YouTube music video comments are the safe space for the pan-African romantic in all of us

YouTube’s comments section is widely acknowledged in modern internet culture as one of the worst places on the Web. Even the most benign videos of a tech toy’s unboxing all too easily descends into vitriol, sexism and discriminatory outbursts. 

Over the years it’s become so bad YouTube has been experimenting with hiding comments as a default on certain types of videos.

But of course there are millions of hours of YouTube videos watched everyday and not all videos inspire nasty comments—far from it. In fact, if you want to enjoy overwhelmingly positive comments, then watching most popular African music videos are where you want to be.

It’s almost always good vibes in the comments for your Burna Boys, Sauti Sols, Wizkids and Diamond Platnumz, who between them rack up hundreds of millions of views each year. You have the roll-callers and the hype(wo)men “Who is still listening to this jam in 2019?” or “If you have listened to this song more than 5 times today, click like” or “If you are Kenyan, please hit like on this comment,” or “I don’t know why this song hasn’t made it to 5M views. Hit like and keep sharing!”

In the recent past even more than before, African music has been crossing borders—aided by the rise of social media and the diaspora that gave musicians more opportunities to instantly release their music to the world. African pop genres developed over the last decade like Nigeria/Ghana’s Afrobeats and South Africa’s gqom have benefitted greatly from YouTube in particular which made it so much easier to go global without major record labels (though they’re now all on board). There has also been a growth in the number of radio stations exclusively dedicated to hits from all over the continent.  

Investors are seeing the opportunity and investing in homegrown music labels. Even Beyonce hasn’t been left behind with the recent release of the Lion King soundtrack that is packed with Afrobeats artists. Big name collaborations are becoming commonplace – bringing black artists across the continental divide together. Afrobeats hits have even made their way into the Caribbean carnival scene.

To read the full article on Quartz Africa, click here.

The battle to get Europe to return thousands of Africa’s stolen artifacts is getting complicated

In 1890, the French staged a bloody siege in the Segou royal palace, the capital of the Toucouleur empire that spanned modern day Guinea, Senegal and Mali. This siege and the violent capture of the city of Ouossebougou in 1890 marked the end of the Toucouleur empire and the transfer of control of the region to French colonial rule.In addition to the loss of lives and the destruction of property, the French officials plundered over a thousand pieces of significant cultural heritage to the people—including the saber of the founder of the empire, El Hadj Omar Tall.

Almost 130 years later, the saber that bears a specific symbolic,  cultural and spiritual significance has finally been returned to Senegal in a very emotional hand-over ceremony that saw his ancestral family travel from various parts of West Africa to witness this historic moment. It was a moment of victory for the descendants of the anti-colonial hero, who have been demanding the return of his artifacts since 1944. The artifacts including the saber, manuscripts, jewels are mostly spread out across three of France’s largest museums.

Up to 90% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural legacy is outside of the continent.

Up to 90% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural legacy is outside of the continent, according to the French government-commissioned 2018 report by Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and French historian Bénédicte Savoy. The report calls for the restitution of Africa’s stolen assets highlighting that most of these were looted by European colonial powers, stolen during ethnographic missions or acquired under questionable conditions in various markets.

While the public debate has mostly focused on African art, repatriation encompasses various elements of African cultural heritage. This includes art and archives, ceremonial objects, human remains, natural history specimens, and intangible cultural heritage like sound recordings and photographs. The best-case scenario figure for the number of artifacts any national museum archives in Sub Saharan Africa is 3,000—and even then, most of them are of little importance or significance when compared to those in European museums.

Since the release of the report, no objects have been returned to the countries they are from. A recent $15 million, four-year initiative by George Soros’ Open Society hopes to spur momentum in reparation efforts through legal, financial and technical support to governments, regional bodies, museums, universities and civil societies. Concerted efforts and significant funding are needed to support claims for restitution as communities demanding their looted items will undoubtedly come up against legal hurdles—such as the “inalienability of public French art collections.”

To access the full article on Quartz Africa, click here.

African scientists are leading the next wave of innovation and research on black skin and hair

For decades, the innovation and formal research on products for black skin and hair was limited on the global stage as beauty brands multinationals focused their research on caucasian skin with only slight modifications to products for potential customers with darker skin.

But in recent years, there has been a sharp rise in African beauty brands or African diaspora niche brands that have organically built a customer base providing products made for those with black skin and hair. With Africa’s beauty and personal care market estimated at $11 billion in 2017, the continent is being seen as a major growth frontier for majors including L’Oréal and Unilever pursuing increasing activity in the region.

In 2013, L’Oréal acquired the Kenyan company behind Nice & Lovely, a well-known mass-market skin and hair brand, for an estimated $17.6 million. The next year, L’Oréal bought Carol’s Daughter, a business that was started by Lisa Price in her Brooklyn, New York kitchen in 1993, but was valued at $27 million at the time of acquisition. A few years later in 2017, Liberian-born Richelieu Dennis, the founder of one of the best known black skin & hair brands, Shea Moisture, sold his New York-based company Sundial Brands to Unilever. At the time of sale his company was estimated at a whopping $240 million.

