2020 in African music

See also: Timeline of musical events

The following is a list of events and releases that happened in 2020 in African music.

Events

• 18 March - It is announced that Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango has tested positive for coronavirus.^[1]
• 21 March - The Tenor Foundation for Culture launches an initiative, in collaboration with the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra (OPM), the International School of Music and Dance (EIDM), and the Mazaya Sociocultural Program, to stream live concerts to viewers in Morocco.^[2]
• 30 June - Ethiopia's internet is taken down by the government amid unrest brought about by the shooting of musician and political activist Hachalu Hundessa.^[3]
• 25 December - Nigerian singers Yemi Alade and Naira Marley make their acting debut in the film Omo Ghetto: The Saga, released on this date.^[4]

Albums released in 2020

Release date	Artist	Album	Genre	Label	Ref
January	Les Amazones d'Afrique	Amazones Power	AfroPop/Funk/Blues	Real World Records	[5]
January 17	Yung L	Juice & Zimm	Afrobeats	Zimmlife	[6]
February 7	Obongjayar	Which Way is Forward? (EP)	R&B, Afrobeat	September Recordings	[7]
February 10	Olamide	999 (EP)	Hip-Hop, Rap, Afropop	YBNL Nation	[8]
February 14	Yaa Yaa	Agoo	Highlife, Afropop	Indie	[9]
February 28	2Baba	Warriors	Afropop	Hypertek Digital	[10]
March 6	M.I Abaga	Judah (EP)	Hip hop	Chocolate City	[11]
March	Tamikrest	Tamotait	Desert blues /Tuareg	Glitterbeat	[5]
March 20	A-Q	God's Engineering	Afropop, Hip-hop	Dvpper Music Distribution	[12]
March 27	Sound Sultan	8th Wondah	R&B, Afrobeat, Hip-Hop	Naija Ninjas Dvpper Music Distribution	[13]
April 1	Brymo	Yellow	Alternative pop	Indie	[14]
April 1	Laycon	Who Is Laycon?	Afrobeat	F.N.E. Ltd	[15]
April 3	Darkovibes	Kpanlogo	Hip-Hop, Afropop, Afrobeats	Indie
April 3	GuiltyBeatz	Different (EP)	Afrobeats	Banku Music	[16]
April 10	Edoheart	For the Love (EP)	Pop	Indie	[17]
April 15	M.I Abaga and A-Q	The Live Report (EP)	Hip-hop	Incredible Music Cordless	[18]
April 17	Dremo	Codename Vol. 2	Afropop, hip-hop, Afrobeats	Davido Music Worldwide	[19]
April 20	Shatta Wale	The Manacles of Shatta (EP)	Reggae	Shatta Movement Empire	[20]
April 24	Stonebwoy	Anloga Junction	Afropop, Dancehall, Reggae	Burniton Music Group	[21]
May 1	Asikey	Yellow (EP)	Folk, EDM, R&B/Alternative	Indie	[22]
May 5	Joey B	Lava Feels	Hip-Hop, R&B	World Records	[23]
May 8	Deon Boakye	Legendary Journey (EP)	Afropop, Highlife	–	[24]
May 8	Dr SID	The Interesting EP	Afrobeats	Mavin Records	[25]
May 14	Ike Moriz	Dragons	Pop, Rock, Dance	Mosquito Records London	[26]
May 15	WurlD	Afrosoul (EP)	Afrobeats	Immensum Music	[27]
May 22	Vector & Mastaa	Crossroads (EP)	Hip-Hop, Rap	GRAP Entertainment	[28]
May 29	9ice	Tip of the Iceberg: Episode 1	Afrobeats	AAR	[29]
May 29	iLLBLISS	Illy Chapo X	Hip-Hop, Rap	Mad Solutions	[30]
May 29	Jesse Jagz	Garba (EP)	Hip-Hop	Jagz Nation	[31]
June 1	Jayso	0106, Vol. 5	Hip-Hop, Rap	Skillions Global	[32]
June 5	Sauti Sol	Midnight Train	Afropop	Sauti Sol Entertainment	[33]
June 5	Yung6ix	Introduction to Trapfro	Hip-Hop, Rap	Billionaires Circle	[34]
June 12	Bumi Thomas	Broken Silence (EP)	Soul	528 Music Global	[35]
June 12	Idahams	Man On Fire (EP)	Afropop	Grafton Entertainment Universal Music Group Nigeria	[36]
June 19	Skales	Healing Process (EP)	Afropop, Pop	OHK Entertainment	[37]
June 25	Kizz Daniel	King of Love	Afrobeats, Pop, R&B	Fly Boy Inc.	[38]
June 26	Jaywon	Aje The Mixtape	Pop	Next World Music	[39]
July 2	Medikal	Island (EP)	Hip-Hop, Afrobeat	AMG Beyond Kontrol	[40]
July 3	Mercy Chinwo	Satisfied	Gospel, Christian	EeZee Conceptz	[41]
July 3	Keleketla!	Keleketla!	Electronic	Ahead Of Our Time	[42]
July 3	Praiz	To the Moon (EP)	Afropop	Cicada Music	[43]
