Tune in tonight at midnight (technically Sat morning) to hear a special show from KCRW DJ Mathieu Schreyer. More from KCRW’s biggest football fan below:
Today marks the opening of the World Cup, for the first time held on African soil since its creation in 1928. It is for me, and billions of others, the most exciting sport event in the world, a time where we are all unified (which is so rare these days) and glued to the television.
I prepared a full three hours of African music for my show tonight. I was hoping Tom Schnabel would be here to host the show with me, but he s traveling at the moment. It’s too bad as his knowledge of African music is unparalleled and, as I was preparing the show, I quickly realized I will be unable to touch on all the aspects of African music as it is so diverse. But I did my best at compiling the styles of African music that I love and I have been listening to for almost 20 years now. In my goodie bag. I have packed music from Franco le Tout Puissant, Fela Kuti, Hugh Masekela, Dollar Brand, Tinariwen, Keziah Jones and many more.
I sure hope one, if not many, of the African nations competing will go through to the second round or even more. As a French citizen, I am deeply saddened by the state of our team but as an avid football fan and a player myself, I am thrilled about the many games that are organized all around Los Angeles this month and how contagious this energy is! I have been in America for 15 years and I can see how much more interested and involved Americans are with football (soccer). I feel like its getting more and more popular in the states, especially with the ever growing Latin community in this country, and its great to see.
Enjoy the show and enjoy the World Cup! Thanks for listening
— KCRW DJ Mathieu Schreyer