"Hello Afrika" is a 1990 song recorded by

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

-based musician and producer

Dr Alban Alban Uzoma Nwapa (born 26 August 1957), better known by his stage name Dr. Alban, is a Nigerian-Swedish recording artist and producer with his own record label, Dr. Records. His music can best be described as Eurodance/ hip-hop reggae in a ...

. It was released as the debut

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from his first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

with the same name (1990). It features

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

singer

Leila K. Laila El Khalifi ( ar, ليلى الخليفي; born 6 September 1971) better known by her stage name Leila K, is a Swedish Eurodance singer and rapping, rapper of Moroccan descent. Early life El Khalifi's parents decided to send her to a school ...

The song is similar to

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound; his music has blended elements of pop, British rock, soul, funk, reggae, electronic music, Afr ...

's "Hello Africa", but in the style of hip hop. It peaked at number one in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and achieved a great success in most of the other

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an countries, including Sweden, Germany and Switzerland. Dr. Alban has stated that "Hello Afrika" took about two months to record. In the 2017 book ''Stars of 90's Dance Pop: 29 Hitmakers Discuss Their Careers'' by James Arena, he told about meeting

Denniz PoP Dag Krister Volle (26 April 1963 – 30 August 1998), better known as Denniz Pop (stylized ''Denniz PoP''), was a Swedish DJ, music producer, and songwriter. He co-founded the recording studio Cheiron Studios in Stockholm in 1992. Life and car ...

and of the making of the song, "We met through the DJ channels, as he was working as one at the same time I was. We just started working together on "Hello Afrika", and it all came together. We had a good chemistry, and we just thought, "Come on, let's go in the studio and see what we can do." It was hard to get the song initially released, but the thing is that other DJs (who we gave it to before we had a record deal) played the track and liked it. That built demand for it in the clubs, and then it started to hit radio. That later paved the way for our deal with ogic and Ariola Records" It has been covered by South African group

Dr Victor Victor Khojane, better known as Dr Victor or Dr Vic, is a reggae and R&B musician, who was born in Kimberley, South Africa.Grup Vitamin Grup Vitamin is a Turkish pop and pop rock band which make parody songs. The Grup Vitamin is composed of Emrah Anul, Selçuk Aksoy and Tolga Sünter. Previously, Ercan Saatçi and İzelb were members of the band. The band released its debut ...

as "Hamiyet" at "Bol Vitamin" one in 1990 and "Deli Dolu Best Of 1" in 1996.

Critical reception

In his review of the ''

Hello Afrika ''Hello Afrika (The Album)'' is the debut studio album from Swedish-based Nigerian artist Dr. Alban, released in 1990. The album was produced by Denniz Pop and released through the label SweMix Records. The album was also released as a second ed ...

'' album,

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' commented, "Equally strong are the title track, a prideful

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

ode that features a nifty guest appearance by

" A reviewer from ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "Pounding, tribal drums dominate this poppy

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

for African unity." The magazine also called it "an great African

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

track, hailing from Sweden." They added, "This mixture of African tribal rhythms, Jamaican toasting and western house technology is already very big in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n and German clubs. The rest of Europe will doubtlessly follow." British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' described it as a "

Prince Buster Cecil Bustamente Campbell (24 May 1938 – 8 September 2016), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary ...

influenced tuggingly rolling

ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Sm ...

rap".

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Hello Afrika" was directed by Scottish director Paul Boyd. It received

heavy rotation In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely sh ...

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...

. Boyd would also go on directing the video for Alban's next single, "

No Coke "No Coke" is a song recorded by Sweden-based musician and producer Dr Alban. It was originally released as the B-side of the 12" version of his debut single "Hello Afrika" and became the second single off his debut album, ''Hello Afrika'' (1990). ...

Track listings

* 7" single # "Hello Afrika" (Marc Spoon's radio edit) — 3:46 # "Hello Afrika" (single mix) — 3:13 * CD single # "Hello Afrika" (Marc Spoon's radio edit) — 3:46 # "Hello Afrika" (single mix) — 3:13 * CD maxi # "Hello Afrika" (fast blast club mix) — 5:40 # "Hello Afrika" (aaahfrika mix) — 6:25 # "Jungle Beats" (gurana mix) — 4:28 # "Hello Afrika" (single mix) — 3:13 * CD maxi/12" maxi single - Remix # "Hello Afrika" (tech-makossa-mix) — 7:42 # "Hello Afrika" (freedom for bleeb & bass mix) — 6:30 # "

" (hip hop reggae in a dance hall style) — 4:40

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1990 debut singles 1990 songs Dr. Alban songs English-language Swedish songs Leila K songs Music videos directed by Paul Boyd Number-one singles in Austria Reggae fusion songs Song recordings produced by Denniz Pop Songs written by Denniz Pop Songs written by Dr. Alban Songs written by Leila K