Album of the year
Style Jazz Congolais
release of the year
Township
Jazz release of the year
Afrobeat
release of the year Newcomers of the year Reissue
of the year
Artists
of the year
Guitarists
Saxophonists
Trumpet
and Flugelhorn
Horn
Sections
Piano
and Keyboards
Bass
Drums
Percussion
Vibes
Vocalists Male
Vocalists Female
Vocal
duets and multi voice groups
Big Bands
Small Bands
Arrangers
Composers
Electronica
Miscellaneous instruments
African Jazz Party Album
Some memorable brief
appearances
DVD
documentaries
Some
recent books
Quote
of the year
Deaths
Live at Carnival City - Hugh Masekela - Bra Hugh's many devotees often remark tat he generally sounds better live tan in the recording stúdio. Add to that the fact tat despite his advancing years and somewhat diminished prowess he has been going through an extraordinary purple patch over the last couple of years and it will comes no surprise to learn that this live set fronting a young four piece band for an an ecstatic local audience captures one of the world's great talents in an exceptional performance in this DVD/CD set. A must have release. (South Africa)
Bakolo Mindule - Mbilia Bel - Sandwiched between performnces that don't feature Bel at all, holes in the sound and some lackluster editing lies a jewl of a live performance on this DVD/CD set of Bel singing and dancing to the Tabu Ley Rochereau style jazz Congolais standards which he composed for her and which form the core of her repertoire. A performance cose to perfection vcwith a strong stripped down band in front of her home audience who stay on the dance floor from start to finish.(DR Congo)
Township
jazz release of he year
Future
Talk - Brian Thusi - The sleevenote describes this unit as a
"collective" and the recording has a pleasingly collaborative feel
which gives all of the young musicians featured space in which to express
themselves. Brian Thusi trumpet playing and leadership bring coherence and drive
to a project which captures the blossoming of a new generation of talent in a
manner reminiscent of the recordings Chris Mcgregor made before he went into
exile. Irresistible jazz from a a promising new stable of Jozi jazz
talent.(South Africa)
E Gbŕ Mi O! - Lágbájá! - More proof, if it were needed, thst if contemporary Africa has a a jazz star as great as Fela, Franco or KippieMoeketsi it is Lágbájá! This Video CD features a mixture of promo clips for songs from his recent releases combined with new live material. As a package it works well and displays Lágbájá's musical intelligence and wit. A strong return to form from the best jazz musician in Africa. (Nigeria)
Newcomer of the year
Addis Acoustic Project - Magical, mellow mostly instrumental cover versions of Ethiopian standards performed and arranged in the Ethio jazz stye with aplomb by a gifted group of young and veteran= musicians playing mandolin, clarinet, double bass, guitar, Ethipian percussion etc. Music which gets into the soul.
Recommended newcomers
Abidemi Adebiyi Adekunle - Baritone saxophonist with Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
Bernice Boikanyo – Drummer, composer (South Africa)
Sbusiso
Dlamini – Pianist,
composer
(South Africa)
Kevin Mfinka – Percussionist, multi instrumentalist, composer, vocalist (Congo Brazzaville)
Nikiyase – Pianist, female vocalist, composer (South Africa)
Sunnyboy – Guitarist, composer (South Africa)
Sathima
sings Ellington - Bea Benjamin - Sathima
shows why she's so highly regarded as n Ellingtonian in a beautiful set produced
by her husband Abdullah Ibrahim with whom she shares this musical passion.
Duke's songwriting, like his paino playing is sometimes under rated but
aficionados - who include about nine tenths of jazz loers - will want to hear
these artful, utle interpretations again and again. The bonus tracks, none of
which are by Ellington will convince the unconverted tat Sathima is a ral force
to be reckoned with in African jazz. The most under rated of alll th established
jazz divas in Africa whose stock can only rise. (South Africa)
Release of the year
Jimmy Dludlu – Tonota (Mozambique)
Recommended releases
Alexis Azulino, Rigo Starr & Caen Mandoka – featured on Anour ŕ deux, Amour ŕ vie by Sergio Polo (Cameroun & DR Congo)
Eric
Ballyane –
featured on
the CD/DVD set Live At Carnival City by Hugh Masekela (Malawi)
Dally Kimoko – featured on the CD The Queen by Mbilia Bel (DR Congo)
Girum Mezmur – featured on the CD Temesta "Remembrance" by Addis Acoustic Project (Ethiopia)
Papa Noel – featured on the eponymous CD by Thosanne Ablayendiaye (DR Congo)
Sunnyboy – Let it
Play (South Africa)
Sunnyboy
–
featured on Dance of the Forgotten Free by Thandiswa available on CD, DVD and
Blu-ray (South Africa)
Sunnyboy – featured
on With Love by Unathi (South
Africa)
Reissues
Passy
Mermans –
featured on the
CD Les rois de la rumba Africaine Vol 1 by Les Bantous De La Capitale (Congo
Brazzaville)
Dr
Nico –
featured with
African Jazz, African Fiesta and Skisa on the double CD set Afro Latin via
Kinshasa by Various artists (DR Congo)
Release of the year
Manu
Dibango – Ballad
Emotion (Cameroun)
Recommended releases
Abidemi Adebiyi Adekunle - featured on the CD From Africa with Fury: Rise by Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
Thierno
Kouate –
Lágbájá!
