2020 in African music

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.
21 March - The Tenor Foundation for Culture launches an initiative, in collaboration with the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra, the International School of Music and Dance, and the Mazaya Sociocultural Program, to stream live concerts to viewers in Morocco.
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.
25 December - Nigerian singers Yemi Alade and Naira Marley make their acting debut in the film Omo Ghetto: The Saga, released on this date.

Albums released in 2020

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

Classical

Michael Blake
* Mémoriale, for large symphony orchestra
* ''Nattlige Toner/Night Music''

Musical films

LOUD, starring Sophie Alakija and Eucharia AnunobiLady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters, with music by DJ Klem and Ava Momoh

Deaths

January 19 - Allah Thérèse, age unknown, Ivorian traditional singer
February 1 - Kofi B, age unknown, Ghanaian highlife musician
February 9 - Abdel Aziz El Mubarak, 69, Sudanese singer
February 11 - Joseph Shabalala, 78, South African musician.
February 12 - Victor Olaiya, 89, Nigerian highlife trumpeter
February 15 - Prince Kudakwashe Musarurwa, 31, Zimbabwean Afro Jazz singer, songwriter, producer and musician
February 16 - Erickson Le Zulu, 41 Ivorian disc jockey and singer
February 17 - Kizito Mihigo, 38, Rwandan gospel singer.
March 18 - Kenneth Kafui, age unknown, Ghanaian composer
March 19 - Aurlus Mabélé, 66, Congolese singer and composer, the "King of Soukous"
March 24 - Manu Dibango, 86, Cameroonian musician and saxophonist
April 7 - Hudeydi, 91, Somali musician
April 14
* Akin Euba, 84, Nigerian composer, musicologist, and pianist
* Kasongo wa Kanema, 73, Congolese musician.
April 30 – Tony Allen, 79, Nigerian drummer, composer and songwriter
May 22 – Mory Kanté, 70, Guinean singer and musician
June 1 – Majek Fashek, 57, Nigerian reggae singer and songwriter
June 12
* Dodo Doris, 71, Congolese musician
** Claude Ndam, 65, Cameroonian singer-songwriter
June 14 – Mama Nguéa, 60, Cameroonian singer
June 15
* Omondi Long'lilo, 37, Kenyan Benga musician
* Nana Tuffour, 66, Ghanaian highlife singer
June 23 – Xabiiba Cabdilaahi, 58, Djiboutian singer
June 29 – Hachalu Hundessa, 34, Ethiopian singer-songwriter
July 10 – Cosmas Magaya, 67, Zimbabwean mbira musician
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
October 18 – Naâma, 86, Tunisian singer
November 19 – Mshoza, 37, South African kwaito singer