SHOOK #09 - SOUTH AFRICA SPECIAL by jez smadja

Cover PHoTo: sCoTT sMITH

NO 9

VOL ONE / AUTUMN 2010

eDIToRS: Jez Smadja + Andy Thomas ART DIReCToR: Matt MonkeyBoxer www.inallforms.co.uk CoNTRIBUTING eDIToRS: Al Burton, Bongani Madondo, Helene Dancer, Chris Robinson, Ben Verghese Sunil Chauhan

Intro Sun Ra’s Arkestra . Oi: The Now Sound of Brasil . A Day In the Life of... A Record Compiler . Film Bites . Syl Johnson . Mr G . Kalbata . Dodger Man . Cornelia . Richy Pitch . Nick Rosen

ASSoCIATe eDIToRS: Charles Drakeford, Keith Pettinger, Andres Reyes, Gavin Kendrick ADVeRTISING: Michael Krasser DeSIGN: Rosy Tsai www.almost-rosy.com ADDITIoNAl DeSIGN: Graeme Arendse WeBoloGY: Ben Immanuel CoNTRIBUToRS: Sanjiv Ahluwalia, Nate Agundipe, Keith Baker, Mr. Beatnick, Sue Boweman, Paul Camo?, Max Cole, Simon Creasey, Welson Creep, Colin McKean, Charlie Dark, Spin Doctor, Gerard Don-Daniel, Frank Dubya, Duke Etienne, Laurent Fintoni, Adam Hussam Murray, Cal Jader, Zainab Jama, The Boy King, Benji Lehmann, Max Leonard, Kingsley Marshall, James McNally, Oscar Medina, Gabriel Myddleton, Gwyn Moxham, Samera Owusu Tutu, Ryan Proctor, Ollie Sanders, Dom Servini, Alex Stevenson, Johnny Trunk, Tom Vague, Vince Vella, Darren Wall, Charles Waring, Susannah Webb, Justin Wong, James Wright.

Contents

Features 20. BIlAl Cool on the outside.

48. BUSI MHloNGo The Zulu Space Diva

24. FooTWoRKING Chicago’s ghetto workout.

50. CHIMUReNGA Who no know, go know. 54. SUD eleCTRoNIC Ten years of underground parties.

28. BlK JKS + Malombo Inter-generational exchanges. 32. HoUSe AFRIKA The beat of a new South Africa. 38. A SIleNT WAY The routes of South African Jazz

56. FAITH47 Young Mobile Bomber. 58. NeW SoUTH AFRICA DJs, producers & vocalists. 62. HIllBRoW NoW Urban renewal, Jo’burg style.

42. ReAlITY FooTBAll Photos by Araminta de Clemont 44. I HeART SoWeTo The indestructible beat goes on.

64. THe BASe When hip-hop came to the Cape.

Outro 66. SWeeT SAloNe Spring in Sierra Leone

pHoToGRApHY: Lloyd Bishop, David Bornfriend, Alex Coley, Kingsley Davis, Nicky Dracoulis, Evgeniy K, Alexis Maryon, Scott Smith

67. FlUR Lisboa’s vinyl vault. 68. pAleNqUe Colombian sound systems. 70. SHooK TeK Faking It: the art of sampling

SpeCIAl THANKS: Paul Bradshaw, Swifty, Marlow, Bongani Madondo, Phiona Okumu, Maria McLoy, Allan & Lauren Nicoll, Ntone Edjabe, Scott Smith

72. NoW THeN With Welson Creep, 74. ReVIeWS Books, films and records.

SHOOK 10 Fairlawns, London N11 2DH, UK +44 (0) 208 292 4533 info@shook.fm Printed in the UK by: MANSON Group Distributed by Central, Post Scriptum + Disticor 3

INTRO

HOOK caught up with world renowned avant-garde alto-sax legend Marshall Allen, band leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, in the middle of a three-date residency at Cafe Oto.

WORDS | BARRY SMYTH PHOTOGRAPHY | EVGENIY KAZANNIK

ppearing with the Sun Ra Arkestra, of which he has been a member for more that 50 years and has led since 1995, Marshall defies his 86 years on the planet to be both a provocative performer and an inspiring individual. The talented multi-instrumentalist has devoted himself to carrying on the Arkestra’s legacy – working, against the forces of entropy, to keep alive the teachings and big band traditions that he learnt under Sun Ra – and not just by playing old Ra compositions (of which there would be no shortage) but writing new music to be performed and recorded. The Arkestra was, and still is, a cause of much wonder in musical circles: a constantly evolving havoc of musicians who, under the direction of Sun Ra, John Gilmore and later Marshall, pushed boundaries and sensibilities in a manner rarely seen. When you meet Marshall it is quickly apparent that he is no career-led musician, although his has been extraordinary – hundreds of recordings with Sun Ra and guest appearances with bands as varied as Sonic Youth, Digable Planets and Medeski Martin & Wood. No, Allen is a true believer – in Sun Ra, his teachings and their development for both musicians and audiences alike.

How would you explain the Arkestra to those who haven't seen it? They should see it, it's got plenty of energy. It's orchestrated music so it is a lot of everything. We play a different style therefore we can cover more. I think in Europe they appreciate the music more so they have a good time. They know about the band in England, we have been playing here for many years.

Again, for people who haven't seen you before, could you explain a little about the costumes? Music is about sound and sight and all those things, the feelings, so we have different colours for the band and each colour stands for your personality and it brings the music out. We have the lights and the light shows and it helps you get interested in the music, get the right mood.

Why did you decide to stay on with the Arkestra? Because Sun Ra left thousands of sheets of music and scores and things that we don't know how to play yet. He had combinations of music that he put together – like putting a jigsaw puzzle together to show a picture. He had all these different things going on like a jigsaw, but if you didn't put it all together then you didn't know what the jigsaw is. We've stuck with it and takes years to know all the pieces and their right places. This music looks like any other music – dotted notes, quarter notes, eighth notes and 16th notes – but it’s the way you play it.

Do you feel a responsibility to keep Sun Ra's legacy alive? Yes, I have a responsibility to keep it, for what the music does. The music is making me free, playing not for the money but to make me free. What can the music do for you? If it does nothing for you, what is it going to do for the people you are playing it for?

Where are you based now? Philadelphia. Sun Ra wanted to go there, the capital of the US, where America began with the constitution and where the Liberty Bell is. We made our headquarters there instead of Washington. The house at 5626 Morton Street was full of energy and ideas – we lived together, played together. You can build the foundation of your band like that. If you have a foundation you can add many things.

Do you think this obviously very passionate, spiritual and emotional music began to come together when you moved to Philly? It all began to gel. We began a new phase of music, bringing out more combinations of music as we went. Sun Ra was waiting for the musicians to absorb what he had done, which was kindergarten music – he didn't stay on the planet long enough to give them the other stuff, he went away with the good stuff, off to space. He would say ‘now play the music but play what you don't know.’ That's when you had to stop and think what it is you didn’t know.

And what way would it work, I know you all composed and wrote. How would Sun Ra deal with it? Well Sun Ra was a rare person, he could write music like you write on paper taking notes.

How were musicians picked to join the Arkestra? Well he had a way with people, he could look at you and tell what you are about, and he would pick different musicians. Not the way they act or their character but if they had potential. He could see you had potential or if you needed guidance from all the other earthly things. With a leader like that he had vision and he knows people and just what to do for you…

I could lie here but I don't really understand many of Sun Ra's thinkings, his different ideas... It’s all types of music, all types of rhythms and sounds...dealing with sounds. Well-being from sounds, which can heal you, make you cry, make you emotional, make you happy. You put all that together and you feed your body, feed your spirit.

What about the huge amount of recordings, did you play on over 200? Well, every time Sun Ra played a song he played it a little differently. I listen to them and hear things I never heard before. But I got all these recording and I didn't make a living with them, I can't even pay my rent. I wouldn't care about no rent if the rent man didn't stick his hand out. I don't care how many albums are out there... you keep stepping, keep trying something different each time. The more ideas you have, you keep going until the bucket runs over.

Do you think you will ever stop having ideas? No, if I do that I may as well hang up my horn, make a lampshade out of it and go about my business. Sit on the waterfront fishing.

Do you even like fishing? (Laughs) No!

MINI BOX LUNAR Described by one Brazilian newspaper as “Jefferson Airplane with calypso”, Mini Box Lunar are from Macapá, a city in the state of Amapá that borders Caribbean French Guyana. Dressed like 1960s Amazonian hippies they play a mind blowing mix of insane country funk, psychedelic ballads, Amazonian waltzes and calypso-marchinha (marching music). Their youthful mastery of such a dizzying array of genres has seen them draw comparisons with the legendary Os Mutantes.

GABY AMARANTOS Characterised by primitive Casio-tone breakbeats and 90s pop-style female vocals, tecnobrega is North Brazil’s answer to baile-funk and Pará’s Gaby Amarantos its queen. Brega is a type of melancholic Northeastern Brazilian pop music with tecnobrega its louder, raved up eurodance offspring – the Ace of Base to brega’s Abba. With her cover of Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies (‘Hoje eu tô solteira’) Gaby – aka the ‘Beyonce do Pará’ – has successfully put tecnobrega on the Brazilian musical map.

SIBA Siba is one of Brazil’s most important folk-revivalists. Like Chico Science – the manguebeat pioneer who fused hip-hop, rock and Brazilian rhythms to create the blueprint for contemporary Brazilian music – Siba hails from Pernambuco and embodies Chico’s spirit. Breathing new life into traditional Northeastern genres such as ciranda and maracatu Siba creates ‘manguefolk’ where tradition & modernity are inseperable. His trademark is his wonderfully sombre voice and charmingly scratchy rabeca (fiddle) heard to wonderful effect on ‘Cara De Bronze’ – the song featured on ‘Oi!’ – where Siba calls out to the violeiro (guitar player) who spends all night searching for the perfect song.

OI!

LUCAS SANTTANA With João Gilberto, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa, Bahia has given Brazil its fair share of musical legends and with ‘Sem Nostaliga’ fellow Bahian Lucas moves one step nearer this list. Using only guitars and voices Sem Nostalgia is an electro-acoustic masterpiece that pushes the boundaries of contemporary Brazilian music akin to Caetano Veloso’s Transa. Oi features the ballad ‘Hold me in’ plus a kuduroinfluenced carnaval anthem he composed for Baiana System (‘O Carnaval Quem é Que Faz?’) and Curumin’s ‘Caixa Preta’. Is there no end to his talents?

A NOVA

MUSICA

WORDS | LEWIS ROBINSON ILLUSTRATION | SWIFTY

BRASILEIRA

DO AMOR Hailing from Rio De Janeiro, Do Amor have been labelled “Brazil’s Vampire Weekend” because of their heady mix of indie, Afro-pop & Brazilian styles. Whilst Vampire Weekend (& Talking Heads before them) spiced-up their rock with some Afro flavour it’s refreshing to see this cultural influence flip-reversed as a band fuses traditional rhythms from their home country – in Do Amor’s case lambada and carimbó – with rock & new wave. Without compromising their roots they have created a contemporary Brazilian sound with international appeal.

There much more to Brasil than bossa nova and baile funk, as this new compilation of tecnobrega, new wave, manguebeat, acid samba and guitarrada goes to show. *Tracks from these artists and 35 other trailblazers of the new contemporary Brazilian music scene feature on the collection ‘Oi! A Nova Musica Brasileira’. Available from www. maisumdiscos.com there are also video clips of these artists plus Mais Um Gringo’s blog on the most exciting new music the world has to offer. 6

ean Rudland is king of the compilations, the force behind the boombastic Blue Break Beats series, the David Axelrod Anthologies and the award-winning Take Me To the River: A Southern Soul Story for his current employer Ace Records. “I’m not sure if I have an average day,” says Dean. “I work for Ace Records and we’ll often be on the road… I’ll be in Memphis or Alabama, and will be going through a bunch of tapes, looking through the archives and deciding what project we want to do from there. That can be a week or ten days, in places steeped with wonderful history. At the other end of the scale, I’ll be asked to compile something specific, or someone has just acquired a catalogue, and then I’ll sit down at home, in and amongst the tunes, trying to work out what fits.” “I was working for Fania when V2 bought the catalogue. Fania were based in Miami so I had to go out there once a month or so, to work on projects. When you work with the majors, you’re often at least one or two removes from the artist, but at Fania we were working oneon-one with the artists. I’ll never forget having dinner with Willie Colon in a little bodega in Little Havana, Miami, after a concert he’d done.

D AY

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A RECORD COMPILER It was like being with Paul McCartney or Robbie Williams – everyone was in awe of him…” “What is most satisfying about my job is when you manage to turn around the fortunes of artists who have been down on their luck. For instance, the guy who wrote the break to Christina Aguilera’s ‘Aint No Other Man’ – we got him a songwriting credit and it was more money than he’d ever earned on a song before. The same thing happened with David Axelrod – we put all his Anthologies, he cleared off his debts at Capitol and when Dr. Dre sampled ‘The Edge’, he thanked me personally for putting him back into the forefront of things.” “With compilations it’s a tough market and you either need something with brand recognition, like the Pulp Fusion series, or you have to come up with a really good concept. One of the best compilations of the past few years, in my opinion, was The Very Best of Ethiopiques, taking the highlights from the 25-album

Ethiopiques series which, for the average listener, was a bit too daunting. People who I didn’t think would listen to this sort of music got it immediately. That for me is the essence of a brilliant compilation. Same with the Soul Jazz 100% Dynamite series – it appealed to people who kind of liked reggae but didn’t know what they liked.” “I think there is a trend for better researched, more in-depth compilations. People will treat themselves to a £25 or £50 box set. Numero Group did Light On the Southside last year as a hardcover book and that made more money than all the individual CDs they did that year. If you give people value, they will invest in it.” Out now on Harmless, Pulp Fusion 15th Anniversary Edition, Gimme That Beat and Crate Diggin Fever. Released by Ace, seek out The Loud Minority: Deep & Spiritual Jazz from Mainstream Records.

“I love the music business, but it sucks,” Syl Johnson has been quoted as saying. “The only thing I can liken it to is the drug business. Everybody’s out to get you, no one’s legit, and the only people getting paid are at the top.” Even if he shared the same label as Al Green, Syl Johnson never got the same degree of recognition, something he still rues to this day. But 50 years in the industry has given him an unparalleled succession of hits, as Complete Mythology, a soon to be released four CD and six LP set, including Is It Because I’m Black, is sure to demonstrate when it’s released this October. www.numerogroup.com

DIFFERENT STROKES

PREHISTORIC MAN RIG www.botezco.com

SCAN NERS

at Oxford. Martin Compston’s petty thief and teenage man in a van is out to impress a local hairdresser and northern soul fan and soon he’s making coach trips to all nighters to get her attention while avoiding her panto-villain boyfriend. Though it ticks off its coming of age checklist a little too readily, it’s not without its poignant moments. But despite Keb Darge acting as a consultant, anyone hoping Wigan will finally get its Saturday Night Fever might be disappointed as the heat and tension of the dancefloor is never quite generated.

WORDS | SUNIL CHAUHAN

Gainsbourg Like Radiant Child, Gainsbourg spends little time conceding to those not in the know. It doesn’t concede to those expecting a straightforward narrative either, instead being another irreverent tribute in the manner of Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There rather than a standard biopic. A fantastical romp, director Joann Sfar gets under his subject’s skin, fleshing out the man behind ‘Je t’aime’ as he charts his numerous romantic dalliances, painting Gainsbourg as much of a fantasist in life as in song, and celebrates his Jewishness against the backdrop of France’s anti-Semitic history. Sfar doesn’t quite answer why Gainsbourg is such a national treasure across the channel, but as a celebration of the man at his most decadent, Sfar creates two hours worth of vicarious viewing.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: Radiant Child Jean-Michel Basquiat: Radiant Child is the latest project of Tamra Davis, director of rap-spoof CB4 and er, Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads. Based around a series of candid interviews conducted with Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1985, that revealing footage anchors what’s an unflinchingly intimate look at Madonna’s one time beau. Suzanne Mallouk, Basquiat’s longtime girlfriend, early champions Kenny Scharf and Diego Cortez, and Bruno Bischofberger, Warhol’s dealer who helped bring about his late friendship with Basquiat all feature, but it’s the artists’ own suspicions about his place in the art world and whether he was genuinely admired or just a symbol of racial tokenism that’s at its core. Currently being screened across the US, Radiant Child will be available as a region 1 DVD in October.

Good Hair Chris Rock’s documedy Good Hair explores what’s a loaded subject in the black community: hair. No small task, and Rock refuses to get bogged down in socio-political academia, flying to an Indian hair weave factory, staging a style battle, and garnering anecdotes from an array of celebs ranging from Nia Long to Al Sharpton. But he’d be better off calling in a few more experts – Rock isn’t much of an interviewer, and while his conclusion on how hair doesn’t have to represent more than an aesthetic choice is sound, in reducing his subject to a series of quips, you wish he didn’t need a punchline for everything.

Soulboy Less flamboyant is Soulboy, a film that seems to want to do for northern soul and 70s Stokeon-Trent what An Education did for Twickenham girls who sing chanson and dream of studying

STILL HERE

AG O R E

WORDS | BENJI LEHMANN PHOTO | PAUL EVANS

WORDS | BENJAMIN SEMTEK

Alex Agore is one of the most exciting of a

new generation of producers who have skipped back a decade or two in search of inspiration for their sound. Since ‘Behold, I Make All Things New’ dropped on Delsin’s sister imprint 4 Lux back in 2009, he has been slowly moving towards the centre of the deep house radar. “The music is in me and making music is like the best feeling in the world,” intones Agore. “And, well, other people’s music plays a role too, of course. It’s all about staying inspired.” Although based in Berlin, the music he’s making is a deeper shade of techno. “I don’t know really what everyone does in Berlin but what influences me is especially the music of the ‘90s .The boom-bap hip-hop sound; the Chicago, Detroit and New York house tracks; the English downbeat and soul music scenes. There was amazing music everywhere and that’s what I grew up with.” Coming next is a 4-track EP on the Kolours sublabel Undertones with a tune completed some time ago called ‘Yesterday is Dead and Gone’. There’s more planned with Kolour/Undertones and also some releases under different aliases that he’s keeping firmly under wraps for the time being.

o say that Mr. G is a veteran of techno music would be to ignore the fact he is still one of the most influential and forward thinking producers around. He took time out from the MPC recently to talk about finally undertaking his first album project.

If there's one thing you'd like people to take away from listening to the album what is it? A different analog picture that’s both raw and dirty with a lot of emotion and heart thrown in the mix. From the sleeve notes I gather you occasionally enjoy a glass of rum! Do you have a preferred variety?

This is a 'debut' album, but you have been making music under various guises for well over 20 years, what made you finally want to commit an LP to disc?

Oh yeah Wray and Nephew Overproof White… not for the faint hearted, or ‘so-called’ drinkers – this is trip up and bust ya lip material.

I finally found good people who love what they do and do well and wear their hearts on their sleeves, simple.

It's the year 2030, what's happening in house and techno? I'm still here on my fifth album… happy, and wax is still being sold in shops and the Internet is over loaded with cheese, meanwhile house and techno are as funky and solid as ever, with lots a nu blood and less superstar DJs… you can but hope!?

What did you have in mind when you came up with the title of the album, 'Still Here'? I’ve been around a long time and also been through major illness and when you see other producers I always say, ‘yep I'm still here.’ That was always gonna be the title, and folk love it too.

Here’s hoping. Mr. G ‘Still Here’ is out now on REKIDS

myspace.com/alexagore soundcloud.com/alex_agore

K Israeli bass-monster Kalbata is a champion

of the old school. Not only does he admit that he can’t live without his Moog Prodigy and his Melos echo chamber, but his latest heavyweight release on Soul Jazz Records, 'Sugar Plum Plum', was produced on a 16-track tape machine with not a computer in sight. The record was built on live drums, bass and moog, and dubbed off the mixing desk, King Tubby style. And he’s not just sticking to old school instrumentation either, using forgotten legends Jah Thomas and Little John on the vocals. In an era where dub has mostly emigrated to Europe, Kalbata is really keeping the Jamaican connection alive.

WORDS | SUSANNAH WEBB But the mystery man behind the 2009 white label dubstep smasher 'Ninja we Ninja', Kalbata is much more than just a dub(step) producer, having provided remixes for the likes of Spank Rock, Roll Deep, Sunship and Fat Freddy's Drop. His collaborations are as far-reaching as his influences: from moog-funk to tech-house, 2-step to breakbeat, and he’s even put out a record on Sven Vath’s Cocoon label alongside techno don Guy Gerber. Keep your eye out for his next low frequency installment. myspace.com/kalbata1

ZENCD160Shook magazine ad CMYK

ALOE BLACC GOOD THINGS album on stones throw - www.stonesthrow.com contains the songs i need a dollar & femme fatale

Celebrating 20 Years of Beats & Pieces

•R Released l d SSeptember b 20th

‘Hypnotic.’ The Times ‘Formidable talent for the new decade.’ Echoes ‘If there was such a thing as liquid velvet, Andreya Triana’s voice would be the definition.’ Egg

Deluxe Box set: 6xCDs of new tracks and remixes, most created specially for this set, housed in a foldout hardback book. 2 of the CDs will be exclusive to this set and not available anywhere else. 6x45s again all exclusive to this set and not available elsewhere, housed in a hardback book with special sleeves. 192 pg hardback version of Stevie Chick’s NINJA TUNE ‘20 Years of Beats & Pieces’ exclusive to this box. 2x80cm x 70cm posters - a Ninja Family Tree by Nigel Peake and a Visual Discography by Openmind, and a sticker sheet. 24 pg booklet of all tracks featured including exclusive images and a unique download code to access a mystery ‘7th CD’ plus further releases. All housed in a sturdy slipcase with foil blocked type. Also available separately:

NINJA TUNE XX Parts 1 & 2 Two Double CD releases containing the first four CDs from this set NINJA TUNE ‘20 Years of Beats & Pieces’ by Stevie Chick, Black Dog Publishing. 192 pages of the first 2 decades of Ninja Tune as part of the Label Unlimited series

ninjatune.net/andreyatriana | myspace.com/andreyatrianana

For more info: www.ninjatunexx.net www.ninjatune.net

MAN WORDS | KEITH PETTINGER

itting on his houseboat docked on the River Thames it’s in conversation with Dodger Man that I realise what a rare snapshot of a London artist he represents. As he continues to climb his way to the top of the bass music ladder, 21-year-old Sam Cassman aka Dodger Man has found himself in the fortunate position of sitting on the stress lines of an increasingly fractured scene, and it’s something he’s ready to use to his advantage. “They’re calling it future garage now,” says Dodger Man, describing the latest definition of his sound. “It’s much better. I was never good at wobble. I tried making it but I never came out with anything good, so I went to the jazzy stuff and garage.” Touted as one to watch by some of the biggest names on the circuit, Dodger Man already boasts enough of a following to see his name in bold letters on A1 flyposters plastered across the capital. However, like others that have hit this stage before him, he finds himself in Catch 22 – with no access to Mala or Sbtrkt’s dubs, he’s also too carefully watched to play tunes that can be bought over the counter at record stores. He’s responded by making a name for himself dropping seamless sets consisting heavily of his own creations. “You want your sets to be fresh! If you don’t know all of the big names, you can’t get their dubs. And you

don’t want to play stuff that everyone’s got,” he shares. A blues fanatic with a background in live music, he found it surprisingly easy to transfer his skills on the guitar to an electronic kit after his group had disbanded. Enrolled in a music tech course at the time, his itch to create saw him start experimenting with solo tracks. “I make tunes every day. It’s just taking off now and it takes up a lot of time, but if you want to take it seriously you’ve got to sometimes force it.” As a result, Dodger Man is able to play consistently new sets that can’t be heard elsewhere. For him, it’s still all about playing out live – something of a dying art for upcoming producers. “You’ve got to build your set, no needle dropping. Even if you’re playing other people’s tracks, the way you mix will still come through with your own style.” At a time when the scene is flooding with offshoots, it’s more important that ever to be doing something fresh. “The scene’s broken up in to sections. Dubstep used to be brand new music, but now it’s got its conformities like what happened with drum n’ bass. Pangaea, Ramadanman, Apple Pips are all still doing different and original stuff. That’s always the aim.” It was back in March – when his debut 12”

COMPETITION C

ourtesy of the cats at NOECHO Records we have several copies of the brilliant new Eugene Harrington record to giveaway. If you haven’t heard of Eugene yet you should, the production sounds uncannily similar to Clutchy. The story goes that Eugene is the son of vintage keyboard repairer; but which fellow lo-fi funkster on Mo Wax also had a keyboard repair shop? To enter just e-mail competition@shook.fm. A right

answer gets you a copy of the black stuff(1000 pressed). We also have two pairs of tickets to go see ?uestlove play a 3-hour set for a very special Doctor’s Orders party at East Village on 11 September. The winners will also each get a Dephect t-shirt. Just tell us the name of the latest album by The Roots.

was originally slated to drop – that Joy Orbison hand-picked Dodger Man to share the bill at Bloc Weekend. As expectations rose and pressure mounted, the debut record was pushed further and further back, turning it into on of the most eagerly anticipated plates for 2010. “I was still not really happy with the two tunes. I wanted to get them perfect before we started mastering and obviously I’m still learning a lot. Between handing in the tunes initially and when it was going to come out I wanted to add stuff, get the mix downs better, so it stretched it out a lot.” A one-off deal with the label allowed Dodger Man the freedom to push it back as far as he wanted, provided he didn’t release with anyone else in the meantime. We’ve been assured that the debut’s dropping mid-September, led by the upbeat ‘Mango Tree’, with the stripped down ‘2_12’ on the flip, impressively bridging the gap between tech and dub. No doubt by the time this prints MTV will have a new name for the music. As London’s underground diverges away from the mainstream that’s chasing it, artists like Dodger Man are either slipping between the forming cracks or contributing to a musical revolution.

