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RockerZ AfroPop VibeZ (African Sistas Mix) Vol. 1

Fifty-one tracks, and every one of them fronted by a woman. This is the best argument available that African pop's most interesting work is being done by its sisters.

The African Sistas Mix

The framing does real work here. African pop coverage tends to orbit a small group of men — Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido — and a mix built entirely around women makes visible how much is being missed. What emerges is a scene with more stylistic range than the mainstream narrative allows: South African deep house, Nigerian Afropop, Ghanaian and Cape Verdean crossover, Zambian rap, and a great deal of straight soul singing.

It also spans the continent properly. South Africa is the strongest presence, which reflects the depth of its vocal tradition, but Nigeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, Zambia and the diaspora are all here.

What to listen for

Ayra Starr's "Rush" is the biggest record — a global hit and the moment she became a headline act.

The South African contingent is the heart of it. Zonke's "Oko," Amanda Black's "ndandihleli," Shekhinah on two tracks, Sha Sha's "Ungowami" — Sha Sha is Zimbabwean and often called the queen of amapiano — and Lady Zamar's "Our Process."

Mpho Sebina's "Dikeledi" is from Botswana and is one of the loveliest things on the list. Sampa the Great's "Healer" brings Zambian rap by way of Australia, and she is one of the most formidable artists working anywhere.

Juls and Mayra Andrade's "Love Language" connects Ghana to Cape Verde — Andrade sings in Cape Verdean Creole and comes out of the morna and coladeira tradition that produced Cesária Évora.

Karen Nyame KG is worth stopping on: a British-Ghanaian producer and DJ, one of very few women producing at the front of the UK Afro-fusion scene.

Simi's "Ayo," Omawumi's "Without You" and Taliwhoah's "Playbook" round it out.

Go deeper

Three to follow. Sampa the Great — The Return and As Above, So Below are extraordinary records. Mayra Andrade — and through her, Cesária Évora, the barefoot diva of Cape Verde and one of the great voices of the twentieth century. Sha Sha — the doorway into amapiano's vocal side.

For the elders: Miriam Makeba, Angélique Kidjo, Oumou Sangaré and Brenda Fassie. Every artist on this playlist is working in a lane those four cleared.

One last point about what a mix like this makes visible. Fifty-one tracks across a dozen countries, all fronted by women, and the striking thing is not that it was possible to assemble but how little overlap it has with any mainstream African playlist. The talent was never the bottleneck; the attention was. Volume one implies more to come, and on this evidence there is no shortage of material.

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