:o Hi, I did a previous thread on pop songs with good countermelodies. My ultimate goal is to create a journal of lists of songs by theme/structure/type, etc. Today, I’m looking for pop songs anywhere from the '50s to the '90s with African influences.
Cases in point:
Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” (1983)
“Life In a Northern Town” by Dream Academy (1984)
“Liberian Girl” by Michael Jackson (not released as a single in the US) (1989)
etc…
Thanks! All suggestions are welcome! 
What do you mean by “Western popular music”? Isn’t the Caribbean itself the West? Why do you want to distinguish between popular music from, let’s say Cuba or Dominica, and Lionel Ritchie? Why should Lionel Ritchie’s African influence be seen any differently from that of, say, Los Van Van (other than that Ritchies’s is bland and watered down)?
Um, all rock, blues, spirituals, gospel, jazz, swing, ragtime, soul, R&B, hip-hop, reggae …
Can you name any modern popular music that doesn’t show African influence? Now that’s a stumper. Maybe some of the most hard-core folk. Possibly some ballads (but they often tend to be a bit jazzy).
I am curious as to why you singled out the very English “Life In a Northern Town”, though. 
You left out Cajun/zydeco <grin>.
And I’m curious, too - “Life In a Northern Town” would never have occurred to me as an example either.
The OP is talking about contemporary African influences in popular music. If you want to get pin-headed about it then then every damn thing is African in the larger sense.
I believe the OP is referring to this:
Maybe I am also off target, but I think world music has had little effect on western pop music because the volume of flow is surging in the other direction. In the current top 40 I sniff no scent of afro-influence.
Maybe the mistake was to place the word “popular” in the question. Beyond the bounds of “pop” music is a maelstrom of influence that nobody can keep up with.
What about Country? Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, Bob Wills, Bill Monroe & Hank Williams all learned directly from African-American musicians. These pioneers mixed various African-American elements with traditions from the British Isles to create Country Music. No, you won’t hear them on Modern Country Radio. But look to the roots…
Which American music does not show African influence? Polkas, maybe. But Tejanos play plenty of polkas–and cumbias, from Way Down South. (We like to mix things up in Texas.)
I can go on in great detail. And have, in the past…
Here is an example of what I think we are talking about:
This song just left the top 40, and Franti is a Californian.
I don’t think it’s pin-headed to try and nail down exactly what the OP is after, given the examples he used. The Paul Simon song you referenced would have been a better one, imo.
I absolutely agree with you about the flow surging in the other direction. My passion is music, and I listen to music/bands from all over the world thanks to YouTube. I have corresponded with a musician in Poland who tells me Blues is very popular in his country, a French band that plays Southern Rockabilly, a Romanian band that specializes in 60s-70s American pop, a German band that plays folk/bluegrass music and so on. The fiddle player in the German band recently spent several months in the Appalachian area to hear bluegrass first-hand.
Besides African/Afro-Caribbean influences in this country, what about Indian/Far East music? Several Beatles’ songs and Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir come to mind, for example. Maybe the next category could be ***world influences ***on American music.
Btw, I can “speak” a lot of Afrikaans, thanks to Die Antwoord <GRIN>. I don’t know what I’m saying…and I don’t think I want to know, lol.
Great! Then we can all pin-headedly object that America is part of the world, and what music isn’t influenced by the world anyway???
The entire rock and roll genre, as well as jazz, blues, gospel. Not to mention, much of Latin American (esp. Cuban and Brazilian) music.
Punk also owes a lot to reggae.
It’s kind of…weird?..that the OP singles out “Liberian Girl”. It’s not unusually “African” to my ears. If I had to point to a MJ song that has an African flavor, it would be “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”.
OK, how about “Pin-head Music and it’s Influence on Freer, Texas in 1968”?
The percussion on Liberian Girl is pretty African-influenced and Life in a Nothern Town has some African-sounding chanting going on.
I guess being ‘Afro-Caribbean’ myself, I understood more or less what the OP is asking. He’s looking for more direct influence, like Reggae on much of The Police’s catalog. Not ‘Nickelback can be traced back to Africa too.’
Would Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” qualify?
That’s not my point at all. I live a good part of the year in the Caribbean, and nearly ALL the popular music there IS Afro-Caribbean. (And even when I’m in Los Angeles, a good portion of the market share of popular music radio broadcasting–salsa, merengue, cumbia, etc.–simply IS Afro-Caribean, rather than influenced by it. So none of this is Western popular music? Isn’t the Caribbean part of the West?
Okay, I don’t think I’ve explained the topic of this thread thoroughly enough. Basically, what I am looking for are pop songs (i.e. songs which would appear on Billboard, Cashbox, R&R charts, etcetera) by American or British artists who’s songs are overtly African or Caribbean in nature:
Songs containing:
African instruments (ex: Numerous Paul Simon songs, “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie)
Native language (i.e. the beginning of “Liberian Girl” by Michael Jackson),
African tribal chanting (prime example: “Life In A Northern Town”),
Or a song that is just about Africa in general (classic example: “Africa” by Toto)
Hopefully, that makes thing clearer.
Thanks for the constructive criticism everyone, by the way.
People say the “West” when really they mean “White people like me.”
I have one! **Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa **by Vampire Weekend.
I had to look it up to make sure it qualified, but found that it was rated 67th best song of 2007 by Rolling Stone magazine.
Thank you for clarifying - it’ll make searching/recalling much easier. Cheers!
eta Oh, and duh…The Lion Sleeps Tonight
and Elton John’s Island Girl
The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Beach Boys Kokomo
Even though it’s about a mythical place in Florida, I’m including it for the rhythm, mention of Jamaica and the use of congas, steel drums, etc.