The African musical diaspora flows through BVA like the creek through the valley, continuously, from multiple sources, wearing down whatever stands in its way.

Transmission 01: Water Over Old Stones

October 26, 2023

"Water no get enemy."

Fela Kuti's "Water No Get Enemy", a Yoruba proverb set to the most danceable political music ever invented, anchors the first transmission's global reach. Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-jazz, follows: music that survived the Derg regime's cultural suppression. Erick Cosaque's Gwo Ka drum music from Guadeloupe carries traditions of enslaved African communication and resistance. Amadou & Mariam, the blind couple from Mali who met at the Institute for the Young Blind, sing "Sabali": patience in Bambara.

Transmission 03: The Valley Finds Its Voice

November 23, 2023

Seun Kuti, Fela's son, leads Egypt 80 through "Black Times" with Carlos Santana in support. WITCH brings 1970s Zambian psychedelic rock, Zamrock, a genre that shouldn't exist but does because musicians in postcolonial Lusaka heard Hendrix and decided to make their own version. The Abyssinians' roots reggae from Jamaica closes the circle: African rhythm traditions crossing the Atlantic and returning transformed.

Afrobeat on BVA maps a geography: how African music has moved, survived, resisted, and flourished across the planet.