Wild and wet in Africa

Our deep shadows and sensualities are brought into the light by this bold sonic celebration of desire

- Lesego Chepape

There are stories that seduce and then there are stories that awaken. Kivuli & Nuru: The Afrodisiacs Collection is the latter.

Produced by HolaAfrica! the two albums of sonic storytelling don’t so much whisper to your senses as they dance, boldly and barefoot, across your chest.

Curated by the unapologetically audacious Tiffany Mugo, this collection is a defiant celebration of African eroticism; it is a reclamation, a resurrection, a rhythmic sermon preached in moans and murmurs.

“Kivuli and nuru — shadow and light,” Mugo says, “are in constant battle. Human desire is always trying to move from the dark into the light.

“You only need to look at someone’s Tuesday evening browser history to know that.”

These aren’t just concepts, they’re mirrors. The shadow is where we bury our want: in prayer, in shame, in cultural silence.

The light is where it spills, bold and breathless. The two aren’t enemies, they're dance partners.

Mugo, a daughter of Kenya, roots the entire experience in language that calls home to the soul. The titles weren't always this clear.

“Initially, the albums were separated into white gold and black gold but that just felt lame,” she says.

“The notion of the shadow and the light eventually came to me and I realised we have so many magical ways we speak of things in our various African languages.”

Kiswahili, with its lyrical clarity, carried the intention: “I wanted people to know that you were on the continent the minute you saw the title, no time to waste.”

This clarity is important because African erotic storytelling still exists in a contested space. The stories in Kivuli, especially, are not soft-focus fantasies. They are textured, layered, emotional, and personal.

“The call for submissions was essentially, ‘Go wild!’” Mugo says. “And that’s exactly what they did.