While acquisitions of brands serving black people in and outside of the continent is part of the growth strategy for global players, the other key pillar is research and innovation. This month, L’Oréal awarded three leading African scientists its African Hair & Skin Research grant award. The three research areas—post-acne hyperpigmentation in Dakar, the impact of air pollution on human skin in Nairobi and the prevalence and types of hair loss in Lagos are extremely relevant themes in deepening the understanding of unique challenges faced by black people when it comes to skin and hair.

Nairobi’s particulate matter is 70% above the maximum recommended level according to the WHO and this trend is seen in many developing cities. The issue of hyperpigmentation—the darkening of parts of the skin, mostly resulting from acne is a much more prevalent issue for dark skin types than for light skin. Hair loss in the form of traction alopecia, is considered one of the most common forms of hair loss in black people and results from hair being pulled too tight and too long. It can be caused by braids, wigs or weaves.

The need for increased innovation and research here can’t be overstated. Africa accounts for 25% of skin problems, but only 1% of global research output (across all fields.) Black hair and skin is indeed different in so many ways that there is little surprise that products from mainstream brands never fully catered well to black people’s needs.

Click here to read the full article on Quartz Africa.

The most unusual ways many African countries got their names

The concept of nation states in Africa is only a bit over a century old, arising after the 1884 Berlin Conference and the subsequent Scramble for Africa by European superpowers of the time. It is therefore not surprising that the names of most African countries are remnants of a colonial legacy.

Nearly every country on earth is named after after one of four things—a directional description of the country, a feature of the land,  a tribe name or an important person, most likely a man.  For the most part, Africa mirrors this trend with a few exceptions. The stories of how African countries got their names ranges from the more mundane, to the fantastical and sometimes even the mind-boggling.

Cameroon, a country that has the complicated legacy of first having been colonized by the Germans, then later partitioned by the French and British, was actually named by a Portuguese explorer in the 15th century. Coming across  the Wouri river, one of Cameroon’s largest rivers, he renamed it, Rio dos Camarões (shrimp river,) for the abundance of shrimp in it.  The name stuck and evolved to become the country name.

Another 15th century Portuguese explorer would find his way further West where either the mountains that looked like a lion’s teeth or the impressive roar of thunderstorms would lead him to name the place, Sierra Lyoa (lion mountains.) In time, the name would change to Sierra Leone.

Centuries later, another mountain would yield a country’s name in East Africa, when the British came upon an imposing snow-capped mountain that the Kikuyu people called Kirinyaga (Where God dwells.) As they struggled to pronounce, Kirinyaga, they called it Mt. Kenya – the country would be named after this mountain.

Click here to read the full article on Quartz Africa

Africa’s tourism industry is now the second fastest growing in the world

Some 67 million tourists visited Africa in 2018, representing a rise of 7% from a year earlier, making Africa the second-fastest growing region when it comes to tourism, after Asia Pacific.

African countries are now reaping the benefits from positive policy changes coupled with increased investments in the sector, that have made it a more attractive destination for tourists.

In Ethiopia, for example, relaxing visa restrictions while improving flight connectivity has seen Addis transformed into a regional transport  hub, even overtaking Dubai as the world’s gateway to Africa. This has resulted in Ethiopia becoming Africa’s fastest growing travel country, growing by 48.6% in 2018, according to  Jumia Africa Hospitality report,

Business visitors numbers in particular have received a boost from business-enabling reforms from some governments that have seen the potential in diversifying the sector. Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa have undertaken initiatives to position themselves as locations for conferences and exhibitions.

Click here to read the full article on Quartz Africa.

These Chinese vloggers are changing how China’s rising middle class sees Africa

When Beijing-born video producer, Fyjo Molly, relocated from Berlin to Johannesburg three years ago, she was enthusiastic about the move. It would be her first time in Africa, but as someone who enjoys immersing herself in different cultures, she was looking forward to the new experience.She fell in love with Johannesburg, a city that she felt had very little in common with most of what she had seen and heard in mainstream media. In 2018, she decided to work on a collaborative video project with a 10-person team from China. Eventually, only two members of the team traveled to Johannesburg with the rest stating they had concerns regarding “safety and disease in Africa.”

Molly says, “I knew that China’s mostly state-ran mainstream media offered a very simplistic, sometimes biased view of the continent, but I had not realized the extent to which it affected everyday people’s opinions.” It was then that she decided that she was going to share her experiences on the continent to show the Africa most Chinese people do not get to see.

Earlier this year, she launched her Instagram and YouTube channels with the goal of challenging stereotypes prevalent in Chinese and western media. She does this through making fun, quirky videos of her experiences in South Africa, but also when traveling round the continent to countries including Ethiopia, Zambia and others.

The story of another Chinese vlogger on the continent follows a different path but has similar objectives to Molly.  Shanghai-born Zhao Huiling was 12 when her family moved from China to Ghana where she lived until she was 18 years old. In a recent episode of the China Africa podcast, she talks about a fun, exciting childhood filled with lots of friends and adventures.

When she returned to China as a young adult, she grew frustrated with the stereotypes of Africans rampant in Chinese popular culture. With Africa becoming an increasingly popular travel destination for Chinese people, she found herself being asked more and more to give recommendations on where people should go, what they should do, what it is like to travel and live in Africa etc. She decided to feed this curiosity and tackle the ignorance in her own words, “showcasing Africa’s great, vibrant, creative scene to a Chinese audience.”

