Last week, Beyoncé dropped the first track from her album for The Lion King.

In the accompanying press statement, she noted that it “was important that the music was not only performed by the most interesting and talented artists but also produced by the best African producers”.

Now that the tracklist has been released, we’re getting a closer look at the African producers and musicians who worked on the album.

Here’s The Citizen:

Nigerian pop stars Tiwa Savage and Mr Eazi perform the song “keys to the Kingdom”, with the latter also appearing alongside fellow Nigerians Tekno and Yemi Alade on “Don’t Jealous Me”.

Nigeria’s Burna Boy has a solos track, “Ja Ara E”, while Cameroonian artist Salatiel appears alongside Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams on “Water”.

Other African artists include Nigeria’s Wizkid, Ghana’s Shatta Wale, and South Africa’s Busiswa and Moonchild Sanelly.

Busiswa Gqulu, known as Busiswa or Busi, is a South African singer-songwriter and poet. Born in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, she gained public recognition in a feature on DJ Zinhle’s song, My Name Is, after being discovered by Kalawa Jazmee’s CEO Oskido.

She released her first album in 2017 with the hit Gobisiqolo:

Moonchild Sanelly is a musician and dancer known for her signature blue-coloured hair and her self-created music genre called “Future ghetto punk”. She was born in Port Elizabeth, but lives in Joburg.

Here’s her video for F-BOYZ:

Sound advice.

This is the full tracklist for The Lion King album – The Gift:

01 Beyoncé: ‘Bigger”
02 Beyoncé: ‘Find Your Way Back (Circle of Life)’
03 Tekno / Yemi Alade / Mr. Eazi: ‘Don’t Jealous Me’
04 Burna Boy: ‘Ja Ara E’
05 Beyoncé / Kendrick Lamar: ‘The Nile’
06 Beyoncé / JAY-Z / Childish Gambino: ‘Mood 4 Eva’
07 Salatiel / Pharrell / Beyoncé: ‘Water’
08 Blue Ivy Carter / SAINt JHN / WizKid / Beyoncé: ‘Brown Skin Girl’
09 Tiwa Savage / Mr. Eazi: ‘Keys to the Kingdom’
10 Beyoncé: ‘Otherside’
11 Beyoncé / Shatta Wale: ‘Already’
12 Tierra Whack / Beyoncé / Busiswa / Yemi Alade / Moonchild Sanelly: ‘My Power’
13 070 Shake / Jessie Reyez: ‘Scar’
14 Beyoncé: ‘Spirit’

Looks like a winner.

The film, on the other hand, has received very mixed reviews, but you’re going to watch it anyway.

[source:citizen]