Togo

Togo (ⁱ/ˈtoʊɡoʊ/), officially the Togolese Republic (French: République Togolaise), is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital Lomé is located. Togo covers 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi), making it one of the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of approximately 7.5 million.

Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons. The official language is French, with many other languages spoken in Togo, particularly those of the Gbe family. The largest religious group in Togo consists of those with indigenous beliefs, and there are significant Christian and Muslim minorities. Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States.

From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading center for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In 1884, Germany declared Togoland a protectorate. After World War I, rule over Togo was transferred to France. Togo gained its independence from France in 1960.

Oliver Heldens

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Oliver Heldens (born Olivier Heldens; February 1, 1995) is a Dutch electronic music producer from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. His 2013 song, "Gecko", caught the attention of Tiësto, who signed him to his label; Musical Freedom and released the track with vocals from British singer Becky Hill on June 23, 2014. Heldens also has a weekly podcast titled Heldeep Radio. His songs "Gecko (Overdrive)", "Last All Night (Koala)" and his remix of Dr Kucho!'s "Can't Stop Playing" charted as top 5 singles in the UK, reaching 1st, 5th and 4th position respectively. In 2015, he began producing bass house songs under the alias 'HI-LO', which comes from 'Oli H' in reversed form. Under his alias, Heldens produced three singles titled "Crank It Up", "Renegade Mastah" and "Wappy Flirt", releasing the latter two on his label Heldeep Records.

Career

2013–present: Breakthrough

Heldens began his professional music career when he signed to Spinnin' Records in 2013. His first releases on the label include "Stinger" and "Thumper" which features DJ Jacob van Hage. Later collaborations include "Panther" with 'Robby East' which was released on the Oxygen label on the December 2, 2013. The single "Gecko" was released in the same month on Tiesto's Musical Freedom record label. The song peaked at number 1 on the DMC Magazine Buzz Chart and was named "Essential New Tune" by BBC's Pete Tong on January 31, 2014.

Nomadic Wax

Nomadic Wax is a fair-trade international music, film, and events production company with a social and global focus. It specializes in hip-hop and underground music. Nomadic Wax works with a network of artists and musicians worldwide who use art as a medium for activism, social change, and community development. American Ben Herson founded Nomadic Wax in 1999, while living in Brooklyn, New York. Herson graduated with a B.A. in African Studies and Anthropology from Hampshire College in 2000 and did post baccalaureate studies in Wolof (a West African language) at Columbia University.

Nomadic Wax has since expanded, with an additional office in Washington DC run by Creative Director, Magee McIlvaine.

Background

During the summer of 1999, Nomadic Wax founder Ben Herson discovered a local independent hip-hop scene in Senegal and became fascinated by the music which contained politically and socially conscious lyrical content . His attempts at persuading existing labels to publish the music met with difficulties.

South Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost sovereign state in Africa. It is bounded on the south by 2,798 kilometers of coastline of southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, on the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and on the east by Mozambique and Swaziland, and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area, and with close to 53 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere.

South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution's recognition of 11 official languages, which is among the highest number of any country in the world. Two of these languages are of European origin: Afrikaans developed from Dutch and serves as the first language of most white and coloured South Africans; English reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and commercial life, though it is fourth-ranked as a spoken first language.

United States

Coordinates: 40°N 100°W / 40°N 100°W / 40; -100

The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a federal republic composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major territories and various possessions. The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. At 3.8 million square miles (9.842 million km²) and with over 320 million people, the country is the world's third or fourth-largest by total area and the third most populous. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The geography and climate of the United States are also extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife.