany, and has lived since 2003 in Paris. Yet, at just 23, she is one of a new generation imbuing Cape Verdean roots with an individual style. Less world-weary and smokily rasping than Evora’s, her voice is playful and caressing without being cloyingly sweet. Her debut recording, Navega, was a Sunday Times album of 2007.

Check out the official homepage of Mayra Andrade!

Visit the official myspace page of Mayra Andrade!


Akoya Afrobeat (New York)

Fusing a mixture of African, Afro-Cuban, Jazz, and Funk music, Akoya Afrobeat is New York’s finest example of a musical melting pot. Featuring members from Panama, Ghana, Benin, South Africa, Japan and the US, this 13-piece ensemble embraces unity and positive vibrations. Armed with original music and an arsenal of songs by Afrobeat founder, Fela Kuti, Akoya consistently brings a new level of dance floor frenzy with every performance. The group features lead vocalist Kaleta, who for 10 years performed and recorded with the immortal Fela Kuti and Egypt 80. He has also toured with Femi Kuti as well as the legendary King Sunny Ade. His vocals, sung in Yoruba, Pidgin English and various Benin dialects, fused with driving horn lines and a precision-tight rhythm section, bring a sound so infectious one can’t help but dance. Their debut CD “Introducing The Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble” has been very well received, as it has been getting regular airplay on radio stations in South Africa, Nigeria, Benin, France, London and Panama, as well as New York’s WKCR, WBLS, WBAI, and WFMU.

Check out the official homepage of Akoya Afrobeat!

Visit the official myspace page of Akoya Afrobeat!


Antibalas(New York)

Antibalas is a Bushwick, Brooklyn-based afrobeat  band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music is primarily afrobeat, it incorporates elements of jazz, funk, dub, improvised music, and traditional drumming from Cuba and West Africa. Founded in 1988 by Martin Perna as "Conjunto Antibalas," the group played its inaugural concert in May 26, 1998 at St. Nicks Pub in Harlem at a night organized by artist Xaviera Simmons. Antibalas has performed in 23 countries, from Japan to Turkey to Portugal, throughout New York City, from Central Park Sumerstage to Rikers Island prison facility. The group has received guest visits from several musicians from Fela Kuti's Afrika 70 and Egypt 80 bands, including Tony Allen (drums), Femi Kuti (alto sax), Seun Kuti (tenor sax), Tunde Williams (trumpet), Oghene Kologbo (guitar), Nicolas Addey (congas), Dele Sosimi (keyboards), Ola Jagun (drums/percussion), and Jojo Kuo (drums) among others.

Check out the official homepage of Antibalas!

Visit the official myspace page of Antibalas!
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Jajouka (Morocco)

The legendary Master Musicians of Jajouka are led today by Bachir Attar and are considered the first world music group. The Master Musicians under Bachir's leadership have recorded and collaborated with numerous well-known musical artists including The Rolling Stones on the Stones' Steel Wheels album. The legacy of the Master Musicians is being preserved for future generations to enjoy, with worldwide performances.

Check out the official homepage of Jajouka!

Visit the official myspace page of Jajouka!


Fallou Dieng (Senegal)

Fallou DIENG, at 38 years old, is the elder statesman of the “new generation” of Senegalese artists emerging from the long shadows and rich legacy left by the country’s most famous son, Youssou N'DOUR. Known as le Roi de l’ambiance for creating some of Dakar’s more outrageously provocative mbalax dances, he is perhaps the best known and most popular of the “Youngsters." Born at the dawn of Senegal’s independence, Fallou knew he was destined for success from an early age, and his debut international CD, Medina, is a testament not just to his formidable talent but also to his own steadfast independence.

Check out the official homepage of Fallou Dieng!

Visit the official myspace page of Fallou Dieng!


Habib Koite (Mali)

Habib comes from a noble line of Khassonké griots, traditional troubadors who provide wit, wisdom and musical entertainment at social gatherings and special events. Habib grew up surrounded by seventeen brothers and sisters, and developed his unique guitar style accompanying his griot mother. He inherited his passion for music from his paternal grandfather who played the kamele n'goni, a traditional four-stringed instrument associated with hunters from the Wassolou region of Mali. "Nobody really taught me to sing or to play the guitar," explains Habib, "I watched my parents, and it washed off on me."

Check out the official homepage of Habib Koite!

Visit the official myspace page of Habib Koite!

Watch a YouTube video of Habib Koite!


Vieux Farka Touré (Mali)

Since his childhood, Vieux Farka Touré has been deeply inspired by the music of his father, Ali Farka Touré . Growing up in Mali's capital, Bamako, as well as in his father’s hometown of Niafunké in the Sahara desert -- both teeming with rich musical life -- Vieux proved himself a precocious talent as a drummer and calabash player. Ali, however, grew concerned about his son’s future as he observed his son’s budding musical gifts. Having long suffered in the music industry himself before finally finding a home with World Circuit Records, Ali did not want his son to have to have to face the same hardships. He forbid Vieux to play music and decided that Vieux should become a soldier instead. Vieux, as stubborn as his father’s moniker FARKA (donkey) suggested, began instead to play along with his father’s recordings in hiding, determined to pursue his musical aspirations.

Check out the official homepage of Vieux Farka Touré!

Visit the official myspace page of Vieux Farka Touré!


Toubab Krewe (North Carolina)

The members of Toubab Krewe developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to Mali, Guinea, and Ivory Coast, where they immersed themselves in the local culture and studied and performed with luminaries such as Lamine Soumano, Vieux Kante, Madou Dembele and Koungbanan Conde. In 2007, the band played at the the legendary Festival of the Desert in Essakane, Mali, known as the most remote festival in the world.                           –photo by Santiago Felipe

Check out the official homepage of Toubab Krewe!

Visit the official myspace page of Toubab Krewe!

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First published: Compiled and Edited by Santiago Felipe, RaShonda R