Early listeners of Afrika Connexions will remember the music of The African Dawn. A beautiful mix of politics, poetry and traditional instruments, African Dawn represented a growing Pan African movement, which had established itself in London rallying alongside the liberation struggles around the world. In 1986, Kenyan actress and poet…
About Afrika Connexions
The Afrika Connexions Story is an online tribute to a radio program that is now more than 30 years old. Starting as a radical, anti-apartheid program on Radio Skid Row, the show has expanded to embrace every wave of African migrants to Australia. On any Sunday you can tune in from 12 noon to 3pm or, better still, head to the station where you will usually find a little piece of Africa in Sydney. This program was made on the 25th anniversary of Afrika Connexions to honour and celebrate the work of Africans – in exile and from the African diaspora – who broke new ground creating African radio and forging Afrikan Connexions in Australia. Listen to the Afrika Connexions Anniversary Program
One of the efforts to take Afrika Connexions beyond the studio began with a hut in the Addison Rd Community Centre where Radio Skid Row is located. Named Afrika House, Paul Thusi started the hut in the 90s in an effort to establish a communal meeting space for those who…
Afrika Connexions is not only a successful community radio program. As a focal point for the wider African community of Sydney, Radio Skid Row has both initiated and been involved in many activities and events celebrating the diverse cultures of its listeners and supporters as well as providing inspiration and…
There’s a story that Peter Tosh learnt to play the guitar as a young boy by watching a man play the same song for half a day. He memorised everything the man did until the man gave him the guitar to have a turn. When he played the tune perfectly,…
Born in Mozambique, Mingas began singing at a young age in her church. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s she had great success as a lead vocalist for the Orchestra Star de Mozambique and also toured the world as a support singer for Miriam Makeba. This song, written by Fany Mfumo – also from Mozambique…
African Dawn was a London-based ensemble made up of people from all over Africa and the Middle East. They released two albums, and probably the only place you would have heard them in Australia was in Sydney on Radio Skid Row. Check out the interview with Wanjiku Wa Kiarie who…
n 1977, the Nigerian Army raided the Kalakuta Republic, Fela’s large commune. Fela was severely beaten, the women were raped, houses burned, and his mother was thrown from a window and killed. Written after the raid, Coffin for Head of State reiterates Fela’s stance on the corruption of the Nigerian government, a…
Hailing from Guinea Bissau, Dede was a presenter on Afrika Connexions in the 90s. There is no doubt that Dede’s contribution to Afrika Connexions was his brilliant choice of music and his deep questioning of the African psyche. Dede’s programs took Afrika Connexions to East Africa especially introducing some of…
Frederic Naboya from Burundi was one of the few Afrika Connexions presenters who had any prior media experience before doing the program. As a journalist Fred compiled the news every Sunday and dropped in to read it at 1 pm sharp. This is the only photo we could find of…
Hindy was one of the founding members of the team who still drops in occasionally to do an Afrika Connexions show. Forever elusive we have not been able to find one photo of him. How do you find Hindy? You don’t, he finds you – and we are still waiting.