Feature

Explainers, analyses, and essays on government policies, and political trends and movements around the continent

“Starrgirl”: Ayra Starr Trades Becoming for Being

In Starrgirl, Ayra Starr does not ask you to reconsider Ayra Starr. She assumes you already know who she is and expects you to keep up. The title alone sends listeners a message before they press play. Her first two records were titled around age — 19 & Dangerous introduced a fearless, fast-talking teenager; The […]

Anjola Akinmade

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3 months ago

“Starrgirl”: Ayra Starr Trades Becoming for Being

Meet Tomicks, The Drummer Boy From Africa

For most of his life, Tomicks has played the drums in service of someone else’s music. In church, they accompanied worship. At weddings and live gigs, they held the rhythm together. Now, the Nigerian percussionist wants to change that relationship. His music puts the drums at the centre of the composition, allowing them to carry […]

Anjola Akinmade

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1 week ago

Meet Tomicks, The Drummer Boy From Africa

Blulyt Wants It All

Ask Nonofang Disetlhe what changed when she became Blulyt, and she will tell you almost nothing did. The stage name, to her, is just a new cover on the same book. “There’s no difference between Nono and Blulyt,” she says. “The only difference is the presentation.” It is an unusual way for a young artist […]

Anjola Akinmade

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3 weeks ago

Blulyt Wants It All

Rotimi Keys: The Architect of Sunshine

by Joey Akan Optimism is easy to write and hard to write well. Rotimikeys manages it by letting the arrangement do the persuading, so that hope arrives in the keys and the groove before it reaches the words. Here is how a church keyboardist and veteran producer became one of Nigeria’s most disciplined makers of […]

Culture Custodian Editorial Team

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3 weeks ago

Rotimi Keys: The Architect of Sunshine
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