fun and potentially useful thread for anyone considering nominating tracks for @peoples-pop-polls.bsky.social’s #PPP96 poll this Saturday - but do feel free to still nominate your favourite r&b bangers!

gorgeous release from 🎹Caterina Barbieri🇮🇹 and 🎷Bendik Giske🇳🇴. their ep At Source (or is it a suite?) is sweeping stuff - I am swept away caterinabarbieri.bandcamp.com/album/at-sou... fav track, perhaps, is closer “Persistence, Buds” - the synthing tears at my heartstrings: youtu.be/9KGxbxdeyh8?...

speaking of Thakzin, his beautiful new single “Mele Bakuzwe” hews closer to the vocal 🇿🇦3Step of Dlala Thukzin and JAZZWRLD & Thukuthela than is his wont (guest singer Thatohatsi is on J&T latest single too btw) youtu.be/SN2JALXpSV8?...

gorgeous release from 🎹Caterina Barbieri🇮🇹 and 🎷Bendik Giske🇳🇴. their ep At Source (or is it a suite?) is sweeping stuff - I am swept away caterinabarbieri.bandcamp.com/album/at-sou... fav track, perhaps, is closer “Persistence, Buds” - the synthing tears at my heartstrings: youtu.be/9KGxbxdeyh8?...

don’t call it a 🇳🇬ReNAIJAssance*! perpetual afropiano loop notwithstanding, very exciting music is still being made in Nigeria, because of course it is! say hello to Bloody Civilian: her new track “SpaceFuji” (with old hands Terry Apala and Boj) is a thriller: youtu.be/FbGbPBmWUwk?... (*just yet)

this one’s good too: “Party” by Mamafunke ft. Musta4a, Danpapa GTA, Karlson, Tammyagain, Menad & deena: youtu.be/hPGFadLXt88?... (Mamafunke is one of the rare female producers in the 🇳🇬Naija scene - altho Bloody Civilian did actually co-produce her “SpaceFuji” too)

don’t call it a 🇳🇬ReNAIJAssance*! perpetual afropiano loop notwithstanding, very exciting music is still being made in Nigeria, because of course it is! say hello to Bloody Civilian: her new track “SpaceFuji” (with old hands Terry Apala and Boj) is a thriller: youtu.be/FbGbPBmWUwk?... (*just yet)

just when you thought lekompo was a fad and it had passed, this banger is one of the big new songs blowing up in 🇿🇦SA: youtu.be/euZAgz5IeqY?... “Skhethe” by Ba Bethe Gashoazen & Nova sa style ft. Westboy, Caeser & DJ Janisto (and yes, and in short, SA is a land of vocal contrasts!)

…and it’s got to mean something when the powerhouse that is Nkosazana Daughter decides to team up with Shandesh and producer Mvzzle, who together made “Sdudla or Slender” and “Di Chopper”, last year’s biggest 🇿🇦lekompo crossover hits. dig the effervescent “Mogatsaka”: youtu.be/VS1MXOgmKZw?...

just when you thought lekompo was a fad and it had passed, this banger is one of the big new songs blowing up in 🇿🇦SA: youtu.be/euZAgz5IeqY?... “Skhethe” by Ba Bethe Gashoazen & Nova sa style ft. Westboy, Caeser & DJ Janisto (and yes, and in short, SA is a land of vocal contrasts!)

beautiful little song from 🇸🇳Senegal: youtu.be/QngPAczKRiU?... “Weurseuk” by Seydina (Ndiaye), produced by the excellent Karabalik Beatz, which explains the beauty in part

overheard conversation from 🇸🇳Senegal: “so okay folx, what if we integrated the sped-up version <<into>> the song?” “let’s just do it and be legends, man!” youtu.be/HIUofLcKH6Q?... “Wanéko” by Dieyla Gueye (ft. Momo Ambiance)

the first two songs released ahead of 🔳Kelela’s new album sounded somewhat tentative, but holy ravens🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛ “point blank” is incredible. the way the bass breaks free from the drums two thirds of the way in! youtu.be/xWbjqae1cMI?...

the first two songs released ahead of 🔳Kelela’s new album sounded somewhat tentative, but holy ravens🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛ “point blank” is incredible. the way the bass breaks free from the drums two thirds of the way in! youtu.be/xWbjqae1cMI?...

went to see 🇹🇷Lalalar last night (surprisingly, given the size of the Turkish community here, they performed in the small room of the venue) ALSO, the dj played “Badala Zamana” right before they came on stage! truly a #PWC26 special!

this is for everyone who remembers Kwesta’s string of 🇿🇦South African summer jams of a decade back: “Ngud’”(2016), “Spirit” (2017) and “Vur Vai” (2018) youtu.be/5EBRS00MD4o?... “Umguzumbane we Summer” by Makwa ft. Kwesta & Ovii Mathandos *the summer in all cases being the southern hemisphere one!

