Music of Central Africa
Congolese rumba and soukous, Bikutsi and Makossa from Cameroon, Aka and Baka polyphonic singing, likembe thumb pianos.
Sung and searched in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala. The YouTube button above can run your search in that language.
Roots and traditions
Northern traditions
Early kingdoms were founded near Lake Chad: the Kanem Empire, ca. 600 BCE – 1380 CE encompassed much of Chad, Fezzan, east Niger and north-east Nigeria, perhaps founded by the nomadic Zaghawa, then ruled by the Sayfawa dynasty. The Bornu Empire (1396–1893) was a continuation, the Kanembu founding a new state at Ngazargamu. These spoke the Kanuri languages spoken by some four million people in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Libya and Sudan. They are noted for lute and drum music. The Kingdom of Baguirmi (1522–1897) and the Ouaddai Empire (1635–1912) were also centred near Lake Chad.
The Toubou, who live mainly in the north of Chad around the Tibesti Mountains and also in Libya, Niger and Sudan, are semi-nomadic herders, Nilo-Saharan speakers, mostly Muslim, numbering roughly 350,000. Their folk music revolves around men's string instruments like the keleli and women's vocal music. The Central Sudanic Baguirmi language has 44,761 speakers As of 1993 and is associated with the kingdom of Baguirmi.
Read the full article: Sub-Saharan African music traditions Text under CC BY-SA 4.0
Playing now
What Central Africa is listening to in 2026
Countries 8
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Live radio
Radio from Central Africa
Music only, no news or talk. Stations that play the local tradition come first, then the most listened. They play in the corner of the page.
Station directory by Radio Browser Streams come from each station's own server.