- E Gbŕ Mi O! VCD
(Nigeria)
Dudu
Pukwana – featured on the CD
Spiritual Knowledge and Grace by Louis Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani
with Rev. Frank Wright (previously
unreleased posthumous CD, South Africa)
Reissues
Manu Dibango - Afro-Soul Machine double CD compilation (Cameroun)
Orlado Julius - featured on the eponymous CD Orlando Julius and the afro sounders (Nigeria)
Orlado Julius - featured on the VCD Vol 1 Bamio by The Legendary Orlando Julius and his Afro-Hi Sounders (Nigeria)
Release of the year
Hugh Masekela – Live At Carnival City CD/DVD set (South Africa)
Recommended releases
Muyiwa
Kunuji –
featured on
From Africa with Fury: Rise by
Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
TSakhle Mambukwe – featured on Rear Window (Don't Look Back) by Take Note (South Africa)
Brian
Thusi –
Future
Talk (South Africa)
Marcus
Wyatt –
featured on te CD ZAR by The MarcusWyatt Quartet
(South Africa)
Dennis
Mpale
- Paying my Bills/ Still Paying my Bills double CD set (South Africa)
Recommended release
Egypt 80's horn section – featured on From Africa with Fury: Rise by Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
Jimmy
Mondo Miele and Kabert
Kabasele –
featured on The Queen by Mbilia Bel (DR Congo)
Orchestra Poly Rhythmo's horn section – featured on Cotonu Club double CD set (Benin )
Bez Roberts and Adam Howard –
featured on Dance of the Forgotten Free by Thandiswa available on CD, DVD and
Blu-ray (South Africa)
Reissues
Bantous de la Capilale's horn section – featured on Les Rois de la Rumba Africaine Vol 1 by Les Bantous De La Capitale (Congo Brazzaville)
Orchestra Poly Rhythmo's horn section – featured on Echos Hypnotique 1969 - 1979 Vol 2 (Benin)
Various
Artists - featured on
four
double CD sets Afro Latin Via Conakry, Cotonou, Dakar & Kinshasa (Guinee Conakry. Benin, Senegal
&DR Congo)
Release of the year
Afrika
Mkhize
– featured on te CD
ZAR by The MarcusWyatt Quartet
(South Africa)
Recommended releases
Sbusiso Dlamini – featured on OS Freedom by Ological Studies (South Africa)
Kaz Kasozi – featured on the eponymous CD Jazzmoss (Uganda)
Ray
Lema – 99 (DR Congo)
Sylvester
Mazinyane – featured on My
Soul by Bernice Boikanyo (South Africa)
Nikiyase – Mudar É Bom
(South Africa)
Reissues
Joni
Haastrup
- featured on Give te Beggar a Chance by Monomono (Nigeria)
Joni
Haastrup
- featured on The Dawn of Awareness by Monomono (Nigeria)
Joni
Haastrup
– Wake Up Your Mind (Nigeria)
Joni
Haastrup
- featured on the CD Black Goddess The Soundtrack from Ola Balogun's film
(Nigeria)
Rob – Funky Rob Way (Ghana)
Release of the year
Harry Miller - featured on Elton Dean's Ninesense Suite Becket/Miller/Moholo (previously unreleased posthumous CD, South Africa)
Recommended releases
Citie – Initiation
(Botswana)
Johnny Dyani – featured on the CD Spiritual Knowledge and Grace by Louis Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani with Rev. Frank Wright (previously unreleased posthumous CD, South Africa)
Bakthi Khumalo - Change (South Africa)
Etienne Mbappe - featured on 99 by Ray Lema (Cameroun)
Harry Miller - featured on the DVD/ CD set Flashpoint: NDR Jazz Workshop - April '69 by John Surman (previously unreleased posthumous footage/recording, South Africa)
Jimmy
Mngwandi – featured
on With Love by Unathi (South
Africa)
Carlo Mombelli - featured on Theory by Carlo Mobelli & The Prisoners of Strange (South Africa)
Phumlani Mtiti– featured on OS Freedom by Ological Studies (South Africa)
Fana Zulu – featured on the CD/DVD set Live At Carnival City by Hugh Masekela (South Africa)
Reissues
Etienne
Mbappe - featuredon the
double CD compilation Africa by Henri Dikongué (Cameroun)
Carlo Mombelli - double CD set Abstractions Retrospective 86 to 92 (South Africa)
Release of the year
Louis Moholo – Moholo - featured on Elton Dean's Ninesense Suite Becket/Miller/Moholo (previously unreleased CD, South Africa)
Recommended releases
Bernice
Boikanyo –
My Soul (South Africa )
Vusi
Khumalo – Resons for
Seasons,double CD set (South Africa)
Louis Moholo – Moholo - featured on Kongens Gade by Jon Corbett's Dangerous Musics ( South Africa)
Louis Moholo – Moholo - featured on the CD Spiritual Knowledge and Grace by Louis Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani with Rev. Frank Wright (previously unreleased CD, South Africa)
Reissues
Tony
Allen - Black Voices
Revised (Nigeria)
Dick Khoza - Chapita (Malawi)
Release of the year
Kevin Mfinka - Congo Bolingo (Cogo Brazzaville)
Recommended release
Armando - featured on the CD/DVD set 16e Arrondissement by Modogo Grand Franco Frere feat. OPapa Wemba (DR Congo)
John Hassan & Bolaji - featured on Tonota by Jimmy Dludlu (South Africa)
Lágbájá's percussionists - featured on the VCD E Gbŕ Mi O! VCD (Nigeria)
Mavungu - featured on the CD Anour ŕ deux, Amour ŕ vie by SergioPolo (DR Congo)
Wale
Totiola & Kola Onasanyaists
- featured on
From Africa with Fury: Rise by
Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
Tabang
Tabane - featured on Dance
of the Forgotten Free by Thandiswa available on CD, DVD and Blu-ray (South
Africa)
Release of the year
Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Astatke Steps Ahead (Ethiopia)
Recommended releases
Manu
Dibango -
Ballad
Emotion (Cameroun)
Reissue
Manu Dibango - Afro-Soul Machine double CD compilation (Cameroun)
Release of the year
Ferre Gola – 50 ans de la Musiqe Congolaise (DVD/CD set, DR Congo)
Recommended releases
Bonga
– Mulemba
Xangola (Angola)
Lágbájá!