FIRST WORD RECORDS The Finest in Hip Hop, Soul, Funk, Jazz and Beats since 2003

OUT NOW... THE HAGGIS HORNS KEEP ON MOVIN’

THE SIMONSOUND REVERSE ENGINEERING

The second album from Scotland’s answer to The JBs - following on from the massive ‘Hot Damn!’

“It’s like Mort Garson rocking shell toe Adidas with fat laces blasting into the galaxy in a funky space ship. This record will remain in the crates forever. Don’t sleep!” DJ SPINNA

“You know when Kool & the Gang started making those bland crossover records in the ‘80s and you wondered where all the nasty funk went? Well call the cops cuz I think the Haggis Horns took it.” MONK ONE, WAX POETICS

“One of the best albums of the year” - GILLES PETERSON, RADIO ONE WORLDWIDE

“An essential addition to every funk fan’s collection” IDJ MAGAZINE

Coming soon on First Word..... New Releases from Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra, Souleance, 6ix Toys, kidkanevil, Herma Puma, Red, Mike-L, Homecut and more.... Check out our brand-new website www.firstwordrecords.com

WORDS | DUKE ETIENNE PHOTOGRAPHY | SOPHIA SPRING

ecorded in Accra with the cream of Ghana’s vocal talent, Richy Pitch’s forthcoming album for BBE fluidly traverses hip-hop, highlife, afrobeat and traditional Ghanaian rhythms, raising the bar for afrocollaborations – Ghana stand up! When you’re traveling in Africa, always pay special attention to your taxi driver, or more specifically, what’s on his stereo. Many times the musical keys to the continent are hidden behind the fascia of your escort’s in-car entertainment. “I was in the car and I heard a mix on the radio that lasted for twenty minutes non-stop” says Richy Pitch of one of his jaunts through Ghana’s capital, Accra. “The thing that really got me was the sound of the Gome, a traditional Ghanaian drum. The track was by a guy called Dr K. Gyasi. I thought, ‘If I do this album, I want it to sound a bit like this’. That was my first experience of Palm-Wine Highlife. It had real soul. Even in hip-hop, my benchmark is always things like Pete Rock, Slum Village, Little Brother – people with soul in their music”. For the past two decades Richy Pitch has been deep in the game, rising from humble beginnings as a college selector to become resident at the now international SCRATCH club night. As a result of this residency, his first wax release (Live At Home, 2002) was a collaboration with New York’s 7 Heads label featuring J-Live, El Da Sensei and Asheru among others. Coming from the side of a scene which rejects the auto-tuned choruses and plastic raps of commercial fare is precisely what characterizes this pioneering foray into Ghanaian music, but like most

things of value in life, it took time to find the treasure. “I met a few heads involved in the music scene out there,” explains Richy of his eventual unearthing of Ghana’s growing hip-hop subculture. “One of the guys who hooked me up was DJ Black, a broadcaster on Joy FM, one of the biggest radio stations in Accra. We got friendly, and he set up a gig where he and myself DJ’d on the busiest street in Accra with cars driving past tooting their horns! He also took me to a night called Afrodisiac where I met a guy called Panji who runs Pidgin Music. Eventually, I met PY. He runs a night called ‘Bless The Mic’ where I often ended up being the resident DJ. It was almost like I was 18 again – I was taking my decks to the gigs. I wouldn’t do that here for anybody! But I was in Ghana, and hungry to get involved in the scene” Line-ups at ‘Bless The Mic’ read like a who’s who of Accra’s alternative scene, its stage welcoming artists who understand the importance of Ghana’s musical heritage, using it as a cornerstone for their own musical explorations. Initially connecting with pidgin wordsmith Wanlov The Kubolor, the Ye Fre Mi Richy Pitch project expanded to include the godfather of Ghana’s hiplife scene Reggie Rockstone, MOBO winning reggae artist Samini, wonder producer come pidgin rapper M3NSA, Yasmeen Helwani, singer and daughter of the

recording pioneer Faisal Helwani, and Manifest, the US resident with whom he made ‘Black Star’, whose in-your-face electronic bump was chosen by BBE’s Pete Adarkwah as the first single release from the collection. Asked how he thinks his latest work will be viewed back home in Blighty, Richy’s reply is a balanced one. “I think there’ll be a mixed response. The people I’ve played it to whose taste is broad really like the variation on the album. I think there will be others that tend to listen to one type of music who perhaps won’t understand the concept I’m putting forward. There is a strong interest in Africa at the moment and since the World Cup there is a current feeling that Ghana’s making its mark globally so hopefully this will raise the profile of the LP too”. Yasmeen Helwani, whose tragically beautiful song ‘Dey Suffer’ provides one of the albums many highlights, bubbles with confidence over Richy’s ground-breaking project and anticipates its success in Ghana. “I think its going to set the trend for the future,” she relates via an intermittent Skype connection. “Ghanaian’s tend to love things which they see as international so Richy being British and working with Ghanaian music is a very positive thing.” richypitch.com, richy-pitch.blogspot.com soundcloud.com/richypitch

wedish creative powerhouse, Cornelia Dahlgren is a Jill of All Trades, but she’s going through some changes and has no idea what mythical chimera she’ll turn into next.

Who is Cornelia? If you’re asking yourself this too, don’t get bugged out. It’s a question the artist has been asking herself too lately. After moving to London from Stockholm, she is suffering from a creative schizophrenia, information overload or, you could say, an anti-writers block. If she went to a psychiatrist, she’d probably be diagnosed with musical split personality disorder. After all, it’s an affliction that an endless number of artists – from Kool Keith to David Bowie to Mariah Carey – have experienced first-hand, so she’d be in good company. “I’m one of those curious fuckers!” she exclaims. “For me, it’s all about the -ings: producing, beatmaking and matching, mixtaping, singing and DJing. I want to be involved in everything. In the future, the way music is distributed and to an extent, record labels, won’t exist in the same way as they do today. I want to be at the forefront of whichever way the future turns. With so many blogs,

podcasts and below-the-radar radio stations available, it’s as if today you have to literally grab someone by the arm and say ‘listen to this!’” Songwriter, producer and vocalist Cornelia has appeared on Shook territory before in the form of the Social Monster mixtape (in collaboration with DJ Mooken Tooken) which landed on our website in the spring. She is also the pioneer of music label Camp Mozart and has been busy putting out releases via that channel (including last year’s Capsule EP) and many others for years now. She maintains a clothes label, Curly by Cornelia, has graduated from RBMA, but first hit the spotlight in 2004 she appeared on Swedish Idol, dropping out in the final stages on the basis that the manufactured approach to music wasn’t what she was about. “My songwriting ability is there in abundance. Out of everything, it’s my biggest strength. It’s actually working with other producers

WORDS | ADE BANKOLE PHOTOGRAPHY | JOSEPH ADDISON

that have led to this questioning of who I am. Each co-producer brings with them a special energy that, when mixed with my artistry and production, creates something quite unique. That’s all well and good, but I want my music to come from the same mother.” To that effect, the girl is putting in the hours and burning the candle at both ends. The remainder of the year will see Cornelia release much new material into the public domain. On the horizon, a double A-side co-produced by Kwes which she describes as a ‘musical lovechild exploring different soundscapes’, expected to land late this summer. This will be followed by an EP with a more laid-back approach. However the future pans out, and whoever she chooses to be, expect Cornelia to be doing her -ings the way they were meant to be. www.iamcornelia.com www.campmozart.com

Build An Ark affiliate and talented multi-

finds the perfect balance of being completely free and spontaneous and at the same time completely grounded and professional.

instrumentalist Nick Rosen decides to go for dolo with album ‘Into The Sky’, all with a little help from his friends of course…

When it comes to composing are you a traditionalist? Is their space for democracy in an orchestra?

Los Angeles seems to be a breeding ground for diverse music. What makes the LA vibe so unique? LA is unique because it is so spread out and each area of the city has its own sound and vibe being nurtured. However you also have places where these microcosms collide and come together. There’s also a ton of opportunities in LA for musicians to make a living and work with various artists and this has created a place that has birthed so much incredible music. I get to work with such a wide array of artists that my ears are constantly being refreshed: new music, meeting new people, going on a hike or to the beach, or walking through downtown. LA is a very exciting place to absorb sound in! What was it like coming up under some of the Jazz greats such as Henry Grimes, Arthur Blythe? It was an amazing experience to work with Henry Grimes. He taught me to tune into the flow of the song and how to think about music on a deeper, spiritual level. He has such a unique way of improvising and I learned a lot about just jumping in and letting my heart dance with the music. I was a big Arthur Blythe fan before I got to play with him. I did a residency with just me and Arthur at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor when I was a sophomore in College and that was a little intimidating. Arthur pushed to try new things with my playing and he really appreciated when I would try new stuff over his tunes. What was it like collaborating with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Mia Doi Todd? Miguel is such a pleasure to work with.

There is space for democracy and egalitarianism in everything. I encourage musicians to bring their own ideas and flavour to the music and a lot of times Ill go back and redo the charts based on what happened during a session or gig.

NICK R

Recorded earlier in the summer, Eric invited friends to join him at Fish Factory studios in Willesden, North London. Responding to his call, an impressive line-up was assembled: five revered musicians from London’s underground

WORDS | MICHAEL KRASSER PHOTO | GRACE OH He makes it all about creating value and something meaningful rather than just finishing a product. For this album we would spend a lot of time listening and finding out what best supplemented the music. Miguel was very good at making sure everything he did supported the life of the tune and really encouraged my playing; it was because of Miguel that I played guitar and sang. Mia is always so much fun to work with. She spent a lot of time learning the two songs that she sang and came to the studio ready to do her own thing with the material. She

What’s next? I am currently working on a TV show with Marcel Camargo that we’re looking for a network for. I’ll be doing some touring across the globe in the next 6 months. Also some gigs with Build an Ark. Other than my own stuff I do a lot of writing with artists in LA and I am very excited to keep doing sessions and working; currently I’m working with LP (RedOne's new artist), Jahi Sundance (son of Oliver Lake), Neff-U, and Jaco Caraco (miley cyrus), as well as many, many other artists. I am also in talks to start my own workshop/ concert series that would start up in 2011 in LA, NY and London and will involve lots of great vocalists and musicians. Finally, I’m writing material for the next two records, one will have some lush orchestral arrangements, along with trio and quartet material and various electronics, and another one will be in more of a pop/singersongwriter vein. Into the Sky is out now on Porter Records

WORDS | BEN VERGHESE DESIGN | ASHKAHN ILLUSTRATION | T.S ABE

ERIC LAU & FRIENDS For all their worthwhile fundraising, charity records tend to be wack. Celebrity musicians covering a middle-of-the-road overplayed composition, no thanks! Eric Lau’s latest venture, with proceeds going to Save the Children, shows the industry how philanthropic motives can create quality music.

When I write it’s either with the guitar or piano. Sometimes I hear what I want in my head and I’ll just write. Most of the tunes were written in a short time span after being inspired by a particular place or person.

(Finn Peters, Floating Points, Akwasi Mensah, Ben Jones and Paul Stanley-McKenzie), and a quartet of vocal starlets (Fatima, Rahel, Sarina Leah, and Szjerdene). Together they’ve crafted a heartfelt and beautiful release. “We obviously hope that this project will generate support for Save the Children,” Eric informs, “however, I also hope this inspires others to think about ways of using their talents to help others.” More details on the project feature on

www.shook.fm

Available digitally for a paltry minimum donation of £2, purchase Eric Lau & Friends - See & Under Standing (Reprise) at: kilawattmusic.

bandcamp.com 16

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Miriam Makeba

The Mahotella Queens & The Soul Brothers

Fruko & Joe Arroyo

Beginner’s Guide to Cumbia

Quantic presents Tropical Funk Experience

John Armstrong presents South African Funk Experience

DATA REDUCTION SUN ARAW

TYPE RECORDS

I AM LISTENING TO...

I AM EATING...

Miles Davis - Pangea - Electric Miles has always been a deep well from which to mine many gems, and thanks to my buddy Andrew (Metal Rouge) for encouraging me to re-investigate this one. Precious stones abound, though they are molten and will burn through whatever you attempt to handle them with.

Pete Swanson ‘Where I Was’ LP - a killer collection of tracks previously released on tape by ex-Yellow Swan Pete Swanson.

Healthy food - trying to lose the beer belly.

Various Ron Hardy Club Mixes 19841986 - Can’t get over, can’t go under. A testament of early loop culture written in ecstatic sweat. Take this bass, filter, and celebrate. Pariya Melam, Temple De Chidambaram - Inde Du Sud - If you ever doubted that rhythm is liquid, and that there is a way to hover between dimensional planes, grip this hard. Ritual music from India opening galactic doors with drumming.

I AM WATCHING... The Sopranos Final 4 Episodes - I watch these over and over to figure out how the setting of this show became the greater cosmos when you weren’t looking. Existential face off. Fellini Satyricon - This film is integral to the new SUN ARAW record that I am currently recording. A film that feels untouched by human hands, a transmission from the deepest realms of inner space.

I AM READING... Living Time - Maurice Nicoll - Expounds on P.D. Ouspensky’s Tertium Organum, one of my favourite texts on time and inter dimensional intersection. Adventures of Ideas - Alfred North Whitehead - Dense moves on civilization by an early psychedelic thinker on the grandest scale. Ficciones - Borges - Always. Labyrinths and amber pipes at dusk.

I AM EATING... Duck carnitas and hibiscus flower tacos at Cacao Mexicana in Eagle Rock

‘Bun B & Drake - Put it Down’ - ‘Trill O.G.’ might not be the best album ever but ‘Put it Down’ is a seriously unbeatable collaboration, just about making up for Bun’s phoned-in performance on ‘So Far Gone’. Richard Band ‘Mutant OST’ LP - 80s American horror/sci fi soundtracks never really go out of fashion, because they were never in fashion. Expressway Yo-Yo Dieting ‘Bubblethug’ LP - possibly the darkest, most twisted hip hop record of the year... if it is hip hop at all.

I AM WATCHING... Warehouse 13/Eureka - yeah sure, I know they’re kinda lame SyFy shows, but they’re addictive and strangely enjoyable. I’m a sci-fi nerd at heart so it’s hard to resist. Breaking Bad - one of the best shows of the last ten years, easily. So well-paced, so well shot and so well performed. Incredible stuff! Basket Case 1/2/3 - classic 80s horror, each month I seem to revisit another franchise... this time it’s Basket Case.

Italian Beef - Chicago’s finest... hard to resist when you’re there and certainly puts in the extra miles at the gym. Home made bread - wife-made from excess beer brewing materials... can’t go wrong! Barbecue - coming from England, it’s hard to know what real US barbecue is until you actually live here. Once you’re in, it’s hard to look back... pork heaven.

JAMES PANTS I AM LISTENING TO... Sunn O))) “Black One.” Impending doom all around.

I AM WATCHING... Sesame Street. My daughter likes Snuffaleupagus. And lots of 60s sci-fi.

I AM READING... Just finished “The Woman In White” based on Alex from Stones Throw’s recommendation. Incredible intrigue. Now just a bunch of bathroom magazine reading.

I AM EATING... Lots of fish. Lots of curry. Hope this helps!

I AM READING... Hellboy trade no.10 - so yeah, I’m a comic nerd, sue me. Hellboy 10 is maybe not as essential to the lore as 9, but it’s still just as memorable and enjoyable as any that may have come prior. The Walking Dead trade no.12 - as we eagerly anticipate the forthcoming AMC series it’s easy to get lost in the details that will likely be left out of the TV dramatization. This has to be one of the best comic series’ of all time, right? Fangoria Magazine - a must for any discerning horror fan...

Sun Araw / NOT NOT FUN On Patrol lp www.sunaraw.com John Twells / Type Records www.typerecords.com James Pants / Stones Throw New Tropical Ep www.stonesthrow.com

Graphic Portraits by ME*

Layout design and content collection by *Paul Camo? www.we-are.co.uk

If people want to talk about a ‘difficult second album’, look no further than Bilal who’s been waiting nearly ten years to release his. But whatever the record industry might throw at Bilal, he’s gonna throw it right back, because his middle name’s Airtight, and this is his revenge. words: Andres Reyes PHOTOS: ERIC COLEMAN

ost illusions. That’s the painful thing about growing up. In our youth, we harbour so many hopes for the future, but we never count on so many things getting in our way. For Bilal, who by the age of 22 had toured with D’Angelo, worked with Common and released a debut album on Interscope, the sky seemed to be the limit. I can still remember the first time I heard him interviewed, he seemed to fit the bill of the reluctant genius, coming across like Mozart from the film Amadeus, with his high-pitched voice and his effete, infectious laughter. Either he was high, or he was crazy, maybe both? And then there was the time when, mid-set at the Jazz Café in London he actually climbed into the grand piano right in the middle of a song. Could anyone have imagined, back then, when everything seemed so promising, that he’d be left high and dry by his label, Interscope, and in 2010 would still be waiting today to release his second album? Bilal may have learned some painful lessons from the unforgiving music industry, these might have knocked him off his perch, but for all his exuberance on stage, deep down he’s always been a genuine, humble and respectful individual who, these days, is a devoted husband and a father to two children, one with sickle cell anaemia and one with autism. He was born and raised in a “regular kind of neighborhood” in Philadelphia, being first introduced to music via church. The small congregation was mostly family and they remained Bilal’s foremost musical outlet until later years when his father began to take him out to jazz clubs around the city. “My dad was into a lot of John Coltrane and stuff like that,” he remembers, crouched in the corner of dressing room as he gets ready to take the stage on the London leg of his European tour. “A friend of his owned a jazz club in Philly called Zanzibar Blue, and my dad used to take me with him and they would let me sit in the coat room and watch the bands play. So as a kid I would always be making like ‘I wanna be in a band some day’. I guess that’s where a lot of wanting to perform and having a band and have my own kind of music started.” Bilal began to take his childhood dream seriously when he attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts. Here he became completely enamored with jazz, “I wanted to sing jazz, play jazz and write jazz

tunes,” he recalls. After high school, he was accepted to the New School for Social Research, a prestigious university in New York which admitted just twelve students a year. There Bilal studied jazz voice and continued to work on his original material. “There were a lot of cool musicians that I still play with to this day. That’s where I met Robert Glasper. We both had a certain liking for the music and he was my hang buddy. Man, it was crazy! We would go and see jazz clubs. In Philadelphia, there were two or three jazz clubs, and where Rob came from, in Houston, maybe one. So once we get to New York, every night we could go see crazy jazz musicians playing – it was inspiring. We would go watch stuff till nine in the morning, then get coffee and go to class. For the first year I had the same shit on all the time ‘cause I would never go home.” And in class? “Oh I was terrible. I was one of those cats that was always challenging certain things, like music theory. I’d be arguing with the teacher, saying, ‘but it’s just a theory!’ Especially after staying up all night, watching all this shit. But it was cool because I got to think up a lot of concepts and bounce them off great minds.” Bilal began to frequent the famed Wetlands nightclub and was soon acquainted with The Roots, Q Tip, Common, Erykah Badu and Mos Def. He was also jamming in sessions put on by some of his New School professors with his classmates, and it was during one of these gatherings that Bilal met Aaron Coleman from pop-rock group, the Spin Doctors. The two hit it off and before long Bilal was jamming with him at his home. These private jam sessions birthed the demo that would land Bilal his record deal with Interscope. Suddenly everything seemed to move quickly around Bilal. He left the New School to focus on his musical career and began working on music at Electric Lady, the famed studios built by Jimi Hendrix where at the time everyone from Mos Def to D’Angelo was kicking it. “It was dope, dope… it was just a dope time!” recalls Bilal. “I was only like twenty years old. Pretty much every time it would fucking freak me out. I went to high school listening to D’Angelo and Erykah Badu and banging The Roots and Common, and then to move to New York and within maybe a year of living there I met all of these cats. I was in D’Angelo’s band. It was like – what the hell?! The first time I had ever been on a plane was when I was with D’Angelo’s band, flying to New Orleans. I’m on a plane with 20

Pino Palladino, Roy Hargrove, fucking Ahmir Thompson, Anthony Hamilton, Spanky on guitar, it was the craziest band. That band was so crazy.” During this time Common was working on Like Water For Chocolate at Electric Lady. Bilal sat in on his sessions, and became an integral part of that classic album. It also introduced him to the genius of J Dilla, sparking a fruitful working relationship between the two. All the while, Bilal’s own record was nearing completion but the release date kept being pushed back as label pressures coerced him into working with more commercially prominent producers like Dr. Dre and Mike City. 1st Born Second was released in 2001 and displayed a wide-ranging musicality. “I was trying to make music that could go in a lot of different directions played live,” explains Bilal. The response to the album was favorable, with songs ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Soul Sista’ demonstrating Bilal’s obvious gifts for songwriting and his idiosyncratic performance style. Some compared him to Prince, others hailed his LP as one of the most significant debut albums in the last 25 years. He was soon swept up in what the media referred to as the neo-soul movement, although he never saw himself that way. “I was trying to come from a jazz perspective. I was trying to write open ended kind of tunes that could go in a lot of different directions live.” While touring the album, Bilal and his band started to morph the music into what he describes as a “jazz-fusion/ rock type of funk.” This musical freedom bled onto the songwriting for Bilal’s next project, Love For Sale. For this record Bilal worked with a myriad of new collaborators, from Sa-Ra to Denaun Porter to Nottz and even a number of his former New School classmates. This wasn’t your typical neo-soul or R&B album. Holed up in Electric Lady once more, Bilal and his band were channeling Frank Zappa, Return to Forever and Howlin Wolf, experimenting with recording techniques and holding improvised jam sessions. When Interscope began to hear the music however, they were less than enthused and an unfinished version of the project was mysteriously leaked. The album was only 80% complete. “Like on ‘Be Cool’, me and my friend Leron Thomas actually wrote new string parts for that – it goes into this whole opera/jazz thing, all instrumental. I got a friend of mine that was in the classical division of New School to sing

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SIDE operatic stuff over it. It was almost like Jean Carne when she was playing with her husband, Doug Carn. It kinda had that vibe, but the label was just like, ‘what the hell are you doing?’” However, the response to the leaked album from audiences and critics alike was overwhelmingly positive, and with time it’s become an underground classic. Nevertheless, it took several years before Bilal was inspired to write songs again.Towards the end of last year, though, he announced his official second album would arrive via Los Angeles’ Plug Research records. Bilal describes the new material as “genre-bending music” and working with an independent label has given Bilal the freedom he wasn’t able to enjoy at Interscope. Asked whether it’s been difficult working with a lower budget than he might have been used to, Bilal insists that “it don’t take a lot of money to do an album anymore. You don’t need to be in a gigantic studio, you just need to be in a good room with acoustics and be creative with how you mic things or use things.”

Airtight’s Revenge – Airtight being the name of Bilal’s alter-ego, who jumps straight off the pages of a Walter Mosley novel – features collaborations with Shafiq Husayn, Nottz, 88 Keys, and at one point there were even rumours of a Flying Lotus track. The majority of the album, however, was co-produced with Steve McKie (producer of Jill Scott and Vivian Green’s joyous ‘Sweet Thing’) who insisted on recording the album after he’d heard Bilal’s early sketches, recorded on GarageBand. It’s a different flip to Love For Sale and 1st Born Second, with a more guitar-led approach. ‘Levels’ and a fresh version of ‘All Matter’ give nods to Led Zep and Radiohead, whose material he’s been covering in recent gigs. The beauty of his approach is the inventiveness he displays, whether on stage – where he’ll caress and explore a four-bar melody like a Dexter Gordon horn solo – or in the lyrics he writes. “It’s just free thought,” he shrugs. “I kinda been trying to approach it in different ways. I like to speak on things that I

think everybody has in the back of their mind, and I try to relate to people. And it’s kinda therapy for me, really, the lyrics that I write. Because a lot of it is conflicts in my head and then I write a song to try and understand it better. That’s kinda where it comes from, I dunno?” he adds, with one of those irresistible Dr. Evil laughs. His musical journey has undoubtedly been a trying one, full of heartbreaking delays and glimpses of what might have been, but it appears that the worst has passed. You can’t keep a good man down, especially one with such natural gifts. And Bilal has never been short in that department. He’s already proven, and he’ll keep on proving, time and again, that there’s few people on this planet who can make music feel quite this good.

Airtight’s Revenge is out in September on Plug Research.

A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION TO

An essential 4CD set commemorating the legendary label that pioneered the birth of Hip-Hop. With recordings from Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, The Sugarhill Gang, Positive Force, Crash Crew plus more. Presented in a 52-page booklet with extensive sleeve notes and rare photos.

BLUES! ROCK’N’ROLL! SOUL! R’N’B! An indispensable guide to the legendary Chess label. 100 tracks, 36-page booklet with extensive notes and rare photos in a hardcover book. The blueprint for popular music!

A Stunning 4CD Box Set tracing the history of the Disco genre with an introduction by Tom Moulton (inventor of the 12” mix) and landmark tracks from Grace Jones, Chic, Diana Ross, Giorgio Moroder & many more.

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RAP CLASSICS - THE PIONEERS OF HIP-HOP

This stunning Northern Soul themed soundtrack features an exclusive track by Gabriella Cilmi, all the fantastic music from the film plus an extra disc with Joe McCain’s special mix tape. Pre-order the album on 23rd August, film out on 3rd September 2010!

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THE SUGARHILL GANG RHYTHM & RHYMES

GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE

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A phenomenal 2 Disc definitive collection featuring the group’s biggest scoring hits with scorchers such as ‘Rapper’s Delight’, ‘White Lines (Don’t Do It)’, ‘The Message’ plus many more!

KINGS OF THE STREETS

words: Snow Boy photography: Dave Quam

heck this out!’ it said in the subject box. It was an email from Mark Hopkinson, a member of the hardcore UK Jazz Dance crew The Floor Technicians. I opened the mail and clicked on the link to a YouTube clip of a dancefloor battle from Chicago. There was no b-boy influence, no krumping or any permutation of any hip-hop style at all, this was just lightening-speed, intricate footwork from young black guys in their late teens and early 20s, battling for their reputation or the pride of their crew in a tight circle, just as many generations have done before them. There’s not much upper body movement on display, just the skill of the feet, un-cliched and improvised. I was instantly transfixed and wanted to know

more because the footwork style is almost identical to one of the styles of UK Jazz Dance called Fusion. I’ve deejayed that music for over 30 years, I make that music as a recording artist and I wrote a book on our scene over a ten-year period. But the guys in the YouTube video are not dancing to jazz. What the hell is it? It’s faster than jungle, it has no discernable bass drum pattern and has scattershot tom patterns flying everywhere with a barrage of repeated samples over the top. I couldn’t even compare it to anything I’d ever heard before. I found out it was called ‘juke’ and the dance style was called ‘footworking’ (ironically also a term used in the north of the UK for fusion). Further inspection on YouTube led to literally hundreds more videos of battles just like that. I had to know more. I was introduced, via Mark Hopkinson, to

Neema Nazem, the owner of the big Juke YouTube page. After lengthy exchanges over email, telling each other crucial details of our respective scenes, I realised that this phenomenon has got to be documented – and immediately. Obviously I can’t cover the entire detailed history in one article, and I haven’t even touched the westside of Chicago here with artists and DJs such as the legendary Traxman, but Neema kindly introduced me to DJ Spinn, one of the true originators of Juke music and an original footworker too. Spinn, Neema and myself got talking and this is how it went down… Snowboy: How long have you been involved in the Chicago scene? Spinn: Man, since 1996. I’m 29 years old. At 14 or 15 I was doing parties and making tracks. I was

SPEED

DEMONZ

Snowboy talks to DJ Spinn about Juke music, the underground sound thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been rumbling in Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inner city for over decade and has inspired a new dance phenomenon - Footworking - that makes Road Runner look sluggish. So cmon now, let me see u work. 25

SPEED

DEMONZ playing Ghetto House – Slugo, DJ Deeon, DJ Milton, DJ P.J, a lot of the music on the Dance Mania label… Snowboy: I’ve never heard Ghetto House before. That’s quite a mutation of what people think of as house music. Spinn: Yea, and juke music is a break-off of that. Snowboy: Now juke and the whole footworking scene is a very young, rough, ghetto one, but I came to Chicago in 1986, I went to the Limelight to see Frankie Knuckles and I was the only white and straight man in there. Neema: The northside was gay but house was popular in the ghetto on the southside too – even the Westside, only no one wanted to go there! Snowboy: The term Juke goes back the early 1900’s from Cleveland. Spinn: Well, it’s slang for a party or a good feeling, like, ‘It’s exciting in there/It’s jukin’ in there.’ In 1997 DJ Puncho made a song called ‘Let Me See You Juke’. That was the first time that word had been used in a song title. Snowboy: When did you release your first record Spinn? Spinn: 1997, on Dance Mania with another guy called DJ Thadz and a track on an album with Rashad, Thadz and DJ Chip. But it was ‘Bang-Ski’ by DJ Chip also on Dance Mania in ’97 or ’98 that really put us out there. Snowboy: How many artists are making juke music right now? Spinn: There’s over 500 kids trying to make it and about 20 of us that are established that really do it and are trying to take it to the next level. Others are following and it’s flattering to see. It’s very underground. There’s still no real structure to any label or anything major. Snowboy: The best producers must be those that are involved with the footworkers, trying to find new ways to make them move. Spinn: Pretty much. Footworking culture goes back to the regular dance groups we used to have. In the late ’80s / early ’90s it stopped being about dance groups and turned into the footwork cliques. Some would dance to R&B or hip-hop a little but some started making straight footworking groups. We were some of the guys in

a group that were like ‘We don’t wanna dance, we wanna footwork. Come to the party, battle people and leave (laughs).’ Us from the south suburbs, we’d have to go to the city and get our respect from those guys. We took it our way and the guys coming up took it on to the next level. They’ve been on TV and got commercials and are getting a good kick-back from it. But it’s only recently that the music is coming to the light, because they wanted the dancers but didn’t care about the music. Neema: Unless you see the dance with the music the music doesn’t make a lot of sense. The toms, the claps, the snares… Spinn: It’s a Chicago thing. Neema: It took me four years to get into the footworking music. Snowboy: Who are the innovators of the footwork style? Spinn: There was one guy in particular that changed it all called Ant Brown. He’s probably 33 now and was out doing it in the late ’80s. We studied under him. He started the first allfootwork dance clique, House-O-Matics. They were the biggest group out here, the ones getting the shows. We opened up for a lot of major acts coming to town but when the leader, Ronny Sloan, went away, the structure just fell apart. I stopped dancing when I was 21. That’s the limit really if you’re not professional. But the guys under us are 25+ and still dancing. Snowboy: How many Juke sessions are there? Spinn: Ours is once a week, which means that floorworkers have had somewhere to go every week. Otherwise they’d have to go to regular parties and suffer hip-hop and R&B. They wouldn’t hear the underground tracks that they want to hear, just the popular stuff, because we have control of all of that. Snowboy: There are a lot of crews. Burn Unit on the westside, TOG…what’s that stand for? Spinn: Take Over Gang. They were Taliban but they had to change they name. There are gangs for real with similar names. TOG didn’t want confusion with them so they use the abbreviation. Snowboy: The Gutter Thugs? Spinn: They were late ’90s and used to battle

against us when we were Wolf Pac. You had The Tunnel from the southside. From the westside, 187, The Heat Squad, Burn Unit... There were a lot more but they dance more southside now. Snowboy: Do Wolf Pac still exist? Spinn: Yea, but they just a group of friends a little younger than me – 25, 26, 27. We started ’94. We’re the guys that kept it going and originated a lot of the styles of footwork to the new music. Snowboy: Who are the FootworKINGZ? Spinn: They the best of a certain circle of very determined guys from different crews. Snowboy: Like an all-star crew? Spinn: They are the number one performers. The best footworkers? I can’t say that. Neema: They show a little favouritism towards Creation. Most are from Creation, but that said, King Charles (Creation & FootworKINGZ) can singlehandedly destroy most crews (laughs). Spinn: They’ve been on tour with Madonna. Damn. That’s big time. Snowboy: The FootworkGODZ? Spinn: They’re a lot of guys from 187, from the westside. Westside is a very rough side of town (laughs). Both sides are rough. The late 90s westside was real rough, and those guys are from the rough neighbourhood. That’s all I gotta say. Snowboy: Are there many girl footworkers? Spinn: There’s been a lot more, but not part of any crew. Crystal’s one of the dopest footworkers. It’d be good to see an all-female crew. Snowboy: So who’re the main DJs? Spinn: Me, DJ Clent, Rashad, Majic Myke… In the early 90s to early 2000 we were known as Beat Down and were the guys that pretty much held down the sound from the city to downtown to the south. We were going a long time. But my DJ friend Thadz put juke out there, marketing the word, putting out the real CDs in real stores like Best Buy and getting it on to the internet. Without him a lot of the ideas wouldn’t have got out there. Everyone does they part. Right now, my crew is called The Ghetto Teknitianz. Everyone wants to be a part of them. I’ll be with some kids who don’t know who I am and I hear them saying that they want to be a part of that crew (laughs). Snowboy: How come the music speeded up?

Top 40 Juke Classics

Juke is way, way faster than Ghetto House. Spinn: OK, let’s take it back to the late ’90s. My crew Beat Down had a drum machine called the Boss 660. We took all the sounds out and started loading up the MPC2000 with them. They’re all the sounds that we use to create juke music and people don’t know where the sounds come from. We’ve had our sound since day one. The sounds were around before but we did it our way because we’re dancers and so we like it a lot faster. From the 120/130bpm we speeded it up to 140/150 and 160bpm. We were just kids and didn’t know anything about BPMs, we’d just say to the DJs, ‘Play it faster, play it faster.’ Snowboy: That’s how it happened here in the Jazz Dance scene – dancers getting the DJs to play harder and faster. Do you get fights on the dancefloor between dancers? Spinn: Yea, that still goes on to this day. Every weekend. There’s not too many dance group fights unless they’re battling for money. Fights between dancers one-on-one is rare though. There’s so much killing and shooting in Chicago that, really, how we get away from all that is the party-life and the things we put together for the youth. There aren’t a lot of places for the young guys to go. Snowboy: How many footworkers would you estimate are out in Chicago? Spinn: When I was in High School from ’95 to ’99, the style started to be known but what we’re seeing now is that it’s very popular with the kids in school. There’s a lot of Chicago pride. We love our music as far as dancing goes. Everybody may not know how to do it but they know the music when they hear it – ‘Ah, that’s the juke shit.’ We’ve incorporated so many styles of music in juke that now it’s on a whole ‘nother level. That was always my intention. We never wanted to be copy-cats. Snowboy: Has juke spread much outside of Chicago? Spinn: Pretty much the whole west – Illinois, North West Indiana, Wisconsin, Millwaukee, the whole Midwest, they play it in Seattle…..

Neema: A lot of local dance cultures like krumping and turfing in San Francisco, mutating in New York, they love our style. Spinn: Baltimore. They love our style and it blends with theirs. The Philly dudes like it. There’s people from the hip-hop scene taking an interest in juke but that’ll never work. Dancers don’t want to hear a rap while they’re trying to battle. They need to concentrate. Before we were sampling a lot of the Top 40 hip-hop but last year we said, ‘Forget all that, we can’t legally put it out’ so we started making evil beats and it’s very bass-driven. People have had to adjust their style to dance to it, which is cool. They go outside of the extreme and come out with lots of creative moves. I love to see it. I’m really glad that I was one of the people to start it and keeping it going right now. We’re taking it to another level now. Rashad and me have got this music called juktronic, and that’s just music for the footworkers. It’s still nothing but juke. Neema: We’ve done a lot of tracks with a Jazz influence too, influencing kids to get back into the music of the 70s and 80s. Spinn: Even before Kanye West got popular, we’d find Jazz tracks to chop up our own way. We try to keep away from samples but the underground scene loves that. We got that from listening to our Mom and Dad’s music. Sitting in the back of the car when we were little listening to it, subconsciously singing it. When we got older and hear one of those sounds we’d go “I like that”, and we’d Juke it out. Neema: I was surprised to hear you mentioning Lonnie Liston Smith and Roy Ayers, Snowboy. We love all that. It influences us too. Snowboy: ...and so it goes around. With special thanks to Neema Nazem, Spinn, Rashad, Traxman, Que, DJ Roc, Dave Quam, AG, King Charles, Lil Greg, Sonny Marshall, Big Phil, Supah, Steve-O, Paul Bradshaw and Mark Hopkinson. Snowboy is author of ‘From Jazz-Funk & Fusion to Acid Jazz: the History of the UK Jazz-Dance Scene’ published by Chaser Imprint / Authorhouse. Available to buy online or at your local record emporiums for just £15.99.

1. DJ Spinn - Bounce And Break Yo Back 2. Traxman - Get Down Lil Mama 3. DJ Clent - Bounce 4. DJ Rashad & DJ Gantman - Juke That 5. DJ PJ - We Eatin 6. DJ Puncho - Get Down Low 7. DJ Puncho - Let Me C U Juke 8. DJ Chip - Bang Ski 9. Jammin Gerald - Drop! 10. Traxman - Pac-Juke 11. DJ Chi-Boogie - Ay Ay Yo! 12. RP Boo - Baby Come On! 13. DJ Nehpets - Lay It Down 14. DJ Spinn - What That Booty Do 15. DJ Deeon - Per-Cu-L8 16. Waxmaster - Footwork 17. Gantman - Juke It Gurl 18. DJ Solo - Let Me See You Bounce 19. DJ Nehpets - Get Money & Juke 20. RP Boo - Ice Cream Juke 21. Tha Pope - Bob That Back 22. DJ Rashad - Move Back 23. DJ Slugo/RP Boo - Godzilla 24. DJ Clent - Back Up Off Me 25. DJ Deeon - Head Hunters 26. DJ PJ - Call It What You Want 2 27. RP Boo - The Isleys 28. DJ Pillsbury - Late Nite Tip 29. DJ Remi - Retro City 30. Paris Mitchell ft. Waxmaster - Ghetto Shout Out 31. DJ Rashad - My Block 32. Jammin Gerald - Hold Up 33. DJ Rashad - Flashing Lights (Juke Remix) 34. DJ Deeon - Deeon Juke Slide 35. DJ Slugo - Vulture Life 36. Paul Johnson / DJ Puncho; Get Get Down Low (DJ Gant-Man Remix) 37. Traxman - Newports 38. Big Dope P - Southside Anthem 39. DJ Deeon - Let Me Bang 40. DJ Spinn - No Eats

intro+photo: Scott Smith connector: BONGani madondo interview: Mpumi Mcata / BLK JKS

An intergenerational conference between the BLK JKS and Phillip ‘Malombo’ Tabane about many things including how to break (but not be broken by) America.

Blk JKS, DR. TABANE & THE DRUMS OF

MALOPO 28

he BLK JKS, this group of polite and well-educated Jozi boys who look great on stage, play a riotous symphony of music, and confuse the hell out of journalists and listeners alike are probably the best known band hailing from South Africa right now. Catapulted into the limelight, guitarist Mpumi Mcata, Tshepang Ramoba, Molefi Makananise and enigmatic lead singer Lindani Buthelezi have been the subject of a lot of column inches and concerted interest on the hipster circuit for the simple reason that here is a band from Africa making what, to all intents and purposes, sounds like rock music. Talk all you want, though, about the Mars Volta, TV On The Radio, Vampire Weekend and any other Brooklynite points of rock reference, but don’t gloss over maskandi, mbaqanga, gospel and, yes, jazz which is still pervasive in South Africa because of the historical ties with black America. These ties go way back, long before TVotR, long before even Harry Belafonte championed Miriam Makeba… And the ties exist because, lest we forget, apartheid wasn’t unique to South Africa. If people want to make comparisons, as we all can’t help but do, then maybe they should look a little closer to home – the JKS’ home. With the help of South Africa’s finest cultural observer, Bongani Madondo, we arranged for the BLK

JKS to pay a visit Dr. Philip ‘Malombo’ Tabane, the electric guitarist who during the bad days of apartheid ended up in New York just like the JKS would some four decades later to record their debut album, After Robots. Malombo these days lives in Mamelodi, a township east of Pretoria. Although street names are becoming more common, townships are notoriously easy to get lost in. That’s probably why Google’s Streetview team never made it out of Pretoria. We were on the right track, the road was wide and the Mamelodi stadium was in view, but Tabane’s home proved elusive. Residents that knew the old musician pointed us in the right direction but the sun’s rays were lengthening by the time the friendly, greying icon greeted us in his driveway. Born in 1934, Tabane grew up in Mamelodi and came from a musical family – his mother a traditional healer who brought him up with ritual music. But it was always the guitar that drew him and he has played it since 1940, learning the concepts of musical knowledge along the way. He is one of South Africa’s national treasures but for all the recognition, his home is humble, his cash flow short; but he still had a song for us when we arrived, which he sang on his guitar. The BLK JKS spread out on the sofas in his lounge – memorabilia photographs of his younger glory days peppering the walls. This is how the conversation went down… 30

r Malombo speaks to us as an elder, his words piercing, his body weakening, his mind ever sharper, universal, other worldly, so much power, so connected to being, to music so spot on – can’t think of anybody tougher, right now – it’s so hard to explain. We’ll simplify, amplify and have fun imagining the accompanying soundtrack… You’ll soon get the picture. (BLK JKS)

JKS: Dr. Malombo – so where did it all come from? MALOMBO: Nne ke tsaba skolo (I was running away from school) I hated that place, so I would escape to the mountains, away from everyone, especially my mother who would force me to go–she had dreams of me being able to read and write and understand the man’s language. She was fascinated by the radio and used to sit there listening to the news at her madam/ employer’s place, even though she couldn’t hear what they were saying. I took to the hills, with nothing but my guitar– for days I was famished, thirsty, I felt like I was going to die. I didn’t know the mountain I was in was being used for ceremonies like initiating shamans/ sangomas. They would beat the drums so loud – that particular rhythm or beat. You boys know the one, right? JKS: Hell yes! Malombo: Yes, then I began playing my guitar, they couldn’t see or hear me but I could see and hear them. I needed food and water. That’s when I wrote the song “METSI” which says I want water please, give me water, I’ve been thirsty and in search of water since yesterday JKS: Wow, and it was such a hit, still one of our favourites.

Malombo: So they call those drums Malopo, as you know, and my music later took on their tones, all the ways in which they spoke, praised and beat the drums. Those sangomas, shaped my sound which was called Malombo – and later my honorary doctorate, Dr. Malombo.

5.UMKHOVU - MAHLATINI & THE MAHOTELLA QUEENS

1.WE DON’T NEED NO EDUCATION - PINK FLOYD/VOODOO CHILD - JIMI HENDRIX (trip-hop mash up)

MALOMBO: Batho ba nyaka ho senya mmino wami (these people want to spoil my music ha ha). I played with the late Bheki Mseleku, amazing pianist as you know, he was part of my band. I took him to New York with me, that was his first time – he really had a feel. Here is a nice picture. I met with Pharoah Sanders. Another good musician I played with was Miles Davis. We were very much alike in demeanour. People thought he was an asshole but he was just quiet, a little shy even but don’t test him. I have some stuff in the archives here, tapes, articles and pics. You ought to come back around and go deeper. But generally, although I lived in Brooklyn for a while like you boys, I wasn’t keen on collaboration really for my own projects because I didn’t feel like they got what I was on about in America.

2.TEACHER DON’T TEACH ME NONSENSE - FELA KUTI JKS: Ah, fascinating, we could go on forever talking about the other side, but first uhmn, how are you, these days? MALOMBO: Ke kgatatswa ke mangwele (my knees are giving me problems). Once I was supposed to play a show. I believe it was the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and my late manager arranged for these two ladies to hold me up through the show as my knees were very painful and I refused a wheelchair – that was the plan. But the music came on, my band started playing, I began and the pain left my body, whimpering away – it was unbelievable!

BLK JKS: Oh yes, your son. He plays percussion very well. Doesn’t he play with Thandiswa now? You played with a few people yourself too, tell us more.

JKS: Speechless. 6.HOUSE JAM - GANG GANG DANCE (hot chip remix)

JKS: We say, that’s the zone. 7.HE IS JAH - MIDNITE 3.RHINESTONE COWBOY - MADVILLAIN (“oh my aching hands, from raking in grands and breaking mic stands...”) JKS: Speaking of ladies holding you up... all you need is your guitar? MALOMBO: Ha ha ha... I may have had a few but... I live with my son, he helps me out. 4.PLUG IN BABY - MUSE

(Out in the street, in front of Dr Malombo’s house, the sun is sinking and as Tabane strums his guitar, you can see his shadow grow longer. BLK JKS leadman, Lindani Buthelezi, his eyes obscured by a pair of sunglasses, looks on into the diffuse orange orb. As the sun sets on one icon, so it shines on another. The inevitable process of rebirth and regeneration. A meeting that signalled a changing of the guard, or so it seemed.)

words: Andy Thomas

SOUTH AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

House music has exploded to eclipse Kwaito as the sound of young South Africa. W explore what is locally referred to as Ayobaness and meet some of the key players of this exciting period in South African music.

eep down on the south side of Johannesburg’s ragged CBD sit the prestigious offices and studios of Ricardo Da Costa’s Soul Candi Records, a label whose success illustrates how the South African house scene has grown into a huge and self-sustained industry. Whereas the dance market in Europe has languished since the highs of the ‘90s, mix CD compilations by local stars like DJ Fresh and Euphonik can still regularly sell over 20,000 copies (a significant drop from the 100,000’s of a few years ago but big sales none the less). Supported by radio stations like YFM and Metro FM and pounding out of taxis and shop fronts day and night, house music is big business in South Africa, something that is clear as we step inside the plush open-plan offices of Soul Candi. Urban Label Manager and respected DJ Brett Jackson has been at Soul Candi since its inception. “I’m the longest standing person here,” he explains. “I was there in the early days when we started as a little record store in a dodgy basement so things have changed a lot from what it is now.” As sales from the vinyl market receded around 2007, the company switched their focus to CD releases following the success of the Soul Candi Sessions, released in conjunction with the Sheer House label. Going independent at the end of 2007, the label expanded to take in publishing and distribution, becoming a major player on the scene and a hotbed for local talent. In many ways Soul Candi was building on the success of the influential House Afrika label. Set up by house music legends Christos and Vinny Da Vinci in Hillbrow in the early 90s as a vinyl only imprint, House Afrika forged its huge success at a pivotal time for dance music in South Africa. Alongside House Afrika, Soul Candi has been responsible for some of South Africa’s biggest selling mix CDs, the format that dominates house music sales here. “The compilation market is huge,” explains Jackson. “Artist LPs are a lot more difficult. Even when you do have hits it is somehow difficult to sell the albums.” Another member of the Soul Candi family, Lulo Café, whose star has risen through the Deep House Chronicles mix series, recalls how it was a compilation that really opened house music to the mainstream market: “It was a release by DJ Fresh back in the late ‘90s called Fresh House Classics Volume 1 that really blew the market open.” Coinciding with the opening of YFM radio, this compilation helped house music rise from the underground where DJs like Oskido, Vinny Da Vinci and Christos had been forging a new urban sound for black South Africa, as it broke free from apartheid. While links to the international market have been made through trips to the Miami Winter Music Conference as well as various projects such as Oskido’s Brothers of Peace - which introduced Louie Vega to South African house in the late 90s, leading to a number of MAW hook ups - the worldwide horizons for South African house music expanded further following the South African Music Conference in 2006. “They were able to bring along people like Louie and Franck Roger, Quentin Harris and Karizma and all those people,” explains Jackson. “And then that started to expose the international market to what was happening here.” With the aid of compilations where international producers are given a platform to millions of listeners, fairly low profile DJs back home, like Charles Webster and Stimming are given a platform to reach millions of listeners. SHOOK’s own Bopstar (who we catch spinning out here alongside Levi Roots at Pretoria’s

famous House 22) has also become a huge crowd puller especially in the townships. “Pretoria and Soweto, man, that’s passion, devotion, religion, intensity,” he enthuses. “Where do you see a thousand young black kids going loopy for deep, deep, soulful music? I was playing brand newly made shit they never heard before, and by the end of the record they’re singing it back!” While house music in Europe and America has retracted to become an underground scene, in South Africa it is part of mainstream culture, as Brett Jackson confirms. This is something that Parisian DJ Franck Roger was struck by when he first played here. “I was really impressed by how big house music was in this country with big help from the radio, TV, and sponsorship,” he tells me. “Those things can happen in the USA with rock bands but we were in South Africa and this was house music.” What becomes clear after our trip to a Soul Candi party in Broemfontein a few nights before, where Euphonik dropped an eclectic set that veered wildly from deep tribal house to commercial hits and bumpy kwaito style beats, is the many different styles of house that are popular in South Africa. “You’ve got your minimal following with people into the German stuff and then you’ve got the deep crowd into Jimpster and Shur-i-kan and then you’ve got the soulful heads into Osunlade and those cats,” says Brett Jackson. “And you’ve got all your local kwaito and house crossovers. But the lines are blurring all the time. People are just fusing loads of different styles of music. And a DJ like Euphonik is the definitive jukebox – he’ll play everything all in one set.” What was also evident in the main room at the Soul Candi party was how the crowd responded in unison to the big vocal hooks on hit tracks while becoming static at the deeper sections. “The commercial main market crowd is very reactionary,” suggests Brett. “If they don’t know the song that you are playing they will stand there and look at you. And then when you play a hit they will all sing along whether it’s a pop track or the deepest underground thing. It’s about whether they know it or not. Then you’ve got another crowd that you saw downstairs at the Soul Candi night (where Liquid Deep and DJ Terance dropped a deeper spiritual mix more akin to a Timmy Regisford or Ian Friday set) and you will see at Charles Webster tomorrow night that is a much more supportive, musically knowledgeable crowd who are true followers of good deep music.” A few days later we head back to Soul Candi where we have been invited to take a look around their associated studios where in-house producer Terence Parkah is working on the forthcoming LP by spoken word artist Antonio Lyons, which along with the excellent Mzee LP of last year and albums by DJ Clock, signals a welcome move into artist albums for the label. One of those artists whose journey from DJ to producer is becoming a familiar one is Lulo Café who is moving on from the compilation market with 34

his forthcoming LP entitled ‘What About Soul Volume 1’. “It’s awesome right now,” he replies when I ask him about the state of South African house. “There are guys coming out from different parts of South Africa and you’ve got all these different styles of house music. You’ve got Pretoria with Mujava who’s really in his own league right now but also the guys at Multi Racial (Sisco Umlambo’s Pretoria based label), and then you’ve got Durban where they’ve got their own sound; very edgy and more lyrical. For someone who doesn’t know the language it will sound like they are rapping over a house beat a bit like kwaito - that’s hit the market big this year. That’s the culture right now in South Africa; every region is coming up with their own style of house music.” The explosion in home-grown productions and the resulting increase in artist albums is driven both by the sheer amount of talent coming out of South Africa right now, and also the economics of the compilation market. “Piracy is hitting us hard,” says Brett. “Three or four years ago a DJ Fresh compilation sold 90,000 copies, currently it’s barely hitting 20,000. Although 20,000 sounds like a lot of copies it’s not when international artists are asking for £1,000 advances for the use of their tracks. They look at South Africa as a cash cow but it really isn’t anymore. So a lot of the stuff we are not allowed to license any more. The good thing about that is that the local producers are really stepping up at the moment and we are not having to license as much. So it’s changed the game quite a lot. You’ve got a real South African sound through the likes of Culoe and Mzee so it’s really exciting.” The local scene has been helped enormously by the website Afrodesia MP3 where young producers can upload their own music alongside the big names of South African house. The depth of music available on the site is mind blowing and is introducing the many different styles of homegrown house to both overseas DJs as well as providing a route through to other on line shops like Traxsource and Beatport. One overseas DJs helping push the sounds of South African house is Casamena from California who makes an interesting comparison with this youthful explosion of creativity. “It reminds me of the roots of Hip-Hop. Hungry kids making lots of music by any means,” he suggests. “There is a sound that is resonating with the world and the energy those kids have is infectious.” With producers like Black Coffee and Culoe De Song breaking through the international market and new technology making production easier for the urban poor, the future of South African house is looking brighter by the day. “On average I get sent about 300 CDs of locally produced music every week, it’s unbelievable,” concludes Jackson. “Young kids are getting on computers and finding programmes that are easy to use and they are teaching themselves. So you’ve got someone like DJ Clock who is making amazing music and attracting the attention of people like Laurent Garnier. Although the DJ market is still bigger, things are starting to change. With websites like Afrodesia MP3, local producers are loading themselves up to get their music noticed worldwide. Overseas companies are signing local artists that we might be missing out. And that’s made us really wake up and focus on what is happening in our own back yard instead of what is happening in the international market. It’s just really exciting the amount of music coming through.” AT www.soulcandi.co.za www.afrodesiamp3.com www.YFM.co.za

The deeper side of house Africa.

words: Ben Verghese photography: Scott Smith

alk to anyone in South Africa about house music – artists, partygoers, even taxi drivers – and two names will keep cropping up: Black Coffee and Culoe De Song. Both hail from the east coast province, KwaZulu Natal, though it’s in Johannesburg they’ve broken through, producing tracks that run that little bit deeper than the rest. These have gained them support from German techno producers to UK funky house DJs and even African superstars like Salif Keita. At home they can do no wrong too, with Black Coffee winning Male Artist of the Year at the 2010 South African Music Awards. Having just returned from a US tour and then driven back from a gig in Swaziland the previous night, Black Coffee (aka Nathi Maphumulo) invited us into his home studio, later joined by Culoe. Entering under an electric roller door, we tiptoed past the sleeping dogs in the driveway into Nathi’s studio where we got to hear the story behind Soulistic Music. SHK: So, how did Soulistic Music come to be? Black Coffee(BC): At first it was just for me to release myself. The first album I did was a licensing deal. I was never an artist to any record label. And then, I thought, let me grow, let me start getting other people. The first guy I got was Tumelo, he’s a vocalist. For the past two years we’ve been doing his

project. And then Culoe came into the picture. See the difference with him is he’s making his own music and had done so many singles. I thought his album was ready. And him being a DJ his album was promoted on the streets, his singles were everywhere. So I thought we’d start with him as there was demand already, rather than Tumelo, who was new. Culoe had done gigs overseas already. So last year we released my third album [Home Brewed] and his album [A Giant Leap]. And they did quite well, they did very well. We’re working on Tumelo’s album now. SHK: Can you suggest why house is so popular in South Africa? BC: I think it’s the dance culture. People here love going out. We’re not a very huge market. People here will not tell you “No, I actually listen to hip-hop.” They listen to everything. Before house there was kwaito, which was as big. Now house is as big as kwaito was. And artists do kwaito with house beats. The stuff I do with Bra Hugh [Masekela] and young musicians, it bridges that gap. These are the songs people are playing when they go out, this is the stuff that is on the streets. South Africans love having fun and there’s nothing else better than house to have fun to. SHK: You’ve a knack for strong vocal tracks, notably ‘Turn Me On’ and ‘Superman’. How did they come about? BC: Well, I studied jazz, so perhaps that could be a reason. I know how to approach a track. I’ve studied song writing when I was still in Durban, at Technical Natal. That’s when I moved to Pretoria. I never got to finish. While I was a student I was an artist already,

with a band [Shana]. We were in and out of school. Then I just started working on my album. I think I got what I wanted out of schools. SHK: And you use vocals in English and vernac (i.e. indigenous languages). How do you make that decision? BC: It depends on the sound. Like this track with Tumelo, it’s tribal. I decided let’s do the chorus in vernac to fit the style of the song, then explain what he’s saying in the verses. So you get to have an idea what the song is about if you don’t understand the languages. This isn’t actually my language, the vernac he is speaking. He had to explain it to me. I think I’ve come out of that stage of making music just for the South African economy. This was one of the biggest songs I was playing in Miami. And there’s another guy I’m working with, his name is Zakes. I featured him on my album, on that Juju track. Then we decided, let’s do an album. It’s another project, separate from what I was doing. He’s got his own label but we did that single and it was successful. It’s gonna be a venture between our labels. SHK: Getting into sonic details, there’s a depth in your sound that stands out, especially in the lower frequencies. Can you talk about your basslines? BC: (Laughs) I can’t explain basslines! For me it’s the last thing I do with my productions. I always make sure they stand out. I can do them fifteen times to find the right one! Sometimes it’s the simplest one. Culoe De Song(CDS): I think basslines have also been known as the soul of the song. It sort of completes the whole song. Sometimes the groove I’ve

been getting from the percussion side of things, the bassline has to go with that, and it all comes together. SHK: How does the music Soulistic release differ from other house in South Africa, such as that released on Soul Candi or House Afrika? BC: I think it’s different. Most guys from Soul Candi release compilations. It’s hard to have one sound on a compilation, if you’re taking a song from Tribe, a song from Jellybean. They’re looking for hits and then they blend them together. See, when we do an album there’s always that relationship from one track to another. Whether they are mixed together or not, if it’s his song it’s his song. If it’s ten of his songs, it’s ten of his songs. They’re gonna have that soul, they’re gonna have that sound. It’s his sound. Not many guys, still, are into albums properly. SHK: Culoe, with A Giant Leap, it’s not an anthology of hits. It has a shape from start to finish. CDS: It’s also about making your album with love, taking each day at a time. We’ve had big artists here in South Africa and they’ve been making hits. We’re not saying it’s a mistake they’ve made to try and make the same sound again, but we’re just saying it’s a matter of love. You look at Black Coffee’s first album, to his second, to his third. It’s a whole matter of love. I don’t think there was any song that was made to be the same as the other hits, or other people’s songs. SHK: ‘Webaba’ with Busi Mhlongo is a big hit, particularly in South Africa. What was the story behind it? CDS: Fundamentally it began as a remix project. It went out as a single and it just blew! People shared their love for it. And releasing an album it sort of became the heart of that. The album was released just after it. SHK: And the lyrics? Isn’t it about respecting elders? CDS: (laughing) The original song is ‘Webaba Omncne’. It sort of speaks about an uncle who’s telling what the children and younger

generation should have respect for. It revolves around that. SHK: Were you intentionally playing with that message? CDS: Yeah, and I was just inspired by the actual vocal as well. She’s got a very golden voice. SHK: Are there other artists, in Africa or elsewhere, that you’d like to work with? Culoe, you told us you’d like to link with Salif Keita and you have a track on the album with him. CDS: That was another honoured remix. It’s a track by Jimmy Dludlu featuring Salif Keita. It’s a dream to be in the studio with people like that. In the future I’d like to work with Lira, she’s done very well in the last few years. She’s the biggest songstress at the moment. BC: Fortunately the world is becoming smaller. In America there’s a guy his name is Kenny Bobien. He’s one of the house vocalists. I’ve always spoken to my friends about him, then next thing I get a message on Facebook from his management saying he wants us to work. Wow! I’ve met him now while I was on tour. Then there’s guys like Youssou N’Dour. There’s a lot of people.

SHK: There seems a strong culture of supportive communities within the South African scene, with older figures mentoring younger talent. You’ve also set up a project to support people with disabilities, the DJ Black Coffee Foundation. Can you give us some background on that? BC: Basically we want to try and assist in the community, people with disabilities. It’s something I always wanted to do. When the time came, I thought, you know? I can. The name, I can use my name to talk to people who have money. We started last week with our first event. We’ve opened an account a few weeks ago and have started raising money. We want to try and assist disabled communities through institutions like schools, and if they need instruments, if they need wheelchairs, we can provide that. SHK: Is there much State funding available? BC: Not here. Like [Deejay] Kabila, he was speaking to me about how lucky he is to have a job. He knows people who are in wheelchairs that have nothing. No support system at all. So we want to try and assist them. SHK: So, what’s next for Soulistic? There’s Tumilo’s album. And Zakes. BC: You know what, since yesterday, I’ve been thinking we must do an album together for December. We should sit down and have a meeting about that. We try and release an album every two years, it gives me time to run around and do other things. It also gives me time to work but not rush the albums. So I thought it would be nice if we don’t release now together, especially after the albums success. But maybe doing six songs each or together, to me that sounds like a good idea. I think that’s what we’re gonna do. For late this year, we’ll see what we call it. Then do a club tour promoting it, just to be out there. www.soulisticmusic.com

VINNY DA VINCI words: Andy Thomas

The godfather of South African house

skido, Christos and Vinny are the three elders who were there at the birth of house and have witnessed the scene break out from the underground to become their nation’s popular music. Held up as an inspiration by the new generation of DJs and producers, Vinny Da Vinci was at the helm of House Afrika Records in the late 90s alongside DJ Christos, producing many of the platinum-certified compilations that helped blow the music into the mainstream. More recently his Deep House Sessions at Jo’Burg’s legendary ONEONEFIVE club helped to keep the flag flying for the deeper end of house music in Gauteng. SHK: Who was the first person to play house in Mzansi as far as you are aware? Vinny: House music has almost always been there, just that it was underground and only exposed to the select few that knew what it was. I can’t really say who was the first, because there were a few DJs that I know that played it, like DJ Correy from Atteridgeville in my hometown, Pretoria, and my partner Christos was also there. SHK: What were the first clubs you went to and what style of house was most popular? Vinny: Around Pretoria, it was clubs like Ship Ahoy in Mabopane, Club Gemini in Klipgat and Cherry’s in Soshanguve. The style which was popular then was deep and soulful house from the likes of Steve Silk Hurley, the old Frankie Knuckles productions, Basement Boys etc. DJ Correy used to play, Christos, Chris Moseneke, and I came up later within their ranks. They mostly played in quite a similar style because that was the only style that was available from the record stores. SHK: What were the first records you

bought and where did you buy them? Vinny: Frankie Knuckles ‘Tears’ and Subject ‘Celebrate’ were the 12”s and then Chaka Khan ‘The Remix Album’. I got them from Look & Listen in Johannesburg. SHK: We’ve heard Christos’ Groove City shop became a bit of a hub for the scene? Vinny: Yeah, I think it was first Megatrax where Christos was working and then he and another partner of his opened up Groove. That’s when I started buying my vinyl from him and met most of the DJs that were playing then. SHK: How would you compare the local productions in the early days with the international ones? Vinny: The only difference was when you play a local vinyl and an international one. Then you’ll definitely hear the difference in sound quality, but hey no one cared! SHK: Was there a big crossover with the kwaito that was coming out at the time? How would you say house differed? Vinny: A lot of the kwaito that was coming out was cover versions of the international house that was around at the time. Guys would then put their own lyrics to the tracks so the difference wasn’t that big. Also kwaito was a bit slower in tempo compared to the 120bpm that was on most of the international house we were getting down to. SHK: So how did this music start to grow? Vinny: It started to grow from the parties that were out there even though they were a bit underground. Almost like the raves that were taking place then. Find a venue, put a lot of sound in there, a few lights, sell tickets to the people in the know and then you got a great party. And it was strictly vinyl!

SHK: When did radio become important? Vinny: There were a few stations playing house mainly on weekends, but that really didn’t help much until YFM was born. That was the revolution and it was in the late 90s. It was a youth station targeted at the youth, and they also broke all the rules of conventional radio. House in the morning, midday, afternoon, evening, basically each hour of a show had approximately 6 house tracks - now that’s unheard of on radio! SHK: When did CDs take over? How did that change things? Vinny: That was in 1998 and yes YFM also played an important role in that too. We (House Afrika) had a chat to DJ Fresh who was then doing the afternoon drive show. I think it was the most l listened show in the land, and we decided to compile the first official CD (unmixed) of the most popular tracks around.That changed a whole lot of things musically. I mean, as DJs we get asked all the time by friends and even people we don’t know to make mixtapes for them. We just felt it would be better if we do that legally and make a bit of cash at the same time and it worked. Everyone just wanted to buy a copy for themselves - so it sold big time! SHK: So what are the main opportunities and challenges for South African House? Vinny: The opportunities are out there because of the web. Over the years we’ve made contacts with a lot of international labels out there, mainly because we still need their expertise in this game because they’ve been there longer than us. And it’s working. The challenges are for us to keep on doing good music all the time and being careful that we don’t get caught up in dodgy deals. But all in all the future looks bright for the future of South African house.

A Silent Way Routes of South African Jazz, 1946-1978.

essay: Julian Jonker photography: Basil Breakey

Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana

The writer approaching the intersections and digressions that comprise the history of jazz in – and outside – South Africa is confronted with the conundrum of finding a place to start. How does one tie up the mutiplicitous locations and trajectories of the jazz story and mould them into something resembling a linear narrative? Perhaps one can’t, and is left to juggle false starts and dead-ends. here does one begin a story? By starting, one silences other potential narratives, narratives perhaps of the same events but which don’t begin in the same place. The storyteller silences by ending too. The storyteller silences even by deciding which routes to take between beginning and end. What happens to those silenced fragments which fall away from the storyteller’s false starts? Can one shape a story from forgotten but imagined fragments and silences as a designer might shape form from negative space?

Duke Makassi and Mankunku

Where to begin? There are, firstly, names: Mankunku, McGregor, Brand. Moeketsi, Moholo, Dyani. Pukwana, Gwangwa, Coetzee. Nkanuka, Ngcukana, Mongezi Feza. Just a few, to give you a taste. Don’t fret because you haven’t heard their records before. Say the names slowly, as you would recite a poem. Let the consonants roll languidly off your tongue and stretch your lips to pronounce each vowel, and you will already hear distant strains of music.

Kippie Moeketsi Dennis Mphale Chris McGregor at Dorkay House

Silences abound in the story of Kippie ‘Morolong’ Moeketsi, the hard living alto saxophonist and composer who outshone constant comparisons with Bird Parker, toured with Todd Matshikiza’s King Kong, and played on Jazz Epistles, South Africa’s first jazz long-player. After his frustration with the music scene in Johannesburg led him to bouts of drinking and violence, Kippie was admitted to a mental institution, where he suffered electric shock treatment. Was he schizophrenic, as some suggest, or suffering from alcoholic dementia? Or perhaps his spirit crushed from the daily defeats of ‘petty’ apartheid? ... Silence. Police confiscated Kippie’s instrument while he was on tour in 1964, and he didn’t play saxophone again, until 1971... Silence. How could Kippie have felt to have forsaken the music for so long; Kippie Morolong Moeketsi, whose very life essence was the music? Silence. Some may portray Kippie Moeketsi as a brash, arrogant, even irresponsible man, but Jimmy Adams, the Cape Town saxophonist who was a pioneering band leader in the 1940s, tells otherwise. Jimmy met Moeketsi after finding himself stranded in Johannesburg. He tells

how for almost a year Kippie would come and give him one pound for food, every day. Over Christmas of that year Jimmy went on tour to Lorenço Marques with Kippie, Winston Mankunku and Hugh Masakela. Kippie lent him money to buy badly needed clothes for the gig. Jimmy, for his part, thought at the peak of his youth that he was living the dream, spearheading something as modern and gleaming as the post-war cars that appeared on the roads, all chrome and sleek suspended angles. His saxophone had a similar glow and tilt, as did the angular momentum of the flattened blue notes he played. He was a contemporary of other Cape Town vanguard jazz players like Harold Jephta, Kenny Jephta and Henry February. He was (some say) the leader of the first Cape Town jazz band. Jimmy never liked the Johannesburg scene – too many people imitating the American players. Even Kippie was practising over Charlie Parker records. Jimmy Adams saw his opportunities narrow down towards the end of the fifties as other musicians left into exile. Jimmy couldn’t leave because he had a wife, he had settled down into his home. But the scene in Cape Town was already suffocating. Now Jimmy works a job at Ratunga Junction, a garish Sun City-like theme park just outside the city. He troops around accompanied by someone playing a large drum, making “circus music” to entertain tourists. What happened in the intervening years? Silence. Jimmy told me once that he had been to the Green Dolphin, a jazz theme-pub at the sanitised tourist-oriented Waterfront complex in Cape Town. The pub had been decorated with pictures of early jazz pioneers: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington. Jimmy complained about selective memory: What about us? What about us? Silence. After struggling with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Jimmy Adams eventually released a record with the Teal company. Once in the studio, the producer told him firmly: “You don’t play gam enough man! Play more coloured!” Silence. Here’s a similar story. At the end of one year I spent a long Cape Town summer at the District Six museum, scavenging through their oral history archives in ever widening circles,

A Silent Way Routes of South African Jazz, 1946-1978.

looking for the feel of those years, the forties and fifties, when jazz felt like a brave new dawn; looking for that feeling as if it would have somehow survived the years, to be picked up by the crude technology of our recording machines. Henry February was a name that came up time and time again in this widening search; the most advanced jazz pianist of the time, perhaps he could have become a legend like Abdullah Ibrahim. But February stayed. I saw Henry Feb play once on a double bill with Tribe, the recently formed Cape Town avant-bop quartet. February’s music was in stark contrast – lyricism of almost baroque complexity, like Stan Getz on Summer Rain. A stately elegance. Somebody that night compared him to Art Tatum. Listen also to February on Sathima Bea Benjamin’s Cape Town Love. Timelessness welltempered. Of course I tried to talk to Henry Feb during that summer. Valmont Layne, curator of the District Six oral history archive, warned me beforehand. “He’s a very difficult man”, he explained. “He’s very bitter. I mean, he’s a great pianist, some say technically even better than Abdullah Ibrahim. He’ll try and size you up first. He strung us along for quite a while, until we just gave up.” One day I phone February up and tell him that I want to

talk to him about the heyday of the Cape Town scene. No, he says, no, no, no. I don’t have anything to say. I try to explain that I know it’s a difficult story – my nerves now suddenly kicking in – but that it’s one that has to be told. There’s a soft but abrupt click as he puts the receiver down.

repressive atmosphere of apartheid South Africa, but metaphorically, in the stories of those who stayed. [February 2001, notes from the District Six Museum oral archives] Vincent Kolbe interview, 5/10/99: “Moving to the Cape Flats, the township experience, is like emigrating.”

Silence. [Vincent Kolbe interview, 5/10/99 from the District Six Museum oral archives] “Henry ‘Martin’ February dropped the name February so he could play with white musicians.” Silence. Imagine Winston Mankunku, sweat pouring from his forehead as his stand with his sax at full tilt, but hidden from the stage by a heavy curtain. The curtain prevents Mankunku from appearing on the same stage as the white band and thus from violating the apartheid laws against multiracial gatherings. Mankunku is heard but unseen. Silence. Let me start again (but where to begin)? There are silences of other types: exile, for example, and death. Exile is one of the threads running continuously through the stories of South African jazz. Exile manifests itself not only in the stories of those who left the increasingly

Louis Tebogo Moholo

And death. It is the deaths of young artists in exile that most attracts a sense of horrid fascination. Nat Nakasa, a bright young writer, outspoken when writing for Drum about the increasingly repressive apartheid government, eventually awarded a scholarship to Harvard. He was allowed to leave the country only if he agreed to go into voluntary exile. They called this an ‘exit permit’. Nakasa jumped to his death from a Harlem building, age 28. Why? And in 1975, Blue Notes trumpeter Mongezi Feza, dead in London at the age of 30. Johnny Dyani, age 41, in Berlin. Or did he die on stage in Sweden in 1986, as Steve Gordon writes in Beyond the Blues? Or on stage in Paris, as Sandile Dikeni writes? Silence. Consider Nikele Moyake, tenor, teacher of Dudu Pukwana and Duke Makasi. Johnny Dyani tells a story about the normally shy Moyake at a party at which Dollar Brand introduced him to

Abdullah Ibrahim

Wayne Shorter, then tenor with the Miles Davis Quintet. At some point Moyake got annoyed at Shorter’s arrogance, turned to him and said: “I used to play what you are playing.”

like a balloon, it was wet with sweat, his eyes huge and red. He grew tall, shrank, coiled into himself, uncoiled and the cry came out of his horn.

Singer Don Tshomela once called Moyake “more dangerous than danger...the bull that bullies the bull”. Moyake left South Africa with the Blue Notes in 1964, but like many so many of the exiles who suffered from distance and longing, he contracted an undiagnosed and fatal illness (what disease? check). He came home to battle it, and died in Port Elizabeth in 1969.

This is the meaning of Yakhal’inkomo. (Mongane Wally Serote, Yakhal’inkomo, 1972)

Silence. Yakhal’inkomo - the cry of cattle at the slaughter house.

Early Mabuze

Dumile, the sculptor, told me that once in the country he saw a cow being killed. In the kraal cattle were looking on. They were crying for their like, dying at the hands of human beings. Yakhal’inkomo. Dumile held the left side of his chest and said that is where the cry of the cattle hit him ... Yakhal’inkomo. The cattle raged and fought, they became a terror to themselves; the twisted poles of the kraal rattled and shook. The cattle saw blood flow into the ground. I once saw Mankunku Ngozi blowing his saxophone. Yakhal’inkomo. His face was inflated

Mankunku and Schilder

It is time to end, and yet I haven’t yet begun. If the stories continue to knot around each other with their assonances and their silences, then here at least is one meaningful tangle - an intersection of the routes of the South African exiles, and the routes of the avant-garde jazz pioneers, and the routes of the anti-modern hipsters, and the pan-Atlantic routes of black migration. Those routes converge in their wild search for a home, a single truth, a tonal centre which is no longer there, a place from which to begin. They converge, momentarily, in an exile of the heart. Out of respect, let me then end where I began (or, where I first attempted to begin). Not with the noisy exuberance of black classical music, but with silence. This is an extract of an essay originally published in Chimurenga #1, Music Is Our Weapon. Basil Breakey’s photos were first published in Beyond the Blues - Township Jazz in the 60s and 70s. www.chimurenga.co.za | www.music.org.za

ondon-born, Cape Town-based photographer Araminta de Clermont was a recent prize winner at South Africa’s largest contemporary art exhibition, Spier Contemporary. However, it was a lesser-known set of her images, tucked away in City Hall at The Fringe Arts pop-up shop, that left a bigger mark. Thirteen young men, most of whom are homeless, stand proudly in front of Table Mountain. They are participants in an inner city football program for homeless and disadvantaged communities, an initiative co-run by African Brothers Football Academy and Section 21 [Not for Profit] organisation, MylifE. Araminta heard of the program via Martin Afrika, who had featured in her 2008 work, Life After, portraying “chappies” – heavily-tattooed members of the South African Numbers Gangs. Upon visiting the training centre in Gardens, Cape Town, Araminta was touched by how football had brightened bleak realities, enriching the lives of those involved with togetherness and a positive alternative to drug use and crime. Inspired by memories of football trading cards, the images blend Araminta’s portraiture with insightful tales from the subjects themselves. The MylifE Foundation: www.mylife.org.za African Brothers Football Academy: www.africanbrothers.co.za Araminta de Clermont: www.joaoferreiragallery.com/declermont The Fringe Arts: www.thefringearts.co.za

Umntu L Ngumntu Ngabantu (‘A person is a person because of other persons’) words: Ben VERGHESE

Soweto Soweto was formed in the 1950 s when black South Africans were forcibly removed from culturally vibrant areas like Sophiatown and dumped on the edge of Johannesburg in what were known as the South Western Townships. While the authorities attempted to split the people along divisive tribal lines, the result was a stew of multi-ethnic resistance that gave birth to fighters – from Mandela and Oliver Tambo to Brenda Fassie and Sipho Mabuse. In 2010 , Soweto remains the epitome of township life in South Africa as it jostles with the capital for the friendliest parties, the finest restaurants and the sharpest styles.

THESIS words: Andy Thomas

t’s 6pm on a dusky Sunday evening in the Soweto suburb of Mofolo on the outskirts of Johannesburg, and on a nondescript street corner, past an endless procession of low rise houses and neighbourhood shebeens, something magical is unfolding in the yard of the Thesis Concept Store. Stepping through a makeshift corrugated entrance into an open-air yard, where leather beanbags and JBL speakers are shielded from the elements by a giant white canopy, the friendly faces and warm handshakes of the early partygoers ease our nerves on entering the heart of Soweto and an area known locally as Baghdad. Grabbing a bottle of Castle at the bar as the sounds of Silhouette Brown fill the night air, we head through the Thesis Concept Store with DJ and event organiser Wireless G and Creative Director and Designer of the Thesis fashion label, Mangaliso, into a ramshackle backroom where mannequins and sowing machines jostle for space with assorted books and CDs. Thesis is part of a Soweto renaissance. The collective began life with the Thesis clothing line but has grown to include DJs, poets, film-makers, designers and photographers, all coming together in the name of modern township culture. On the first Sunday of the month they stage Thesis Social Jam Sessions which is our destination on the last weekend of an eye-opening journey through the pulsating nightlife of Johannesburg. “Thesis Social Jam Sessions went from being a free event inside the clothes store with DJs, singers, and poets to what it is now,” explains Wireless G. “After meeting the guys at the store they wanted to push things more creatively so Thesis Social Jam Sessions was born.” While G’s roots were in the house scene that dominates Soweto nightlife, his ears and mind were opened up after stumbling across a YouTube clip. “Initially we were inspired by a podcast - ‘Brownswood Loves Jazz’ from the K-Swiss store in Amsterdam, with Jose James,” he enthuses. “We loved the atmosphere, and we started getting deep into Gilles Peterson’s music, so we wanted to create that same vibe here in Soweto. It grew from there and got bigger and bigger.”

At the same time, the clothing line is also flourishing and the location of the Thesis Concept Store is transforming the perception of Soweto as a place where only liquor stores can flourish, and it’s even bringing people out of the city to check what’s going on. “We are getting designers come through from the North, from upper market of Johannesburg,” explains Mangaliso. “So we get people from the other side coming here wanting to do something with us. That’s something we didn’t anticipate but it means our vision is much bigger than just Soweto youth, which is really cool.” Walking back through the clothes store, past the I Heart Soweto t-shirts and Feiyue Shoes, back into the party as DJ Kid Fonque, who is viewed by many party heads here as the Gilles Peterson of Jo’Burg, drops ‘Hold It Down’ to a sea of upraised arms, Wireless G talks avidly about the broken beat scene and his dreams of bringing a figure like Dego or IG Culture to Thesis – just one example of the collective’s global ambitions. Reaching out to the wider world both through music, fashion and associated arts, the future for this collective looks bright with talk of a TV channel as well as high hopes for Uviwe Mangweni’s ‘I Love Soweto’ photographic campaign that has been grabbing the media’s attention. “It’s important for us to create a new image for Soweto both here and overseas,” concludes Mangaliso. “It’s not just about unproductive youth, crime, drugs and gangsterism, there is much more to Soweto than just that. People also think it’s all about Mandela and Hector Pieterson (the student shot and killed by police during the Soweto uprisings not far from where Thesis now stands). I mean we respect those people so much because they actually set a platform for us. But now we are creating something of our own. It was a struggle back then against apartheid and people stood together and fought it; right now we are promoting the idea of us creators getting together and fighting the inhibitions of art and the social scene. Trying to make people look at life here and our youth lifestyle differently - that’s what is brewing here in Soweto.” thesissocialjamsession.blogspot.com

photography: Uviwe Mangweni

uilt on the same principles as the ‘You Make Joburg Great’ campaign, but with less fanfare and next-tono budget, this photo shoot was made to inspire the people of Soweto to take shape of this wonderful hood-burb . The rich history of the neighborhood is built in the trenches and is seen through the sweat and tears of its inhabitants who differ in so many ways. Not in many places around the world will you see a cow’s head (Iskopo) being sold next to an upmarket mall boasting a KFC and a Timberland store.

I HEART SOWETO

Soweto

words+photos: Scott Smith

ushing close to a decade of performing, writing and developing their message, Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness are the epitome of the slowgo musical act. But when the six members of the outfit, all hailing from Soweto, stand on stage together you can tell from their performance that the years of working together have paid dividends. Like with any great musical act, you have a closely-knit group of individuals, whose evident chemistry brings a particular, indefinable flavour to the show, even if their myriad of influences are kept tightly under wraps by headman Zithulele ‘Jovi’ Zabani. “We consider ourselves the new voice of the postapartheid South Africa,” says Thabo ‘Luja’ Ngoepe, one of the vocalists and percussionists of BCUC, as we chat after their act at the Thesis Social Jam Sessions in Soweto. Big words when you consider how much of the ‘struggle’ for the majority of South Africans is still a real part of daily life. There are still huge social problems here and considering that struggle activities in Soweto were an integral part of the apartheid days, one needs to wonder what context of struggle they are living in. Jovi clarifies things a little, “A lot has changed government wise…but not much has changed in the selfesteem of the people. South Africa’s work force is at the bottom of the food chain…poor people will remain poor forever. If nobody is standing against that, things will remain as they are. We’re taking that stand and leading the revolution.”

The music of BCUC is hard to pin down under a particular genre – a working mixture of afro sounds, punctuated by whistles and bells, but fused with a kind of urban soul. There’s also a strong rap overtone that shifts between three vocalists with the necessary touch of a fourth – the high melodious pitch of the only female member, Kgomotso Neo Mokone. All of this is wrapped in a performance infused with the wild energy of a rock band. “We totally ignore modern song structures, our music arranges itself. It gives us its own theme, feel and direction,” says Jovi. The music is very much Soweto, something the band will readily admit. They have a sound and a style that crosses the racial divide which still permeates our society. Jovi, the lead man, assures me that much of their angst has subsided since they started; they are wiser and more constructive in their criticism of society. “The process (of performance) made the message more universally conscious rather than racial or geographical”. Admittedly, the first time I saw them I wasn’t so sure. Jovi can be a wild front man. Strong and solid and with many of the lyrics in Zulu, it makes it hard to decipher just what the mood of their criticism is. Within the first sentences of chatting to Luja, he says, “I look at you and I don’t see white or black but you are white and I am black.” In other words, I can see past our differences, but we are different. I like that philosophy. It is a kind of outlook that has its feet on the ground. There is no brushing aside of issues but a kind of gritty reality that makes the message of BCUC so captivating and relevant. www.bcuc.co.za

BCUC

DEEP SOWETO words: Jez Smadja

I wish I could understand what they’re saying,” whispers a South African friend into my ear as we watch a performance by Siya Shezi, an emcee whose lyrics have the entire audience puffing up like blowfish and crying out with laughter at every punch line. Too bad for us with no knowledge of Zulu vernac – it’s feels like we’ve come to the ball without our slippers. And yet, just to witness the palpable energy emanating from the audience, all eyes on the stage, hanging on every word, makes you feel like this is what hip-hop used to be back in Bronx River Park – funny, smart and, above all, with a clear message. Siya Shezi, who sports short dreads and a wicked smile, delivers rhymes with the quicksilver tongue of someone who’s learned to think on the move. You can pick out occasional words, and the song called ‘Booze’ is clearly about the dangers of too much drinking which, judging by the pitch of the laughter, is a story everyone knows all too well. Siya Shezi flies the flag for Deep Soweto, one of the biggest hip-hop movements on the African continent and also an umbrella organization that is putting back into the community, raising awareness about issues for the youth

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of Soweto and fashioning them into tomorrow’s leaders. They’re all about the grassroots and about trying to build their community from the bottom up. For Pretty Olifant, the townships are still hampered by some basic obstacles which the government doesn’t seem to have the wherewithal to tackle: “Schools are being closed and we have high levels of illiteracy. We need upgrading of sports complexes, we need art centres, studios and writing facilities. Our streets are dark – there are street lights but they are always off. How long are we meant to remain in the dark? Kids in the township play in the streets – we need more parks so kids will have a safe place to play.” The collective is spreading the message through their music but also on a more practical level. Besides the three Deep Soweto mixtapes out on the street, they are also currently involved in the construction of Mdeni Park and are touring an exhibition of photography with Oxfam on the subject of development aid. Deep Soweto is all about “spreading the message of using our talents to elevate us from our difficult situations,” says Pretty. “It’s about more than just the music. We are about everyday life. It’s as real as it gets, without the frills. Deep Soweto is the epitome of Soweto lifestyle.”

The South African Space-Queen and Zulu-Rock Funk-Diva, Busi Mhlongo, lived through many ups and downs during her 20 years on the live gig-scene in Europe and USA. None quite as testing, though, than her long battles with cancer back in her momma-land that finally snatched her from us in June of this year. With no promotion, video, or airplay, her fourth and last ever album, Amakholwa, was nominated at the South African Music Awards. Exclusively invited to the studio during its making, Bongani Madondo bore witness to the alchemist at work. hhh! The ritual is about to commence. Today’s recording, the making of her latest album Amakholwa [The Believers], promises an evocation of all four key pillars of epic rituals: water, earth, wind and fire. In short, the studio session today will serve as a space from which to call forth ancestral spirits. It’s Good Friday, 2009. The earliest winter breeze is kissing our nostrils rather forcefully, but outside the studio, the famous African sun does what it’s famous for: dances on the sky’s ceiling. Like countless times before, I’ve been invited to witness the making of Busi Mhlongo’s new album. And like you, I’ve been maddeningly frustrated by the hiatus. It’s almost eight years since my Zulu rock star came up with a new album, kwenze njani nah? It’s way too early in the morning, but the air is pregnant with some sort of meditative and esoteric feel. The electro-Zulu rock star, multigenre vocal stylist and spirit medium, has been on a journey to hell, heaven and back. And every step of the way, you and I, signed and honorary members of the Busi Mhlongo tribal sect, have been with her, hooting, screaming and singing along. Oh, don’t remind me, I know, walking or journeying through her musical and ancestral journeys, off the beaten tracks of her signature maskanda, her blues, and her she-devil Afrorock ’n roll, to where the demons in her head command her, is as exhausting as it is exhilarating. I should know, as somebody who conducted an interview with her on the eve of the launch of Urban Zulu in 1998 when she only uttered three words, and another, four years later, in which she spoke right up to 4am. For an artist who got her big break singing ‘My Boy Lollipop’ before going on to work with some of South Africa’s biggest mbaqanga and jazz stars, Busi was always a musical nomad. She’d gone to London in 1972 and played with Dudu Pukwana and sang lead vocals for Osibisa; she’d befriended Jackson Pollock across the Atlantic and sang covers in a casino in Portgual. I can still recall how at the launch gig for Busi’s Urban Zulu album, Hugh Masekela and the now late Bheki Mseleku rolled into the auditorium. A quarter of an hour watching the then-unknown healer-diva snake dance and sing with a strange ritualist expression as though she was burping – basically an umgoma way of feeling the spirit, Hughie was visibly shaken, as were we all. He jumped out of the front row in the middle of the set, beckoned to Bheki and both doffed their hats. He went on to drop his black woolen Ayers cap on the floor and threw in a R100 note in

appreciation and deference to the healer. Dig: Busi Mhlongo doesn’t perform music, she carries out “libations”, with all the diligence and science of a trained alchemist. Just like Fela Kuti, if you ask me. Or Jimi Hendrix in his Bold As Love and Smashing Of Amps phase, circa 1969. Like Tina in her tumultuous “Ike & Turner” era, or Igor Stravinsky around the time he created Le Sacre, his most controversial, ferocious and dissonant work. When she opens her voice, Busi Mhlongo gets possessed. She’s alive to voices and images which most people would rather not deal with, or be visited by. A top photographer once told me she can’t quite fit Busi in a frame whenever she’s on stage. “Why?” I asked. “Cause she turns into a snake, something I can not quite pin down but can feel the storm circulating around it.” Oh, Lordie. Shhh! The service is about to begin. Much groundwork has been laid in the studio over the course of the previous week. Busi has been experimenting with different tonalities, chords, writing lyrics on wrinkly dinner napkins and carrying others in her head, before calling this journalist in the dead of the night to confess: “I am so finished, baby. Let this music come. I just wanna go back home eThekwini.” Today’s session in Midrand, Johannesburg, is called the Busi-MasterMax session, following the Busi-Dyer Tribe sessions at the African Jazz producer Steve Dyer’s digs, out in the sticks in North Jozi. Soon after the arrival of the crew — Queen B, session producer Shaluza Max Mtambo and engineer Gideon Murray — things get going. Songs are laid out. Lines are rewritten more for cogency than for Tin Pan Alley sing-along effect. Multiple takes of songs, verses, missed lines, reconstructed harmonies, and of course experimentation with the right dose of emotional peaks and vocal science, starts shaping up the song ‘Noya na?’. There’s no structure per se. The disciplined yet tangential spirit of the moment is the song’s form. ‘Noya na?’ is an African gospel piece whose sheer force of will and desire to peep inside God’s own sacred house is reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s brooding classic ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’. Introduced by Talla Niang’s chants, William Ago’s harmonising and topped off with Busi’s signature Zulu-Buddha chants, the song bursts into life as a meditative tour de force. Soon Ma Mhlongo, as she’s known to her close-knit-circle, goes barefoot, a giveaway to those who know her. When she bares her soul in song, her shoes are the first to go. When later Gideon plays back the final take, we burst into a trance dance. She screams and shrieks her lungs away. Healer’s Brew!

Raised in the mountains at Inanda, KwaZulu Natal, home of Chief Albert Luthuli’s Ohlange Seminar, it was at the Shembe-Nazareth congregation where Busi first heeded the calling to step up and perform for the locals, knowing she had an unrehearsed choir of neighbourly girls at the ready for back-up. For Mhlongo, “music”, as she keeps on reminding me at each and every interview, “is a communal thing. Nothing romantic about it: with music, and in music, we were always in the church long before we went to church.” Ma Mhlongo is a fascinating raconteur. In the studio, between takes, she regales the now crowded studio filled with guests (including famed playwright Welcome Msomi) with dark-humored anecdotes on light subjects [uhm] such as reincarnation. In torrents of laughter, she does a quick stand-up comedy thing, saying her fans will be — eyes bulging for dramatic effect —“so surprised I’ve recorded this album at all. I mean, aren’t I supposed to be dead?” Silence. She winks and laughs. And if you’re tuned in, you’ll feel the pumppump beat of her heart, her total relief that she is, after all, very much alive. The joke’s not on her but on cancer, the disease that nearly hijacked her just 18 months ago. Though she’s still dealing with it in many ways, including through medication, Busi Mhlongo has, by and large, really wagged the middle finger at Mr. Cancer’s face and Amakholwa is proof, if proof were needed. I venture to ask u-MaMhlongo, “Uhm, so with this album, you going the gospel route, huh? Is there some truth in the notion that when we age, we find that God winks at us every step of the way. Is that it, Sis Vicky?” “This is not gospel,” she corrects. “It’s more like amahubo – music expressions drawn from African spiritual traditions and not necessarily the Western ideas of ‘Praise the Lord’. We praise both the Lord and our three-tiered intermediaries: the unborn ancestors, the physically alive ancestors, and those who have gone before us – o khokho.” The whole album is one long narrative of a saved soul. Clearly, the prodigal daughter’s done gone home. Liturgy has never sounded so hip, so alive, not since Aretha Franklin took Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ down to the black temple. This new lighter self, this pond of ceaseless creativity, this new gospel tinged music, heck this entire album . . . it’s all, in her own words: “My way of conveying appreciation, of thanking those who’ve crossed multiple bridges over troubled waters with me.” Busi Mhlongo has come full circle. The lady’s done gone back home, but also back to the future. Her eyes, certainly, are looking at God. MaMhlongo passed in June 2010, but her spirit stays with us and she remains an inspiration to us all

BUSI MHLONGO

AMONG THE BELIEVERS words: bongani madondo photo: Richard kepple 49

CHI MU RE NGA

WHO NO KNOW GO KNOW

words: Jez Smadja

design: Graeme Arendse (chimurengaLAB)

The Pan African Market is a Dutch colonial building on Long Street in Cape Town that’s filled like an Arabian souk with floor after floor of crafts from all four corners of the bright continent. On the top floor of the building we’re greeted by a group of kindred souls who for the past eight years have been publishing some of the most exciting writing from Africa and beyond. It’s a magazine which goes by the name of Chimurenga. Chimurenga is the Shona word for ‘struggle’ and came to describe the war of independence against Rhodesia and also the music that inspired it. It’s by no means a coincidence that the aspirations of many of the struggles around the world have ended in “ah”-sounding syllables: Amandla; Intifada; Zapatista; Rasta; Sankara; Guevara… the list goes on. Chimurenga Magazine, begun in 2002, is a tribute to all those who struggle in any shape or form. We camp out in the offices for two days straight waiting for the elusive figure of Ntone Edjabe, the magazine’s Founder and Editor, and take time instead to meet the various members of staff. Liepollo, the office coordinator, smokes behind her computer, surrounded by piles of paper; Graeme, the art director, lights up a cigarette when his copy of InDesign crashes; in the corner, by the drawing board, is Unathi who is having a meeting and offers a smoke to his colleague. Also waiting patiently for the editor– and drawing deep on Lucky Strikes – is Sandile Dikeni, one of South Africa’s foremost poets and former editor of the Cape Times, so we’re in good company. Sandile, ensconced in the sofa, holds forth on Jacob Zuma’s many wives, the inherent contradictions of nationhood in Africa and why newspapers should be called oldspapers because

there’s never anything new in them. When Ntone does eventually arrive, in a cotton Oxford shirt and tweed Pork Pie hat, the sort of attire you might expect from a character out of an Evelyn Waugh novel, he is every bit the charismatic, thoughtful character we’d anticipated. Born in Cameroon, Ntone still speaks with the residual cadences of a native French speaker and he measures his words out like medicine, each phrase considered and delivered part streetpoet, part child of Fanon. He’s a man who also DJs in his spare time as part of the Fong Kong Bantu Sound System, a collective that includes many elders from Cape Town’s 1980s reggae revolutionaries. Ntone invites us to a Chimurenga event on Friday night where Zim Ngqawana, the free jazz saxophonist from Port Elizabeth who studied under Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef in the US, is scheduled to appear alongside Kyle Shepherd. He then regales us with personal stories about how, as a student in Lagos, he was educated in Kalakuta by Fela Kuti and how that Felasophy laid the ground for his own intervention, his ‘praxis’ or action... Effectively, Chimurenga Magazine is a legitimate child of Fela. Issue after issue the magazine has built upon solid foundations. The first issue, in 2002, was themed ‘Music Is The Weapon’ and featured articles about the intersection of music and politics. Each issue since then has been themed (e.g. ‘Conversations with Poets Who Refuse To Speak’, ‘We’re All Nigerians’), and the most recent issues have developed print formats to mirror their themes – ‘Everyone Has Their Indian’ (Chimurenga 14) was printed as manuscript galleys of an unpublished novel, and bound

in a brown paper envelope; ‘The Curriculum is Everything’ (Chimurenga 15) is designed like a 1970s school textbook; and the forthcoming issue, which will engage with the xenophobic attacks in South Africa from May 2008, will be printed as a broadsheet and distributed through newspaper channels. It’s not just about print, though – the Chimurenga Library is an archive of Pan African independent periodicals which you can read online; the Chimurenga Sessions are musical events that transform each issue’s theme into special performances; and the annual Pan African Space Station takes that idea of performance to new heights. Nevertheless, it’s their exquisite print editions, offering such beautiful writing on so many different perspectives from the heartlands and the ghettoes of Africa, that people really need to discover. Amongst their painstakingly curated pages, you may occasionally find articles about musicians (Jimi Hendrix by Greg Tate, Monk by Geoff Dyer, the last ever interview with Fela) but you’ll equally find short stories written by modern day literary giants (from Leon Gontran Damas to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Lesego Rampolokeng), photography, artwork and articles that offer a glimpse of the best that the African continent has to offer in dissident thought, all the complexities (and simplicities) of its recent history, cultural, political, sporting and otherwise. From Cairo to Kinshasa, Douala to Dar Es Salaam, Chimurenga is unrepentantly Pan African, but without that enervating Marcus Garvey association. As the magazine’s tagline has it, and in the immortal words of the late Fela Kuti, ‘Who No Know Go Know’. Sending manuscripts and missives, transmissions and munitions to strugglers the world over, the word is most definitely Chimurenga. www.chimurenga.co.za

PASS LIVE - TOP: Culture Musical Club; MIDDLE (l-r): Blk Jks, Funsho Ogundipe of Ayetoro, Cundy Blackman; BOTTOM: Nothembi Mkhwebane 52

PAN AFRICAN SPACE STATION The people at Chimurenga take music seriously. The editor, Ntone Edjabe, and the designer, Graeme Arendse, are both members of the Fong Kong Bantu Sound System who play the sort of records you’re unlikely to hear anywhere else in South Africa. Another honorary member of the team is Neo Muyanga, who is an accomplished musician, scorer and curator. In 2008, they launched the Pan African Space Station (PASS) which is a 30-day intervention in Cape Town inspired by Sun Ra’s aphorism: “there are other world’s out there they never told you about”. The second event rolled into action in September 2009 and included Toumani Diabate, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, BLK JKS, Ras G, Nothembi Mkhwebane, Wanlov the Kubulor and closed with a tribute to Bheki Mseleku. Highlights included Wanlow the Kubulor performing in his underwear at the Slave Church and Toumani’s solo performance in the city’s main cathedral. All the way through the festival, PASS Radio sets up shop at the PASS studios on Long Street, broadcasting the live performances as well as DJ shows, debates, readings... As Thelonious Monk said: “Don’t play what the public want — you play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing — even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.” It’s a saying which applies to Chimurenga in everything they do. www.panafricanspacestation.org.za

PASS RADIO - TOP (l-r): DJ Mighty, Boeta Gee of Fong Kong Bantu Sound System; MIDDLE (clockwise from top): Dino Miranda, DJ Andre Manuel, Captain Ashtma; BOTTOM (l-r): Anthony Josephs, Brendon Bussy, Neo Muyanga 53

words: Benji Lehmann

his year the seminal deep house label Süd Electronic celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Since 2000 when the first Süd record appeared, a lot has changed in house. Genres have come and gone at an accelerated rate, and a whole new generation of producers have reinvented the sound as their own. Süd Electronic remains conspicuous though as one of the only labels that has not strayed from its own direction. We speak to its two founders, Alan, who records as Portable, and Lerato, who also records as Lakuti. They remain two of the most engaging voices active in electronic music today.