QF 3: 🇸🇳❓SEN v 🇹🇷TUR❓: yes, it’s my own team, yes, “Fulani Rock” is great and getting ever greater, but my love for “DARBUKA”🪘 knows very little bounds, plus I have a Türk(iye)(li) bias, plus plus we need to emphasise the newness - whose drum🪘am I going to beat? which drum🪘is going to beat me?

The Pop World Cup - it's like the World Cup, but it's for Pop Music, and we're down to the last 8 countries standing (5 of them are in Africa, with tracks ranging from mid-70s Algerian disco to 2024's French-Congolese smash hit from Theodora)

my favourite 🇫🇷🇵🇫French-Polynesians 15 15 (please keep calling them QuinzeQuinze!) finally released their debut album Mārara (they’ve been making EPs since 2018) this is a beautiful mini doc (including current sort-of-single “Take Off Late” in full) about it: youtu.be/cKVc83y5_o8?...

updating the Säo Paulo 🇧🇷funk: youtu.be/RfGcNirZAek?... “Que Sentar Por Cima”by Mc Gw ft. DJ Rdzin7 & DJ RD DA D27

my favourite 🇫🇷🇵🇫French-Polynesians 15 15 (please keep calling them QuinzeQuinze!) finally released their debut album Mārara (they’ve been making EPs since 2018) this is a beautiful mini doc (including current sort-of-single “Take Off Late” in full) about it: youtu.be/cKVc83y5_o8?...

this still holds true

my favourite 2026 🇧🇷funk album I came across so far: xavisphone bringing the pots and pans <<and the reverb>> while also doing some deep tissue cleansing on his album balança e paixão (12 trax/24’) serious drip: “sei q tu gosta” (ft. DJ LEAL ORIGINAL & Mc Vuk Vuk): youtu.be/4tmq4o8Yo-s?...

who will dance on the floor, in the round?

does this beat share some dna with… Chubb Rock (and Howie Tee)’s “Treat ‘Em Right”???

yes I like me some banging 🇺🇿Uzbek folk pop youtu.be/PMPtOYoeN7o?... “Ibi ibi” by Ulug’bek Yulchiyev

does this beat share some dna with… Chubb Rock (and Howie Tee)’s “Treat ‘Em Right”???

went in hoping for an 🇦🇱approximation of the Rihanna amapiano album we’ll never get. it’s not that, at all. Tayna covers a broad spectrum, from ama- to drill-pop, and much more. the two Dj Win tracks are my faves: “Della” is ~actually good~ 🇧🇷funk-pop and then there’s the glorious “OMG” with Lluni ⬇️ ⬇️

🔥🔥🔥

resuming regular JAZZWRLD & Thukuthela* programming everybody raise their ama glass and ama cup, because we’ve got the beatific Babalwa M in this 🇿🇦3-Step house too! youtu.be/h0uoRpW1BVc?... (*and let’s not forget GL_Ceejay)

inducted into the 🇺🇸National Recording Registry!

e p i c “Lwetse” by 🇿🇦Xduppy x Angekebabuye Mc (+ see below) the 2.0: youtu.be/uo_BnlG9zKM?... =adds vocals, most notably by Focalistic the original: youtu.be/kYVYEEqxhYE?... =instrumental for the most part the idea (which is mine) is to play them in a loop

a followup of sorts to “ZEP” (see below) is “Fast Fast” by 031CHOPPA, Al Xapo & Benzoo ft. Roscosteazy, Optimist Music ZA & JussGigi: youtu.be/4M73KvqxwF4?... it’s another current 🇿🇦SA smash hit that’s remarkably Short Short, a clean 4 minutes sharp

encore plus de 🇨🇮biama ! this Renard Barakissa track from earlier in the year is spanking and hard as nails and being freaky with it - must be Ben à la prod! seeing it hasn’t really caught on. tant pis! “Sossofroufrou” doesn’t have a vid - good thing I love the cover art! youtu.be/QgxduJLPD_4?...

