Washington, DC — Africa Plays On is a compilation of music and artists from all over Africa and the world, primarily those African countries who have played in the World Cup. The CD features artists as diverse as Senegal's Baaba Maal, Somalian rapper K'Naan, and African American R&B artist John Legend.
The CD opens with ‘Please Don’t Stop’, a collaboration between John Legend and Cameroon’s Richard Bona and is followed by 'Kelli Magni’ by Senegalese artist Cheikh Lô. The CD also features Senegalese artist Akon’s feature on ‘Coulibaly’with Malian duo Amadou & Mariam and ‘Cocody Rock’, a reggae ballad by Cote d'Ivoire's Alpha Blondy and features France’s Neg’ Marrons.
Other tracks include ‘Wahala’ by Nigeria’s Wahala Project, 'Number One” by Senegalese rapper Daara J; ‘Kettode’ by Baaba Maal and ‘Silani’ by Guinea’s Ba Cissoko and K’Naan, both produced by the American rap group The Roots; ‘Defaal Lu Wor’ by Senegalese artist Wasis Diop; ‘Watusi’ by the Ghanaian band Osibisa; 'Yaa Densoa’ by Ghanaian rapper Tic Tac; ‘Ngando’ (a remix of Puma's “Welcome to Football” advertisement) with Onda and Cameroon’s Manu Dibango; ‘Pitangha Madurinha’ by Angolan artist Waldemar Bastos and Jamaican artist Chaka Demus; ‘Amen’ by Togo's King Mensah; and finally a Louie Vega remix of ‘2000 Blacks Got To Be Free’ by Fela Kuti and Roy Ayers.
The CD features many of Africa's most well known artists as well as some fresh faces. The CD blends music from some of Africa's young hip hop artists like K'Naan and Daara J with some of Africa's more established artists like Baaba Mal and Fela Kuti.
In addition to the powerful music the CD features, the campaign that Puma and United for Africa are trying to highlight are extremely important. United for Africa is an umbrella organization comprising of 30 aid organizations. According to United for Africa “All donations are directly channeled to aid projects of the participating organizations in Africa. Donations are distributed to these organizations based on a special distribution key: 25% is uniformly distributed among the 30 organizations. The remaining 75% is split up according to the amount each organization spends on aid projects in Africa.“