Click here to read the full article on Quartz Africa.

How a Texas family discovered they owned a forgotten Ben Enwonwu portrait valued at $200,000

Imagine finding an almost-forgotten portrait of your mother in your family house, doing a Google search on the artist’s name and discovering that what you own is a precursor to the artist’s best-known work that sold in 2018 for $1.6 million.

This is exactly what happened very recently to one of the members of the Davis family in Texas. 

The portrait, Christine, is the latest remarkable find of work by one of the most revered African artists of the 20th century, Ben Enwonwu. The captivating sitter is Christine Elizabeth Davis, an American hair stylist of West Indian descent. Christine travelled a lot in her life, working in Ghana before moving to Lagos with her British husband in 1969. There, they befriended Enwonwu and Christine’s husband commissioned the work as a gift for his wife in 1971 before they eventually moved back to the US a few years later.

The work was completed in under a week as Christine was able to hold her pose for as long as needed. Christine, who was in her mid-30s at the time, passed away in Texas thereafter. But the painting has remained in the family ever since. The portrait is valued at up to £150,000 ($200,000) and will be on auction at Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art Auction on Oct. 15 in London. 

Ben Enwonwu was a Nigerian artist whose career spanned 60 years seeing the journey of Nigeria from a British colony to an independent nation. His story is unique in that not only did he become famous in his own country, but also in the UK where he studied. In Nigeria, he is best known for his famed depictions of Nigerian royal princess Adetutu Ademiluyi (Tutu), often dubbed the ‘Nigerian Mona Lisa.’ Prints of Tutu adorn the walls of living rooms across Nigeria.

The 2017 discovery of Tutu is an equally fascinating story as the discovery of Christine. The long-lost painting was found in a modest London flat and the owners had no idea of its importance or value. It sold at a record $1.6 million in 2018.

To access the full article on Quartz, click here.

The Congolese storyteller drawing on African mythology and spirituality for his comic books

Growing up in Brazzaville, Kiyindou Yamakasi began making comics at a young age sharing them with his primary school friends who would act out the scenes. His characters very closely resembled those he read about in Japanese and American comics. They took subways, they suffered through terrible winters and were White or Asian.

His earlier work is a great contrast to his new fantasy comic series, Little Little Orishas that draws inspiration from Yoruba spirituality with his characters as revered deities.

His main character, Sango is the god of thunder and lightning while his sister is Oya, is the goddess of wind in Yoruba spirituality. Little little orishas is the story of Sango, a simple-minded and defiant wandering spirit, and his gentle sister Oya. They want to live a better life in heaven, free from the gods that bully them on a daily basis.

It is a story of overcoming barriers, dealing with bullies, class issues and resilience. All these are topics that are close to Yamakasi’s heart having endured similar hardships in school. With the support of his parents, he’s now equipped with the tools to get his stories to a larger audience using comics and hopefully in future an animated series. His parents wholeheartedly backed his decision to drop out of university in Brazzaville where he was studying economics and accounting and instead join AFDA in Cape Town where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Motion Pictures. He hopes to further his studies in film and television.

To access the full article on Quartz, click here.

As measles spreads, should African countries issue health travel restrictions for Westerners?

The first headline of 2019 that really brought my attention to the anti-vax movement read: Measles returned to Costa Rica after five years by French family who had not had vaccinations. I thought the choice of words could have been stronger as the image it left me with was one of a homecoming event except what was being received was one of the world’s most contagious viral diseases that has no specific treatment.

Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, major measles epidemics occurred almost every two to three years resulting in 2.6 million deaths a year. I continued reading the article about the French boy who brought measles to Costa Rica searching for the part of the article that would mention the new travel alert that had been issued by the country against French citizens or at the very least a mention of tighter travel restrictions for his country people. I am sure that would have been mentioned had this unvaccinated boy come from Guinea, Kenya or India. The headline would also have been something more menacing, perhaps: The African boy who started the Costa Rica measles epidemic.

In an almost apologetic tone, the article continued, “It is unclear why the five-year-old French tourist had never received a measles jab.” I was impressed by the presumption of innocence for a family that had intentionally chosen not to vaccinate their child against a highly contagious, dangerous disease. There were also no mentions of the travel bans I was so eagerly waiting to see as someone whose relatively weak passport makes me relish the few moments when someone else’s passport privilege is checked.

To access the full article on Quartz, click here.

Seven Things You Need to Know About Traveling in Africa on an African Passport

The dream of visa-free travel in Africa for Africans is still a dream, but it's changing. Here's what you should know.

If you've ever tried to travel around the continent on an African visa, you know that it can be quite confusing. From having to contact embassies in third countries to obtuse rules at customs. A few years back when I was backpacking through Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin, I was asked to provide various documentation from my hosts. This documentation had to be stamped by a high ranking police officer in their countries of residency.

I should mention that I was planning to couchsurf in all these countries. I was also asked to provide proof of bus ticket bookings—despite the fact that you can only get your next bus ticket when you get to a certain city. The administrative hurdles almost made me give up on the trip altogether. The reader will understand why even when I fell terribly ill in Ouagadougou, I was still quite tempted to take the 17 hour bus ride to Lome. After all the money I had spent getting the various visas, the 5+ trips to each of the embassies, only to get a one month single-entry visa, I was not about to cut my trip short.