- E Gbŕ Mi O! VCD
(Nigeria)
Hugh Masekela – Live At Carnival City CD/DVD set (South Africa)
Koffi Olomide – Chante Lutumba (DVD/CD set, DR Congo)
Sergio
Polo
-
Caiphus
Semenya
-
Reissues
Bonga – double CD set Angolaa 72 - 74 (Angola)
Manu Dibango - Afro-Soul Machine double CD compilation (Cameroun)
El
Rego -
featured
on the eponymous CD El Rego and the Commandos
(Benin)
Release of the year
Mbilia
Bel – Bakolo
Mindule (CD/DVD set, R Congo)
Recommended releases
Aster Aweke – Checheho (Ethiopia)
Mbilia Bel – The Queen (DR Congo)
Simphiwe Dana – An Evening with Simphiwe Dana Live in Concert (DVD, South Africa)
Nikiyase – Mudar É Bom
(South Africa)
Siphokazi -
Ethembeni (South Africa)
Thandiswa - Dance
of the Forgotten Free available on CD, DVD and Blu-ray (South Africa)
Unathi
- With Love (South
Africa)
Reissues
Mbilia
Bel –
La
Belle Epoque
Vol 1 (DVD DR Congo)
Mbilia
Bel –
La
Belle Epoque
Vol 2 (DVD DR Congo)
Bea
Benjamin –
Sathima
sings Ellington
(Soth Africa)
Letta Mbulu – Naturally (South Africa)
Siphokazi - Best of
the Best CD/DVD set (South Africa)
Vocal
duets and multi voice groups
Recommended release
Sibongile
Khumalo, Ladysmith Black Manbazo, Hugh Masekela, etc.
– featrured
on Hugh Masekela Presents Songs of Migration (South Africa)
Nyboma
Mwan Dido & Ballou Cantala
– featrure
on The Queen by Mbilia Bel (DR Congo)
Release of the year
Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Astatke Steps Ahead (Ethiopia)
Recommended release
Simphiwe Dana – An Evening with Simphiwe Dana Live in Concert (DVD South Africa)
Egypt 80 - - featured on From Africa with Fury: Rise by Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
Lágbájá! - E Gbŕ Mi O! VCD (Nigeria)
Orchestra
Poly Rhythmo - double CD
st Cotonu Club (Benin)
Reissues
Bantous
de la Capitale -
Orchestra Poly Rhythmo - The 1st Album (Benin)
Orchestra Poly Rhythmo - Echos Hypnotique 1969 - 1979 Vol 2 (Benin)
Vijana
Jazz Band – The Koka Koka
Sex Battalion (Tanzania)
Western
Jazz Band – Dae es Salaam
Dancing Club 1973 - 1975 (Tanzania)
Various
Artists – Bambara Mystic
Soul: The Raw Sound of Burkina Faso 1974 - 1979 (Burkina
Faso)
Various
Artists - featured on
four
double CD sets Afro Latin Via Conakry, Cotonou, Dakar & Kinshasa (Guinee Conakry. Benin, Senegal
&DR Congo)
Release of the year
Addis Acoustic Project – Temesta "Remembrance" by Addis Acoustic Project (Ethiopia)
Recommended releases
Bazwake
Jazz Bandd – Future
of Africa (South
Africa)
Ological Studies – OS Freedom (South Africa)
Take Note – Rear Window (Don't Look Back) (South Africa)
Marcus Wyatt Quartet – ZAR (South Africa)
Reissue
Monomono
-Give the Beggar a Chance
(Nigeria)
Monomono - The Dawn of Awakening (Nigeria)
Various Artists -Brand New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times &Nigerian Boogie Badness 1979 - 1983 (Nigeria)
Recommended release
Kevin Mfinka - Congo Bolingo (Cogo Brazzaville)
Reissue
Francis
Bebey
- La Belle Epoque
,4 CD Boxed et
(Cameroun)
Release of the year
Caiphhus
Semenya
-
Recommended releases
Lekan Animashaun - - featured on From Africa with Fury: Rise by Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Astatke Steps Ahead (Ethiopia)
Simphiwe Dana – An Evening with Simphiwe Dana Live in Concert (DVD South Africa)
Manu Dibango - Ballad Emotion (Cameroun)
Toto Guilaume - featured on Anour ŕ deux, Amour ŕ vie by SergioPolo(Cameroun)
Abdullah Ibrahim – featured on Sotho Blue by Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya (South Africa)
Bakthi Khumalo - Change (South Africa)
Vusi
Khumalo – Resons for
Seasons, double CD set (South Africa)
Lágbájá! - E Gbŕ Mi O! VCD (Nigeria)
Hugh Masekela – featured on Hugh Masekela Presents Songs of Migration South Africa)
Lawrence Matshikiza - featured on the CD Ethembeni by Siphokazi (South Africa)
Girum Mezmur – featured on the CD Temesta "Remembrance" by Addis Acoustic Project (Ethiopia)
Mbongeni Ngema - featured on the CD uMjedevu by Futhi (South Africa)
Nyboma
Mwan Dido
– featrured
on The Queen by Mbilia Bel (DR Congo)
Reissues
Abdullah
Ibrahim & Bea Benjamin –
featured
on Sathima
sings Ellington
by Bea Benjamin (Soth Africa)
Caiphus Semenya – featured on Naturally by Letta Mbulu (South Africa)
Release of the year
Francis Bebey - La Belle Epoque, 4 CD Boxed et (Cameroun)
Recommended releases
Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Astatke Steps Ahead (Ethiopia)
Bakthi Khumalo - Change (South Africa)
Lágbájá! - E Gbŕ Mi O! VCD (Nigeria)
Tabu
Ley Rochereau –
featured
on te DVD/CDset Bakolo Mindule by Mbilia Bel (DR Congo)
Unathi
- With Love (South
Africa)
Reissue
Manu Dibango - Afro-Soul Machine double CD compilation (Cameroun)
Henri Dikongue - Africa double CD compilation (Cameroun)
Orlado Julius - featured on the VCD Vol 1 Bamio by The Legendary Orlando Julius and his Afro-Hi Sounders (Nigeria)
Caiphus Semenya – featured onNaturally by Letta Mbulu (South Africa)
Various
Artists - featured on
four
double CD sets Afro Latin Via Conakry, Cotonou, Dakar & Kinshasa (Guinee Conakry. Benin, Senegal
&DR Congo)
Some Recommendations
Paul
IK Dairo – Hero (Nigeria)
Kwela
Tebza– Gauteng Made in
South Africa (South Africa)
Oskido – Oskido's Church
Grooves: !0th Commandment (South Africa)
RProfessor – University of
Kalawa Jazmee (South Africa)
Revolution – Meropa (South
Africa)
Clarinet
Davit
Ferew –
Karindula (giant banjo)
Muskipa
& Musonda – featured on
Kora
Dawda Jobartei – Northern Light Gambian Night (The Gambia)
Mandolin
Ayele
Mamo –
Penny Whistle
Kwela
Tebza– Gauteng Made in
South Africa (South Africa)
Tenor Guitar
Davi Obavendu– featured on From Africa with Fury: Rise by Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egypt 80 (Nigeria)
Various traditional instruments
Various InArtistss – featured on the double CD set Something is Wrong: Vintage Recordings from East Africa (Kenya & Uganda)
African Jazz Party album of the year:
Definintive, irresistible dance floor compilation form African Jazz alumnus' latter day solo career.
