This month’s Top Videos showcases three from the globe-trotting musical collective Africa Express, launched in 2006 and still going strong. Their sixth studio album, Africa Express presents... Bahidorá, (out July 11), brings together 21 tracks involving a host of musicians, singers and DJs AE headlined with at the 2024 Bahidorá Festival in Mexico. After the festival, the team stayed around for an expansive recording session. Beyond that, we have a few wildcards for you, starting with an artist from with Nigeria with a long name you will want to remember!
Check out the full Afropop Top Videos playlist for all our recent selections. And remember, if you have suggestions of videos our fans would love, send them to info@afropop.org with the subject line “Top Videos 2025.” Enjoy!
Banner image of Africa Express artists by Camila Jurado.
Zinoleesky: “ON GO ft. Didi B”
Make way for another meteor rising in the skies of Nigerian music. Zinoleesky’s debut album Gen Z, arrived at #9 on the Billboard world albums chart, and quickly became the #1 album in Nigeria. This track is a collaboration with Ivoirian star Didi B. The video, shot in Abidjan, features Zinoleesky’s guest appearance at The Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, performing at Didi B’s massive hometown showcase. It’s a kinetic, urban romp set to pumped-up, tuneful Afrobeats.
Africa Express featuring Otim Alpha, Bootie Brown, K.O.G & Tom Excell: “Otim Hop”
Ugandan Afrofuturist Otim Alpha delivers an autobiographical rap presenting himself as “a big man running trying to escape poverty.” American Rapper Bootie Brown resonated with the message, and this collaboration was off and running. It’s a tuneful, laid-back hip-hop adventure that builds to a hopeful crescendo.
Africa Express featuring Alansito Vega, Poté & Mare Advertencia: “Mi Lado”
This polished reggaeton number, sung in Spanish, unfolds over a spikey guitar ostinato and a pumping beat. The video shows us a good deal more artists and instruments than we hear on the track, but it gives a rich sense of the variety of artists and styles Africa Express brings together. It also reveals that, for all that polish, some of this epic recording session took place out in the Mexican jungle!
Africa Express featuring Fatoumata Diawara, Moonchild Sanelly & Tom Excell – “Kuduro”
Set to the fast, loopy kuduro beat from Angola, the track roams the continent with vocals from Fatoumata Diawara and Malian balafon, rapping from South African maverick Moonchild Sanelly, and overall gloss from pan-African producer Tom Excell. Africa Express is all about uniting Africa with a 21st century sensibility, and this track expresses the mission beautifully.
Haroldo Bontempo: “Voz e Violão”
Brazilian singer-songwriter Haroldo Bontempo is a well-kept secret from the world. Here, in a live in the studio session from Belo Horizonte, the neo-bossa nova singer and guitarist delivers a gentle, intimate medley of his songs, as he prepares for a tour of Brazil. Blessed relief from the hurly bury of the world…
Neba Solo: “Djon Té Yéré Son”
We don’t generally include audio-only YouTube offerings on this list, but we make an exception for Malian balafon maestro Neba Solo of Kenedougou, a long-time favorite of Afropop’s from whom we have not heard in years. We spent two thrilling weeks with Neba and his band at the 2003 Smithsonian Folkways Festival on the Washington DC mall, an unforgettable experience. The intervening 22 years have done nothing to erode the vim and vigor of the band’s grooving pentatonic boogie. Neba Solo’s new album Tuma Duma includes some tasteful encounters with techno-modernity, but the roots shine through.
PEDRITO MARTINEZ + CIMAFUNK + WAMPI= “FILOSOFANDO EN CLAVE”
No surprise that Cuban percussionist/bandleader extraordinaire is out with more riveting Afro-Cuban music. His collaboration with fellow travelers Cimafunk and breakout singer Wampi is welcome, but also within the open-hearted maestro’s wheelhouse. Now, the fact that this video comes with a deadpan intro from none other than Bill Murray does qualify as a surprise. But all this is peripheral. The music, the dancing, the colors of Havana and the sheer force of Martinez’s incomparable band and devastating musicality are the thing! Lots more on his new album Ilusion Optica, highly recommended.