July 4	Fancy Gadam	Dream	Afropop, Dancehall	Sultan Incorporation	[44]
July 17	Krizbeatz	African Time	Afropop	Streets Legend	[45]
July 24	Selebobo	Bobo of Africa (EP)	Afropop	Vault Records	[46]
July 29	Reminisce	Vibes & Insha Allah (EP)	Hip-Hop, Rap, Afrobeats	Lesrosesrouge Entertainment	[47]
August 8	B-Red	The Jordan Album	R&B, Afropop	The Plug Entertainment	[48]
August 14	Harrysong	Right About Now	Afropop	Altar Plate	[49]
August 14	Terry Apala and Majorbangz	Major Vibes (EP)	Afrobeat	Wemba Management	[50]
August 14	Burna Boy	Twice as Tall	Afrobeats, Dancehall, Hip Hop	Atlantic	[51]
August 16	Evi Edna Ogholi	Peace and Love	Reggae	Enorecords LLC	[52]
August 19	Fireboy DML	Apollo	Afro-fusion, Afrobeats	YBNL Nation Empire	[53]
August 20	Ismaël Isaac	Qui va nous sauver?	Reggae	Obouo Productions	[54]
August 21	DJ Lambo	A Tale of Two Cities	Afropop, Hip-Hop	707 Worldwide	[55]
August 21	Cuppy	Original Copy	Afrobeats	Red Velvet Music Group	[56]
August 21	K1 De Ultimate	Fuji the Sound (EP)	Fuji, Pop	K1 Music Entertainment	[57]
August 21	Adekunle Gold	Afro Pop, Vol. 1	Afropop	EMI (UMG)	[58]
August 22	Kpanto	Skinny Boy Kpanto	Hipco	Holy Records	[59]
August 27	Tiwa Savage	Celia	Afrobeats, R&B, Pop	UMG, Motown, Island Records, Capitol	[60]
August 27	Patoranking	Three	Reggae, Dancehall	Amari Musiq	[61]
August 28	Kwaw Kese	Victory	Hip-Hop	Crux Global / MOVES Recordings	[62]
August 28	Seether	Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum	Rock		[63]
August 28	Nasty C	Zulu Man With Some Power	Hip Hop, Trap	Def Jam	[64]
September 2	Eedris Abdulkareem	Nothing But The Truth	Afrobeats, Hip-Hop, Rap	Blue Pie Records	[65]
September 4	Apex and Bionic	Nobody Holy	Pop	JFK Resolute Entertainment	[66]
September 4	LKT	The Dark Abyss	Hip Hop, Rap	Indie	[67]
September 10	Wande Coal	Realms	Afrobeats	Starstruck / EMPIRE	[68]
September 14	Jahdiel	Grace (EP)	Christian	Hammer House Records	[69]
September 14	MOG Music	The Experience	Christian, Gospel	Indie	[70]
September 16	Mix Naija and T-Classic	Alirat (EP)	Afrobeats	Majik Naija Entertainment	[71]
September 17	Fameye	Greater Than	Afrobeats	EMPIRE	[72]
September 25	Tems	For Broken Ears	alt-R&B	Leading Vibe Ltd	[73]
September 25	BANTU	Everybody Get Agenda	Afrobeats	Soledad Productions	[74]
September 27	Diana Hopeson	Hope (Volume 1)	Gospel, Christian	Indie	[75]
October 2	Simi	Restless II	R&B, Soul	PLATOON	[76]
October 2	Niniola	Colours and Sounds	Afrobeat, Dance, Electronic	DRUMROLL RECORDS	[77]
October 8	Olamide	Carpe Diem	Afropop, Rap, Reggae fusion	YBNL Nation / EMPIRE	[78]
October 9	Darey	Way Home (EP)	Afrobeats, R&B	Livespot Entertainment	[79]
October 9	Kuami Eugene	Son of Africa	Afropop, Highlife, Afrobeats	Lynx Entertainment	[80]
October 16	Le Deal, featuring Malick Koly	Jazz Traficantes	Jazz	A&R	[81]
October 16	Lionel Loueke	HH	Smooth jazz, Jazz	Edition Records	[82]
October 30	Rocky Dawuni	Voice of Bunbon, Vol. 1 (EP)	Reggae	Aquarian Records	[83]
October 30	Wizkid	Made in Lagos	Afrobeats, Hip Hop, Pop	Starboy (RCA)	[84]
November 5	Brymo	Libel (EP)	Alternative	Clockwyce Distributions	[85]
November 6	Kelvyn Boy	Blackstar	Afrobeat, Afropop	Crux Global / MOVES Recordings	[86]
November 10	King of Accra	Adulthood	Afrobeats	Indie	[87]
November 11	Larry Gaaga	Rattle Snake	Afropop	Poles Music	[88]
November 12	Amaarae	The Angel You Don't Know	R&B, Afro-fusion, Pop	GOLDEN CHILD LLC.	[89]
November 12	Davido	A Better Time	Afrobeats, Pop, Dancehall	Sony	[90]
November 13	Darkovibes	The Cornerstone	Hip-Hop	Indie	[91]
November 20	Basketmouth	Yabasi	Highlife	Barons World Records	[92]
November 20	Yemi Alade	Empress	Afrobeats, Highlife, Soul, Pop, Dancehall	Effyzzie Music Group	[93]
December 10	Tekno	Old Romance	Afrobeats, Highlife, Soul, Pop,	Island Records	[94]

