The pan-Africanist ideal never died—it morphed into hybridised sonic fragments that connect Joburg to Nairobi via Lagos and Accra. British Nigerian singer Odeal’s recently released The Summer That Saved Me is nothing if not proof of concept. The presently London-residing singer used the project to reflect on how some of his favourite locales inform his practice. “This summer was the first time I really had the freedom to move how I wanted—to go wherever, connect with different versions of myself and just live,” Odeal says. “This is a project about what it feels like to finally have that access to explore, to feel and to be free, and every song on it is an extension of that energy.” Hear new music from Odeal on Africa Now alongside everything else new and hot that has roots in the continent, and hype up your library by adding anything that vibrates in lockstep with your beat.