Alan: I grew up in Cape Town in South Africa on the Cape Flats. When the apartheid government came into power during the 1960s a lot of people were moved into the Cape Flats, which was basically a shanty town. Cape Flats was built to house people who were moved from other areas that had become occupied only by the white population. None of my family are musicians, but my sisters were all much older than me, and they listened to a lot of disco at home. You also hear traditional African

Alan: Larry Heard, Liz Torres, Master C & J, Housemaster Boys, Frankie Knuckles, all the classic Chicago house music was popular. It was all being imported on vinyl and cassettes. You’d hear the music mostly in house parties because there were strict curfews imposed at the time. People would be getting together to dance at someone’s house, in their backyard. Dancing is always a form of communion, it’s a basic instinct we have kept since our cave days. It’s often said that the revolution took place via music. The violence came from the government and the police. Dancing together strengthened the bonds of the community and the government were afraid of it. Lerato: I loved all of Larry Heard’s productions under his various guises , Fingers Inc , Mr Fingers, labels like Trax , Relief Records , Dance Mania , DJ International and many more. I also got hooked on the music from New York , Todd Terry , Kerri Chandler , Nervous Records , Nu Groove, Murk – Murk productions were huge in South Africa, plus the early Warp releases from the UK. In the meantime I still loved our own take on house known as kwaito

the music. I grew up reading the Face magazine and thought that London was the place to be. I remember staying in Whitechapel on my 1st day in London and being shocked as to how dirty and grey it was! I grew to love the city a lot though. It’s a home to me. One on of the best cities in the whole world. Alan: When Lerato and I arrived in London we started a night called ‘Mahala’, a Sunday night thing. That’s where I met Sutekh, who would eventually go on to release my music. He walked into the club and I was playing one of his records. In 2001 I released my first record on his label, Context. Soon after that, Andy Vaz considered me for Background. I sent him a bunch of stuff and he suggested I release it as an album, which became ‘…5’. After that, –scape came along. There wasn’t really anyone else making music like that in South Africa. Lerato: I had always had the idea to start a label since the early ’90s really. I fully embraced the 1st wave of electronic sounds out of Chicago and I just wanted to be a part of this music or community or spread the gospel somehow from my teens. However I did not have the means being impoverished in a township in South Africa at the time, nor did I have clue as to how to go about starting a label. Things seemed a bit more possible

.. SUD ELECTRONIC

music all the time in Cape Town. You’d hear Hugh Masekela, Maria Makeba. Later on I was exposed to Chicago House music. It struck a chord with people in South Africa. During the early ‘80s, the second wave of the revolution that changed the country, we were involved in demonstrations at school, boycotts. We were part of the final revolution that freed Nelson Mandela. House music was about change and personal transformation. Not necessarily the lyrics, more the sound. It was new, it was different.

Lerato: South Africa has always been on point and connected to House music from the off . We had really great radio too then . The best Radio DJ I have ever heard was Bob Mabena on Metro radio station. He was simply amazing. House music is simply a way of life in South Africa. Grannies , Dads , children , everyone in the black community knows house music where I come from. Someone’s uncle would be studying in New York or Chicago or something and they manage to send a tape and that tape would do the rounds. Chicago House really changed my life.

Alan: In 1994 we had the first elections in South Africa. We had been boycotting and demonstrating.

There was a huge sense of accomplishment. I started making music at this point, though it was difficult to operate with the country’s poor infrastructure at the time. I was working in a bank at the time, and I managed to get a loan to buy a Roland W30. It had maybe only 30 seconds sample time. I was recording onto cassettes. Then computers came along, and I started using Cubase. One of the first gigs I did I actually had the desktop computer on stage with a copy of the software running. Before I left South Africa I was in a duo called The Mighty Masses. We had the same manager as another South African act, Prophets Of The City. We recorded an album for Gallo but they didn’t release it because the label thought it was not ‘black’ enough. It was very much like the early Massive Attack stuff. After that I got disillusioned with the vocal music I had been working on and decided to concentrate on House and Techno only. Lerato: Matters of the heart made me take the decision to move to London, but also because of

in London and we somehow managed to start Süd Electronic. I still remember sitting in my lounge packaging our 1st release ourselves – Alan’s Gridshift ep under his Portable guise. It took us a day and a half to finish putting together 1000 records. Alan: With electronic music it’s important that everything keeps changing. I listen to my stuff now and the elements have changed a lot. I would like to think that it comes from changing times, changing as a person. You have to stay connected to why you are making music in the first place. It affords you some personal freedom. Süd Electronic will be celebrating 10 years of throwing underground parties in London under the Süd Electronic banner with Boo Williams at The CAMP on October 2nd. A special live recording by Portable at the now defunct Kiosk club in Frankfurt is out now as a download via Whatpeopleplay.com. www.sudelectronic.com

FAITH47

words: Helene Dancer

n a dusty street in Cape Town’s Zonnebloem district, a splash of colour breaks the monotony of the industrial buildings. There’s a woman painted at the end of this stretch of blue-green wall, a bird resting on her fingertip and its wings outstretched as if poised to take flight into the carefully patterned tableau. The woman looks serene on this city street and passers by stop and gaze up at her face. For the Cape Townbased artist, Faith47, this is precisely the point – to fill an empty space with a piece that inspires a pause for thought and adds another dimension to the urban world.

What style of art is your first love? I love art nouveau. I also love the old etchings of Albrecht Duerer and the drawings of Vania

Zouravliov. His work is astounding. When I go to Europe, I make a point of visiting old churches to study the old religious paintings and icons as well as the sculptures and symbols on old buildings. How did you get into graffiti and illustration? Was it something you were always drawn to? My drawing and painting has always been a type of therapy for me, for as long as I can remember. I was introduced to graffiti by Wealz130 and the YMB crew back in 97. They were the Young Mobile Bombers and I was impressed by their work and by them as individuals. Wealz has been very influential throughout my life and work. Are you pretty involved in the Cape Town hip-hop scene? Not so much. I used to be more active and attend all the gigs but now I’ll do the occasional park jam. I think I’ve become a bit of a loner in many ways. I do however still enjoy the occasional Aesop Rock, Sage Francis or Public Enemy album but my music taste is very wide and goes way beyond hip hop. Are you part of a crew or do you prefer flying

solo? I’m solo. You’ve travelled a fair bit with your work. Do you enjoy it? Traveling induces astonishment at the size of the world, the vast amount of people, and the similarities and differences between cultures. It shows you where the money is, and where it isn’t, and makes you wonder about why that is. It gets you thinking, humbles you, exhausts you and invigorates you. What inspires you to paint? Painting is a medium through which I attempt to find a meaning of existence. I guess I have an underlying feeling that there is something lacking in our pursuit of happiness, or at least that the human way of living and dying leaves a lot of empty space that goes largely unexplored. It’s an acknowledgment that everything is futile but

beautifully so. This is why I am attracted to derelict spaces and why I don’t mind that the work decays or is lost over time. It helps me to acknowledge the fragile nature of this life and to look for a way to live within this knowledge without fear. What are some of the favourite spots in SA that you’ve bombed? Sometimes I get intense injections of motivation, especially when I’m in Johannesburg, I have a deep love for the city – it’s like the Wild West and New York with a large dose of Africa, which gives it an unmistakable flavour. Once I painted a very large wall on a Sunday. I walked all the way to the wall from my friend’s house a few blocks down by myself with the heavy ladder and all the paints, and worked seriously hard all day. It was hot and there were guys cutting up sheep heads right next to the wall, which is right at the main Joburg taxi rank, so it’s very busy and totally crazy. You get all sorts of people coming up to you – there was a dubious-looking man who wanted to attack me but the guys who were chopping the meat chased him away. That’s how it works – you

befriend the people who are directly in the vicinity of the place and, in a sense, you’re investing in their area, so they give you their protection. The fact that you’re creating something and asking for nothing in return is unusual, so most people welcome it. Seeking out new sites to paint must be exhilarating. Exploring empty buildings and factories contains for me the most meditative feeling – seeing the scribbles on the walls from people who were there before and imagining the many lives that had risen and fallen in those spaces. The Joe Slovo area in Langa [township in Cape Town] has always been a great heartsore for me. The first time I went, it was as if the whole area was completely neglected by the council. The people had no real toilets to use - just buckets. It’s humiliating and it makes one angry driving from there back into the city. You want to cry when you see that the council is paying for the traffic light poles to

be repainted yellow, and planting lavender bushes along the side of roads in affluent areas. I think one of the things that attracts me to the art form is that it is so experiential – you are constantly interacting and experiencing what is happening in the streets, and it helps in gaining an understanding of society. Do you paint much indoors? I’ve been doing a lot of studio work and spending long hours on my oil paintings. This process is so very different from the work on the streets but both allow me to express my thoughts in a different way. Painting in the studio is quiet and I can create the energy around me, intensify it, or bring it to a calm, depending on the work I’m doing. But when you paint on the streets you have no choice – you are completely at the whim of nature, of chance, of the people around you, the sun, the gangsters on the corner and the kids who want to ask you hundreds of questions. It’s very distracting and quite a task to focus with all your heart.

www.faith47.com

NEW SOUTH

AFRICA

New-wave producers, DJs from the old skool, angelic vocalists - it aint nothin but a party going on with these cool cats...

id Fonque has a busy night ahead of him and it doesn’t help that his car keeps overheating and he has to stop the car, snap open the bonnet and fill up the water pump every couple of hours. After all, stopping your car at night isn’t exactly advisable in parts of Jozi; after dark, people don’t even stop for red lights – or ‘robots’ as they’re called around here. At midnight, Kid Fonque is DJing at the opening night of the Lighthouse, a spectacular new venue on the 18th floor of a disused building overlooking the priapic office blocks and deserted streets of Joburg’s city centre. When he’s finished his set at the Lighthouse, he’ll be sprinting over to a warehouse rave where he’s playing the 4am slot after Charles Webster, although that also depends on the car… With six people squeezed into his 3-door Fiat, on the way to the first destination of the night, Kid Fonque explains how he’s one of the only people pushing the envelope of what’s being played out in South Africa, taking people on a ride through classic hip-hop, dubstep, Mo’ Wax 12”s, 2-step, bootlegs, latin, broken beat and anything else that will fit in his perfectly blended mixes which rock and shock the nation. “The first residency I had was at a small club called 206 where the vibe was strictly beats, from hip-hop to drum n’ bass and 2-step,” says

the Kid. “It was an extremely successful club and attracted the right people but, as the scene changed, deep house came into play and the headz all changed location. I play house sets and have been fortunate to play alongside some strong internationals and local acts, but overall I’m best known for doing it all, mixing it up.” Highly in demand, he’s being flown out to Zimbabwe the following week where he’ll be bringing Harare’s ravers their first dose of dubstep, while earlier in the week he was playing at the glitzy launch of a new satellite TV service, Pay-TV. But Kid Fonque is also used to less controlled surroundings. He recalls the last time he deejayed at a party in Soweto, he was playing from the upstairs bedroom of the house as a precautionary measure because a white face in Soweto doesn’t go unnoticed. When trouble did kick off, the promoter ran upstairs and told him to pack his bags. He and the promoter then escaped out the back and clambered over garden walls to get to the car and drive off. At least his work never gets boring. Tonight isn’t going to be boring either. The party at the Lighthouse is in full effect when tear gas goes off on the dancefloor – there are rumours that it’s rival promoters trying to ruin the Lighthouse launch. Luckily the party is on the rooftop, and the gas doesn’t linger too long. As Kid Fonque lures people back with his selections, the crowd begins to work up a sweat to selections from Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes and Red Nose Distrikt, but the biggest reaction of the night is reserved for the jungle remix of Fugees ‘Ready Or Not’ and a sea of faces sing along to the chorus with Lauryn Hill. Leaving the Lighthouse in a rush to get to the next party, Kid Fonque hears a female voice screaming something from a parked car across the street. Her words resonate loud and clear in the damp Jozi night – “Kid Fonque, we love you!” There’s mad love for this DJ whose approach to music has seen him embraced by so many different scenes, including the Thesis collective in Soweto for whom he’s been a big inspiration, opening their ears to artists from Europe like Dego & Kaidi and Jazzanova. He’s also helping to expose the sounds being made in bedroom studios across the country, giving young producers a leg-up. “I would like to see big sponsors getting involved in more local underground talent. Local sponsors only seem to throw their money at internationals coming here and there is more than enough talent on our sunny shores to throw quality events every weekend. Every month I hear some local tracks or bands and wish they had an avenue to get their music exposed more. I have been fortunate enough to do some of the in-store mix compilations for Levi’s and I always stick amazing unsigned, unknown artists on them in the hope that it will expose these guys.” Thankfully, the Kid’s Fiat does make it to the warehouse party where it’s a mad mix of people, from couples on MDMA to sharp-suited pantsulas – a stark contrast to the uptown glamour of the Lighthouse opening. As he takes his place on the podium, his slender 2-metre frame hunched over the turntable, and cues up the first record, a cheer goes up from the crowd, bodies jack and twist under the strobe lights, but it’s all in a night’s work for this unflappable DJ.

words: Jez Smadja

Kid Fonque Make it funky for me.

The Kid’s TALENT WATCH DJ Whisky – if you like Culoe De Song, you’re gonna love this man The Layders – quality every time from house to hip-hop and broken beats Bioscope – dubstep producer doing the naughties to Portishead & Jill Scott Kafele – soulful broken business Iko – South Africa’s answer to Dilla

words: Ben Verghese

DJ Kenzhero Kenny and his Party People

eeping bodies bumping, DJ Kenzhero is the catalyst behind Party People, monthly beat-driven shindigs which regularly pop up across South Africa. The nights always feature a live act, and whether it’s local stars like Thandiswa, Tumi, or BLK JKS, or artists from overseas (including Bahamadia and Kev Brown), the guests always impress. Bopping behind the decks, Kenzhero scores the rest of the evenings with slick cuts and blends between ear-pleasing selections for an elegantly bohemian crowd. “To be honest we are the same people... ” Kenzhero replies, when asked how the crowds across the country differ, “I got that sense when I took Party People to Durban and Port Elizabeth, even in Mozambique. There’s a thread of people who are influenced by the same things all over the world. I’m sure even in Afghanistan there are Party People.” Party People’s regular Cape Town venue is Zula, a not-just-fortourists spot on Long Street, complete with balcony were you can peer at passers-by in the street below. Over in Joburg, Roka was the base for the first 3 years, however, that popular lounge closed midway through 2009. Since then the night’s home is further south in Newtown, at a venue Kenzhero co-owns, called O.S.T.

A stone’s throw from MuseuMAfricA and right next door to a record shop, O.S.T is part-music venue part-art gallery, and compliments more established spots in its vicinity, such as Bassline, Sophiatown and Xarra Books. With investment directed its way and a mass of former-industrial buildings screaming to redevelopers, Newtown looks set to become a creative Arts hub in downtown Joburg. Soweto-born, Kenzhero’s outlook is international. He cites DJ Spinna and Gilles Peterson as important influences and shares a sonic affinity with an American generation of artists from the Roots to Mos Def. It wasn’t such a surprise then, when Kenny got the call to DJ on the bill when Mos (and Chris Dave) came to town. As well as his DJing and party starting, Kenzhero produces music. Recorded and ready for final post-production touches is an album with Mozambique-born Simba. Also in the pipeline is a second volume of his Rare And Unreleased Bootlegs, Remixes And Instrumentals, following on from the first installment in 2007. As another means of getting his message across, Kenzhero broadcasts, appearing on YFM’s airwaves and co-hosting the Afro Picks shows for RBMA Radio. With an ear always open to listen out for new music, he cites Atlantan band the Jaspects, Buff1 (a rapper from Ann Arbor) and French producer Dela as three acts getting repeated airplay on his personal stereo right now.

NEW SOUTH

AFRICA words: Nate Agundipe

SPOEK MATHAMBO

Coming correct with Township Tech.

This summer in South Africa has been one of excitement and optimism. The success of the first World Cup held on African soil has brought once wandering eyes to focus on a nation that thought has its fair share of political upheavals but is rising to the top in more ways than one. Spoek Mathambo is a perfect example of the forward-mindedness within South Africa’s musical sphere. A true renaissance man, the talented 24-year -old is an illustrator, DJ, graphic designer and a front man for two electro-rap groups, Playdoe and Sweat X. Featured in the New York Times and the Fader Magazine, Mr. Mathambo has become a symbol of cutting-edge South African club music, pioneering a sound which he has dubbed ‘Township Tech’. He says that he wants to showcase Africa’s contribution to progressive electronic music, and that this description came from the techno house that was coming from his native land of South Africa, merged with percussion that allows it to morph into something rough and abrasive, guttural yet soothing. Mshini Wam, the name of Mr. Mathambo’s debut album – and also the name of the lead single – is based on a Zulu song ‘Umshini Wami’. Translated into English, it literally means ‘My Machine,’ and due to the popularity of the song amongst the military sector of the governing political party, the ANC, it sometimes takes on the meaning, ‘My Machine Gun’. You now may think that this name is somewhat sinister, but Spoek states that Mshini Wam is the name of his machine, a vehicle for expressing the new

wave of African music. Though at the forefront this new wave of African Electronica, Spoek lends his ear to a great deal of musical influences. He states his affection for London town’s grime scene originators and trailblazers Skepta, Terror Danjah, Jammer and East London legend D Double E. However the abstract jazz of Cecil Taylor and the rock of Wavves still find a place along Zulu house and the UK beats of Hardhouse Banton on Spoek’s iPod. This eclectic view can be seen in the manner he describes his finished project. When I ask him if his album is a statement of a new breed of African artist, Spoek talks this down, claiming that his album is a testament of a new borderless music that is based on not classifications of European or African identity, but on a technology that has been shared for centuries. “It’s global,” Spoek insists. Mshini Wam is the first album of Spoek’s, due for release on Barely Breaking Even. But Spoek is no stranger to the hard work of the recording process. He states that he has released at least 10 EPs in his journey as an artist and prefers being in the same presence of people he is creating with, rather than sending files up and down the net. It’s resulted in some unexpected collaborations, especially working with Zaki Ibrahim and Gervase from LV (Hyperdub), which he describes as “super fun”. Spoek has put in the hard yet rewarding hours of graft in the studio and Mshini Wam is soon to be released. He’s working on making it over to give us a tour here in the UK, which he promises will be “a great show.” I tried to game him into discussing football and the World Cup, but he wouldn’t be drawn in. “I’m more of a books and boobs kinda guy.” Nuff said.

words: Martin Hani

THANDISWA

Dreams for my mother

f anyone voices the contradictions, the hopes, the challenges, dare we even mention the spirit, of the postapartheid generation, it’s easy to look at Thandiswa Mazwai, this strong, beautiful, eloquent young woman, full of convictions, singing songs of freedom, and the distances we still need to travel before we arrive there. These days she’s recognized by just her first name, Thandiswa, having dropped the patronymic when she released her first solo album Zabalaza in 2006. Zabalaza (Rebellion) was a record that drew comparisons to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? for its vivid depiction of confusing times, and one which allowed the full expression of Thandiswa’s musicality, her rich Xhosa ancestry and her deep sense of humanity. Before launching her solo career, Thandiswa Mazwai was best known as the female lead in Bongo Maffin, the kwaito group who with their slow grooves, feel good melodies and hip-house raps ruled the airwaves from the Western Cape to KwaZulu-Natal and expressed the freedom and energy of the youth, drunk with possibilities for a new South Africa. Kwaito was the buoyant sound of the young generation who were eager to start a new chapter, but by the early-2000s, a certain group of artists were getting tired of the sound and were searching – within – for their own direction, or writing about what they saw day-to-day and the growing pains of a young country. At Club 206 in north Jo’burg, where incense burned and young idealists got up to recite poetry about Steve Biko or sing about eating passion fruit and crying to the blues, there emerged a new generation of artists, in the truest sense of the word. Tumi Molekane of Tumi & The Volume, Simphiwe Dana, and MXO are some of the better known names to emerge from this session. Thandiswa meanwhile, who was given creative

license by Gallo to make an album as she pleased, recruited her band through auditions and whittled her band down from 400 maybes. The music was a blend of jazz, kwaito, afro-soul and xhosa chants – more expressive, more honed than the good time sound of kwaito – but it was also Thandiswa’s look, the beads in her elaborately braided hair, the jewellery, the outfits which endeared her to women all over the country and made her something of a symbol for enlightened living. For Thandiswa, a recurring concern is how South Africans, living in the cities and the townships, have lost touch with their traditions. She herself was brought up in Soweto, but she was born in the Transkei, and when her mother died, she felt like her link to the Transkei had also died. She’s since spent a lot of time returning to her geographical and spiritual home. In the Transkei villages she’s made connections with the healers who she pays tribute to on the stirring track ‘Ingoma’ off her most recent album, Ibokwe. She’s also became close to Madosini, a traditional musician who plays a bewitching one-string mouth harp called the Uhadi. Madosini imparted to Thandiswa the art of Xhosa music and the role of the spirit in making music. Listen to ‘Transkei Moon’, co-produced by Bluey of Incognito, to feel the forces of nature resonating in her work. She’s been compared to Miriam Makeba, an artist whose track ‘Pata Pata’ she’d covered during her days with Bongo Maffin, and while Miriam’s stridently political songs have struck a chord with Thandiswa, it’s perhaps Busi Mhlongo, the urban zulu who would share her stage with Ingomas (spiritual healers), that Thandiswa sees as her musical mother. With her latest album Iboke (goat), Thandiswa is set adrift in the sprit world, lapping in the gentle ebb of ancestral currents; and in the pink hues of Transkei moon, Thandiswa’s face is visible – she’s the woman in the moon, her smile beaming back to earth.

During apartheid, Hillbrow was the bohemian capital of South Africa, and one of the few places where the Pass Laws were routinely flouted. Since 1994, however, it has earned a reputation as a no-go zone, its dilapidated buildings thought to be teeming with crack dens and prostitutes. But as always, there’s more than one side to every story. n footage from a 1970s broadcast, the sprightly voice a British newsreader asserts, optimistically: “Johannesburg is one of the fastest expanding cities in the world. Day and night, workmen keep up with the tempo of more and more construction.” The camera pans over construction sites, along the facades of newly built multi-storey houses, finally pointing up towards the Hillbrow tower, a 269-metre edifice which still dominates the capital’s skyline today. Hillbrow is located on a ridge just northeast of Joburg’s Central Business District. Its tall buildings, first built in the 1940s, range from Victorian architecture, to neo-classical, artdeco and Manhattan-style skyscrapers. Under apartheid rule, these buildings were reserved for the white minority, especially for young couples from Europe, who usually lived there for the first few weeks, months, or years after arriving. There was a certain ‘boomtown’ mindset, vaguely reminiscent of the founding of Johannesburg in a gold rush fever less than a hundred years earlier. The city was being modelled after American cities in terms of car-friendliness and architectural style. Large architectural firms from the US designed buildings such as the Carlton Centre and, for a while, the skyscrapers of Hillbrow were the most populated square kilometre in the Southern hemisphere. The neighbourhood never slept, supermarkets and restaurants stayed open and people walked the streets at all hours of the night. One of the most famous heterosexual clubs was the Summit Club, while the most famous gay club was the Skylight. International visitors would mingle here with the more liberal South Africans. In the Summit Club there was an indoor swimming pool and, being a private club, it was able to show movies on Sunday nights, which wasn’t allowed in regular cinemas since Sundays were reserved for communicating with God. I meet Helen on Edith Cavell Street at the Church of Peace. She’s now in her forties, but in her twenties she explains how she liked to spend time in hotel nightclubs, which often had ‘international status’, meaning they were officially allocated to serve all races. “Nobody would bother you in the hotel if you had a white friend,” she says. “But one night I was in the nightclub, and I felt like ‘I am tired, I want to go and sleep.’ I was alone, my friends were still partying on and enjoying themselves, so I left the club. Well, outside the police was waiting. They got a hold of me and caught me and took me to jail – Johannesburg Prison. I had to spend the whole weekend in jail, until Tuesday, when my sister arranged for her employer to get me.” It would be too much to say that apartheid laws were suspended in Hillbrow, yet in the early 1980s Hillbrow was one of the places where apartheid laws were actively defied. During that decade Hillbrow was a mixed

area (or in the South African jargon of the time a ‘grey area’). Blacks and coloureds often lived on the rooftops of buildings in the so-called ‘locations of the skies’ even if, as one long-time resident confided, “many people living here probably didn’t know about it.” It’s a situation brilliantly described in Restless Supermarket, a novel by Ivan Vladislavic: “The next morning found me loitering in the lobby at the High Point Centre, where Mr. Merope apparently made his home. At first, the officebound traffic was all white, as one would have expected. But by mid-morning, I had seen emerge from the lifts not one or two but half a dozen men who might have been he, black men wearing business suits and toting briefcases, trying and failing to look like chauffeurs or watchmen, and half as many black women besides, trying more successfully to pass as domestic servants.” After the transition to democracy in 1994, the look of the whole suburb changed quickly. White capital fled to North Johannesburg as renters and owners left their high-rise apartments behind, and squatters soon moved in. Migrants from other African countries like Nigeria, Tanzania, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique moved into Hillbrow where many people work and live in informal arrangements, something which Mbeki has called the ‘second economy’. One section of Quartz Street is informally called ‘Hotel Lagos’ because of all the Ibo-Nigerian inhabitants who meet here. Other communities like the one from Tanzania are less visible and more fragmented – they may occupy only a certain street corner in the shadow of the Hillbrow Tower. Hillbrow is the only area in Joburg which changed from a ‘whites only’ place into an ‘African’ city, the only space where a type of ‘revolution’ took place. Hillbrow now-now For many Johannesburgers, Hillbrow these days is a no-go area and during our first visit in 2006 we never even left the car – everybody had said it was too dangerous. A senior advisor of a security and surveillance firm in Johannesburg confided, “Hillbrow is just one of these areas where anything happens – I have walked with the police undercover there, to see what happens–ahh… well,” he breaks off, taking a deep breath. In 2007, having met some people from the neighbourhood, we were shown around. What immediately struck us was that Hillbrow is one of the few places where people walk on foot. The only other place in central Johannesburg where this happens is in the controlled environment of the shopping mall or the entertainment park. Unlike so many other parts of Joburg, Hillbrow feels like a ‘real’ city with a vibrant street life – people hanging out on the sidewalks, others going about their business... It’s a far cry from the image of Hillbrow, in the media and elsewhere, as a hub for prostitution, 62

drugs, and crime. That stereotype is only reinforced by films like Ralph Ziman’s Gangster Paradise: Jerusalema, South Africa’s answer to Scarface, where Hillbrow’s dilapidated highrise buildings are fought over by slum lords and gangsters. A more realistic view is offered by Khalo Matabane in Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (2005), an intimate account of Hillbrow’s transnational inhabitants – women and men from Ghana, Somalia, the Congo, Asia, who have all come to make a better life, many to escape from war-torn areas. Hillbrow is also the site of civil rights movements and social negotiations. There is the Esselen Clinic that specializes in HIV, Sexual & Reproductive Health and the new Constitutional Court right at the edge of Hillbrow. In 1999 the Johannesburg City Council officially recognised the importance of its gay citizens by naming the corner of Pretoria and Twist Streets in Hillbrow Simon Nkoli Corner after the gay and antiapartheid activist who died in 1998 of AIDS. The area is far from just being a place of despair and crime, it’s a space of ‘becoming’, a microcosm of all the developments of South African society today: poverty but also possibility, xenophobia, but also solidarity. Here problems are visible and solutions are found that concern the whole South African nation. Hillbrow therefore doesn’t fit one singular collective imagination, but triggers the imagination of many different individuals with all kinds of backgrounds. Even people from the affluent area of Sandton may still go there. In a blog entry about the Summit Club from July 2009, a man writes: “I enjoy the summit. it is some sort of escapism. i dread taking the drugs but tonight is the night i let go of my northern suburban bullshit and live to the fullest. i won’t be pretentious, the place is bad but im going. not for old hillbrow but for my hillbrow. love me, hate me, hate the place but there’s no other like hillbrow.” Helen on the other hand doesn’t enjoy Hillbrow any more today, because in her view, the district has declined. “It’s all sheebeens now,” she says. The new black hipster generation disagrees, though. As Thato, a young theatre student, puts it, “I like the buzziness of the place, there is always something happening there. At night is when it is most nice. The streets are crowded with people who just want to have fun.” When Hillbrow opened its eyes in the 1940s, they never closed again. It has undergone multiple transitions, but it still seems to be living up to the promise of urbanity, and for many it remains the only place to be. Marietta Kesting is a photographer and filmmaker, whose documentary Sunny Land, in collaboration with Aljoscha Weskott, takes its cue from ‘Sun City’, the 1985 pop song by United Artists Against Apartheid . Their book Sun Tropes, published by August, is out now.

