I mostly do this for myself. I like it. It’s fun. I like discovering music and sharing it. I love sites like Pitchfork and Okayplayer – they can be a little overwhelming with the amount of stuff they have so I know I would appreciate a site that carefully curated good music and fed it to me (almost )every Friday.
The world cup was always going to be a reoccurring theme this year. This first video from Stormae is great fun and helps you to realise how good a team the Belgians have. On a serious note, the conversations that we are having now about nationalism, closing borders, whether we should be in the EU or out – it’s all bull. Football – the people’s game (well most of the people – clearly demonstrates that diversity works. My father used to lament the plight of the any unsuccessful England team by stating they would be much better if they had more black people. I wouldn’t go that far but when you look at France, Switzerland and now Belgium, you can see how integrating other nationalities can add to a football culture. Germany is a prime example of what that modern European team looks like – with Turks, Ghanaians and even the Poles happy to be identified as German. I was speaking to a friend this week and we are both in favour of an EU passport. I don’t feel particularly English, nor do I feel Sierra Leonean but I would happily state that I was African European – more so European as that is where I have spent most of my life.
So, onto the music. This did make me smile. It’s not a full song, more a vignette and as I said, feature the Belgian national team. And yes, put some money on them reaching the semi finals of the world cup right now.
As fun as that is, the initial video from Stromae that caught my eye was for the song Papaoutai which is about absent fathers. It’s a rather imaginative video too – evidently he has a knack for the visuals.
In Angola, it’s all about Kuduro which is the sound that Buraka Som Sistema are know for. For this song by Ary, we head to Angola for some beautiful voices, great dancing and a bit of social commentary.
Enjoy and have a great weekend.
Happy Mother’s Day!