Afropop Worldwide Folgen

Ambassador Osayomore Joseph is a living legend of Edo highlife music, well known and respected in Benin City for a long career of creative music and activism, so his kidnapping in October 2017 was particularly shocking to his fans. Producer Morgan Greenstreet brings us the story of Osayomore's ordeal, in the Ambassador's own words.

Kano State in northwest Nigeria is a land of paradox. The ancient home of the Hausa people, it has ties back to the oldest civilizations in West Africa. Muslim since around the 12th century, the region remained largely self-administered during the era of British colonialism, and never significantly adapted Christianity or Western culture and values as in other parts of Nigeria. In 2000, Kano instituted Shariah law. But by that time, the city of Kano was also the center of a large and active film industry, dubbed Kannywood. And it would soon be home to a nascent coterie of hip-hop artists. There have been a series of high-profile conflicts and crises between these forces of religion, politics and art in the years since. But as the Afropop crew discovered, Kano has achieved a delicate balance that allows film and music to continue apace under the watchful eye of clerics and a censorship board. We visit studios producing local nanaye music, with its echoes of Hausa tradition and Indian film music. We also meet young Hausa hip-hop artists striving to develop careers under uniquely challenging circumstances. Produced by Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow

The massive Niger River Delta is a fantastically rich cultural region and ecosystem. Unfortunately, it has been laid low by the brutal Biafran War (1967-70) and by decades of destructive and mismanaged oil exploration. This program offers a portrait of the region in two stories. First, we chronicle the Biafran War through the timeless highlife music of Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson, perhaps the most popular musician in Nigeria at the time. Then we spend time with contemporary musical activists in Port Harcourt’s waterfront communities and in oil-ravaged Ogoniland to hear how music is providing hope for these profoundly challenged communities. The program features new and classic music, the words of Nigerian scholars, musicians, activists and veterans of the Biafran War, concluding with an inspiring live highlife concert on the Port Harcourt waterfront in which rappers and highlife graybeards come together to imagine a better road ahead. Produced by Banning Eyre.