WILLIAMHAUN

With Ghana’s (ridiculous) loss to Uruguay in the Quarter Finals Africa’s chance at winning Cup on home soil is over. However, you can’t dismiss the fact that the World Cup being held in Africa is a huge win.

While I was in Johannesburg, I saw another big win for Africa – more specifically, a win for African musicians. The day before the World Cup began, FIFA held a 3-hour long “Kick-off Celebration Concert” at Orlando Stadium in the township of Soweto, just outside Johannesburg.

Though the show’s headliners were imported superstar acts like Shakira, Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, and John Legend – in between those performances were African musicians who weren’t as well known to the rest of the world.

Following are my photos of those acts as well as some info about them and links to sample tracks and videos. Enjoy!

Lerato “Lira” Molapo (South Africa)

I hadn’t heard of this young South Africa star before. She opened the concert with famed South African flugelhornist Hugh Masekala. Here’s her video from her single “Feel Good“.

Angélique Kidjo (Benin)

Dubbed the “Queen of African Pop”, Kidjo has been recording since the early 90s. She has been nominated five times for Grammys and won one in 2008 for “Best Contemporary World Music.” She is well-known enough that she got to perform on the center stage at the concert and even did a duet with John Legend (after all, she’s been on the Simpsons, on a Jim Carrey film soundtrack, and has recorded with Santana). You can watch her Kick-Off Concer duet with John Legend here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1m-9LcCMY8

Soweto Gospel Choir (South Africa)

One of the main reasons I was taking pictures at the concert was to photograph the Soweto Gospel Choir. I was expecting them to perform on their own, but they ended up just having supporting roles as backup singers for acts like Shakira, Angélique Kidjo, and others.

Amadou et Mariam (Mali)

This was the act I was most looking forward to. I was really disappointed that they performed only two songs on a small stage while the elaborate Black Eyed Peas set was disassembled. Nonetheless, they killed with “Welcome to Mali”. This couple is so good that they’ve made it on three of my mixtapes.

Vusi Mahlasela (South Africa)

Another South African I wasn’t familiar with, Mahlasela is an “African folk” singer whose music was a big influence during the anti-apartheid movements in the early 90s. Part of his performance was an acoustic guitar instrumental piece to accompany an short documentary about Nelson Mandela.

Boureima “Vieux” Farka Touré (Mali)

Son of the legendary Ali Farka Touré, “Vieux” is a relative newcomer having released his first album in 2006 (months after his father’s death). His music definitely shows off his remarkable talent on the guitar which he inherited from his father. You can watch his performance of “Fafa” at the concert on YouTube.

Tinariwen (Mali/Algeria/Libya)

This group of Tuareg rebels cranks out some serious blues rock with a Middle Eastern twist. I do admit that their style didn’t quite fit in with the energetic pop that made up the Kick-Off Concert. As a result they got a lot of flack (especially from racist Twitter users). Nonetheless, I highly recommend you check out these legendary poet guitarists’ discography. Watch their FIFA performance of “Amassakoul’n'Ténéré” here.

Blk Jks (South Africa)

These Johannesburg locals had a rough start to their set with song on which Alicia Keys joined them. They followed that up with take on a popular apartheid protest song – something that  all the South Africans present loved, but all the foreigners were a bit perplexed by. I’d recommend you look up their polished records released by Secretly Canadian instead of judging them by their World Cup performance.

K’naan (Somalia)

I put K’naan’s “Wavin’ a Flag” on my last mixtape and thought he was still a relatively unknown hip-hop artist. When I got to South Africa he was everywhere! Mainly because Coca-Cola had licensed his song and built their entire World Cup advertising campaign around it. The man that I first heard of thanks to a small NPR SXSW showcase is now and international superstar and I couldn’t be happier for him. My only fear is that he might sell out to the mainstream crowd as the money flows in and the expectations are high. What has me concerned is the way he (or perhaps The Man) rewrote “Wavin’ a Flag” lyrics to make the song that was originally about his troubled & traumatic childhood in war-torn Somalia a generic football anthem. Here is his World Cup performance.

**Addendum – “But what about South Africa’s own The Parlotones?” you ask. “You don’t have any photos of their performance – in fact, not even a mention of their appearance at the concert!” That is because I was too busy covering my ears with both hands – I physically could not take any pictures. I’d sum them up as a crappy, poor(er) man’s version of Snow Patrol that dresses and wears makeup like My Chemical Romance. I was NOT impressed. Judge for yourself.