The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

One fine day in 2025, I was in a VIP bus traveling from Accra to Bolgatanga and I thought about music from the Northern sector/zone or Savannah Belt of Ghana. After Barcamp Bolga 2025, I asked some friends and then in #BolgaKonnect, #NavrongoKonnect, #NortheastKonnect, #TamaleKonnect, #SavannahKonnect and #WaKonnect about the top songs ever from these parts of Ghana. I was looking at artistes who were and are largely based in these areas, which means I did not consider the likes of Samini, Mugeez, Rocky Dawuni, and co. I Want To See You My Father - King Ayisoba (2006) The day this song was crowned the "Most Popular Song" in Ghana for 2006, that is when more ammunition was added to the #WeAreNotASeriousPeople hashtag. Someone should convince me this song's popularity was not tripled due to people making fun of it. Anyway, the song had to be doing something right. Apparently, King Ayisoba clarified that the correct lyric is "I want to sue you, my father". Did you ...

 I asked some friends to name their  top 5 songs  ever, from  Uganda . My Ugandan alter-ego,  Richard Nshuti Mayanja , also contributed, thanks to all he has learnt around  Museke . I also asked  Google  Gemini & other AI bots. You know AI is my friend these days right? I also contributed my top 5. My first time in  Uganda   was in 2011, thanks to my work at  Google . Prior to that, I knew some songs from my Museke days, and some East African friends from Rwanda, Uganda, etc. These days dovetailed with my time at  MIT  and then later at  Stanford . When I visited Kampala, I hanged out with a lot of top musicians there, thanks to Museke. A Caucasian Googler friend of mine had told me, Kampala is the party of capital of Africa. I attest. I have a lot of research and evidence to back this. I only went there twice and I bet this has not changed in a decade. I wanted to do a list of top 5, but there are too many songs....

I asked some friends to name their  top 5 songs  ever, from  Tanzania . My Tanzanian alter-ego,  Hamis Ambwene Massawe , also contributed, thanks to all he has learnt around  Museke . I also asked  Google  Gemini & other AI bots. You know AI is my friend these days right? I also contributed my top 5. My first time in  Tanzania   was in 2012, thanks to my work at  Google . Prior to that, I had been learning about Tanzanian music from my  Bongo friends  at  MIT  and then later at  Stanford . When I visited Dar Es Salaam, I hanged out with a lot of top musicians there, thanks to Museke. I had the kind of experiences in Bongo land that would make you say "Bingo". I miss Tanzania dearly! I wanted to do a list of top 5, but there are too many songs. So I have aggregated  11 , to represent  Tanzania  in the World Cup of  #MusicWeDeyFeel .  The starting eleven . Drop your opinions, props, sug...

 I asked some friends to name their  top 5 songs  ever, from  Ivory Coast . I have not outdoored an alter-ego from Cote D'Ivoire. One of these days. I leveraged my knowledge about Ivorian music as well, thanks to all I have learnt around  Museke . I also asked  Google  Gemini (not through Google Sheets this time) & some other competitors of theirs). You know AI is is my friend these days right? I also contributed my top 5. My first time in  Ivory Coast   was in 2015. This was thanks to Nescafe , and I am not even a big fan of coffee. I am a big fan of dancing, and you know Ivorians make serious danceable music, starting from Coupé-décalé. Prior to 2015, I had been listening to a lot of Ivorien music . The funny thing I never really met Ivorians until I returned to Ghana from the US. Prior to 2011 , I had befriended several Ivorians through Twitter, thanks to the Barcamp movement across the continent . Barcamp Abidjan - Barcamp Babi....