words: Marietta Kesting photos: Marietta Kesting, Aljoscha WesKott, Simon Fidel

words: The Real Rozzano

THE

BASE Through the turbulent ‘80s and into the ‘90s, The Base on Shortmarket Street in Cape Town was unlike any other music venue in apartheid South Africa. It was home to a nascent hip-hop scene as well as multi-racial punk nights, then on Sundays it became The Jazz Den, playing host to acts such as Sipho Mabuse and Malombo. One of the engineers of South Africa’s hip-hop scene, the Real Rozzano, remembers the club’s seminal Saturday matinees. The Base opened in January 1988 and our Saturday daytime sessions ran there until 1994. People say that when you went to see Frankie Knuckles play, it was like going to church. Well, The Base on Saturday afternoons was church for a whole generation of youths from Cape Town and the place where hip-hop first landed in apartheid South Africa. It wasn’t chic, it was really underground and the clientele were all creative, especially with their clothing. If you’re into hip-hop, you want to have you Adidas, your Nikes, right? But most of the time kids in Cape Town couldn’t afford these, so you know what started happening? They would paint their tackies, put their own swoosh on. It was a unique vibe. The clothing was important. We’re talking poor kids coming from the ghetto. They would be sowing up their jackets, making necklaces out of VW signs, cutting up their t-shirts. Remember it was apartheid, we never had the same access to these clothes, so we had to improvise. Llewellyn was the main DJ on Saturdays and he was very much on the house side of things, while I squeezed my way in and championed the hip-hop sound. But we played a mixture of everything – funk, house, dancehall and reggae. We would have lots of b-boy competitions, and the first rap crews, Prophets of the City and Black Noise, made their earliest appearances on the stage at the Base. None of the other clubs in the city would even touch hip-hop, and for a long time there were only two hip-hop DJs in the whole country – myself and Ready D. Because of sanctions, we would not get vinyl from the States. Instead, we would be getting the UK pressings of Eric B & Rakim’s records, not the beautiful US hard vinyl. However, hiphop records were coming into the stores but yet no one was buying them. I bought the first Run DMC album in the sale racks. I remember the people working in the stores asking me, ‘Rozzano, what are you doing with this music? Nobody is buying it. Who are you guys?’ Little did they know what was going down right under their noses. The Base became a home for a youth that was feeling this frequency of sound. It was rough and it was raw and it was energetic. This music just took over. Every time the not so subtle messages of NWA’s ‘Fuck The Police’ came on, it sent a chill through the crowd. People chanted along to the house mix of ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, but people also went crazy to records like 2 Live Crew’s ‘We Want More Pussy’ which sent the dancefloor alight every time. Do you know how many stories I’ve heard of people who used to go to the club, put a tape recorder into their bag to record the session? There was nowhere else you were going to get to hear this music and the energy was incredible, with b-boys at the back doing windmills and headspins, and because we never had alcohol on sale like the other venues, when you stepped into this venue you felt secure and you could let go. What was radical was that The Base was a multi-racial place – black people, brown people and a few white people, which was against the law at the time what with the security police keeping us apart. When people came out of The Base, they were all excited and everyone had such a great time and the energy was great and everyone would congregate in one carriage at the back of the train going out to the townships, tagging the carriage, I think someone even let off fireworks in there once. Many of the older people from that time, they’re parents now and they’ve got jobs, they own businesses and they’ve got kids of 16 and 20 years old but whenever you see these people, they still can’t stop talking about The Base because there was never ever anything like it and there’s probably never been anything like it since.”

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photography: Sophia Spring

Sweet Salone Portraits from contemporary Sierra Leone

hat comes to mind when you think of Sierra Leone? Most people will immediately think of the country’s civil war that raged throughout the 1990s, and recall the harrowing images of child soldiers and amputee victims. This conflict ended nearlWy a decade ago, yet we are still stuck with snapshots from this sad chapter in the country’s history. Today the story is very different. If you walk through the bustling streets of Freetown, or spend an afternoon on one of the peninsula’s stunning beaches, the atmosphere that pervades is one of welcoming chaos and a certain joie de vivre. Sierra Leone – once West Africa’s most prosperous region – is now coming into its own again. All the individuals that I met, befriended and photographed were working towards a brighter future for the country. Education and entrepreneurialism are valued highly in their culture, and consequently there is a real feeling of progress and optimism in the air. That is not to say that life is easy for your average Sierra Leonean. The country is still ranked as the third lowest on the UN’s Human Development Index, and seventh lowest on its Human Poverty Index. While these figures represent a stark reality, they should not define Sierra Leone. Aid is still needed, but it is certainly not the only solution to helping the region. What Sierra Leone now needs is foreign investment, further infrastructure and sustainable tourism. Lastly, if Sierra Leone is to grow and develop it is crucial that people’s perceptions of the country are changed. ‘Sweet Salone’ is a series of portraits of Sierra Leoneans today. It is a project that aims to give a small insight into the lives of some of the individuals that make up this vibrant country. www.sophiaspring.com

fifteen minute walk eastwards from Lisbon’s Praça do Comércio—or across the road from Santa Apolónia train station if you don’t fancy the stroll—lies Flur, a musical hotspot with top notch stock to please the most discerning of vinyl (or CD) seekers. Set up in 2001, the high-ceilinged space backs on to the River Tejo. At street level there’s the shop, up top, an office. In addition to their role as retailers, Flur provide Portuguese distribution for labels including the Basic Channel group, Honest Jon’s, and Spectral Sound. The current fiveperson team help keep the public clued up on their recommendations via a weekly show on local radio station Oxigénio (102.6 FM or www.oxigenio.fm). We caught up with Flur owner, José Moura, to hear more about his store.

Pedro and I were looking for a way to continue working with music, but on our own terms. Also, it’s next to Lux, by far the best club in Lisbon, and there was already a bond with the people there, so it ended up being quite natural. Plus there was the promise of a subway station outside our door, which did materialize but only in 2008. What’s exciting you in lisbon? What are your favourite spots? Lisbon is suffering from an excess of cultural offerings right now – too many things are happening. Apart from our own activities (my partner Pedro is also programming music events for Teatro Maria Matos uptown – mainly electronic, avant-garde stuff like Burnt Friedman, Moritz Von Oswald Trio etc.), we recommend almost any event hosted by Filho Único (www.filhounico.com); any night with Tiago, Photonz, DJ Bros or DJ Ride spinning records; Gala Drop and Tropa Macaca live shows; Lux for sure if you need the club experience; Lounge (Bar) in Cais do Sodré because of the atmosphere and anything-goes music policy; out-rock nights at ZDB in Bairro Alto where you can meet the community and get some drinks while expanding your horizons; eating at Maçã Verde, our favourite restaurant in Santa Apolónia. What’s the future for Flur? The current plan is continuing to save money for a proper website that can hopefully makes us more attractive to online buyers. We don’t want to go digital, though, selling physical records is really what we like to do. So yes, we want to grow, but in small steady steps, perfecting our present set-up. Let’s see...

10 CURRENT FLUR FAVOURITES FROM 2010

FlUR DISCoS words: Ben verghese images: Claudia Mateus

How’s business? Not so good, but it’s a constant challenge, it keeps us on our toes trying to see where the currents that interest us are leading to. That means careful stock management. We always tried to look for gaps in the independent market over here and coincidentally much of the music we really like hasn’t been well taken care of over the years, in commercial terms, so in filling those gaps we found the shop’s personality – because it’s mainly music we like, we can sell, write about and defend with knowledge and confidence. Also, keeping the business small and specialized guarantees a special kind of longevity. The business doesn’t necessarily grow but it is solid. Why locate in Santa Apolónia rather than a more central location such as Bairro Alto? That was pure chance. The space happened to become vacant at a time when my partner

Autechre - Oversteps (Warp) excepter - Presidence (Paw Tracks) Gala Drop - Gala Drop LP (Gala Drop Records) Hungry Ghostt - Illuminations (International Feel) Magina - Nazca Lines (Ruralfaune) omar-S - Plesetsk Cosmodrome (FXHE) Kyle Hall - Kaychunk (Hyperdub) San proper - Sex Drive Rhythm EP (Dekmantel) V/A - Rick Wilhite presents Vibes: New and Rare Music (Rush Hour) Young Jazz Rebels - Slave Riot (Stones Throw)

FlUR, Av Inf D Henrique, Armazém B4, Santa Apolónia, lisbon, portugal. www.flur.pt http://blog.flur.pt

words: Susannah Webb

PICOTEROS Afrocolombian rhythm and sound.

“Sound systems are the musical conservatories of marginal suburbia. They are the university of African history for hundreds of young champetuos, the true papa sabor of all the boyz-in-the-hood, the future U-Roys, Big Youths or Beenie Mans of Colombia,” says Lucas Silva of Palenque records, co-compiler of a new 21-track album charting Afro roots in the country from 1975-1991. The soundsystem, or ‘pico’, has been a nurturing force in Colombia’s diverse musical history, a place to showcase the newest and rarest records being imported from Africa and the Caribbean. Playing a transatlantic cocktail of cumbia, highlife, afrobeat, soukous, funk and reggae since the 1960s, the picos, like the soundsystems of Jamaica, proved to be a low-cost way of bringing music to the people and even providing what they called ‘creole therapy’. The picos are built like a sonic wall, with huge woofers and speakers surrounding the DJ, and satellites of tweeters hanging above the crowd. Their designs are as loud as the sound, with the over-sized speaker-grills spray-painted in garish colours depicting the totemic identities that the picos go by – El Concorde, Africano or El Guajiro (The Countryman). Mostly based around the region of Cartagena and particularly in San Basilio de Palenque, itself home to a large African-descendant community, local musicians who attended the technicolour picos in the 70s became hugely influenced by the music, eventually creating their own

Afro-Latin sound called ‘Champeta’. The making of the Palenque Palenque Champeta compilation, released with Miles Cleret’s Soundway records, was an exercise in musical archaeology, with Silva digging out rare and lost records from the genre over many years. The result is a kind of Colombian ‘Lost Tapes’, an intense mix of exciting rhythms, experimental sounds and forgotten beats. The influence of Nigerian afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti looms large on the collection, with the afrobeat trance groove riding through many of the tracks and culminating in Lisandro Meza’s psychedelic cover of Kuti’s ‘Shakara’. Palenque Palenque features some more traditional sounds, from the Spanish guitar of Carbono, to the Calypso lilt of Grupo Palma Africana and the call and response of Son Palenque. At points it seems understandable that the tracks got a little left by the wayside, but overall the rhythm-over-melody ethos is infectious and Silva’s passion for the era inspiring. Silva is not only in the process of resurrecting champeta records but is now trying to re-establish some of the forgotten bands of the movement and re-energize champeta criolla for 2010 and beyond. Palenque Palenque : Champeta Criolla & Afro Roots in Colombia, 1975-1991 is available on CD and 3xLP from Soundway Records. 69

editor : Benji Lehmann

FAKING IT

“Dan of Sonic Couture Recording a Mute Piano”

THE ART OF SAMPLING Music technology is continually solving the problems encountered by producers and engineers. One problem, however, which by definition will never quite be ‘solved’, and which has spawned its own mini-industry, is the problem of instruments. “The Skiddaw Stones as Sampled By Sonic Couture”

hat producers want is a way to have the sound of any instrument available at any time, without the need to employ a session musician. Of course the invention of the sampler, from the Mellotron which worked via tape loops in the 1950s, to the digital Fairlights and Synclaviers in 1980s, solved this problem in part. Samplers are only half the solution, however, since they’re useless without a good library of samples.

James Thompson is co-owner of Sonic Couture, one of the smaller companies at the forefront of instrument sampling: “I was learning to produce my own music and was more interested than most in the sounds themselves (very often at the expense of finishing a track). I didn’t actually make samples or patch design for its own sake though – it was always for my music. Then I got a job with Yamaha R&D designing sounds for their synths and samplers. That was really where I got my ‘final training’ in the nitty-gritty of professional sound design. “When choosing which instruments to sample we try to follow our hearts and ears; it has to excite us sonically. That’s the main criteria. ‘Can we get our hands on one?’ is a pretty important consideration, of course, as not everything is very accessible or affordable. In the case of the Cloud Chamber Bowls, we couldn’t find a set to record, so we had to build our own! And in the case of Novachord or the Cristal Baschet – these are rarefied instruments, and often the owners aren’t so keen for you to spend days in their house/studio sampling. Instrument owners are also often concerned that a sampled instrument will have an impact on the demand for their services as players. In our experience, the opposite is true; the sampled instrument raises awareness of the instrument overall. I don’t think we use any equipment that’s out of the ordinary – just very high quality mics, preamps and convertors. Wherever possible

we will sample an instrument in a treated studio room, but in some cases it can’t be done logistically. Each instrument will present a different challenge. Often though, it’s not sonic. In the case of the Skiddaw Stones, the biggest challenge was transporting a ton of rare stone to a studio, sampling it, then returning it to the museum by nightfall. Their insurance was invalidated if they were out of the museum overnight, so that was a hard, long day!” Sonic Couture are well-known for their faithful and accurate sampling methods, but the needs of a producer creating foley sound for a film, for example, are a far cry from the needs of a hip-hop instrumentalist. Goldbaby is a company creating sample packs of old drum machines. What makes their products stand out is the fact that they offer a number of different processing variations in each pack. The Tape Drum Machines series offers hits recorded onto three different types of tape, at different levels of saturation. This offers home producers based on their computers the bonus of some analogue distortion in their productions, a highly sought commodity today. Hugo Tichborne from Goldbaby breaks it down from his base in New Zealand: “I make sample tools for producers and musicians. My speciality is pushing sound through real circuitry and obsolete technology. I also supply sample content for various software companies. A lot of my products are just sample packs I have always wanted but could never find – Vinyl Drum Machines, for instance. A vinyl record with only vintage drum machines hits on it has always been something I have lusted after. No one did it so I had to! The Tape808 came about because I could not find any decent 808 samples. I am also a fan of tape (it just does magic things to drums). The marriage of the two

“Hugo of Goldbaby surrounded by Drum Machines in his Studio”

just seemed obvious. “Initially it was reasonably difficult to find vintage drum machines in New Zealand. eBay was normally the only option. Then I discovered a drum machine collector who lives not far from me. Now I am able to hire them from a collection of about 150 drum machines. He has some great stuff... some of it I have never heard of before. Of course I still frequent eBay and do purchase the odd thing every so often. OK, I admit it, sometimes more than the odd thing, and usually quite often... it’s very easy to get addicted to acquiring vintage electronic instruments. “I like old samplers as well. I have six of them. I often use a sampler as a summing tool. Instead of just layering in my DAW and bouncing, I’ll layer and sum it though my mixer and record it in a sampler. I have six different samplers to choose from – Casio SK-5, Oberheim Promer, MCP60 and 3000, Casio RZ1 and EMU E4XT ultra. They range from 8 to 16 bit and all have their own character. One the most useful items in my studio is the patch bay. It can take anywhere from one to two months to create a new pack. Occasionally I go down the wrong path or get a couple of weeks into a project and I’m just not feeling it so I pull the plug... always a depressing feeling.” Even those who own their own the original machines will attest that the Goldbaby libraries are a valuable addition, offering unmatched control over the sound and groove without losing any of the analogue mojo. In the larger world of sample libraries, though, it isn’t just the most flexible and complex products that are in demand. Ever since the first Akai samplers went on the market, there has been a demand for loops that could be slotted into productions immediately, where not only individual hits, but also the feel and groove of a part are needed.

Oli Bell constructs loop packs and samples under the name Groove Criminals: “I’m different from a lot of the other sample guys as I do a fair amount of my stuff to order, so whether it’s for the cover DVD of a magazine, a piece of music software or sample library, I often get given a fairly detailed brief of what’s required; that might be hits, loops or a mixture of both. I still pretty much see myself deep down as a beat maker, so I do enjoy making loops, whatever the genre. Unlike making tunes for a living, I create such a huge amount of content over the course of a year I just couldn’t become emotionally attached to it all. That’s not to say I’m not proud of what I create, as I am – I work hard and put a lot of effort into what I produce but once it’s finished I’m happy to let it go and move on. “Some sample commissions want ‘finished’ loops with all the whistles and bells attached, whilst others prefer to have a more stripped back approach. I think both ways work just fine as at the end of the day samples are just another tool in a producer’s armoury to help achieve whatever is in his/her head. Of course the more processed the loops, the better they are going to sound when heard isolated but these might not be so easy to fit into a mix. It’s always a balancing act. Occasionally I’ll get a job to make some over the top, totally destroyed stuff with far too many effects and that’s always great fun. “Every now and then something will prick my ears on the radio or on an advert on the TV that will sound very familiar, but I tend to shake my head and go ‘Nah, can’t be…’” www.soniccouture.com www.goldbaby.co.nz www.groovecriminals.co.uk

PASTOR T.L BARRETT “LIKE A SHIP (WITHOUT A SAIL)” (M.Z.G.P/LIGHT IN THE ATTIC) Chicago pastor T.L. Barrett’s rare gospel soul classic is finally available for all to enjoy on Light in the Attic records. Featuring Gene Barge, Richard Evans, Phil Upchurch and the brilliant Youth For Christ Choir.

JAMES BROWN “KING HEROIN” (POLYDOR 7”)

DVS1 “LOVE UNDER PRESSURE” (TRANSMAT 12”)

Taken from the 1972 LP “There It Is”, James takes on the role of King Heroin, ‘I came to this country without a passport. Ever since then I’ve been hunted and sought’. Beautiful, dark and powerful.

Minneapolis based Zak Khutoretsky aka DVS1 has a love and passion for playing vinyl. His background in DJing and collecting has evidently contributed to his musical vision and quality control; his productions are going from strength to strength.

TEVO HOWARD “SPIN” (BEAUTIFUL GRANVILLE 12”)

PANDA BEAR “TOMBOY” (PAW TRACKS 7”) First in a series of limited edition 7 inch singles by Animal Collective’s Panda Bear. Dreamy melodic vocal arrangements, coupled with crisp drums and guitars. Check ‘Slow Motion’ an abstract collage of swirling vocal loops to a head nodding beat.

Tevo draws on his Chicago heritage and lays down Roland drums, acid bass and smooth melancholy keys, all of which are lovingly arranged. As he puts it: ‘House music has a living, breathing soul’.

JORGE BEN “FORCA BRUTA” (PHILIPS LP)

RONN MATLOCK “LOVE CITY” (COTILLION LP)

Forca Bruta is one of a few key albums that inspired a transformation in Brazilian music. A subtle blend of soul and samba. Trio Mocoto add exquisite textures, rhythms, leaving space to let the songs breathe.

Ronn was offered a songwriter’s contract at Motown but turned down the offer...twice! This was his only LP and is produced by Michael Stokes and features the orchestral arrangements of Johnny Allen Snr (Shaft). 72

EARL SWEATSHIRT (RAPPER, LA) Off-key rap music with punk attitude. 16 year old rapper/ skater Earl writes some seriously disturbing lyrics, but you just can’t ignore his skill and creativity. Check the Odd Future blog for an insight into his crazy world.

KANZULU “FULL-TIME WORK, PART-TIME PLAY” (GREY LABEL RECORDINGS) New release from Oxnard beat maker Kankick, previously part of Lootpack (he and Madlib became friends in high school). Heavy instrumental grooves laced with infectious samples, sound effects and vocal snippets.

LEE PERRY & THE UPSETTERS “CHIM CHERIE” (PRESSURE SOUNDS 7”) ‘Chim Cherie’ is a very sought after dub plate from the late seventies/early eighties. The riddim has also been used on Shinehead’s ‘Billie Jean’. The flipside features a special edited version by the ‘Dub Organiser’.

VARIOUS “DISC ‘O’ LYPSO” (TRANS AIR LP) A welcome reissue of this in demand Caribbean disco compilation. Some serious heat on here, each with a different flavour. A great reference point for anyone with an interest in quality disco music from the Islands.

JAH WOBBLE, THE EDGE, HOLGER CZUKAY “SNAKE CHARMER” (ISLAND LP) A unique slice of leftfield dance music from 1983. The Snake Charmer mini LP features Jah Wobble, The Edge, Holger Czukay, Francois Kevorkian and Arthur Russell! Check ‘Hold on to your Dreams’.

NICK ROSEN “INTO THE SKY” (PORTER RECORDS LP) Debut LP from 25 year old multiinstrumentalist and composer Nick Rosen. A lush and peaceful album with upright bass, strings, harps etc. Produced by and with compositions by Miguel AtwoodFerguson.

Thanks to Georgie, Mark Watts, Nicole, Jim & all at Soul Jazz, Patch, Jean-Claude (Ifmusic), Matt, Pierre & Porter Records.

