I suspect Mahmoud Ahmed needs no introduction here - he's arguably Ethiopia's best-known musician thanks to his momentous recording ...

It's no secret I'm not thrilled about some of the Congo music that's been coming out lately, particularly from the Paris-based ...

Eugene de Coque, brother of the late Nigerian highlife master Oliver de Coque , has been based in Los Angeles since the early '90s, and ...

I've been meaning to post this recording for a while. Nwanyi Ma Obi Diya (Onyeoma C.Y. Records CYLP 016, 1984) by the Obi Wuru Otu Danc...

We were shopping on Nnamdi Azikiwe St. in central Lagos when we came across a fascinating sight: hundreds of men were prostrate and barefoo...

Ronnie Graham's The World of African Music (Pluto Press/Research Associates, 1992) states that Tanzania's DDC Mlimani Park Orchestr...

Another musician from the Gambia winds up our look at "updated" kora music . Unlike the two previous artists featured here, I was...

I'm not sure Ama Maïga's Une Fleche Malienne (Disques Sonics SONICS 79426, ca. 1984) succeeds completely as a fusion between traditi...

Hi John, I have been a fan of your website Likembe for a couple years since I came across some thing you posted about Kuku Sebsebe. I also w...

Researching that last post has got me to pondering the ways in which the kora , the traditional 21-string harp-lute of West Africa, has bee...