Recommended releases
Mbilia Bel – The Queen (DR Congo)
Her Majesty's style jazz Cogolais rules supreme.
Unathi
- With Love (South
Africa)
Sassy, kwai jazz from young giant killer with Oskido, Mpumi Dhlamini, Jimmy Mngwandi, Sunnyboy, etc.
Various Artists – The Karindula Sessions: Tradi-modern Sounds from South East Congo CD/DVD set DR Congo)
Grassroots acoustic karindula (giant banjo) played amid crowd mayhem which will delight lovers of OK Jazz bass lines
Reissues
Bantous
de la Capitale -
Half century old performances prove great dance music timeless
Dennis Mpale - Paying my Bills/ Still Paying my Bills double CD set (South Africa)
Legendary,
veteran trumpeter who surprised and delighted with seminal kwai jazz at the end
of his career. Why did he do it?
Vijana Jazz Band – The Koka Koka Sex Battalion (Tanzania)
Viljana's
dancefloor to bedroom march stands th test of time
Various Artists -Brand New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times &Nigerian Boogie Badness 1979 - 1983 (Nigeria)
The great Amas and his peers say "Slow Down" to all who write off te '80s
Some
memorable brief appearances
Release of the year
Themba
Mkhizel - featured on the
track Fusioni on Meropa by Revolution (South Africa)
Recommended releases
Black
Coffe, Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Thandiswa - featured on the
remix of the track Turn on te Sun on A lifetime... by Stimela (South Africa)
Mpumi
Dhlamini - featured on the
tracks Only For You & Kwa Nolali on With Love by Unathi (South Africa)
Jimmy
Dludlu & Tshepo Tshola - featured on the
CD/DVD set Live at Carnival City by Hugh Masekelah (Mozambique, Lesotho
&South Africa)
Mcoy
Mrubata - featured on
the track Mavusana on My Soul by Bernice Boikanyo (South Africa)
Jaziel
Brothers, Mahube, Judith Sephuma and Siphkazi
–
featured on Abiango: Duest of myTime by Oliver Mukudzi (South Africa &
Zimbabwe)
Angeliqe
Kidjo - featured on tyhe
track Gbeti Madiro on Cotonu Club by Orchestra Poly Rhymo (Benin)
Mayula
Mayoni - featured as co
composen the track Ata Ndele on 99 by Ray Lema (DR Congo)
Sidney
Mnisi & Herbie Tsoeli - featured on the
DVD An Evening with Simphiwe
Dana Live in Concert
by Simphiwe Dana
(South Africa
Nanutu
- featured on the track Julia Florista on Luanda International Jazz
Festival 2010 by Various Artists (Angola)
Sindi Nene – featured on bass on the track True Love on her CD Infinite (South Africa)
Pu2ma – featured on Rear Window (Don't Look Back) by Take Note (South Africa)
Barney Rachebane – featured on the track African Mood on Reasons for Seasons by Vusi Khunalo (South Africa)
John Selowane – featured on Initiation by Citie (Botswan)
Thandiswa – featured on the track Amadoda on Let it Play by Sunnyboy (South Africa)
Reissues
Tony Allen – featured on the track Aloko Party on Afro-Soul Machine by Manu Dibango (Nigeria & Cameroun)
Gbemi Amas & Willy Nfor – featured on the track Slow Down by Amas on Brand New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times &Nigerian Boogie Badness 1979 - 1983 by Various Artists (Nigeria & Cameroun)
George
Lee – featured
on the track Music Alone by Martha Ulaetoe on Brand
New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times &Nigerian Boogie Badness 1979 - 1983
by Various Artists (Ghana)
ABenda
Bilili - also available on Blu-ray
(DR Congo)
Beyond Memory: Recording History, Moments and Memories of South African Music. – Max Mojapelo
Composing Apartheid: Music forand against Apartheid – Grant Owage (Ed)
Jazz Rocks – Rashid Lombard
Live from Dar es Salaam: Popular Music and Tanzania's Music Economy – Alex Perullo
Mulatu Astatke: The Making of Ethio Jazz – Abebe Zegeye
JMusical Echoes: South African Women Thinking in Jazz (Redefining American Music) – Carol Ann Miller and Sathima Bea Benjamin
A Member of Staff Benda Bilili-
"My Orchestra is Staff Benda Bilili,
It will never die,
We'll be better and better so we can play wit the big boys,
Like Werra or Papa Wemba,
Great artists like Koffi,
Why not us?
We're as good as they are."
from the English subtiles of e documentary movie Benda Bilili about a group of disabled musicians from the backstreets of Kinshasa. (DR Congo)
Aim
Ngqwana
– saxophonist,
flautist, composer, band leader (South Africa)
African jazz in 2011: a peoples art featuring giant banjo
A giant banjo?
Live recordings made in Africa with
full on audience participation predominate among the best releases of 2011. The
best release of the year slot goes to Hugh Masekela. Seventy two year old Bra
Hugh doesn’t bow quite as hard as he once did nor is his voice quite so smooth
but on his DVD/CD set “Live at Carnival City” he makes up for this in
spades, performing his heart out fronting a tight stripped down four piece band
consisting of new young musicians together with veteran stalwart Fana Zulu on
bass. There’s no vocal chorus, no horn section, no percussionists and yet this
release features more performers than any other new African jazz release this
year. How come? Bra Hugh’s young audience sing
along from the first the few bars
until the last note. Whether this ecstatic audience fired up Bra Hug and his
band or whether they did the same to their audience isn’t clear- most probably
it was a symbiotic process but the results are recorded for us all and this is
one of Masekela’s best ever creations.
