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Black Coffee to share stage with Tony Allen and Jeff Mills

27 Jul 2017 - 19:03

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

South African DJ and producer Black Coffee has been confirmed for the Africa Now! concert at the Apollo Theater in New York on 10 March 2018. The annual event celebrates innovative music trends in Africa with a focus on electronic music.

Black Coffee will play the Apollo next year.

Black Coffee will be joined on the line-up by Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and US techno DJ Jeff Mills, who will perform together for the first time in the US. The two legends will fuse their styles in a conversational collaboration of African grooves and electronica. Allen is credited for being one of Afrobeat’s progenitors together with bandmate Fela Kuti.

Added to the line-up is Pierre Kwenders, a Congolese-Canadian musician who draws inspiration from a wide range of sounds such as futuristic hip hop as well as R&B. The Kinshasa-born artist sings and raps in English, French, Lingala, Tshiluba and Kikongo and his style has been described as being rooted in Congolese rumba.

Last year, the Africa Now! Concert was headlined by Niger’s Bombino who in May this year was one of the headliners at the Africa Day Concert in Johannesburg. Other artists who graced last year’s event were Mokoomba (Zimbabwe), Jojo Abot (Ghana) as well as Alsarah & the Nubatones, a Brooklyn-based group led by Sudanese singer Alsarah.

Founded in 2012, Africa Now! is an initiative of non-profit organisation World Music Institute (WMI), which has served as one of the leading presenters of world music in the US. Africa Now! is among some 1 500 WMI concerts and events that feature artists from more than 100 countries across all continents.

The WMI 2017-18 season, which runs from 15 September 2017 to 28 June 2018, will also host Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia, Seun Kuti, Etran Finatawa, Group Doueh, Toumani Diabaté, Sidiki Diabaté, Sidi Touré, Habib Koité, Trio Da Kali, Abdullah Ibrahim, Derek Gripper, Hugh Masekela, Group Doueh with Innov Gnawa, and Mdouc Moctar. Click here to view the full WMI 2017-18 line-up.

Meanwhile, Black Coffee will be getting a new programme on Apple's Beats 1 Radio, which will air every Friday in two-hour segments twice a month. Titled Black Coffee, the show will debut this Friday and is expected to give listeners a peek into the producer’s life and musical inspirations.

"It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Black Coffee said. “Just to show people my music world and what my interests are. I’m gonna bring more stuff like even classical music, stuff I listen to that inspires what I do every single day".