ÃÂfrica Negra, also known as Conjunto ÃÂfrica Negra, are a band from São Tomé and PrÃÂncipe, founded in 1974. In the 1980s ÃÂfrica Negra were one of the most successful bands in Portuguese-speaking Africa. The band moved to Cape Verde in 1989, and had broken up by the early 1990s. In 2012 ÃÂfrica Negra reformed, and have sinced released several albums and toured in Europe and Colombia.
ÃÂfrica Negra began in the early 1970s in the city of São Tomé as a group called Conjunto Milando, founded by a butcher called Horacio and his guitarist friend Emilio Pontes. The group formed more officially in 1974, a year before São Tomé and PrÃÂncipe gained independence from Portugal; they were initially forbidden by the colonial authorities from using the name ÃÂfrica Negra, and so called themselves Girasol.
Significant members of ÃÂfrica Negra include lead guitarist EmÃÂdio Vaz, rhythm guitarist LeonÃÂdio Barros, and vocalist João Seria (formerly of Conjunto Cabana). Seria's vocal style was inspired by Martinho da Vila (his "favourite musician outside Africa") and Franco Luambo. In the 1980s ÃÂfrica Negra had 12 members, including 4 on horns. They mostly recorded live, or in the studio of , which was not large enough to hold the entire group simultaneously.
ÃÂfrica Negra released their debut album Aninha in 1981. They had a prolific output in the early 1980s, including another album Conjunto ÃÂfrica Negra in 1981, three albums in 1983, and a six-track cassette San Lena in 1986. Many of these were released on Lisbon record label Iefe.
ÃÂfrica Negra toured Angola, Mozambique, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Portugal, and Cape Verde in the 1980s. Several members of the band moved to Cape Verde in 1989, following a tour there, which sparked some changes of line-up. By the early 1990s ÃÂfrica Negra had split up. Barros told Diário de NotÃÂcias that "Cape Verde spoilt everything. Of the seven band members who went there, only four returned."
ÃÂfrica Negra reformed in 2012, with both Barros and Seria returning, and since then have released three studio albums. They performed together in Lisbon in 2018. In 2022 they played at the in San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia, the first free African town in the Americas. João Seria died in 2023, but the group continues to perform, led by Barros, who lives in Lisbon.
In 2022 Swiss record label Bongo Joe Records released a compilation of ÃÂfrica Negra hits from the 1980s and 90s, called Antologia Vol. 1. A second volume of rarities and unreleased songs came out in 2024.