In 2016, the African Development Bank published the first Africa Visa Openness report. It confirmed what many Africans had always suspected, but never really had numbers to confirm: It's easier for North Americans to travel within Africa than Africans themselves. To be precise, at that time in 2016, Africans needed visas to enter 55 percent of countries on the continent while North Americans only needed them for 45 percent of African countries. In addition, Africans could only get visas on arrival in 25 percent of African countries compared to the 35 percent for North Americans.

Since then, there have been some changes and improvements to visa policies on the continent with some of them being highlighted in the third edition of the Africa Visa Openness report that was published at the end of 2018.

Okayafrica rounds up all the important information for the African wanderluster looking to travel on the continent!

• Contrary to what you would expect, the strongest African passport for traveling within Africa isn't South Africa, but Kenya. A Kenyan passport can get you to 33 African countries (18 visa free, 15 visa on arrival), compared to 29 countries for an South African passport (16 visa free, 13 on arrival) and 28 for a Nigerian one (17 visa free and 11 on arrival.

• You can now easily access up to date information from the AfDB visa openness site that shows which countries you need a visa for, which ones you can get on arrival and which ones you must apply for before travel. The data is available for all African countries and periodically verified with data from The International Air Transport Association. This is a relief! No need to spend hours on the phone trying to reach embassies that might not even be in your country!

• While the continent is still a long way from visa free travel for Africans, there have been great improvements in the past 3 years since the first AfDB visa openness report was released. By the end of 2018, Africans on average do not need visas to travel to 25 percent of other African countries (up from 20 percent in 2016), need visas to travel to 51 percent of other countries (down from 55 percent in 2016) and can get visas on arrival in 24 percent of other countries (down from 25 percent in 2016.) In 2016, only Seychelles allowed visa free entry to all Africans. By the end of 2018 Benin also scrapped all visas for Africans. From 2016 to mid 2018, 43 countries improved or maintained their visa openness score. Progress is painfully slow but in the right direction.

• The weakest African passports for traveling in the continent are all found in East Africa—Somalia , Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Somalis get visa free travel only to only 2 countries and visa on arrival in 11, Eritreans (3 no visa, 14 on arrival), Sudanese (2 no visa, 15 on arrival), Ethiopians (4 no visa, 14 on arrival) and Djiboutians (4 no visa, 15 on arrival)\

• The countries that are most welcoming to other Africans in terms of not needing visas or giving visas on arrival are Benin & Seychelles (1st place), Rwanda & Togo (2nd place), Guinea-Bissau & Uganda (3rd place), Ghana (4th place) & Cape Verde (5th)

To access my full article on Okayafrica, click here.

Melania Trump's Africa visit

There isn’t much that distinguishes Melania Trump’s recent Africa type trip to the continent from previous ones of other Western celebrities or VVIPs. The right photo-ops have of course been taken—solemn photos in the shadows of Ghana’s slave castles, adorable moments with baby elephants in Nairobi, kissing African babies, and being pictured with as many African children as could be squeezed into such a quick trip.

We Africans have watched from the sidelines with mild amusement or a complete disinterest as we play along with the whole performance wondering what the purpose is.

The most newsworthy item of the whole trip though was the US first lady’s “colonial chic” safari outfit that she donned in Kenya (white shirt, jodhpurs, riding boots and of course the offensive pith helmet.) With not much by way of content to inspire the African and international media, some have focused on the ambivalence about her trip. Another key question among fellow Africans I’ve spoken with has been—what was the purpose of her trip? And who was the intended audience? No one seems to know. With little else to talk about, most of what has been written about her trip focuses on her fashion choices.

Perhaps though, this is a moment to focus on the complete irony of this trip in the light of what the Trump administration represents and does. Melania Trump visited quite a few countries that were definitely on her husband’s list of shithole countries. As she lays a wreath at the slave castle in Ghana promising never to forget the hardships of slaves who were shipped across the Atlantic, Trump continues to attack their descendants when they kneel during the national anthem during football games to protest against police brutality, particularly toward African Americans, and racial oppression.

As the first lady gets playfully bumped by baby elephants at the elephant orphanage in my hometown of Nairobi, one can’t help but contrast this with the president’s own sons (Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump’s) hunting trips to Africa where they get to bump off some wildlife. It also doesn’t help matters that the Trump administration recently lifted an Obama-era ban on elephant trophy imports from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

With her final stop in Egypt —one of the African countries with the highest Muslim populations, one cannot help but think of her husband’s Muslim ban.

As Mrs Trump kisses and hugs black and brown children, one contrasts this scene with that of the Trump Administration taking brown children from their families at the US borders.

To read the full article on Quartz, click here...

Vogue Africa?

Instagram post by Iwear_African * Apr 10, 2018 at 1:58pm UTC

2,239 Likes, 9 Comments - Iwear_African (@iwear_african) on Instagram

On a recent visit to Lagos for a fashion show, veteran supermodel Naomi Campbell called on leading global fashion magazine to start an Africa edition and it’s sparked a bit of debate in Africa’s fashion circles about whether the region really needs Vogue or if Vogue needs Africa. There’s also been some talk about Africa designers and followers doing more to support homegrown fashion publications.

