'Africa Is a Country Radio' Spotlights Cape Town in Latest Episode

Africa Is a Country Radiohas shared its latest episode which puts Cape Town into the spotlight. The theme for the show's current season is port cities. Having explored the Black Atlantic and the Black Indian Ocean in their previous episodes, this latest episode positions Cape Town's history and so-called Cape Malay culture in the middle. The show is hosted by Sierra Leonean-American music producer and managing editor of the publication, Africa Is a Country, Chief Boima and also features two additional guests.

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The episode begins with a Cape Muslim prayer from a masjid (mosque) in Cape Town and then jumps into the more contemporary sound of rapper, YoungstaCPT's "YVR(Young Van Riebeek)". The bouncy song essentially speaks to Dutch coloniser, Jan van Riebeeck, whose arrival in what was then known as the Cape of Good Hope, resulted in the colonisation of the Cape by the Dutch.

There is a robust, and at times somewhat academic, discussion around goema, minstrel and folk music which is central to the carnivals that take place in Cape Town—important cultural events within the Coloured community. Additionally, there is an exploration of how slavery and colonisation connect the Cape to places like the Caribbean and how art relates to and perhaps even shapes a people's identity.

It is a known fact to South Africans that Coloured identity and culture—particularly in the Cape—is incredibly rich and complex and this episode shed some light on some of those complexities against the backdrop of historical facts. It's an in-depth and quite extensive (2 hours) episode but certainly worth the listen.

Listen to the episode on Africa Is a Country Radio here.