Mbilia Bel’s CD/DVD set “Bakolo Mindule” is a flawed release. The
sound drops out at times, the editing is problematic and about a third of the
tracks don’t feature Bel at all. But the performance at the core of this
issue, consisting of Bel singing and dancing to the Tabu Ley Rochereau
compositions for which se is best known, in front of a small rumba band is as
close as we mortals can get to perfection. Her audience are on their feet from
first to last and the brightly lit Kinshasa TV studio enables the viewer to see
and read the expressions on their faces. Bel’s audience, much of which is
middle aged by now, is in love. When you see the grace with which she moves and
hear her magnificent voice you will start to understand and when with repeated
listening you grasp just how subtle and supremely sophisticated her sense of
timing is you will fall in love with her too.
Lágbájá’s
ideo CD “E
Gbŕ Mi O!” consists partly of promo clips for songs previously released on
his recent studio CDs and partly of new live material. The combination hangs
together well and this release is a coherent work of art which marks a strong
return to form. If contemporary African jazz has a figure as important as
Franco, Fela or Kippie Moeketsi it is surely Lágbájá. Lágbájá
is an anonymous masked artist whose name means somebody or anybody and t the
most memorable parts of this release are about what Lágbájá’s identity
means. At one point the camera pans across an empty stage in front of as huge
crowd loudly chanting one of Lágbájá ’s unmistakable choruses. A sax solo
starts and the audience explodes with delight while the camera frantically
searches for the elusive. Lágbájá who slowly emerges in the middle of the
crowd wearing is mask and playing his sax like a god.
Lágbájá ‘s creative
burring of the distinction between himself and his audience would please the
late avant-garde multi instrumentalist, composer and author Francis Bebey whose
landmark 1969 book “African Music: A People’s Art” is a meditation on this
very subject. The towering authority with which Bebey wrote derived largely from
the fact that he was an African and a great musician. It is fitting that a year
which has brought us so many great releases illustrating the creative
relationship between African jazz and it’s audience should also bring us a
monumental 4 disc retrospective of Bebey’s
own work. His “Belle Epoque” isn’t an easy listening experience. It might
have been better to group the pieces together by style or period because this
music is very diverse. The documentation leaves much to be desired too – the
set would be enormously enhanced by song translations and personnel detail. But
the music itself is, for the most part, charming, challenging and utterly
unique. An essential release which will grow on you with repeated listening.
The reissue of the year however is Sathima Bea Benjamin’s “Sathima
sings Ellington” produced by her husband d and fellow Ellington devotee Abdúllah
Ibrahim. Benjamin is best known as an interpreter of Ellington’s songs and
it’s not difficult to hear why on this glorious 1979 set augmented by several
non Ellington bonus tracks of an equally high standard. An essential purchase
with immediate appeal and lasting charms.
An an equally great release from the same era but which has never seen
the light of day before is “Elton
Dean's Ninesense Suite Becket/Miller/Moholo ” featuring fellow South
African exiles drummer Louis Moholo –Moholo and double bassist Harry Miller.
This release is a supreme example of what used to be called Free Jazz when it
was recorded live in Germany in 1981 and 1982 but which is more frequently
referred to as improvised music these days. It demonstrates what happens when
great African musicians are forcibly prevented from interacting creatively with
their African audience in the way Bebey describes. The freedom and passion in
these great performances is as much political as musical. The exiled South
Africans had fire in their bellies and the best of the music they made will
probably never be matched. Indeed rather like First World War poetry it
continues to inspire in such a way that one hopes no one will ever again have to
experience what its creators endured. At the same time one can’t help but
acknowledge the extraordinary power and magnetism of what the South African
exiles did. Certainly they galvanised the generation of Free Jazz musicians they
encountered. The power of their music and politics was contagious – which
explains in large part the quality of performance and commitment they elicited
in their musical collaborators and from Western audiences. That is why their
every recording is so sought after and is what fuels a veritable industry
unearthing and releasing more and more recordings. Not all such issues and
reissues are all tat good – but the best of these musicians performances are
like the Holy Grail and this is
certainly one such recording: featuring what is perhaps Miller’s finest ever
recorded performance and Moholo in
exceptional form.
Freedom in contemporarily South Africa is a more complex and elusive
concept. The first Blu-ray release in African jazz ,Thandiswa’s “Dance
of the Forgotten Free” explores this theme intelligently and is highly
recommended. Unforgettably, she marks the start of her strong live set by
kneeling down to light an offering to evoke the spirits of the ancestors. The
standard of musicianship is high with contributions from Malombo drummer Tabang
Tabane, gifted young guitarist Sunnyboy together with a superlative horn section
(Bez Roberts and Adam Howard) all topped off with Thandiswa’s powerful,
unmistakable voice and her hit songs.
The best new jazz from South Africa this year however comes in the form
of trumpeter Brian Thusi’s second CD “Future Talk”. The sleeve notes
describe his outfit as a “collective” and it does sound like a genuinely
collaborative effort featuring a host of younger and new musicians listening to
one another and giving their all in a manner that would please Messrs Moholo and
Miller. This surely, is what freedom is really all about.
Sadder news from South Africa concerns the death oft saxophonist and
composer Zim Ngqwana, the post apartheid
musician most closely allied with free jazz. Zim’s
recordings sometimes erred n the side of pretension but I was lucky enough to
hear him ive in his prime performing for of a large audience at the open air
Heidelburg Kloof jazz festival outside Johannesburg in 1998
and his set, consisting mostly of material
from “Zimology” was a revelation. The entire audience
seemed to know every note oft his recording and danced throughout. He was a free
jazz giant in a genuinely African manner of which Francis Bebey would have
thoroughly approved.