One thing that people on all sides of the debate seem to agree on though is that fashion in Africa is a vibrant, diverse space that does not get enough recognition for how it has influenced global trends. Those who are for Vogue starting an Africa edition believe that it will give the continent’s fashion industry the global visibility it deserves to foster its growth.

Those who are apprehensive about the move fear that Vogue will represent African fashion in a way that only exoticizes and fetishizes African fashion but to the benefit of the West without any real benefits accruing to the cultures and designers who have been responsible for creating and growing Africa’s fashion legacy.

Either way, Vogue would be playing catch-up as African fashion is alive, well and constantly reinventing itself. All one needs to come to this conclusion is simply walk through the streets of Dakar, Addis, Lagos, Nairobi or Accra or “visit” them on Instagram. The appeal of the fashion publication that Anna Wintour revolutionized and the fact that Vogue UK now has a British-Ghanaian editor (Edward Enninful) who is keen to diversify the publication—and in fact masterminded the 2008 all black Vogue Italia top-selling edition—might still not be enough reason for us to believe that a Vogue for Africa is what we need.

Check out my full article for Quartz Africa here. 

The practical guide to traveling around Africa if you’re African

After I wrote an article early last year on the struggles of traveling in Africa on an African passport, I was overwhelmed by the reactions from other Africans who could relate to my experiences.

At the time I was in the process of planning a four-country Francophone West Africa road trip and only sheer wanderlust and love of my continent kept me pushing along to get the visas. Just around that same time, the African Development Bank (AFBD) released its inaugural Africa visa openness report that confirmed it was easier for North Americans and Europeans to travel in Africa than it was for Africans. I was not surprised.

There have been some positive changes in the past year. According to the second edition of the AFDB report, it has become easier within the past year for Africans to travel within the continent. At least a third of African countries have liberalized their visa policies in the past year and this trend is expected to continue. Most African countries have either gone up in the visa openness scores or remained at the same level as before.

Even as visa restrictions are reducing on the continent, there is much to be said about the actual process when one needs a visa.

Other good news is that what the naysayers said would happen with increased intra-African travel (increased crime, terrorism, influx.) has not come to pass. Seychelles—which is classified as a high-income country—has no visa requirements for any Africans and this has been in place for years.

Rwanda, another forerunner in visa openness, offering visa on arrival for almost all African countries, saw a 22% annual growth in African tourists from 2015-2016, but only considered 0.045% of all visitors as suspicious individuals. In 2015, a quarter of all tourists visiting Mauritius were African. Africans are traveling in Africa despite the challenges.

To read the full article, click here -> Quartz

Traveling on an African passport, the Motorola T190 life in the world of i-phones

I had spent close to a week in Bangladesh presenting and participating in the Dhaka Literature Festival in November 2015. After the trip I took a few days off to tour Singapore and Malaysia—both of which I fortunately did not require a visa in advance. My return flight to my hometown, Nairobi, would transit through Istanbul. There was an unavoidable 24-hour layover that the airline would compensate me for in the form of a five-star hotel room during my long wait. I got to Istanbul—exhausted and eager to get to my nice cozy hotel room, shower, and sleep off my jetlag before my long trip to Nairobi.

Airline officials assured me that all I needed to do was get my one-day transit visa for Turkey from a little machine. The first question on the screen read “Are you a citizen of the USA, UK, Germany, France… Chile, South Africa?”

I am a Kenyan citizen.

“Are you holding a valid visa for USA, UK, Germany… Chile, South Africa?”

Uhhmm. No. I am generally issued 10-day visas, two-week visas, one-month visas for certain countries if I am very lucky.

The next message on the screen read, “Unfortunately you are not eligible for a transit visa.” Just like that, I realized that my Turkey experience would be lived at the airport. I got back to the information counter sad at the realization that a valid Chilean visa was more readily accepted than my Kenyan passport.

I was led to a huge football stadium of a bedroom—filled with other black people, brown people, and some Arabs – those of us passport undesirables. I was shown my makeshift bed, given a pillow and a thin blanket. “You can stay here ’til your flight, tomorrow.”

It made me think of all the indignities I and so many other Africans suffer at the hands of immigration officials.

Full article available on Quartz. 

The new musical trends taking over Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone Africa

Dancefloors all over the continent are rocking to a new beat – unlike that of previous decades, this new sound is a homegrown one. Africans are increasingly listening to and dancing to African music. What makes this trend even more exciting are all the cross-country collaborations that are bringing musical genres and cultures to other countries. Whether it is Angolan zouk kizomba dance classes in Accra, Kenyan comedians speaking in Nigerian pidgin or Anglophone/Francophone collaborations, one thing is clear – our music is traversing borders in a way that our people might not yet be able to.

In Francophone Africa, there is no ignoring the power and influence of Ivorian Coupé-Décalé. A literal translation of Coupé-Décalé is “to cheat” and “run away.” Having originated in Parisian night clubs in the early 2000s, brought to the French capital by Ivorian DJs, the music initially celebrated Africans who were living the migrant dream, they had struggled as most migrants do and eventually make it -  many times through illegal means. The popularity of the music grew at the time of the first Ivorian Civil War (20002 – 2007) when a dispirited population needed to believe in the migrant dream – of escaping challenges back home and finding fame and fortune abroad.