encore plus de 🇨🇮biama ! this Renard Barakissa track from earlier in the year is spanking and hard as nails and being freaky with it - must be Ben à la prod! seeing it hasn’t really caught on. tant pis! “Sossofroufrou” doesn’t have a vid - good thing I love the cover art! youtu.be/QgxduJLPD_4?...

a followup of sorts to “ZEP” (see below) is “Fast Fast” by 031CHOPPA, Al Xapo & Benzoo ft. Roscosteazy, Optimist Music ZA & JussGigi: youtu.be/4M73KvqxwF4?... it’s another current 🇿🇦SA smash hit that’s remarkably Short Short, a clean 4 minutes sharp

this is the video for the track that was more or less premiered in the below minidoc about ’coupé-décalé’s kid brother’ as its title describes it, 🇨🇮 “Biama Bombé” by Oyoki Onanayo: youtu.be/rQAGxAufifM?... 🇨🇮 #PWC26 @peoples-pop-polls.bsky.social

ahead of tomorrow’s 🇨🇮Côte d’Ivoire #PWC26 Round 2 match you could do worse than get acquainted with the biama genre (with includes both Dydy Yeman, who didn’t make it, and Team Paiya, who did). here’s a recent short doc (with French captions), on the dance/genre/movement: youtu.be/_Nzx8JSPDbs?...

we all know this sad* song is the sweetest sounding song in the whole wide 🌍world right now, right? youtu.be/oT2xVM3wevo?... “Botshelo Ke Eng” by 🇿🇦Trechyson Molly vx ft. 🇿🇦DJ Promatic SA & 🇿🇦Dendofela

if you’ll allow me, a choice selection from my 🇻🇳V-Pop thread for your evening’s entertainment ⤵️⤵️⤵️

did you take your V-pop today? a 10-track thread of current 🇻🇳Vietnamese pop (playlist included at the end)

vote for “Gën Leen Paré (GLP)”! #PWC26

an impromptu thread I made inspired by the track “Tabancamın Sapını” by neo-psychedelic band Lalalar, which is representing 🇹🇷Turkey in the Pop World Cup #PWC26 that’s currently being held on @peoples-pop-polls.bsky.social (and which you are encouraged to take part in! it’s fun! and easy if you try!)

I don’t know if it’s the ☀️weather or what, but all that 🇧🇷puteria is making me itch youtu.be/TUBhOyxj6YA?... “Ritmada Barraco em Barraco” by DJ Menor JSD ft. Mc ZKW hypnotic shit

…and then there’s 1️⃣ track among the continuous stream of twice-weekly 🇧🇷DJ Arana releases that really, really hits the spot… youtu.be/lNX_Qd4NBEA?... “Toma Pirocada Moça” (ft. Mc Mr. Bim & Mc Dobella) (tempted to fully flesh out the above metaphor but will refrain from any further dicking around!)

paging any and all current and future 🇿🇦South Africa #PWC26 coaches: don’t sleep on this one! (altho, it just occurred to me “Ngithathiwe” might be the sound of insomnia, so you won’t either way)

so our 🇧🇫Burkinabé friend Ouendbénédo came up with another banger! “Wilig Bèba” (or “Wilg Beba”), to my ears at least, seems to draw from the same well as 🇳🇬Nigerian fuji but it also takes me to other personal ground-zero afropop places that I can’t quite… place: youtu.be/8FJoOEF2f_E?...

deux 🇫🇷 bangers of the highest (chart) order: “Balek” by Triangle des Bermudes ft. Aya Nakamura: youtu.be/RjKXct8sHEQ?...

🇿🇦Zee Nxumalo just dropped a 4️⃣-track 3️⃣-step EP made with Dlala Thukzin (plus Funky Qla and Shakes & Les). my favourite is the expansive “Ngithathiwe” (helmed by Dlala and Qla). god that sound is so ~~deep~~: youtu.be/yfy3SYG1zjA?...

playlist for the 👑weekend sorted! new 🇨🇩BabyDaiz is the 🇳🇬Niphkeyz and 🇳🇬Kvng Vinci-produced “Coupé”. it’s totally clear to me why there’s 🇿🇦vuvuzelas whenever he enters! youtu.be/c-ZfhAbcG4c?...