Classical

• Michael Blake
  • Mémoriale, for large symphony orchestra
  • Nattlige Toner/Night Music (film score, arranged for violin and harp)^[95]

Musical films

• LOUD, starring Sophie Alakija and Eucharia Anunobi^[96]
• Lady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters (animation), with music by DJ Klem and Ava Momoh^[97]

Deaths

• January 19 - Allah Thérèse, age unknown, Ivorian traditional singer^[98]
• February 1 - Kofi B, age unknown, Ghanaian highlife musician (heart attack)^[99]
• February 9 - Abdel Aziz El Mubarak, 69, Sudanese singer (pneumonia)^[100]
• February 11 - Joseph Shabalala, 78, South African musician (Ladysmith Black Mambazo).^[101]
• February 12 - Victor Olaiya, 89, Nigerian highlife trumpeter^[102]
• February 15 - Prince Kudakwashe Musarurwa, 31, Zimbabwean Afro Jazz singer, songwriter, producer and musician^[103]
• February 16 - Erickson Le Zulu, 41 Ivorian disc jockey and singer^[104]
• February 17 - Kizito Mihigo, 38, Rwandan gospel singer.^[105]
• March 18 - Kenneth Kafui, age unknown, Ghanaian composer^[106]
• March 19 - Aurlus Mabélé, 66, Congolese singer and composer, the "King of Soukous"^[107]
• March 24 - Manu Dibango, 86, Cameroonian musician and saxophonist (COVID-19)^[108]
• April 7 - Hudeydi, 91, Somali musician^[109]
• April 14
  • Akin Euba, 84, Nigerian composer, musicologist, and pianist^[110]
  • Kasongo wa Kanema, 73, Congolese musician (Orchestra Super Mazembe).^[111]
• April 30 – Tony Allen, 79, Nigerian drummer, composer and songwriter (abdominal aortic aneurysm)^[112]
• May 22 – Mory Kanté, 70, Guinean singer and musician^[113]
• June 1 – Majek Fashek, 57, Nigerian reggae singer and songwriter^[114]
• June 12
  • Dodo Doris, 71, Congolese musician (Orchestra Super Mazembe)^[115]
    • Claude Ndam, 65, Cameroonian singer-songwriter^[116]
• June 14 – Mama Nguéa, 60, Cameroonian singer (diabetes)^[117]
• June 15
  • Omondi Long'lilo, 37, Kenyan Benga musician (cancer)^[118]
  • Nana Tuffour, 66, Ghanaian highlife singer^[119]
• June 23 – Xabiiba Cabdilaahi, 58, Djiboutian singer^[120]
• June 29 – Hachalu Hundessa, 34, Ethiopian singer-songwriter (shot)^[121]
• July 10 – Cosmas Magaya, 67, Zimbabwean mbira musician (COVID-19)^[122]
• August 27 – Meridjo Belobi, 67, Congolese drummer, former member of Zaïko Langa Langa and inventor of Cavacha
• September 21 – Hamdi Benani, 77, Algerian singer and violinist^[123]
• October 18 – Naâma, 86, Tunisian singer^[124]
• November 19 – Mshoza, 37, South African kwaito singer^[125]

See also

• 2020 in music