I can never get enough Congolese guitar. I'm so addicted to it that I hunt it down wherever possible, even if it lives outside of the Congolese rumba world. If you read through past posts, ... read more
I was asked recently to identify artists with a strong social or political message, in about a dozen specific African countries, Ghana excluded. I found it very difficult, and eventually wished I had to find ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, he wrote about coupé décalé and Oudy 1er. Living ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, he write about Angola's tarraxinha music. One of the ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, we writes about palm wine music and Kyekyeku. Yesterday ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, in a sort of followup to last time's feature ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, it’s the strong-spirited Burkinabé rapper Art Melody. In West ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, it’s Zambian group 2wo 1ne's "Vitumbuwa." Today we travel ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, it’s Dampoo and his highlife. The holiday season in ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, it’s Ghanaian duo Steloo and Yaw P. Accra has ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, it’s Congolese rapper Didjak Munya. Congolese music is the ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, it's Chicago-via-Nigeria rapper The GTW's "Cravings." I'm on the ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, its the Kenyan gospel artist Robbie. If you've spent ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, in anticipation of his talk at the World Music ... read more
Footnotes is the section in our magazine where we take a deeper look at the music surrounding our feature artists. With Benjamin Lebrave's label, Akwaaba, and his column for TheFADER.com, we don't have to imagine ... read more
For the past four years, Benjamin Lebrave has run Akwaaba, a digital record label that releases a huge amount of diverse African music from across the continent. He started the label in San Francisco, but, ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, he shares BIG FKN GUN's “ABC.” I am currently ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, he shares Edem's “Over Again.” It's hard enough to ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, he shares Ajebutter222s "Senrenre.” Last weekend, I hopped on ... read more
Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, he shares Kossi Ape’son's "Gazo Cool Catché." Living in ... read more