Star Feminine Band, hardest working women in Beninese show business, are releasing their third album on Born Bad, who went all out for their first. Some get malaria at the sight of that sticky world label : rest assured, the world is all they deserve after nine years of hard work. These eight young women, from a village that even Beninese can't quite place, started out in hard mode. They had to convince themselves that it was worth a shot, but also their family, their village and an entire continent.

Family Affair, a new album by Senegalese bassist and composer Alune Wade in collaboration with New Orleans's Neighborhood Story Project, is rooted in Afro-Atlantic memory and contemporary dialogue. In the fall of 2026, it will be released alongside their documentary film TUKKI: From the Roots to the Bayou and accompanying book A Family Affair: Conversations Across the Atlantic (University of New Orleans Press).

In the 1980s, Mogadishu was home to one of East Africa's most vibrant music scenes, where Somali melodies met funk, disco, reggae, soul and jazz. At its centre was Dur-Dur Band, founded by drummer Adan Handal and childhood friend Isse Dahir Qassim.

Teranga, the final album in the Wau Wau Collectif trilogy, the dreamy cross-cultural collaboration across cultures, finds the band finally coming together. Taking its name from the Wolof word “teranga” is used to express a welcomeness, a hospitality to others, and something loosely as a shared meeting - an apt title for the album that is an expression of a meeting.

The making of Congo Funk!, our long-awaited journey to the musical heart of the African continent, took the Analog Africa Team on two journeys to Kinshasa and one to Brazzaville. Selected meticulously from around 2000 songs and boiled down to 14, this compilation aims to showcase the many facets of the funky, hypnotic and schizophrenic tunes emanating from the two Congolese capitals nestled on the banks of the Congo River.

Strut presents Nigeria 80, the next essential chapter in the legendary Nigeria 70 series, diving deep into the explosive sound world of 1980s Nigeria.

A much desired reissue of another obscure Afro-Jazz piece of vinyl. This is legendary percussionist and activist Olatunji's classic album originally released in 1961 and featuring Jazz heavyweights such as Yusef Lateef - Clark Terry, George Duvivier, and master percussionists like Ray Barreto and Montego Joe among others. Zungo sounds as some sort of an ongoing orgy in Afro percussion grooves with Olatunji at the head of a large and varied group including horns, guitar, bass, multiple percussion and drums, plus a 13 piece choir.

The wider world is not very aware of Malawi in musical terms. For every Malawian artist that’s toured Europe, there are so many more who are only known to their communities and their countrymen. Even within Malawi, many of these traditions and musicians are little known and in danger of being lost, so it’s with great urgency that organizations like the Jacaranda Foundation have been working to highlight and present Malawian artists.

Cascading hip-hop rhythms duel with flamboyant saxophone, cool vocals and frenzied congas”. “Manu Dibango’s concerts are a privileged happening”. A crowd of 40,000 at Yankee Stadium, and 35,000 more in Madison Square Garden joined with Manu Dibango on a unique soul trip, as he united Africa, Europe and the U.S.A, with his monumental hit “Soul Makossa.”

A companion mini-album to Heavy Combination, last year’s career-spanning compilation documenting some of the amazing music recorded over five decades by the late Joseph Kamaru, a towering figure in post-colonial Kenyan culture. This new record presents five more gems from the archives, chosen by Disciples and Joseph Kamaru’s grandson, the sound artist KMRU. Carefully remastered from original tape transfers, with liner notes by Kenyan academic Maina wa Mũtonya.

There are some artistic collaboration’s that are both unexpected and the fruits of that liaison very often fail to see the light of day. This was so nearly the case when it came to the Bristol and Zimbabwe collision that would be between former Bhundu Boys frontman, Biggie Tembo, and the sonic sculptors that were Startled Insects.

The legendary singer Salif Keita makes a grand return with So Kono, an acoustic and deeply intimate album.

Underground to overground. Forest to metropolis. North Africa and South Africa, meeting up, digging down, finding gold in the seams. Here, at the intersection of club floor and ritual, of electronics and ceremony, are worlds both ancient and modern. Otherworlds, where inhibitions fall away, dancers shakedown and trance takes you out there, and far away.

Grammy-nominated Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara returns in 2026 with MASSA, her most personal work to date. Introspective and powerful, the album explores motherhood, faith, memory, and resilience, transforming intimate reflection into universal storytelling. Through these songs, Fatoumata invites listeners, of all backgrounds, to embrace gratitude and accept that destiny is an inevitable part of the human journey. The album also carries a moving tribute to her late father, whose love continues to guide her beyond his passing.

From soulful Sahara blues to mesmerizing mbira melodies from Zimbabwe, African Sojourn offers an expansive yet intimate journey across a continent rich with music and culture. Putumayo's latest African collection brings together singer-songwriters and troubadours from north to south, east to west, who, despite their diversity, share songs united by enchanting melodies, soulful rhythms and rich storytelling. Singing a wide array of languages and performing with local acoustic instruments such as the kora, balafón and mbira, these exceptional artists share stories of love, land, identity, and resilience that are rooted in local traditions yet open to the world.