Pick of the Week - Afrika Festival Hertme (Various)

Feast your ears on a (really big) archive of performance videos from an African music festival in the Netherlands.

Afrika Festival Hertme is an annual two-day event that takes place each summer in the village of Hertme, in the Netherlands. If a trip to the Netherlands is not in the cards, then you can watch highlights of the festival on YouTube.

I've spent a lot of time doing just that. Their archive goes all the way back to 2014 and there's no shortage of highlights, with more than 1,500 professional quality videos on display.

If thousands of videos seems overwhelming, you might want to try out one of their many playlists. The top ten (plus two) is probably a good place to start. Especially if you like Alpha Blondy, from Côte d’Ivoire, who takes up four of the slots.

Also worth a look, a list that features a few songs by Oliver Mtukudzi, who's a big favorite around these parts. This alone would be worth the price of admission. But, of course, it's all free.