Coupé-Décalé is extremely percussive featuring deep bass and repetitive minimalist arrangements. Vocals of most songs are usually about looking forward to a better future (e.g. Oudy 1er’s“Never give up”) about enjoying life despite its challenges (e.g. Molare’s “Sauvagement”, “Tu es fou elle est folle”), about an ideal pan-African existence (e.g. Serge Beynaud’s “okeninkpin” and “Kababléké”) and to a lesser extent about making money and living thegood life (e.g. Jodi’s “Beaucoup d’argent”, Dj Arafat’s “Gbinchin Pintin”) – this is in contrast to Nigerian afrobeats where the theme of making and “chopping” money seems to be more central to the theme of enjoying yourself, dancing, letting loose etc. In Ivorian Coupé-Décalé it is clear that dancing comes first, the popping of champagne bottles, the expensive cars and the fancy houses are merely a backdrop for the enjoyment.

When it comes to lyrics, Coupé-Décalé favors simple repetitive lyrics that match well to a dance. There is also an acceptance of a variety of voice types (almost mostly male)– from the raspy sounds of Dj Arafat and Debordo Leekunfa (“Shake your body”, “Apéritif yamoukidi") to the harmonious melodies of Serge Beynaud (“Talehi”, Mawa Naya” “C nous les boss”,) Shado Chris (“J'S8 Jahin Pret”) and Bebi Philip (“Move”, “Balaumba”, “On Va Piétiner”). Most Coupé-Décalé songs have a unique dance that quickly spreads throughout clubs in Abidjan and eventually to other cities. It is a typical sight to have hundreds of people all lined up in a club in Abidjan facing the mirror (as most people dance facing a giant mirror on the dancefloor) dancing for hours to a Coupé-Décalé set in perfect harmony. Coupé-Décalé is to be danced to and lyrics such as “Bougez/move”, “Levez les mains/raise your hands”, “Avancez, Reculez/ Move forward, Move back,” are quite common.  Though extremely quick dance music dominates the Coupé-Décalé scene, special mention must be given to artists who are challenging the status quo. Female musician Josey is managing to get continuous airplay with her slower catchy tunes mostly focusing on love and heartache (“On fait rien avec ca”, “Diplome”.) One thing is for sure – Coupé-Décalé will make you dance – whether you understand the lyrics or not.

From Lusophone Africa (Portuguese speaking countries) – Zouk Kizomba is working its way across African dancefloors and radio stations. Dominated by artists from Angola and Cape Verde, this sweet, seductive sound is winning converts, even if only a small fraction of the continent speaks Portuguese. Kizomba is the evolution of an Angolan dance genre from the 1950s – semba and its marriage with a Cape Verdean musical genre – Passada. Cape Verdean immigrants to France in the 1980s encountered Compas – a musical style from Dominica, French Antilles, Martinique and Guadeloupe. They incorporated its beats and rhythms to it and this musical genre got imported back to Cape Verde – not difficult to do for a country where more of its citizens live outside the country than inside it (Cape Verde.) The music spread through Portuguese speaking countries and when it made its way to Angola, it had the effect of slowing down the tempo of semba dances. Today this musical genre is famous in lusophone Africa and beyond and goes by various names including zouk kizomba, kizomba etc.

Stylistically kizomba has a slow, insistent, sensuous rhythm created via electronic percussion. It is danced accompanied by a partner, very smoothly, slowly and sensuously. There are frequent simultaneous hip rotations between dance partners, particularly in the quieter refrains of the music – and quiet refrains are quite common in kizomba. This is a dance for lovers. The main theme of zouk kizomba is love, longing and loss.

Contemporary kizomba musicians and songs to watch out for are: Cape Verdean, Netherlands based musician Nelson Freitas (“Rebound chick”, “Miúda Linda”, “Something good”, “Simple girl”), Angolan C4 Pedro (“Bo tem mel”, “African beauty”, “Spexta one”, “Robocop”), Congolese Kaysha’s kizomba remixes of US hits (“Diamonds”, “Drunk in love”, “All of me”), Cape Verdean, France based Jennifer Dias (“Sorry remix”, “I need you so”, “Viens danser”, “Reste avec moi” and “Femmes Fatales 5”.) You will definitely fall in love with kizomba and its enchanting beats and the angelic voices behind the music.

Last and definitely not least is music from Anglophone Africa. Nigerian afrobeats has taken over the continent resulting in several cross-country collaborations (J. Martins featuring Dj Arafat “Touchin Body”, Diamond featuring Davido, “Number one”, Diamond Platnumz Ft Mr Flavour “Nana”) and interesting remixes that cut across language barriers. Modern day Nigerian afrobeats clearly marks the country’s cultural dominance on the continent. First Nollywood, now the music – Nigeria is quickly determining what is considered as contemporary African culture. The influence of contemporary Nigerian music has gone even beyond African borders to the West. D-Banj’s “Oliver Twist” and “Fall in love” are as much at home in clubs in Lagos, Kampala and Durban as they are in London, Boston or Amsterdam. Davido & Meek-Mill’s (“Fans mi”), P-Square and Rick Ross’ (“Beautiful Onyinye”) – Afro-beats, hiphop collaborations are now becoming commonplace.

