Afropop Worldwide

Bölümler

• 
  Edo Highlife: Culture, Politics and Progressive Traditionalism 11.09.2026 59dk

  Highlife—West Africa’s pioneer popular music of the late colonial and independence periods—has mostly faded from popularity in 21st century Nigeria. However, highlife is alive and well in Edo State, 300 kilometers east of Lagos, and the center of the former Benin Kingdom. Edo highlife musicians fill the role of traditional musicians by animating community ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, and praising prominent members of the community, in exchange for “financial love.” This traditionalism is also progressive: Edo highlife music draws on traditional genres like asonogun, ojeke, agbi, ivbiagogo, and ekassa, and musicians continue to incorporate instruments and styles from neighboring Yoruba communities and Western popular music. In this Hip Deep program, we'll hear how Edo highlife musicians have found sustainable careers by simultaneously rooting their music in their local communities and appealing to diasporic enclaves in Europe and the United States. Their local support has even allowed certain musicians to broach political themes, singing in support or in critique of specific politicians, a rare occurrence in contemporary Nigeria. We’ll hear from legends and innovators including Sir Victor Uwaifo, Ambassador Osayomore Joseph, and Alhaji Waziri Oshomoh as well as current stars including Dr. Afile, Akogbehian and Johnbull Obakpolor. Produced by Morgan Greenstreet and Austin ‘Maro Emielu. APWW #751
• 
  A Visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 03.09.2026 59dk

  In our visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we go beyond the handful of artists who have achieved international careers and dive into the local scene. We visit azmaribets, down home music clubs featuring vivacious women artists and their ensembles of traditional players. We catch Mimi and Besat live. Competition between the leading music producers in Addis is fierce. We visit the studio of recording studio of Abegasu Shiote who breaks down the Ethiopian pop sound track by track. And for the finale we go to a performance by the revered elder singer of the classic Addis sound - Mamoud Ahmed. Produced by Sean Barlow APWW #532
• 
  Colombia in NYC 28.08.2026 59dk

  Cumbia, bullerengue and stories of Colombian music in New York. A 59-minute Afropop Worldwide program featuring Combo Chimbita, Bulla en El Barrio, Gregorio Uribe and more. Explore the artists and continue listening on Afropop.org: https://afropop.org/audio-programs/colombia-in-nyc Originally broadcast January 12, 2017. New York City is home to a diverse community of Colombian musicians and groups who create in a wide range of traditional, popular and experimental music styles for diasporic communities and beyond. "Colombia in NYC" takes us from independence day celebrations in a chic Manhattan club with accordion virtuoso Gregorio Uribe, to vallenato parties and street parades in Jackson Heights. We'll hear from hip cumbia groups including Combo Chimbita; traditional Afro-Colombian bullerengue group Bulla en El Barrio; salsero, folklorist and educator Pablo Mayor; innovative dance bands MAKU Soundsystem and Grupo Rebolú, and harp virtuoso Edmar Castaneda. Along the way musicians weave in stories about nationalism, identity, place and diaspora, and discuss the challenges and opportunities New York City offers for Colombian musicians. Produced by Morgan Greenstreet APWW #736
• 
  A Remembrance of Leo Sarkisian 21.08.2026 59dk

  For some 50 years, Leo Sarkisian was a worldwide staple on the overseas radio broadcast of Voice of America. A talented musician, raised in the Armenian community around Boston, Leo began traveling the world with his Nagra tape recorder and microphones for Tempo International, a Hollywood record label. His intrepid work in remote corners of Afghanistan and in newly independent Ghana and Guinea won him the attention of Edward R. Murrow, then at VOA. So began Leo’s epic career as a documenter, archivist and popularizer of African music. He once said he had worked in every African country but one. In recognition of his passing in June, 2018, we revisit Leo’s rich, fascinating conversation and music-sharing session with our own Georges Collinet. Expect lively exchanges between two radio icons, and some rare audio, including Leo's 1965 recording of Fela Kuti during his jazz years. Produced by Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre APWW #783
• 
  With Feet In Many Worlds 14.08.2026 59dk

  As the 21st century rolls on, more and more of the musical artists who are making a difference cannot be pinned down to any one national identity.Migration, intermarriage, and the hurly burly of our globalized planet are creating new and growing generations of change-makers with hyphenated identities. In this program we hear from Ayo (Nigerian/Roma/German), Meklit Hadero (Ethiopian-American), Weedie Braimah (Ghanaian-American), La Dame Blanche (Cuban-French), Pascal Danai of the band Delgres (Guadeloupean-French) and others, as we sample the rich music and hear the stories, challenges and triumphs of this fascinating new generation of global musical creators. Produced by Banning Eyre APWW #772
• 
  Celebrating Georges Collinet 07.08.2026 59dk

