Bank Alert
PSquare
If you are looking for fun and happiness, you’ve come to the right place! Full of self-irony, wit and vivid sounds, this is African dance music at its best. PSquare may history be as a duo, made up of the twin brothers Peter and Paul Okoye, but their music lives on. Hailing from Nigeria their music grants them virtually equal fame all over black Africa. After a dramatic year for the power duo, overshadowed by legal fights and hassles, Square Records superstars Psquare have decided to bury the hatchet by sharing this new super hit titled Bank Alert. In their usual style, they harnessed their musical energy to unleash this mainstream anthem by combining a popular story (Local boy does good) with stunning visuals, amazing costumes and a wholesome choreography. Was this made in Lagos, New York or London? (sgs)
Square Records | September 2016
Lala Belu
Hailu Mergia
The Ethiopian keyboardist Haile Mergia is a master of the accordion, as well as playing the organ and the synthesizer, who started performing professionally as a teenager. He manifested a talent for modernizing folk songs, giving them a more contemporary beat, as well as blending in funk, soul and jazz tunes, lending his music its own unique style. He was one of the leaders of the musical revolution in his country and decided to stop singing in order to forego political censorship during dictatorship that stifled Ethiopian life in the Sixties. His group, the Walias Band, ended up getting the best job in Addis Abeba, become the house band of the Hilton Hotel. Having to respond to the wishes of the hotel guests gave Mergia a wide repertoire. In 1981, he and his band were invited to the United States, and the rest is history. This video tells his story.
Awesome Tapes from Africa | February 2018
Magic – feat. Lili M and Gaba cannal
Da Kruk
South African dance music and house DJ, radio personality and producer Kutloano «Da Kruk» Nhlapo has had an impressive career that includes time spent on the University of South Africa’s UJ FM as sports presenter, as the co-host of the Weekend Breakfast Show and of a saucy sex show called «The Dip». He’s now at YFM where he produces the drive time show and has been voted YFM’s top producer for the Flava in the Morning breakfast show for three years running. «Da Kruk’s long experience in the media and dance music world make his sets an eclectic experience on the dance floor. Combining hard-hitting afro bangers and hypnotizing sing-along and tribal sounds, he is always delivering a perfect blend of both mainstream and underground tunes.» (Apkpure)
Mamba Productions | March 2019
Bashiri
Moonchild Sanelly
Psychedelic, kaleidoscopoic, innovative, this video in a genre she calls «Future ghetto punk» was written and is performed by Sanelisiwe Twisha, the South African musician and dancer known as Moonchild Sanelli. She was born in Port Elisaeth on the Eastern Cape and is South Africa’s «Queen of Gqom», a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 2010s from Durban typified by minimal, raw and repetitive sound with heavy bass beats but without the regular rhythm pattern. (Wikipedia) She is a superstar with a flow so unique it’s earned her recent collaborations with Beyoncé, Die Antwoord, Gorillaz, Diplo and Wizkid. Moonchild Sanelly is excited to have the global spotlight on her and take her electrifying music and unique style to an International audience.
Trangressive Records | October 2020
I am Gqom
Griffit Vigo
From Durban, Griffit Vigo is a real innovator of the Gqom sound. Starting out in 2004 his journey as a musician has produced releases such as the timeless ‘DJ’ EP and global anthem ‘Ree’s Vibe’ on the label GQOM. He is credited with introducing the ‘sweep’ sound to the genre, which he describes as sounding like «the sound of a broom.» «This mix is a fantastic selection of songs, that best describe my process when DJing,» Vigo says. «Taking the listener on a musical journey from the intro, the body of the mix until it finally reaches its climax at my Gqom anthem ‘Ree’s Vibe’!»
«When I was in Durban the first time I noticed that Griffit Vigo was a kind of legendary figure, he’d been inspiring all the Gqom Durban artists for a long time. Nobody knew where he was, but everybody was playing him…» (Nan Kolè)
Gqomq12 | October 2020