Land of reggae: the musical selection of “World Africa” #126

Each Wednesday, The World Africa presents three new musical releases from or inspired by the continent. This week, honor to reggae, about which the Ghanaian singer stonebwoy recently said: “Reggae is rooted in the heart of Africa, it fundamentally does not belong to any Caribbean society, it belongs to Africans and we benefit from it in various ways. »

Words that caused a stir in Jamaica, the cradle of the genre, but which testify to the fact that the continent has been able to appropriate this music. Proof by three with Tiken Jah Fakoly, Meta & The Cornerstones and Temi Oyedele.

” Where are you going ? by Tiken Jah Fakoly

And eleven for Tiken Jah Fakoly ! Friday, November 4, the singer Ivorian installed in Bamako will release his new album, Power robbery. At 54, this pillar of African reggae continues to rehash with as much efficiency as ever the themes that are close to his heart, taunting the heads of state who cling to power or pass it on to their descendants, warning against the dangers of immigration or the excesses committed in the name of religion, lamenting the untapped potential of Africa…

A universal message – and not without hope – joined by several guests such as the Jamaican Winston McAnuff and the Malians Amadou & Mariam.

“Two Pockets”, by Meta & The Cornerstones

Reggae has also found a chosen land in Senegalwhere he intermingled in particular with the world of “baye fall”, disciples of Mouridism wearing dreadlocks and, hanging around their necks, the portrait of Ahmadou Bamba, founder of this Sufi brotherhood.

Although he lives in the United States, Meta Dia draws on this tradition to infuse wisdom and spirituality into his music, as evidenced by the music video for Two Pockets, released mid-September and taken from the album Day which he released in September 2021 with his band, The Cornerstones. An opus which, faithful to Rastas precepts, calls for peace, love and unity in the face of the evils of racism, poverty, war and pollution.

“I Dupe (Thanks Giving)” by Temi Oyedele & Adrian Sherwood

Finally, reggae is also combined in the feminine in the collective album Dub No Frontiers, released in mid-October and initiated by British producer Adrian Sherwood to show that this genre is not reserved for men. He therefore sent compositions to ten artists around the world, offering them to perform a song of their choice in their native language.

Among the musicians who answered the call, three Africans: the Tunisian Neyssatou, which resumes in Arabic the War of Bob Marley, theEritrean Saba Tewelde, who chants a hymn to her homeland, and the Nigerian Lagos-based Temi Oyedele, whose track I Dupe (Thanks Giving) is sung in Yoruba.