Happily the promising new arrivals on the African jazz scene far
outnumber the musicians who passed away or retired in 2011. Best of the lot are
the Addis Acoustic Project who have breathed life into a set of Ethiopian jazz
standards from the 1950s and 60s. Theirs is a beautiful CD which even gives
veteran Mulatu Aststatke’s fabulously good new CD “Mulatu Astatke Steps
Ahead” a serious run for its money. Another stunning debut comes from baritone
saxophonist Abidemi Adebiyi Adekunle who
stole the show at live performances to promote the latest Egypt 80/ Seun
Anipulako Kuti CD “rom Africa with Fury: Rise.” His showing on the recording
is equally strong. Kevin Mfinka from
Cogo Brazzaville makes a strong debut too on “Congo Bolingo”
especially in the style and quality of his percussion playing. From South Africa
come a first solo CD from Thandiswa’s promising young guitarist Sunnyboy;
Bernice Boikanyo, a strong and distinctive sounding new kit drummer and best of
all the pianist, female vocalist and composer Nikiyase whose irst CD “Mudar É
Bom” has everything one could ask of a newcomer: abundant talent, originality,
ambition, optimism and exuberance. Another promising new pianist is Sbusiso
Dlamini whose CD with Ological Studies suggests he has the potential to develop
into a star.
Apart from the plethora of release lit up by creative interaction between
performers and their audiences the other striking thing about 2011’s release
is that the mostkeenly contested category, perhaps surprisingly, is that of
arranger. Releases from Mulatu Astatke, Lekan Animaushen, Manu Dibango, Abdullah
Ibrahum, Hugh Masekela, Nyboma and Caiphus Semenya feature some of the best
arrangements of their illustrious careers. It seems therefore that the reason
for this trend is simple: arranging is what African jazz musicians like to do
when they get old. Several less well established stars pitch in too: notably
Simphiwe Dana and especially Lawrence Matshikiza for his work with Siphokhazi.
Choosing just one of these as the best of the year has been a delightful
dilemma. In the end Caiphus Semenya gets the nod for being such a noteworthy
arranger throughout his entire career: the crispness, clarity and art with which
he marshals is musicians on his “Live at Carnival City” is the unique,
unmistakable hallmark of this grandee of African jazz.
The biggest disappointment of the year has been the lack of new
recordings from the gifted Kenyan saxophonist/singer/composer Joseph Hellon who
was arrested last year. The good news earlier in the year was that he was out
performing again. A new live DVD with pianist Aaron “Krucial” Keys was
announced and presumably recorded too but, as far as I can tell, hasn’t
actually materialised. The track listing included many of his best compositions
plus a cover version of Mafíkizlo’s “Hamba Nawe.” Let’s hope Hellon and
his DVD surface in 2012.
There hasn’t been much jazz from DR Congo eater in 2011 aside from
Mbilia Bels’ live set described above and her strong studio CD “The
Queen.” The impression gleaned from talking to Congolese friends and watching
the inspiring documentary “Benda Bilili” about a group of disabled musicians
from Kinshasa, the capital city of African music, is that the economy in Cogo is
more difficult than ever for musicians. Koffi Olomide’s’ “Chante Lutumba”
and Ferre Gola’s exquisitet “50 ans de la Musiqe Congolaise” remind us of
what we’re missing. Listen for example to Ferre’s singing on “Mi Amor”
(track 11 on the CD) which is one of the high points of African jazz in 2011.
And the
banjo? Those willing to branch out and experiment with different aspects of Con
golese music are pointed in the direction of “The
Karindula Sessions: Tradi-modern Sounds from South East Congo,” a CD/DVD set
featuring an outdoor acoustic performance on traditional instruments played in a
contemporary style with Bebeyesque blurring between performers and audience
throughout. Lovers of OK Jazz basslines will be thrilled tote bone by the giant
banjo playing. In similar vein the
movie Benda Bilili is strongly recommended. The sight of Staff Benda Billili’s
musicians jumping out of their wheel chairs to dance will live on in the mind
forever and proves that the musicians who make African music and the people who
listen to it are completely and utterly irrepressible - just
like Francis Bebey said and just as South African jazz musicians proved at home
and abroad during apartheid. The jazz establishment underrates this music at its
peril. In the twentieth century music was dominated by echoes and imitations of
African sounds from all over the African Diaspora but slavery and colonialism
are history. Who’s going to stop the real thing from taking over, now that we
can hear the giant banjo and see what it does to people?
AFRICAN JAZZ REVIEWS 2011
The following reviews originally appeared between March and November 2011. For the latest review "Dibango, Dldlu & Dana deliver" please visit the music section at www.intuition-online.co.uk where all these archived reviews originally appeared, thanks to the curiosity and foresight of the great team who put intuition-online together
Dr Nico's incomparable influence
One can argue about who is the greatest African jazz musician: Franco, Fela
or Makeba perhaps? But as to who is the most influential, there isn't a shadow
of doubt about it - Dr Nico is by a mile not merely the most influential African
jazz artist, he is unquestionably the most influential African recording artist
of all. A recent two disc compilation "Afro Latin via Kinshasa"
features Dr Nico's lead electric guitar on roughly a third of the tracks
spanning the 1960's from his time with Le Grand Kallé's seminal African Jazz
through his period alongside Tabu Ley in African Fiesta and then in his own
bands. The compilation reflects the arc of his career and sets it in context
alongside tracks by his contemporary guitarists such as Franco and Bavon Marie
Marie. One can also hear some of the great musicians Dr Nico worked alongside:
Le Grand Kallé whose soaring voice is still one of the most beautiful sounds in
all African music; the transcendent translucent trumpet tone of Willy Kuntima nd
the skilled intermeshing rhythm guitar of Nico's brother Dechaud. But even five
decades later its Dr Nico's guitar which grabs one's attention on "Carrefour
Addis Ababa," "Ritmo ya Suka," "Kiri Kiri," and "Ngonga"
for example.
What Dr Nico did was rooted in traditional Congolese dance music. An intriguing
but all too brief CD "Survivance" from Franklin Boukaka enlightens us
about this process by replacing the lead guitar with two mbira thumb pianos
neatly illustrating the origin of what Dr Nico was doing along with his brother
Dechaud. This lovely Boukaka release from 1967 has been reissued on the elusive
Bolibana label and despite being less than twenty minutes long is well worth
looking for. Apart from anything else it demonstrates that it is erroneous to
describe Dr Nico's style as Latin or Afro Latin - it is in fact thoroughly and
authentically Congolese.