  From his Cameroonian roots, to his DJ days in Paris, his global broadcast career on VOA from the 1960s into the ‘80s, and his 38-year career hosting Afropop Worldwide, Georges Collinet is living an extraordinary life. On this program we celebrate the man, his stories, his passions, his wit and humanity. You’ll experience Georges as never before, an African music legend, and a very funny guy. Produced by Banning Eyre APWW #881
• 
  Ring the Alarm: A History of Sound System Culture 31.07.2026 59dk

  n Jamaica, sound systems are more than just a stack of speakers blasting the latest tunes to an eager crowd. Over the last 70 years, they have come to represent the most common way that Jamaicans experience music. Sound systems have touched all levels of society in Jamaica, determining the island’s popular taste and profoundly influencing the daily lives of its citizenry. This program explores the evolution of sound system culture, from the Jamaican genesis of the 1940s to its gradual impact on diaspora communities, and ultimately, its undeniable influence on the popular culture of nations overseas. Produced by David Katz and Saxon Baird. APWW #758
• 
  Reissued - African Vinyl in the 21st Century 23.07.2026 59dk

  The golden age of vinyl records is long past in Africa, but the market for rare and reissued African vinyl outside the continent has been growing steadily since the early 2000s. DJs and collectors have turned an obsession with rare records and forgotten gems from Cape Town to Tangiers into an international reissue and compilation industry, led by record labels such as Soundway, Strut and Analog Africa. This program explores some of the complex and shifting dynamics of neocolonialism, cultural ownership and audience in the African vinyl market. We’ll hear stories from label owners, DJs and artists, touching on controversies around Nigerian disco funk reissues, new career opportunities for sometimes-obscure African artists, the unique vinyl culture in South Africa, and much more. Produced by Morgan Greenstreet and Alejandro Van Zandt-Escobar, with Nenim Iwebuke. APWW #749
• 
  Is Mara Nigeria's Answer to EDM? 17.07.2026 59dk

  In this special episode we introduce you to a fast-paced, emotional sound built from the streets of Lagos, Nigeria. We follow DJ Khalifa, the pioneer behind the sound, from DJing on a phone in a hostel to collaborating with CKay and catching the ear of Afrobeats stars. We also hear what it means for a street sound to go global and what's at stake if it does. Is this Nigerian EDM? We'll let you decide. Produced by FayFay APWW #880
• 
  Lagos Roots: Fuji, Juju, and Apala 09.07.2026 59dk

  Beneath the gloss of Nigeria’s contemporary pop, older roots styles, mostly derived from Yoruba tradition, still thrive. In this program, we meet four top stars of fuji music, the percussion-driven, message-heavy, and occasionally profane trance music that animates weddings and parties on a daily basis in hidden corners of Lagos. Rival “kings” K1 da Ultimate and Saheed Osupa, and a rare woman of fuji, Salawa Abeni, take us inside the rough and tumble of an exciting musical subculture little known outside Nigeria. We also meet juju legend Shina Peters, meet up-and-comers on the Lagos roots scene. This program fills out our Hip Deep portrait of a vibrant African city where music holds the keys to a tumultuous collision of cultures and peoples. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #763
• 
  Afro-Tech: Stories of Synths in African Music 04.07.2026 59dk

  Technology is one of the great drivers of musical change, and often one of its least understood. In this episode, we explore the synthesizer, looking closely at the history of this ubiquitous (and often debated) piece of musical technology, and investigating how and why it was first used in a variety of African musics. Enabled by groundbreaking record reissues by synth pioneers like William Onyeabor (Nigeria) and Hailu Mergia (Ethiopia), disco stars like Kris Okotie, and South African superstar Brenda Fassie, we take you back to the ’70s and ’80s, listening to the birth of a distinctly African electronic sound. Produced by Sam Backer APWW #676
• 
  The Immortal 1970's 25.06.2026 59dk

  The 1970s was a decade that changed the world's popular music... No. Changed the world's culture. Whether you were boogieing to full-flower rock and funk, delving into free jazz, or discovering a hidden identity, the music was your constant companion. This was true in Africa as well. Ten years after most of the continent gained independence, new sounds were flourishing. This program samples the bounty from Ghana, Mali, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe and more. Produced by Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre in 2005 APWW #461
• 
  Voice of the Leopard 18.06.2026 59dk

  The leopard cult of Ekpe in Calabar, in present-day Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon, has one of the most unique performance traditions in all of Africa - a complex theatrical tradition, referred to in calabar English as "play," which encompasses a cycle of sacred dramas that takes many years to execute. The music of this society is almost completely unknown outside the region, because it was not recorded until the 1980s. This program will feature Calabar-themed recordings by artists including Sexteto Habanero, Chano Pozo, Arsenio Rodriguez, and Los Munequitos de Matanzas. Dr. Ivor Miller, the only scholar who has both penetrated the Abaku society and visited the motherland in Calabar, and promoted the first-ever re-encounter between the two traditions, will play some of this powerful music and tell stories of this fascinating culture. Hip Deep by Ned Sublette (originally aired 2007) APWW #534
• 
  Samba, Forro, Candomble, Tropicalia: The Sounds of Brazilian Artists in the US 11.06.2026 59dk

