My eyes caught the corner of a magazine as I was sitting in my friend’s living room on Easter Sunday waiting to tear through some marvelous home made food: candied yams, collard greens, baked salmon, crispy asparagus, baked red potatoes, and some wonderfully glazed ham… Yes, I love food. Anyways, back to the magazine. Caught the corner of a magazine called WAX POETICS. I’ve never heard or seen that magazine before in my life but I tentatively picked it up and nodded in appreciation of the fact that Fela Kuti was on the cover. For those of you that don’t know, Fela is the pioneer of Afro-beats hailing from Nigeria. My curiosity was spurred because I wondered what article they were writing on him– I clearly failed to see that on the cover of the magazine it was unmistakeably written in black and white that it was an African issue.

Needless to say WAX POETICS is a great magazine. If you have time on your hands, I would say you might want to consider a subscription. It got my mind spinning on various African stars like Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Ebo Taylor, and many more. I have always been an eclectic person when it comes to music. Elvis Presley, James Brown, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole but I have never really sat down to discover African artists, some of who were very influenced by musicians in the West like James Brown. This particular issue of Wax Poetics, Issue 39 makes the point that music is something that is natural to Africans. During the slave trade no matter where we found ourselves we always had our music, which we used to tell stories of adventure across the seas, torture, woefulness, the land we had been taken from amongst others. Wherever we ended up that musical influence was applied to the country we now called home. Cuba, The Caribbean, the US to mention a few. Music artists of today pull from that African source to get their own distinctive sound.  The only person that pops into mind right now is Nneka – Unfortunately I do not have notes with me. It got left behind at my friend’s house and I’m sure it has been tossed

The magazine lists African musicians far and wide. I really wanted to share the magazine with all of you. It’s really interesting so please check it out. It’s a bi-monthly subscription that can be found online. It’s not sold in stores. It’s very rich in its history of music and artists.

When I get my copy I will be sure to list some artists for you to check out.

Stay Blessed

~LSpyce