Nigerian afro-beats was initially typified by the presence of the talking drum, but electronic music is increasingly replacing traditional percussion instruments. Nigerian afrobeats is now best known by the use of some key elements – Nigerian pidgin, modern Ankara outfits (Tiwa Savage, Chindinma, Yemi Alade etc.) In terms of themes, the overarching one is wealth, fame and fortune (Davido ft. Olamide “The money”, P-Square ft. Don Jazzy “Collabo”). Sub-themes are (i) Religious gratitude for fame and fortune (Koredo Bello’s “Godwin”, Yemi Alade “Na gode” and Wizkid’s“Ojualegba”) (ii) Love mostly ending in a grand engagement or marital bliss, wealth, fame and fortune (a grand wedding with breathtaking views, Bentleys in the background, private jets landing, speedboats carrying champagne and dollars, foreign violinists is usually required for this.) e.g. Flavour Ft. Chidinma “Ololufe”, D’Banj’s “Fall in love”, Flavour “Ada ada”, Davido’s “Aye” and Tiwa Savage’s “My Darlin’.”

Of course there are some outlier songs and artists in the Nigerian afro-beats sphere, though the typical song that crosses the continent tends to follow the three main themes above. Credit has to be given to Nigerian afro-jazz/soul musician Omawumi for “If you ask me”, tackling the issue of incest and abuse. A song that will not soon be forgotten is Yemi Alade’s “Johnny” on dealing with serial philanderers. We cannot forget the strong neo-feminist stance of Tiwa Savage’s “Kele kele love” or the absolute dance-ability of Burna Boy’s “Yawa Dey” or Patoranking’s “Mywoman.”

No matter what one’s opinions are about the subject matter of the music, we do have to accept that it is an exciting thing indeed to see Africans embracing music by our own people, in our languages, telling our own stories. This is part of a larger cultural trend seeing Africans looking inside to reclaim what we might have lost. As the Sankofa bird symbol of the Akan tribe reminds us, “It is not taboo to go back to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.”

Beyond the Africa Visa country openness index – what are the barriers to Africans traveling to other African countries?

The African Development Bank (AfDB) recently put out an Africa Visa Openness report – the first of its kind – assessing how easy it is for African travelers to visit other countries on the continent. For me, this report could not have been more timely.  I am a Kenyan citizen. At the time I was in Ivory Coast jumping over very many huddles as I tried to obtain the necessary visas that would take me on a road trip from Abidjan to Bobo and Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, to Lome in Togo, to Cotonou and Ouidah in Benin and finally get me back to Abidjan in good time to catch my flight back to Nairobi. I cannot fully explain the incredulous looks on the visa officers’ faces when I said I was not visiting friends or family in those countries but simply traveling as a tourist. “Then you need to show us confirmed hotel bookings if you cannot provide all these documentation from your host.” At this point I should mention that not only was my non-existent “host” in those countries required to send me an invitation letter, proof of their residency in the country, but these documents had to be signed and stamped by a high ranking police officer based in their home area. I wondered, “Hotel bookings? I am traveling by bus, how could I possibly know what exact dates I will get to these cities, how long I will stay etc.” I definitely did not mention I was planning to couchsurf in the different cities. I quickly learned that as an African traveler that there is no room for spontaneity – when traveling you need to have every single aspect of your trip planned.

I have traveled to 42 countries worldwide, 16 of them in Africa. I can claim to be an unofficial expert on visa affairs. What surprises me the most is that having made my peace that I will almost always be treated with a certain level of suspicion when traveling outside the continent, especially when I claim to be traveling simply for wanderlust – not as an economic migrant or a refugee, and not helping my cause in any way by being a single African woman – a segment I have increasingly began to understand is considered a flight risk, I thought my travel experiences on the continent would be easier. I was ready for my continent to embrace me with open arms and tell me “We trust each other, even if the world doesn’t trust us.” I hate to admit it, but actually traveling within the African continent as an African is not any easier. Even the African Development Bank agrees, stating “North Americans have easier travel access to the continent than African themselves. North Americans require a visa to travel to 45% of African countries, can get visas on arrival in 35% of African countries and don’t need a visa in 20% of African countries. Africans on the other hand need visas to travel to 55% of other African countries, can get visas on arrival in 25% of other countries and don’t need a visa to travel to 20% of other countries.”

While the requirement of having a visa and all the documentation that needs to be provided is highly restrictive, I chose to focus on additional factors that would make a middle class African more willing to go to Dubai, London or Paris on vacation rather than immediately thinking of going to another African country. This is a great loss to the continent as it means collectively we are not yet benefitting from the “Africa rising” rhetoric if huge proportions of tourist spending is not used within the continent.

Cost of visas – From my experience traveling, costs of visas to some African countries are unbelievably high. A one month multiple entry visa to Ivory Coast is $125 for a Kenyan. My visas to Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin ranged between $65 - $120 each for one month visas (single entry in some cases.)

