Those listening to "Afrobeats" genres (the term is very broad and flattening but still used for now), especially coming from Nigerian artists and their diasporas, will notice one trend within the scene--the increasing use of East and South Asian elements.

You'll hear melodies played on Ehru, a two-stringed instrument from China. You'll see videos inspired by manga, anime and video games. You'll see traditional Bharatnatyam dancers on stages with the likes of Rema.

This latest release from Solana and Killertunes called "Okunkun" features her singing in Yoruba, but in a style that sounds Japanese, partially because it fits into cadences in a backing track that sounds like a vintage East Asian video game pop-punk song.

It's easy to imagine it becoming a catchy singalong hit in East Asia and...well, the whole world. Comments have noted its "throwback" sound to Nigerian pop of the 80s and 90s.

For anyone following Hanumankind’s journey, you may have seen two of his recent vids shot with collaborator Bijoy Shetty.

“Monsoon Season”, a promo for his mixtape of the same name, shows young men climbing and diving in the Kerala wilderness during monsoon.

At the same time, a collective and camp called Ferntastic Earth, also based in Kerala, has been posting content of their groups rushing around the wilderness donning masks and creating art out of stones, leaves and more. While group retreats and hangouts in the jungle are not that unusual in this region of India, Ferntastic Earth brings a new kind of sensibility and energy to the format. This not a yoga retreat or a typical art residency, or even a simple workshop. It exists in the "back to offline" push to reclaim wildness, togetherness and freeform expression, with a punk-ecological flavor.

Recently, Thums Up, an Indian cola brand that got acquired (and a bit diluted) by Coca Cola, came out with a longform music video artvertisement featuring Hanumankind doing tricks and extreme sports both in the city and in the wilderness, though this looks more like Mumbai and Maharashtra, or maybe Bangalore and Karnataka.

Comments likened it to the Thums Up ads of the 90s. Americans likened it to the grunge wave of the 1990s in the US. The Thums Up video combines a lot of the tropes that director Bijoy Shetty has made famous in Hanumankind’s videos…you can see traces of a lot of his prior projects, compiled into one.

Another client of Bijoy's is Bhavya Ramesh, a jewelry designer with shops in Bombay and Delhi focused on a mix of heritage and punk futurism. Bijoy's videos for Bhavya feel very similar to the ones for Hanumankind and there is plenty of crossover--it's important to see these in his ouevre as well.

So far, XLE.LIFE has been interviews, editorials, site visits and live discussions. It's going further into videos, podcasts and live events. Some of you also know I used to moderate a community called Starwave with over 5000 women in the arts. I've recently revived this as Global Women Artists, and both groups now have Whatsapp communities and Zoom meetups.

On April 16th I'll be hosting the first online meeting that merges the two groups!. I've invited Curator Valentina Peri to discuss her current exhibition, Artificial Intimacies, and her ongoing work with the gamification of dating and romance scams. Valentina is also part of the Paris branch of Saloon, a women's discussion and meetup group with chapters throughout Europe and beyond. I've seen Valentina's projects floating around online and have been curious to find out more, so I'm bringing her to the XLE (& GWA?) concept island to splash.

Next on XLE.LIFE's New Terms 2024 list is the very broad arena of Futurisms. I've posted this in two sections so far:

XLE.LIFE: New Terms 2024: Futurisms--Part I: Intro >>

A very brief and loose introduction to futurisms with a similarly loose timeline, in case you've never heard this term in your life!

XLE.LIFE: New Terms 2024: Futurisms--Part II: A List of Emergent Futurisms >>

The more exciting part of the futurisms research--a sprawling, wild list of 235 (and counting) genres of futurisms, including several I've named or predicted. Looking at this list, especially in an array, really makes me feel some type of way. I hope it makes you feel a way also. What a time to be alive.

"Mahboula" by MANAL aka Manal Benchlikha, an artist from Morocco who is a mainstay in the NEW WORLD MUSIC playlist and genre. "Mahboula" is in the style of raï, an Algerian folk music that originated in the city of Oran in the 1920s, at a time when Oran was called "Little Paris" due to its mix of cultures and rowdy nightlife. Raï was a reaction against classical Algerian music, with improvised lyrics describing the reality of street life over simplified beats and melodies. The word raï, Algerian for "advice/opinion", comes through in the lyrics, which were often opinionated and controversial. Manal's "Mahboula" is a throwback to one of the golden eras of raï music, the 1980s-1990s, though this era was not without its controversies as well. After years of different kinds of colonization, many Algerian raï performers emigrated to France as raï was banned in their home country.

The lyrics warn other women to stay away from her man in an extreme and playful way, while the video shows it to all be a daydream Manal has, a game she plays with herself while seeing an enchanting stranger. "Mahboula" is the third single off her upcoming album, Arabian Heartbreak.

Karima Gouit just dropped "Ihwawin", where the Marrakech native celebrates Amazigh heritage and folk music with a contemporary twist.

So far no properly translated lyrics but here is Google's best guess:

Oh melodies Where are your lovers? The people of Imi Ntanout They love art All the Amazighs Art lovers My father told me he got married I told him leave me alone He told me what happened to you I told him times have changed And it is no longer the same The owner of the beautiful hair stole from me You know that life does not love those who are useless In the name of God I begin my words And I begin my experience In all fields Beauty is planted, roses and ghanaz (velvet) and tea and then henna are planted So welcome to the beauties Whoever wants to put henna is welcome You just have to adhere to its conditions so that it does not go to waste

Kalki 2898 AD, India's first major blockbuster #Indofuturist Sci-Fi release? (In Telugu and Hindi, directed by Nag Ashwin).

XLE.LIFE’s editor Kai (Kari) Altmann is a fanatic for Indofuturism(s) and Desifuturism(s), so when she saw Prateek Arora’s AI-assisted concept images on Instagram she was instantly hooked.

She managed to grab Prateek for a meetup and eventually 5 Questions on the record back in 2023 in Mumbai. Here is the interview over a year later, on the occasion of the release of KALKI 2898 AD, India’s most ambitious Indofuturist movie so far, coming in the afterglow of Dune 2, Furiosa, Dev Patel’s Monkey Man and others. It’s been quite a year for cinema, for Desi cinema, and for Indofuturism/Desifuturism too...

XLE.LIFE's New Terms 2024 List is now dripping on the platforms...starting with Indofuturism(s) and Desifuturism(s).

"2023 was extreme. And I’m here writing about it on XLE.LIFE which is still mostly my own little side platform (with occasional guests). I need to turn this into a video, right? I did a lot of art and music event attendance in 2023, after emerging from the CoVid doldrums. I also had to do two visa exits from India which found me in UAE, Egypt, Turkey and Greece.

It probably isn’t shocking that my top ten is mostly female/gender queer with a focus on South x Southwest Asia and North Africa."

-Kai Lion XLE (Hxya)

Artists and places included: Hajra Waheed, Ali Sethi, Rema, Ana Sting, Wegz, Myriam Fares, Manu and Madvi Parekh, Dior, Camille Henrot, Rajni Perera, Diljit Dosanjh, Elyanna, Ghali, Manal, Rosalía, Mumbai, Goa, Jaipur, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Zurich/St. Gallen