â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Restless ragga riddim from South African/Viennese outfit Majoni, a reet blazer for fans of the Austro-dub sound portrayed by Stereotyp, rolling squirming subs, splayed Afro-percussion and psyched electronics under sing-a-long vox from South African MCs, Teba Shumba boomkat.com and Crosby Bolani.â&#x20AC;&#x153;

out now * 7inch vinyl and digitally crosby, teba, lehrl, dorian concept visual fx roger adrian williams

BOOKS

DVD

“Ricky Powell Rappin’ With the Rickster” (Five Day Weekend DVD)

“Sons of Cuba” dir. Andrew Lang (Mr. Bongo DVD)

“Foxy: My Life In Three Acts” Pam Grier and Andrea Hagan (Springboard Press)

“Nina Simone: The Biography” David Brun-Lambert (Aurum Press)

Street photographer, fourth Beastie Boy and general New York man about town, ‘raparazzo’ Ricky Powell also hosted a man-on-thestreet public access show from the early to mid 90s. A greatest clips compilation of the series, this occasionally looks like it’s been sourced from 10th generation tapes but features a who’s who of 90s downtown NY with Powell bumping into a young Sophia Coppola and surprisingly squeaky Spike Jonze as well as a lean, preMatrix anti-sports Larry Fishburne. A witty, warm snapshot of New York pre-Giuliani (in one strand Powell asks old ladies who’s better of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice), Powell’s affection for his stomping grounds is obvious, whether enthusiastically telling passersby they’re in front of a building used in Taxi Driver, filming a jogger puking on a park bench or debating existentialism with a tramp sporting headgear made from a plastic bag. And oddly the meetings with regular New Yorkers often turn out more interesting than those with celebs, though due to his scenester status there’s still something endearing about these brief, casual captures of Billy Preston, Russell Simmons and Bobbito, even when Powell is just making random small talk (which most of the time he is). But without ever trying too hard, the most engaging person in front of the lens is usually Powell himself, eyebrows-arched, in all his droll, coolly detached glory. (Sunil Chauhan)

This inspired documentary follows the lives of three Cuban boxers, all under the age of 12, training at the elite Havana Boxing Academy in the hope of becoming country’s future Olympic gold-medallists. The force of the documentary comes not only from the undeniably cute protagonists – not least little Santos, who can’t stay off the cake long enough to remain in his weight division– but also as a snapshot of Cuba during in twilight years of Casto. A moment of light relief comes when at school, the students re-enact a scene from Cuban history, with one student dressed up as Fidel, in an army cap and a painted-on moustache; but you also see the children transfixed to the television screen as their president gives one of those epic speeches he’s renowned for. Just like with musicians, Cuban boxers have been forbidden from going professional in the West, and part of the narrative arc of this film involves a former Cuban boxing champion, now destitute, whose son, Christian (‘the Old Man’) is emulating his father’s achievments at the Havana Boxing Academy. If life is tough for these young boxers, you sense that with time it won’t get any easier. But they let out their frustration and disappointments – interestingly, the boys cry a lot, and there’s no shame attached to this catharsis. Who said boys don’t cry? (Vince Vella)

There are a lot of funny moments in Pam Grier’s autobiography, but one of the most memorable is the time when, on a routine visit to the gynaecologist, she’s told that she’s accrued a build-up of cocaine in her vagina. How could that happen, she wonders, when she never touches the drug? The reason, it turns out, is that erstwhile boyfriend Richard Pryor had been rubbing coke into his penis. So that would explain why her mouth always went numb when giving him head. Pam Grier, by the mid-1970s, had shot to stardom on the back of lead roles in Coffy and Foxy Brown, becoming one of the icons of the blaxploitation genre, with her kick-ass roles and her curvaceous figure, but this autobiography isn’t all highs – her early childhood was marked by a traumatic event which would turn her from a lively, self-confident girl into “quiet Pammy”. She never told her family that she’d been raped by her cousins, instead trying to deal with it in her own fashion. But through adveristy, Pam Grier emerges from this biography defiant, every bit the role model we know she is. And when, after a lull in her career, she’s ‘rediscovered’ by Quentin Tarantino (who else could have played Jackie Brown?) it feels like justice has at last been served. It’s a frank and moving story, and just as inspring as many of the on-screen roles she’s admired for. (Poppy Dora)

I was riveted to this incredible, if at times torturous, story that begins in post-slavery North Carolina and traces the life of one Eunice Waymon from classical child prodigy to global acclaim. I was amazed to read that in 1943, at her first piano recital, 10 year old Eunice refused to play if her parents were forced to vacate their seats in the front row to make way for a white couple. There was clearly a fire burning inside of this woman from day one, and it was a fire that fuelled her ambition to become America’s first Black classical concert pianist and win a place at the prestigious Juilliard School in Philadelphia. But when, after her entrance examination, she received a rejection latter, that bitter blow, tinged with the shadow of racism, would stay with her for life. Over 330 pages we are taken on a bizarre and painful journey that touches down on 1960s pop stardom, bankruptcy, Black Power, a sojourn in the bizarre and ill-fated capital of Liberia, the seduction of the Barbadian Prime Minister, isolation, mental health issues and a succession of attempts to resuscitate a flagging career. It’s also a journey built around her music and this book had me chasing down a stack of recordings, like the powerful 1973 Emergency Ward! live album, that I simply had to listen to in order to put her jaw-dropping story into context. (Paul Bradshaw)

Got to get

Reviews

Reviews by Sanjiv Ahluwalia, Keith Baker, Sunil Chauhan, Helene Dancer, Charles Drakeford, Gavin Kendrick, Michael Krasser, Benji Lehmann, Tajha Myer-Ferreira, Andres Reyes, Chris Robinson, Dom Servini, Jez Smadja, Ben Verghese, Samera Owusu Tutu, Vince Vella, Charles Waring and Susannah Webb.

Aloe Blacc “Many Things” (Stone’s Throw)

on ‘Femme Fatale’ and using a Sgt. Pepper brass fanfare on ‘Politician’. The concept behind the album – and it’s a brave one – is to make the sort of politicized social commentary that was so popular in the 60s and 70s with everyone from Curtis Mayfield to Bob Dylan and MC5. It’s a trend that’s making something of a resurgence of late, as is evidenced by the latest material from Dwele and Bilal too. Aloe Blacc says he’s influenced by writers like Henry David Thoreau and the existentialists, but you have to wonder, these days, whether singing lines like “What I’m saying is things ain’t right, these conditions ain’t no good for life” (on ‘Politicians’) is really telling anyone anything they don’t already know. Political lyrics are

If you want your music to reach more people, there’s few faster ways than a lucrative sync deal, as Aloe Blacc discovered when HBO series How To Make It In America picked up his bouncy single ‘I Need A Dollar’ for its title sequence. It’s the first track from Aloe’s forthcoming album which, produced with the Truth & Soul in-house team of Leon Michaels and Jeff Silverman, recreates the magic formula which they’ve lent to the recent Lee Fields album. This continuing fashion for retro soul shows no signs of slowing down, and Truth & Soul are the consummate counterfeiters, employing a Funk Box on the Sly Stone sounding ‘You Make Me Smile’, going down to Memphis

Various “Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa” (Honest Jons) Seeing the words Honest Jons adorning a record is like seeing 2007 on a bottle of French wine – you know you can’t really go wrong. But their latest release is a surprising one, even by their own standards. Shangaan Electro showcases a strain of dance music from South Africa and centres around Nozinja Studio, Soweto. Compiled by Honest Jons boss Mark Ainsley and Mark Ernestus from Rhythm & Sound / Basic Channel, Shangaan Electro is a genre definitely out there in its stylings – an almost insanely uptempo, Casiotone overload that’s impossible to comprehend on first listen, yet incredibly irresistible after two or three. Shangaan Electro is undoubtedly set to unsettle

many, and is more thoughtprovoking than most LPs you’re likely to come across this year, even if it’s not something you’ll necessarily keep going back to. The Shangaan people are largely based in Mozambique but there’s a large contingency in the rural Limpopo region of South Africa. Those, like Nozinja, who are based in Soweto are there to work jobs, and the hybrid music they make is a product of their environment. It’s interesting to hear how Nozinja describes how this modern form of Shangaan was developed. “We don’t use the sounds of the hip-hop guys, or the afro-pop, or whatever, we’re using Shangaan sounds. The traditional Shangaan music is fast. You play it slow, they won’t dance.” Fast is hardly the word – it’s a pummelling soca-tempo beat that lays the foundation for

all well and good, but these also need to be supported by stylistic subversion. Singing in Spanish, like he did on his last album, is possibly more subversive than anything you could say on your album about the state of America today (without it getting withdrawn from the shelves). That’s not to say we don’t like the album – we really do love it. The record is expertly crafted and Aloe Blacc has made serious strides as a performer. He sounds perfectly at home fronting a live band, nestling in the luscious arrangements, which is a different skill to the MPC-made beats he was used to working with. But if you really want to change the world these days, the music industry is probably the last place you want to launch your campaign from. (Liz Patterson)

the tracks, while the vocal work on this record is nothing short of astounding, and is really what got me into it. Whether the suspiciously soothing swoon of ‘N’wagezani My Love’ or the chattering to-ing and fro-ing on Tshetsha Boys’ ‘Uya Kwihi Ka Rose’, the melodies are arresting. But let’s not forget, this is above all music to dance to. As Nozinja explains, “When you see them dance you feel like they have got no bones”. After checking some videos online, I have to say I’d go with that. Is it a fad? Well perhaps we’re lucky that Mark Ernestus found it instead of M.I.A – and it won’t just get swallowed up by trend spotters and spat out like sweets from Lidl. Let’s hope it’s around for a while, and it’d be interesting if they came up with a documentary about Nozinja and the other artists behind this sound (Charlie Drakeford)

Mount Kimbie “Crooks & Lovers” (Hot Flush) Mount Kimbie has been receiving a lot of much deserved praise recently - and it’s fair to say this album has been hyped on some kind of Olympics 2012 level. Something about those tracks from their first two EPs planted the idea that a long player would work - and it does. Deep, broody, affecting music with a few bangers thrown in for good measure. (CD)

The Simonsound “Reverse Engineering” (First Word) Simon James and Matt Ford aka Dj Format take cues from early Radiophonic workouts and cheesy moogspolitation covers. Ever wondered what Bob James’ ‘Nautilus’ would have sound like reinterpreted by Delia Derbyshire? Or Kraftwerk’s ‘Tour de France’ receiving the re-rub from Jabo Starks and Bruce Haack? Debbie Clare’s feminine touch provides the perfect foil to all the tape loops. (MK)

Various “Horse Meat Disco Volume 2” (Strut) If you like me you’ve ran to the booth at The Eagle screaming “what’s this one”, this collection will be long overdue. Rare oddities like Madleen Kane’s wonderfully camp ‘Cherchez Pas’ and Scherrie’s Payne’s cheesy Saint style reworking of ‘I’m Not In Love’ hustle next to Italo gems like Kasso’s ‘Walkman’ and the Rinder & Lewis production ‘Afrodedesia’. Music for missing Monday morning with. (AT)

Big Boi “Sir Lucious Left Foot: Son Of Chico Dusty” (Def Jam) Big by name, big by by nature, Antwan Patton always seemed like the foil to Andre 3000 in OutKast, but while his partner chases Hollywood dreams, Big Boi’s been A&Ring Janelle Monae and prepping this slow-cooked disc which doesn’t have ‘Royal Flush’, tho’ YMO-sampling ‘Daddy Fat Sax’, ‘General Patton’ and ‘Tangerine’ are enough to remind you of everthing you love about this southern playalistic music. (CR)

Various “Afro-Beat Airways” (Analog Africa) A heavy brew of organ-driven, raw, danceable afro beat tracks from Ghana and Togo, plying an impressive diversity of local rhythms spiced with Afro-American funk and cosmic soul jazz. These gems were hidden for more than 30 years, now they finally see the light again thanks to Analog africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb who meticusly went through more than 800 songs to deliver this essential comp. (VV)

Andreya Triana “Lost Where I Belong” (Ninja Tune) Ethereal, woozy and folksy production from Bonobo is the bed on where Andreya’s voice – like Sleeping Beauty – comes to rest. On tracks like ‘Something In Silence’, ‘Lost Where I Belong’ and ‘A Town Called Obsolete’, Andreya shows signs of writing killer songs and there’s no questioning her vocal chops, but – as the song titles indicate – it aint exactly a party going on here. Still, this album’s likely to stay on your player long into the winter. (JS)

Kenny Graham and his Satellites “Moondog and Suncat Suites” (Trunk) With notable Tubby Hayes and Michael Garrick reissues, Trunk have a knack for finding long lost UK jazz gems. This delight from 1956 sees London saxophonist Kenny Graham recording 10 Moondog covers and 6 songs inspired by the Viking of 6th street. Culminating with seedy Soho darkness in ‘Sunday’, the results are fantastic. (BV)

Stac “Turn That Light Out” (Wah Wah) The song ‘Give Me All Or Nothing’ deserves all those non-specific adjectives reserved for reviews pages like these; and as a whole this album of blue-eyed soul from nymphette Stacey Dowdeswell, backed by a 12-strong choir, conjures up over-saturated VHS footage of daisy chains and summer frolicking. Produced by Adam Scrimshire, it’s a landmark album for Wah Wah that should have the majors reaching for their chequebooks. (JS)

Reviews

Various “Ayobaness” (Out Here) The first album to bring the South African house sound to an international audience, even if Franck Roger’s Real Tone label and DJ Mujava had already sowed the seeds. Mujava is featured here, though ‘Mugwanti’ is hardly earth shattering. All the other big names of the scene are present and correct, although it’s arguable whether the tracks licensed here are especially representative of the sound today. (BV)

Adrian Gibson presents… “Music For Jazz Dancers” (Freestyle) The sparsely documented UK jazz dance scene has enjoyed some deserved attention this year: first thanks to Snowboy’s impeccably researched book, From Jazz Funk & Fusion to Acid Jazz, and now with Adrian Gibson’s outstanding collection of floor fillers from his Messin’ Around club night that has been a driving force in the scene for the past fourteen years. (GK)

Saravah Soul “Cultura Impura” (Tru Thoughts) Fronted by the mesmerising Otto Nascarella, Saravah Soul have immersed themselves in the sounds of West Africa, the folklore of Brazil, and the devotional music of the Diaspora since they released their eponymous debut two years ago. Cultura Impura is a psychedelic Afro-beat carnival that peaks with a Frevo rework of the Hendrix classic, Fire. (GK)

Danny Krivit“Edits By Mr K, Vol. 2: Music of the Earth” (Strut) A pioneer of the disco edit, Danny Krivit has used his cut and paste genius on more than 300 tunes. Sites like DJ History will be salivating over this one with supreme drum heavy re-works of classics and rarities from the likes of Rare Pleasure (‘Let Me Down Easy’) and Blue Moderne (‘Through The Night’) proving once again Danny’s love of breaks laden soulful disco. (AT)

The Roots “How I Got Over” (Def Jam) Eleven albums later and The Roots are still going hard. How I Got Over is a very tight package, flexing a range of influences broader than previous offerings. It might offend old school sensibilities, though the singular sharp clarity of Black Thought’s vocals will reassure die-hard fans. This record should, however, win the indefatigable Philly outfit (or ?uestlove’s twitter account) a legion of new followers. (CR)

Oriol “Night and Day” (Planet Mu) Oriol’s shimmering debut, Night and Day, is a glorious homage to jazz, broken beat, early Detroit techno and 80s soul. There’s a real sense of freedom throughout the record – that he hasn’t ascribed to any one particular scene, but rather takes the very best moments and makes them his own. An essential summer soundtrack. (HD)

Blundetto “Bad, Bad Things” (Heavenly Sweetness) This Parisian outfit have been garnering attention with the bluesy reggae-soul of the single ‘Voices’ (b/w the moody ‘Mustang’ featuring the Budos Band horn section) and a very canny version of Bob James’ ‘Nautilus’ too. These may well be the choice cuts from the album, but with cameos from guitarist Tommy Guerrero, afrobeat enthusiast Chico Mann and rather special packaging, it’s an album worth exploring. (DS)

Bilal “Airtight’s Revenge” (Plug Research) Bilal’s hotly awaited comeback is a more electric and (gasp) experimental LP–think shades of Bloc Party and Radiohead on ‘Restart’, a refried ‘All Matter’ and personal favourite ‘Levels’. But soul heads won’t be disappointed with the heart-wrenching ‘Little Ones’ (for his kids), the political joint ‘Robots’ and the album closer ‘Think It Over’ (an 88 Keys production) which does poignant like only Bilal knows how. (AR)

Miles Davis “Bitches Brew 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition” (Columbia/Legacy) The Dark Magus’s classic 1970 double album – which gave birth to jazz-rock and fusion – is reissued as a 3-CD set that’s packed with rare alternate takes, previously unheard live material and includes a DVD of Miles playing in Denmark in ’69. 40 years on the music still sounds menacing and futuristic. (CW)

Quantic presenta Flowering Inferno “Dog With A Rope” (Tru Thoughts) DJ, musician and producer Will Holland adds dub, reggae and African sounds to his customary Colombian palette. This is an inspiring set with a collage of sounds and eschewing in the main Western notions of Latin music. The sound is slightly tempered in parts and has ‘lazy, dusty’ Sunday feel. (SA)

P.U.D.G.E “Idiot Box” (RAMP) This Jamaican New Yorker, now relocated to LA, manages 12 tracks on his debut album, the majority clocking in under 3 minutes. It’s a bumpy ride with highly compressed drums and Juno synths, interspersed with static, dialogue from the Cosby Show, and snatches of Phil Collins and Prince. It’s like all the best and all the wost bits of the 80s which, if you were like me, you spent ensconced in front of that glaring idiot box. (JS)

Lionel Loueke “Mwaliko” (Blue Note) Praised by his mentor Herbie Hancock as ‘a musical painter’ Loueke combines jazz harmonic sophistication with a deep knowledge of African music to create a sublime sound. Mwaliko (Swahili for ‘invitation’) showcases some magical duets with Angelique Kidjo, rising star Esperanza Spalding, Richard Bona, Marcus Gilmore and, of course, Lionel’s stunning trio. (VV)

Todd Terje “Remaster Of The Universe” (Permanent Vacation) Two mighty discs that merely scratch the surface of Norwegian space disco don Todd Terje’s vast output. With rare edits, surprising covers and acknowledged TT classics, Remaster… is one part guilty pleasure, one part Holy Grail. His mysterious pseudonyms are legendary and the inclusion of ‘original’ tracks by Duliatten Disco Dandia, Kacic Kullmann’s Five and Chuck Norris merely add to his Zelig-like persona. Absolute genius! (KB)

Dwele “W.ant W.orld W.omen” (E1 Records) This one sees the return of soul man Dwele with his fourth masterpiece. Still suave as ever, with songs to sweep the ladies of their feet, his infusion of hiphop, jazz and neo soul broaches a wider range of subjects than before – from personal desire to the politics of today’s world. Musically, at his best. Lyrically, a new Dwele. (TMF)

Osunlade “Occult Symphonic” (R2 Records) A State of the House Nation Address from one of its leading dignitaries, this mix goes deeper than previous Osunlade excursions, taking the listener on a hyponotic induction through dubby tech and afro house from people you might know – like Ron Trent and Motor City Drum Ensemble – and others, like Atheus and Pascal FEOS, you might want to find out more about. (SOT)

Various “Afrolution Vol 2” (Afrolution) ‘Poto Poto’ – the opener on this compendium of African hip-hop – is set as my alarm, waking me up for the past 3 months. It sounds even better on a stereo. And that’s just the start of this vibrant CD starring Sister Fa from Dakar and big mans in the game like Ben Sharpa, Tumi (S.A.) and Wanlov The Kubolor (Gha). Much is in French or English – easier for us monoglots to understand. The quality here is top-notch. (SOT)

Reviews

Kode 9 “DJ Kicks” (!K7) Steve Goodman proves once again he has the most perceptive tastebuds in the scene. From the miami bass workout from Lone which opens it, to the clattering and rugged chin-reshaper which rounds it up via The Bug, it’s a frankly joyous mixtape, though if you’ve seen Kode 9 DJ in the past year, you wouldn’t have been expecting anything less. (CD)

Jean Jacques Perrey and Cosmic Pocket “Froots” (Invitro) Quite the auteur, Perrey’s worked with everyone from Jean Cocteau to Ice T and now, apparently, Cosmic Pocket – although you can’t be certain whether this is a living, breathing person or a figment of someone’s imagination. Regardless, Froots is a unique piece of work, somewhere betwixt segments of Dilla’s Donuts and the music of another Perrey collaborator, Luke Vibert. Just don’t listen to it on acid. (BL)

Lorn “Nothing Else” (Brainfeeder) Where Flying Lotus wants to explore the galaxy, Brainfeeder signing Lorn sounds like he’d be most at home in a cemetery. Nothing Else is as bleak and gothic as the beats scene has gotten so far, like funeral crunk that could soundtrack the next Resident Evil. Full marks for consistency then, but as it nears the halfway mark, it starts to feel a tad one-note. (SC)

Mr. G “Still Here” (Rekids) In an ever changing musical landscape populated by nomadic producers hitching a lift on the incumbent bandwagon, Mr. G is an anomaly of sorts. Since his early work as Mango Boy, and with Cisco Ferreira as The Advent before that, very little has changed about his setup, his sound or his tastes. Still Here is a debut album of sorts, but also a milestone – dance music stripped of all its ego and seriousness to leave just a pure and infinite groove. (BL)

Skitz “Sticksman” (Dragon Drop Recordings) Nearly a decade since his last LP, Skitz is back with a collabo-filled crossover record. Featuring the likes of Rodney P, Dynamite MC and Kardinal Offishall, Sticksman is full of heavyweight hip hop that manages to weave in reggae, celtic melodies and even touches of folk. Top pick: ‘Struggla’. (SW)

DJ Nate “Da Trak Genious” (Planet Mu) Hands up who has had the word juke flung down their throat quite relentlessly recently. Yep, me too. It was therefore exciting news to hear Mike Paradinas had secured an LP release from Footwork demi-god DJ Nate. A chance to get hold of 20+ tracks from this genre is difficult enough, never mind from one artist. It’s a must listen – even if people in Chi City are saying that DJ Nate is a lightweight. (CD)

Seu Jorge & Almaz “Seu Jorge & Almaz” (Now-Again) Probably samba’s most soulful voice, Seu Jorge, and his new band Almaz deliver 12 new versions of songs by 12 different songwiriters, from Jorge Ben, Michael Jackson, Roy Ayers to Kraftwerk and Tim Maia just to name a few. Some very nice lo-fi musical reinterpretations here, fusing samba, soul, rock with a touch of dub, it has shades of Jorge’s turn as a Bowie aficionado in The Life Aquatic. (VV)

Macc and Dgohn “Some Shit Saaink” (Rephlex) The first full collaborative album by this pair of not altogether insane East Londoners, who have been a staple on the d&b spectrum since 2004 but retain an experimental quirkiness that is traditionally the terrain of artists like Squarepusher. It’s a shame in a way that the pair confine themselves to one style on this LP, but th album is rewarding, not least with the expertly mimicked ‘amen’ break. (BS)

Majoni “Majoni” (Percepts) It’s a long way between the township of Gugulethu in the Cape Flats, South Africa, and Vienna – the old intellectual capital of Europe – but Majoni (meaning ‘warrior’ in Xhosa) brings together Austrian producers Dorian Concept and Lehrl with emcees Teba and Crosby on a limited 7” release. The A-side sounds like a Mad House riddim passed through a meat grinder, whereas the flip is a disco biscuit from Kava, one of Vienna’s budding young’uns. (CR)

VA “A Complete Introduction to Sugar Hill” (Sanctuary) Even though their most famous track ‘Rappers Delight’ was recorded by a manufactured group who couldn’t write their own lyrics; and the label itself, managed by Sylvia Robinson, was notoriously shady with its artists, 30 years on the Sugar Hill sound of The Sequence, Positive Force, Spoonie Gee, Busy Bee and Grandmaster Flash still sounds f-f-fresh. This comprehensive 4xCD compilation, with extensive notes and pics,will keep the party rocking till the break of dawn. (SOT)

Eugene Harrington “The Life of Eugene Harrington” (NOECHO) Bloody hell that Clutchy Hopkins gets around doesn’t he? When he’s not serenading Persian MILF’s with his oud he’s out helping aspiring musicians the Misled Children or even now influencing Eugene Harrington, the son of a keyboard repairer no less. Maybe he gets discount? By now you already know the sound: tough drums, round grooves and crusty keys but it never really gets old does it? (MK)

Aroop Roy “Nomadic Soul” (Freestyle) This impressive debut album from erstwhile “gaijin in Tokyo” and now London-based DJ/producer opens with the carefree broken beat track ‘The Lonely Years’ and, like a chameleon, colorshifts through jazzy grooves, electro, fusion workouts (on the spectacular ‘Dirty Groove’) and the bebop ricanstruction ‘Told Me’. Roy shows a deft ear for melody and top-notch production steez. (BV)

Phronesis “Alive” (Edition Records) Tight, dynamic and highly infectious, this the best jazz CD in a while (and there have been a few good ones of late). With its bassline and drum break ‘Abraham’s New Gift’ is the standout. Highly recommended, as are all Holby albums. (SA)

Gilles Peterson presents “Havana Cultura remixed” (Brownswood Recordings) This lively and dancefloor friendly album surprisingly retains its Cuban feel with a worthy snapshot of modern Cuba. Remixers Louie Vega and Seiji obviously have a feel for Latin music, as do MJ Cole and surprisingly Carl Cox too. 4hero supplement the dance tracks with trademark keys on ‘Think Twice’. (SA)

Marcos Valle “Estatica” (Far Out) Brasil’s very own beach boy’s latest for Far Out is without a doubt his best to date for the label. With Daniel Maunick and David “Harmonic 33” Brinkworth on production duties, there’s a palpable sense of depth to this album. Not simply content with re-hashing Brasilain classics and dodgy bossas, Estatica treads new ground with a combination of brass, strings and the occasional electronic trickery that gives the album a very cinematic yet contemporary feel. (DS)

James Chance “Twist Your Soul” (History Records) A complete retrospective of this criminally overlooked No Wave legend, Disc One covers studio recordings from the mid-70s with The Contortions (‘I Can’t Stand Myself’, ‘Jaded’ & ‘Contort Yourself’) and as James White & The Blacks (‘Almost Black’ & ‘Off Black’), whilst Disc Two compiles the live experience of the 90s to the present including tracks his French trio, Les Contorsions, whose version on ‘Contort…’ closes this essential collection. (KB)