I just got back to Asia after being gone for like 2 1/2 months. And as much as I don't love Singapore (it's fine, I don't dislike it or anything, but it's not the most exciting place), I actually could not wait to be back here. I think it was the food that did it. Food in rural Germany is not the most exciting thing, and there are not many options. And worst of all there is an utter lack of anything spicy. And if you know me, you know I rarely go a day without eating something spicy.
The point of the above paragraph was twofold: first to make sure you know how much I like spicy food, and second to inform you that I am jetlagged and my brain is not working properly, so I'm going to forgo the storytelling and my usual poor attempts at wittiness and just get on to the music. But not to worry, I will get slightly off topic below.
It's a bit of a medley this time. I've found a few African artists I really like lately (of course I would do this when I'm no longer living in Africa), so I thought I'd just share a song from each of them.
The first is Rokia Traoré,a Malian singer who sings mostly in Bambara and French. On her new album, Beautiful Africa, she sings in English a bit too, which sounds weird to me. But she's great, and Mali is a great country, at least based on the little bit of it that I've seen. I would actually really like to go back and properly visit sometime. Kouma is one of my favourites off said new album.
Then there's Bombino, a Nigerien singer. From Niger, not Nigeria. Unlike Mali, Niger is not a great country. Granted I was only there for like 24 hours, but what I saw was pretty barren. Then we were meant to stay in what we were told was the second nicest hotel in Niamey, but there were cockroaches in the beds. Not just in the rooms, but actually in the beds. Like on my pillow. We changed hotels.
Also getting into the country was really sketchy. Technically you need a visa in advance, but our contacts set it up so we could get visas on arrival. This involved the police taking my passport at the border, sending it to HQ in Niamey to process the visa, and giving it back to me about an hour before I flew out of the country. So basically I had no passport the entire time I was there and almost missed my flight to leave cause we were waiting for the visa. I guess it's better than when I went to Cote d'Ivoire. Same visa situation as Niger, but they didn't even bother to give me the visa when I landed in Abidjan. Instead, they just kept my passport at the airport and told me to pick it up on the way out of the country. So I actually have on record in my passport of ever having visited.
But I digress. Bombino also put out a new album this year, Nomad. It's pretty fantastic Tuareg rock, sung in Tamashek (I only know this because of Wikipedia). I think it makes great driving music. Actually I think most African music I like makes great driving music. Here's Amidinine, the opening track.
And last but not least comes John Wizards. This is a group, not a person, from Cape Town. Much like Mali, Cape Town is also great. In fact, I'd say it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And not just Cape Town, but the whole surrounding region. The singer is apparently from Rwanda, though, another wonderful African country. In fact Kigali is one of the 3 cities in Africa that I would actually be happy to live in (the others being Cape Town and Maputo). It's safe, beautiful, the people are nice, and they've done an excellent job of recovering from their history. It also seems to have a really vibrant, young expat community full of people doing interesting things, and there's lots of opportunity in that country. But again, I digress.
John Wizards self-titled debut album came out this year and it's kind of weird, but I kind of really like it. And the more I listen to it the more I like it. My favourite track is Muizenberg, which also happens to be a small surfer town just south of Cape Town.
The point of the above paragraph was twofold: first to make sure you know how much I like spicy food, and second to inform you that I am jetlagged and my brain is not working properly, so I'm going to forgo the storytelling and my usual poor attempts at wittiness and just get on to the music. But not to worry, I will get slightly off topic below.
It's a bit of a medley this time. I've found a few African artists I really like lately (of course I would do this when I'm no longer living in Africa), so I thought I'd just share a song from each of them.
The first is Rokia Traoré,a Malian singer who sings mostly in Bambara and French. On her new album, Beautiful Africa, she sings in English a bit too, which sounds weird to me. But she's great, and Mali is a great country, at least based on the little bit of it that I've seen. I would actually really like to go back and properly visit sometime. Kouma is one of my favourites off said new album.
Then there's Bombino, a Nigerien singer. From Niger, not Nigeria. Unlike Mali, Niger is not a great country. Granted I was only there for like 24 hours, but what I saw was pretty barren. Then we were meant to stay in what we were told was the second nicest hotel in Niamey, but there were cockroaches in the beds. Not just in the rooms, but actually in the beds. Like on my pillow. We changed hotels.
Also getting into the country was really sketchy. Technically you need a visa in advance, but our contacts set it up so we could get visas on arrival. This involved the police taking my passport at the border, sending it to HQ in Niamey to process the visa, and giving it back to me about an hour before I flew out of the country. So basically I had no passport the entire time I was there and almost missed my flight to leave cause we were waiting for the visa. I guess it's better than when I went to Cote d'Ivoire. Same visa situation as Niger, but they didn't even bother to give me the visa when I landed in Abidjan. Instead, they just kept my passport at the airport and told me to pick it up on the way out of the country. So I actually have on record in my passport of ever having visited.
But I digress. Bombino also put out a new album this year, Nomad. It's pretty fantastic Tuareg rock, sung in Tamashek (I only know this because of Wikipedia). I think it makes great driving music. Actually I think most African music I like makes great driving music. Here's Amidinine, the opening track.
And last but not least comes John Wizards. This is a group, not a person, from Cape Town. Much like Mali, Cape Town is also great. In fact, I'd say it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And not just Cape Town, but the whole surrounding region. The singer is apparently from Rwanda, though, another wonderful African country. In fact Kigali is one of the 3 cities in Africa that I would actually be happy to live in (the others being Cape Town and Maputo). It's safe, beautiful, the people are nice, and they've done an excellent job of recovering from their history. It also seems to have a really vibrant, young expat community full of people doing interesting things, and there's lots of opportunity in that country. But again, I digress.
John Wizards self-titled debut album came out this year and it's kind of weird, but I kind of really like it. And the more I listen to it the more I like it. My favourite track is Muizenberg, which also happens to be a small surfer town just south of Cape Town.
So to summarize: Mali, Cape Town and Rwanda - good. Niger - not so good. But still better than Senegal. Senegal is horrible. It's probably my least favourite country not just in Africa, but in the world. And I've been 3 times. I hope I never have to go again. But to end on a positive note, at least Senegalese food is delicious. I'll take Yassa poullet and a bissap any day.
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