Born in the hostels of South African migrant workers, isicathamiya is a cappella singing with soft, gliding dance steps. Ladysmith Black Mambazo carried it to the world.
On 21 March 1960, police opened fire on a crowd protesting apartheid's pass laws in Sharpeville, killing 69 people. Today the date is South Africa's Human Rights Day.
Every few years in Madagascar's highlands, families open their ancestral tombs, rewrap the remains of loved ones in fresh shrouds, and dance with them. Here is what famadihana means.
Harambee is Kenya's national motto, a call to self-help that built thousands of schools and clinics. Its history is inspiring, and also complicated.
On the edge of a Nigerian city lies a sacred grove filled with shrines and sculptures. Every August it hosts a great festival for Osun, goddess of the river. Here is its story.
A fisherman buried in a giant fish, a pilot in an aeroplane, a cocoa farmer in a cocoa pod: among the Ga of Ghana, coffins are sculptures that celebrate a life.
Thin slices of beef on skewers, coated in a fiery peanut spice and grilled over open coals: suya is Nigeria's favourite night-time snack. Here is its story.
Spoken by tens of millions across Nigeria, Niger and beyond, Hausa is one of Africa's most important languages, with a writing tradition in Arabic script centuries old.
Rapid-fire sabar drums, soaring vocals in Wolof and electric guitars: mbalax is the sound of Senegal, and Youssou N'Dour carried it around the world.
In 1324, the ruler of the Mali Empire passed through Cairo on his way to Mecca with so much gold that its value fell. Here is what we actually know about Mansa Musa.
Some baobabs have stood for over a thousand years. They feed, shelter and heal, and they hold a special place in African myth and memory. Recently, the oldest have begun to die.
Carved from African blackwood, Makonde sculptures twist dozens of human figures into a single column, or conjure strange spirit beings. Here is the story of a remarkable art.
