On a chilly October night, the dimly lit lounge of Rock Steady — a popular Afro-Caribbean restaurant in Midtown — is notably empty. Staffers are preparing for what’s supposed to be a busy night ahead.

2024 also bore witness to U.S. breakthroughs for African artists, Young Thug's release from jail, Drake's surprise legal petition and Sean Combs' ongoing legal woes. By Gail Mitchell Well, 2024 is ...

As the music industry gathers for Grammy Week, African music is playing an increasingly prominent role — not only on the awards stage, but across global pop culture. That momentum will be on display ...

The stage at the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music is set to become an acoustic crossroads where the melodies of India meet the rhythms of Africa. As the Indo-African Music Festival approaches, the ...

Artists from the continent are breaking into the Western mainstream. We’ve got a playlist for your weekend cookout. By Desiree Ibekwe This week, The Times published a profile of Tems, a 28-year-old ...

Clockwise from top left: Busiswa Gqulu, Tems, Tula, Amaarae, Moonchild Sannelly, Uncle Waffles, Ayra Starr, Aya Nakamura, and Tiwa Savage. Collage by Ashley Peña Africa, with its 54 countries and more ...

South African superstar Tyla has won her first MTV Video Music Award and used her acceptance speech to educate the global music industry about the rich diversity of African music. The 2024 MTV Video ...

When people say African music is having a “global moment,” they are often talking about only a small part of the continent. “Nigeria and South Africa are dominating the most,” said Tuma Basa, ...

Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye, known as King Sunny Adé, is 80 this year. He has devoted more than 60 years of his life to influencing Nigeria’s popular music and promoting the unique sounds of jùjú music.

Kofi Agawu challenged the idea that African music is something that is ‘felt’ rather than thought about analytically.

The country has a rich, original relationship to jazz, with American techniques layered into regional traditions and rhythms. Explore 50 years of recordings picked by musicians, poets and writers. By ...

Fújì fuses Islamic philosophy and wordsmithing with Yoruba poetry and meaning-making to create sound, idioms and recreational habits. It does this across social classes, from the wealthy in the ...