Artists

Founded in 1905, Nadi Ikhwan Safaa can probably trace its roots back further than any other orchestra in Africa.

At first, the group played Egyptian and Arabic music. In the early 1950s, they started composing their own songs with Swahili lyrics. Since then, Ikhwan Safaa - or ‘Malindi Taarab’, as they read more

Nomfusi is a self-taught singer-songwriter, whose music incorporates afropop, afrosoul, gospel and ballads with maskandi guitars and other sounds of the townships.

As a young girl, Nomfusi used to accompany her mother to weekly sangoma rituals, where she developed interest in music, singing and dancing.

She is now revered across the world read more

Sampa The Great weaves lyrical mazes with her thought provoking verses, drawing listeners into a lush, imaginative world.

Her music bonds from spoken-word to rap, with stops at psychedelic and blues along the way; it’s the sound of an adventurous young mind pushing against all boundaries.

Sampa’s rise has been spectacular. After read more

Sholo Mwamba is a multi-award winning figure in Singeli, a genre-bending, uptempo musical style that was born in the backstreets of Dar es Salaam but has grown to become a mainstream Tanzanian sound.

His high-energy performances and extravagant stage garb, coupled with his spitfire vocal delivery, have been instrumental in defining read more

Rooted in a mystic Island in the Indian Ocean, carrying influences from ancient Arab, Turkish, Indian, and African musical traditions whilst fusing them with contemporary music from Jazz to Funk to Reggae and beyond, Siti & The Band are the rising stars from the East African region presenting a virtuous read more

Born Jabulani Hadebe in Kwa Zulu Natal, South African singer Sjava is among the wave of artists creatively fusing hiphop and R&B with indigenous sounds.

His rise to fame began whilst acting since 2005, appearing in several films including uGugu no Andile and the drama series Zone 14, where he starred read more