Dr Nico's influence on his contemporaries was near universal. Virtually all the
electric guitarists featured in the other three double CD sets in the "Afro
Latin via" series ~("Dakar," "Bamako" and "Cotonu")
are indebted to Nico as are the Tanzanian guitarists featured on the recent and
pleasing retrospective collection "Sounds of Happiness, Poison and
Ululation" by Western Jazz Band.
What would all this music have sounded like without Dr Nico's influence? The
tracks on "Afro Latin via Kinshasa" featuring Le Grand Kallé's
African Team give us an insightful answer. This was the outfit Kallé formed
after the departure of Nico from African Jazz. In African Team he dispensed with
lead guitar altogether. The resultant sound is much more Latin and indeed to
this critic's ears African Team remains the definitive Afro Latin band.
Why did Nco have such massive influence? The best place to look for an answer in
the current cop of releases is to be found n Mbilia Bel's fabulous 'though
poorly engineered new live CD/DVD set "Bakolo Mindule". Coming hard on
the heels of her recent strong studio set this release demonstrates effortlessly
why Bel is such a great artist - arguably the best living female musician in
Africa. Her Achilles heal since parting company with her husband and musical
collaborator Tabu Ley Rochereau, who cut his teeth alongside Dr Nico in Le Grand
Kall'és African Jazz, has been material. It's the ex Beatle problem -
everything she does is compared unfavourably with what came before. Tabu Ley's
stature as a composer n African jazz is akin to Gershwin's in African American
jazz - an impossible act to follow. But on "Bakolo Mindule" Bel has no
such problem - the bulk of the songs in her live set are the Tabu Ley standards
such as "Esui yo Wapi" which were composed for her and which she has
lived for thirty years. These compositions fit like a glove and give her the
perfect opportunity to exhibit her near outstanding e sense of timing. For make
no mistake: in that department Bel is on a par with greats like Billie Holiday
and Bessie Smith. And where is Dr Nico's influence in all this? Watch how Mbilia
Bel moves: she's a supremely gifted dancer too - even though she's in her
fifties and is singing at the same time. Look at the expression on that famous
face - watch how her musicians and audience respond. There's no getting round
it: there's pure joy in that room and everyone wants to dance all night. That's
what Dr Nico did: for more than fifty years his style of playing has had a whole
continent on its feet. It's an incomparable achievement and it's ripples
reverberate still - his style is one of the building blocks not only of much in
contemporary Africa but in innovation in the West too thanks to acts like
Vampire Weekend.
Kalawa Jazmee and Tutu Puone triumph at South Africa's Music Awards
From a jazz perspective there are two big stories from this year's South
African Music Awards (SMA). Firstly Tutu Puoane won the SAMA for Best
Traditional Jazz Album for an unprecedented second year in a row with her lovely
big band CD "Mama Africa." Not since Moses Taiwa Molelekwa won both
big jazz prizes (traditional and contemporary) in 1994 at the age of 21 with his
debut CD "Finding Oneself" has any jazz artist made quite such a
splash at SAMA. Well done, Tutu. Fittingly, in the year which marks the tenth
anniversary of Molelekwa's death, the best track on Tutu's CD is a cover version
of his best known composition "Mountain Shade" which first appeared on
"Finding Oneself." But the best place of all to ,start an acquaintance
with Tutu's magnificent music and voice remains "Mpho" - the heart
wrenchingly gorgeous standout track from her CD "Quiet Now" which won
her the same SAMA last year. On "Mpho," Tutu will take your breath
away.
2011's SAMAA for Contemporary Jazz went to Ological Studies CD "OS
Freedom." The piano playing of their composer Sibusiso Dlamini is
impressive even by South Africa's high standards - for example his two minute
solo piece "Praise Medley" is a tour de force and further proof that
pianist Molelekwa's influence is alive and well in South African jazz. Ological
Studies are also Molelekwa like n their use contemporary dance rhythms - on the
track "Siyakudumisa," for example.
In fact it is often the case at SAMA that much of the most interesting new music
explores the links between jazz and the dance floor. A key player in this is the
record label Kalawa Jazmee and from a jazz perspective it is their triumph at
SAMA 2011 which is the second really big story. Kalawa Jazmee is easily the most
influential record label specialising in new dance music fused with electronica
and elements of jazz in Africa and has been since the mid 1990s so their triumph
at this year's SAMA is richly deserved. Their new signing Professor won Best
Male Artist, Best Kwaito Album and Best Song ("Imoto") for his CD
"University of Kalawa Jazmee."
As if thus weren't enough, Thandiswa, winner of Best Female Artist and Best
Urban DVD for her "Dance of the Forgotten Free" is a Kalawa Jazmee
graduate too. This concert recording is the first ever African jazz release in
BLU-RAY format . Gloriously it kicks off with Thandiswa lighting an offering to
invoke the spirits of the ancestors on stage and features a new version of her
biggest Kalawa Jazmee hit the Kwai jazz standard "Thah'isgubhu"
performed with Bongo Maffin. Thandiswa is also lead vocalist on the SAMA 2011
Remix of the Year "Turn on the Sun" which is a fablos track remixed by
Black Coffee from Stmela's comeback CD "A Lifetime".
Kalawa Jazmee fans are further advised to check out the tenth instalment of
Oskido's "Church Grooves." Even after so many years at the top, Oskido
is too leftfield and edgy to win or even be nominated for a SAMA in his own
right but you can't avoid him on the dance floor in South Africa and his
fingerprints are all over most of what Kalawa Jazmee has achieved over the last
fifteen years. Standout tracks on his new CD include the outrageously sexist hit
"Gubuluzing" and "Nationalisation" which features a speech
by the straight talking leader of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema: a hero to
the majority of Oskido's audience who is reviled by the rightwing establishment,
which controls most of South Africa's vast wealth.
