Spotify's Wrapped 2025 results are in, and South Africa has made one thing clear: this was the year of local heroes.

Last year we saw a hint of what was to come. This year, however, we’ve had the genre’s promise come to fruition, blossoming to legitimately rival Afrobeats as the most popular sound in Africa.

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 ...

Kenya’s music scene has seen great changes since the colonial days, with many local singers finding fame through protest songs. One iconic example is the late Joseph Kamaru, a Kikuyu musician who is ...

Nomcebo Zikode, the South African singer of the pandemic hit “Jerusalema” that inspired a global dance challenge, wrote the chorus while battling her own depression. By Lynsey Chutel Reporting from ...