Duration of visas – Most African countries are still only willing to give one month single entry visas to other African visitors (with a multiple entry visa for that same time-frame almost being twice as expensive.) Given all the hurdles one has to cross to obtain some of these African visas, the least that can be expected is not to have to go through the same process every time someone travels to the same country again.

Ambiguity of visa processes – Google any telephone number for an African country you know little about, but would really love to travel to. It is highly likely you will not find contact details for their embassy in your country (perhaps they do not have an embassy in your country.) If they do have an embassy in your country, it is very likely their website was last updated before the new millennium. Try calling the number on the website and it will likely not go through or you will get a message that the number no longer exists. Send an email to the general email address on the site and it will likely bounce back. You will have to go in person and even then you might arrive and have the guard tell you they only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am – 2pm. Eventually you might give up and decide to travel elsewhere.

Inflexible bureaucracy – Many times the consulates have a check-list that they will not make any compromises on. When applying for my Beninois visa at the consulate in Abidjan, they needed my airline ticket. I told them I would be traveling by bus and they asked for my bus ticket. When I mentioned that would be the 5th or 6th long distance bus of my trip – and as such I did not yet have it and would have to book it along the way, they insisted I purchase my first bus ticket (Abidjan to Bobo in Burkina Faso) and bring it to them before they could process my application. How does me having a bus ticket from Ivory Coast to Burkina Faso, prove I won’t disappear in Benin? I’m not quite sure, but they somehow think it does.

The remaining set of factors, I describe as the chicken and egg factors. Perhaps they are the way they are because there is not enough intra-African traffic moving between the countries, or perhaps there is minimal intra-african traffic because of these factors.

Flight costs – It is sometimes said as a joke, but at any given point it is much cheaper (50-70% cheaper) to fly to Europe, the UAE and sometimes North America than it is to fly within the African continent. A quick internet search for flights, and you will find return flights at over $1000 from Nairobi to Maputo, over $1200 for Nairobi to Dakar, Nairobi to Zanzibar $300. A similar search for flights and you will find return tickets from Nairobi to Dubai for $350, Nairobi to London - $600 and Dakar to Paris - $600. Coupled with the visa challenges, it is easy to see how even well-traveled Africans might just not be well-traveled on the continent. Traveling round our own continent is a labor of love.

Shortage of tourist facilities – While tourist facilities are really well developed in some African countries, the reality is that in others they are severely lagging behind. It is not surprising given some of these countries have not historically been seen as tourist attractions and have rarely been visited by tourists. In many cases the main interactions such countries have had with foreigners is with aid workers, NGO employees etc. As such a tourism industry has not developed – facilities will be poor and overpriced in many cases. If it was however easier for people (including Africans) to travel to such countries, one can envision a scenario where an entrepreneur would then put in the necessary facilities to attract tourists. Even if one is trying to travel cheaply and stay in hostels, you quickly realize that “hostel” in Africa is rarely synonymous with hostels in other regions that have a backpacking culture – Europe, South America and Asia. It is noteworthy though that even in the most challenged of African countries, there is likely natural beauty, history and culture around which a tourism industry could be developed. A few years back I spent a few weeks in the Comoros Islands. I was equally amazed by how beautiful the country was, how unique the culture was but also dismayed that this country that could likely be compared to Seychelles in natural beauty, is one of the poorest in the world.

So what are the solutions? The African Development Bank report states them well: (i) Visa on arrival for Africans – Progress is being made in some countries e.g. from last year Kenyans are able to get a visa on arrival in Lagos for $25. (ii) Visa free regional blocs – Those largely exist in SSA in West Africa (ECOWAS), East Africa (EAC) and Southern Africa (SADC). The next step after this is moving to reciprocity for regional blocs – essentially if all one needs is a single visa to enter ECOWAS region even if from a different region e.g. EAC or SADC, this would greatly improve the current system. If another African travels to East Africa shouldn’t they be able to go the Maasai Mara in Kenya, visit the island of Zanzibar in Tanzania, attend a gorilla naming ceremony in Rwanda and swim in Lake Tanganyika in Burundi all on the same visa? The Schengen visa is a model we can build upon – thinking as a region rather than as a country. (iii) Multi-year visas – 5-10 year visas requiring the candidate to leave every 6 months or so would go a long way in encouraging repeat trips. Even at a substantial cost, many would be willing to forego all the hassle of applying for visas to the same countries every few months. (iv)Promoting positive reciprocity and opening up on visas unilaterally – Several African countries have already taken this up and we should see it happen on a larger scale. Seychelles offers visa free travel to all African citizens. Senegal recently got rid of visa requirements for most nationalities. Rwanda is one of the two most visa open countries in Africa (second to Mauritius). The effects have been positive with increased trade, tourism and investment in the past few years. GDP growth increased to 7% in 2014 and tourism revenues rose by 4% to USD 305 million. In 2013, the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that Kenya would eliminate visas for African states on a reciprocal basis and there has been progress on this. (v) Simplifying visa processes and (vi) Improving access to information online and in different languages.

The continent needs to capitalize on ways to increase intra-african travel with the aim of fostering unity and understanding and increasing trade and investment. On the demand side, there is no shortage of Africans who would love to see our continent with our own eyes. 

 First published on Suluzulu, republished by Quartz and World Economic Forum