  There's a lot of fantastic music being made by Brazilian artists living in the U.S. They entertain an estimated 1.5 million Brazilian immigrants here as well as a growing number of other fans. And Brazilian music is enjoying a resurgence here - on Mazda commercials, endless bossa nova soundtracks played in upscale restaurants; inter-cultural collaborations and so on. We'll hear many of the best: Jorge Alabe, the godfather of many samba schools; Bebel Gilberto, daughter of bossa pioneer Joao Gilberto; singer Luciana Souza; the quirky percussionist Cyro Baptista; the funky, unorthodox Forro in the Dark and others. They all have fascinating stories to tell. We'll hear them in concert, visit with them in their homes, and hear songs from records produced in the U.S. New York University's widely published Professor of Music Jason Stanyek will be our co-host. APWW #555
• 
  A Spiritual Journey to Mbanza Congo 07.06.2026 59dk

  To make this unprecedented program, producer Ned Sublette traveled to Mbanza-Kongo, the ancient seat of the Kongo empire located in present-day northern Angola, where he spoke to Dr. Bárbaro Martínez Ruiz, professor of art and art history at Stanford. We’ll learn about the simbi, the spirits that Martínez Ruiz describes as “the multiple power of god”; hear Antonio Madiata play the lungoyi-ngoyi, the two-stringed viola of the Kongo court; attend a session of the lumbu, the traditional tribunal of elders; and talk to Pedro Lopes, a nganga mawuko (traditional healer). With C. Daniel Dawson and Angolan composer and musicologist Victor Gama, we’ll explore Kongo-Ngola culture in the diaspora – in Brasil, Haiti, Cuba, and more. A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY TO MBANZA-KONGO is supported by a 2012 Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion. The fellowship is a program of the University of Southern California's Knight Chair in Media and Religion. Originally produced by Ned Sublette in 2012 APWW #651
• 
  Music and the Story of Haiti: From Vodou to Compas to Racine to Rara and Beyond 30.05.2026 59dk

  Haiti became the first black-ruled republic in the Americas in 1804, and music has mirrored, and at times shaped, the twists and turns of Haiti's politics and culture ever since. A primary source of Haitian culture is Dahomey, the birthplace of vodou--the most commonly held world view among Haitian people today. We explore how each of Haiti's rulers has championed his own preferred music. The Duvalier dictators favored compas dance music, and suppressed the most African-identified cultural expressions. When Baby Doc was run out of the country in 1986, African-derived racine, or roots, music exploded. Elizabeth McAlister, professor of religion at Wesleyan University, and Holly Nicolas--interweave music and history to tell a dynamic, and at times heart-breaking story. Included in the mix we'll hear the sweet sound of troubadour balladeers, as well as the exuberant tones of rara bands, the call and response of a capela kombit songs of work parties, impassioned choral music of evangelical churches, and the sophisticated, improvisational rhythms used in vodou rituals. Produced by Sean Barlow APWW #540
• 
  Hip Deep Angola Part 1: Music and Nation in Luanda 21.05.2026 59dk

  We explore the role music played in the creation of a uniquely Angolan consciousness as the country struggled toward independence in the 1960s and ‘70s after centuries of colonialism. Our guides will be producer Ned Sublette, on the ground in Angola, and Dr. Marissa Moorman, historian of southern Africa, and author of Intonations: A Social History of Music in Luanda, Angola from 1945 to Recent Times. We’ll hear the pathbreaking group Ngola Ritmos, who dared sing songs in Kimbundu publicly when it was prohibited by the Portuguese. We’ll hear immortal voices from the age when the guitar-driven style called semba ruled, as well as some snazzy ‘60s guitar instrumentals. Produced by Ned Sublette APWW #647
• 
  A Tale of Two Rebellions - Zanj, Fatamid 13.05.2026 59dk

  Our Hip Deep edition “A Tale of Two Rebellions,” produced in August, 2007, recounts the stories of two remarkable military campaigns in early Islamic history. Both uprisings take place in the late 9th century, both involve Africans as key players, and both set the scene for the crystallization of the Sunni-Shi’ite divide in Islam, which of course continues to this day. Produced by Banning Eyre APWW #535
• 
  Africans in the Persian Gulf 08.05.2026 59dk

  Scholar and author Joseph Braude guides us through the often overlooked popular music of the Persian Gulf, the music known as Khaliji. We learn about the Africans of places like Bahrain and Kuwait - slaves of yore - their free descendents, and more recent waves of African immigrants, notably from Sudan. This episode features spectacular historic recordings, such as the songs of the all but disappeared pearl divers, a well as Khaliji hits by the likes of Abdullah al-Ruwaished and Areel Abou Bakr. Produced by Banning Eyre APWW #520
• 
  Celebrating Toumani Diabaté 30.04.2026 59dk

  Toumani Diabaté, the most celebrated kora player of his time, passed away in July, 2024, just days before his 59thbirthday. Afropop Worldwide was blessed to call Toumani a friend for over 30 years and to interview him some 15 times, often at his home in Bamako, Mali. In this episode we celebrate a life of massive virtuosity, creativity and innovation. Toumani overcame daunting obstacles and extended the global reach of this venerable West African harp as no one else has ever done. We hear the voice and music of Toumani at many points in his storied career, along with commentary from his longtime producer and friend, Lucy Durán. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #879