Beninese singer/songwriter Angelique Kidjo has recently joined forces once again with Nigerian musician Yemi Alade to give life to a new single inspired by the #ENDSARS movement rallying across Nigeria: https://angeliquekidjo.lnk.to/Dignity The song is dedicated to the ones who lost their life in the demonstrations against police brutality in the...
Tag Archives: Benin
It goes without saying that we will miss Bandcamp Fridays… Today, till midnight (Pacific Time), is indeed the last appointment with one of our favourite initiatives meant to support and bring some well-deserved fee-free income to the pocketsof labels and musicians. So, to celebrate the 10th Bandcamp Friday of this...
![Album Review: Various Artists – African Scream Contest 2 [Analog Africa; May 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/african-scream-335x335.jpg)
Once again, our eyes are opened to a world of music and rhythm, hidden between two musical powerhouses. We twist and turn through the funky, ska, afrobeat, soul, jazz and psychedelic sounds of Benin and Togo. Ten years after its predecessor, African Scream Contest 2 opens more doors, as well...
![Preview: The T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou & Minyanta @ Jazz Café [London; 15th June 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/orchestre-poly-rithmo-335x176.jpg)
For the forthcoming month of June one of the most alluring music events of the year will take place once again at Jazz Café. It is a chance to see two incredible acts entwining threads of music legacies; incomparable groove and afro-funk perfectionism are the forces opening the doors on...
Alongside Fela Kuti and Africa ‘70, Ali Farka Touré and Angélique Kidjo, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo are one of West Africa’s most cherished and ground-breaking acts. The afro-funk outfit, who formed fifty years ago in Benin, will play their first ever Manchester show at Band on the Wall on 21st June. The...
Ever wondered what to do in London and when and where to go to listen to some good music? Don’t ask twice, we’re here for you… SOAS Radio opened its doors to us for a brand new episode of Rhythm Passport on Air. “Tune in” by clicking on the player below and...
![Album Review: Les Amazones d’Afrique – République Amazone [Real World Records, 10th March 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/les-amazones-dafrique-335x335.jpg)
République Amazone, is a work, crafted by a supergroup of ten divas of African music – Les Amazones d’Afrique, the most well known of them being Beninese international superstar Angelique Kidjo. The album, lively from beginning to end, is primarily concerned with melding rhythm, elegance, and a message against the...
When you talk with Samy Ben Redjeb, future and past become synonyms and mingle with each other. The founder of the German label, Analog Africa, has brought vintage sounds coming from all over the African Continent to the present and set free their cutting-edge characters. That’s why, when you ask him...
Originally formed in 1966 in the coastal town of Cotonou, Orchestre Poly Rythmo became one of Benin’s finest exports and, consequently, a flagbearer for African music. With their exuberant brand of afro-funk and party fuelled soukous, their sound and their on-stage energy defy their advancing years. Thanks in no small...
For over 40 years, Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou have been producing their own indomitable brand of voodoo-infused Afro-beat, heavily tinged with highlife and soukous accents. Having disbanded sometime in the mid-eighties, like many other long lost doyens of tribal African dance music, they were rediscovered in the early part...