Weekend African Music in DC #2: Internationally Known West Africa at Tropicalia

Tags

Amkoullel, Chosan, Dumi RIght, Magee McIlvaine, Mali rap, Nomadic Wax, Tropicalia, VOA, Waterflow

Before heading over to Lux Lounge and Timaya late on Friday night, I attended an earlier show at Tropicalia.  That venue has hosted several Internationally Known hip-hop nights over the past year, and Friday’s was the first that I was able to attend.  Sahelblog and a couple of African music watchers from the VOA were also on hand, although the crowd was heartbreakingly small (come on DC!).

Upcoming African Sounds at Tropicalia on U Street

Tags

Alliance Francaise, Amkoullel, Chosan, Leila Gobi, Mamadou Kelly, Nomadic Wax, Noura Mint Seymali, Rap in Mali, Tropicalia

Tropicalia has two upcoming shows with a wide variety of African artists that I plan to try to attend.  On September 29, the Alliance Francaise convenes artists from Mali (Mamadou Kelly and Leila Gobi) and Mauritania (Noura Mint Seymali).  I normally wouldn’t consider myself a big fan of the music of the Sahel, but watching ‘The Last Song Before the War‘ has me motivated to go to this.

Hip-Hop is more my thing, so I’m quite excited about the series that Nomadic Wax will be putting on on October 4.  I’ve been wanting to increase my knowledge of rap in Mali (which I understand has a much more thriving scene than neighboring Niger) so am quite excited about Amkoullel as well as the Sierra Leonean diaspora rapper, Chosan.  You can find full length albums by both on Spotify.

Kudos to Nomadic Wax for this series.  I posted about one installment before, but was unable to attend.