Those of you who've been following our African odyssey will know that we we have recently visited Namibia. This means the next two stops will be Niger and Nigeria.
I am lucky enough to have an abundance of fantastic music from both countries and will only be able to feature a small percentage of it in each case. At earlier stops on the tour I have left out some of the big stars to make room for lesser known names, and will be doing the same again. As a result there will be no Mdou Moctar when we get to Niger and no Fela Kuti in Nigeria.
However it would be wrong not to acknowledge them at all. Mr Moctar is one of the hottest acts out of Africa at the moment while Mr Kuti is arguably the most influential African musician ever. So as it is a Monday we have a very long song from each of them for you (apparently that is a thing in some quarters).
Both of them have teamed up with Americans on these tracks. In Mdou's case he is joined by Elite Beat from Portland, Oregon. They had a jam session in 2017 during which they reworked this track from his then new album "Sousoume Tamachek" (also the title track of his homemade and heavily auto-tuned 2008 debut).
Meanwhile, way back in 1980, Fela and Roy Ayers got together in Lagos to produce "Music Of Many Colours". Each contributed one side-long song to the album. This is Fela's, with Roy guesting on vibes.
You'll need 35 minutes to listen to both tracks - going up to a full hour if you also watch the videos - so maybe get a cup of tea before you start.
"Anar" - Mdou Moctar & Elite Beat
"Africa Centre Of The World" - Fela Kuti & Africa '70 (with Roy Ayers)
The track on that Fela Kuti video is fantastic. It's one of those tracks that makes me stop what I'm doing (reading the news, since you ask) and simply listen to it.
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