Even more essential listening, and to these ears the very best track from this
year's SAMA, is Kwela Tebza's "Tshole" from their CD "Gauteng
Made in South Africa/Mzansi," winner of the Best Urban Pop Award. Kwela,
which dates back to the mid 1950s, is a penny whistle dance genre which is the
forerunner of much in township jazz and South African popular music. Kwela Tebza
have revived the penny whistle sound and incorporated contemporary dance floor
beats and production values. The resulting dish is a supremely potent,
addictive, infectious mix of the old and the new. South Africa simply adores
Kwela Tebza. I too find I need several doses a day. If you only listen to one
African track this year, make sure it's Kwela Tebza's "Tshole." Just
be warned: the risk of getting hooked is high….
Finally, the late jazz electric bassist/composer Sipho Gumede won a SAMA
Lifetime Achievement Award. Anyone wondering why he's so widely regarded as the
African continent's greatest ever electric bass player is advised to check out
his compilation "Gone But Not Forgotten," available on CD and DVD.
Congo Queen
There aren't many artist's round the world who coud get away with titling a
CD "The Queen" but Mbilia Bel can. She sings dances and looks like a
goddess and has done since the early 1980's. From the Northern border of South
Africa to the Sahara Desert she is almost universally regarded as Africa's best
female musician. Mbilia Bel's velvet voice seduces men and women of all age
groups, not erotically or romantically, nor with any pyrotechnics but rather
with an expert knowledge of exactly what it takes to make us dance.
Listening to the first half her new CD "The Queen" is like being
whisked gently along e in a murmuring limousine. It isn't just Bel's exquisite
voice. The standard of musicianship here is exceptional. Producer Ibrahim Sylla
has used many of the same musicians he used on the two albums he made with
Madilu System both of which were instant classic and huge sellers. Keyboard and
drum programming maestro Manu Lima provides his delicate, understated but
undeniably hot rhythms; sublime lead guitarist Dally Kimoko once again
complement his sound and Madilu's favourite backing singers Nybom and Ballou
Canta add further class and beauty on vocals. Best of all Bel is reunited with
veteran horn players from her days with Tabu Ley Rochereau's Afrisa. There are
guest vocal appearances from Guinee's premiere male vocalist Bambino and Sregio
Polo, the jazziest of Cameroun's Makossa artistss. The first half of the
resultand CD is pure joy. Its so beautifully crafted as to sound effortless. At
first it sounds pleasant but as the understated dance floor intentions work
their into the listener's soul with repeated listening you will be hooked and
become one of her majesty's numerous subjects. But be warned, Bel isn't perfect
- the limousine gets stuck in an interminable traffic jam about half way through
the CD when she tries out all manner of crossover tracks none of which quite
succeeds. Fortunately yhe antidote is at hand: just play the style jazz
Congolais half of Mbilia Bel's "The Queen" over and over again.
Ferre Gola, widely regarded as the best of DR Congo's younger male vocalists
tries to do much the same as Bel on his CD/DVD set "50 ans de la Musique
Congolaise." Gola's weakness is that he isn't yet one of the great
Congolese composers - so the decision to do an album of cover versions is
inspired. He's chosen material that suits him and much of his singing is of a
very high calibre indeed as is the input of an unidentified lead guitarist. The
CD of this live set doesn't quite work - it's marred by cheesy keyboards - but
seeing the performance on DVD is well worth the effort, Ferre is a gifted and
graceful performer and most of the time he is surrounded by dancers who give an
object lesson in how to dance to Congolese rumba. There are performances from
the catalogues of the most influential of all African bands, African Jazz; by
its alumnus Tabu Ley Rochereau; songs from Franco's OK Jazz and its alumnus
Carlyto plus several tracks which are in later Congolese styles all topped off
with a couple of Ferre's own recent numbers. Most of the compositions are
standards and the DVD will appeal both to aficionados of Congolese music and
newcomers who would like an accessible overview of Congo's music. If you've ever
wondered why the Congo's music dominated Sub Saharan Africa for so long or would
like to find out, these compositions and Ferre's DVD are a good place to find
out.
Apartheid meant that South Africa never fell under the Congo's hypnotic sway.
Even Mbilia Bel is relatively unknown. But of course South Africa has wealth of
talent of its own especially when it comes to female jazz singers. Two of the
best have new release. Siphokazi's third studio album "Ethembeni" is a
return to form and contains many beautiful moments. Hers is an underrated talent
that is unlikely to fade from view. Possibly her rival Thandiswa suffers from
the opposite problem. She was such a big star at the start of her career with
the Kwaito/kwai jazz group Bongo Maffin and so successful with her first solo
album ("Zabalaza") that it's difficult to know what she can do now.
Her second live DVD "" Dance of the Forgotten Free" also
available on CD, captures her in her prime. She knows how to work a crowd and
her audience loves what she does. The musicianship is good too - especially the
horn section consisting of Adam Howard and Bez Roberts who are South Africa's
coolest white jazz musicians since Chris McGregor and who I haven't seen on film
before. But overall one is left with the lingering suspicion that like so many
kwaito stars - has Thandiswa peaked?
Someone who is certainly peaking right now is Bra Hugh Masekela who seems to be
on a roll. His latest CD/DVD set "Live At Carnival City" is by far his
best live film. He uses a stripped down band consisting of four superb and
mostly young musicians. There are no backing singers, no horn section, no
percussionists. The lack of backing singers is no problem whatsoever - the
ebullient student audience provide skilled call and response singing throughout
the show, embodying the blurred distinction between performer and audience which
is such a feature of all African music. The lack of horns and percussion gives
Bra Hugh more space to shine - or should I say burn because Masekela is on fire
in this performance and his young band is excellent too especially Malawian
guitarist Eric Ballyane who does plays in a strongly Congolese style and even
outshines the Mozambican star Jimmy Dludlu who guests on a couple of tracks. The
presence of Congolese style jazz guitar points to the tue significance and
secret of Masekela's post apartheid success in South Africa. He fell heavily in
love with Congolese jazz - especially Franco's OK Jazz while in exile - and his
South African audience has learnt to adore what he does. In so doing Bra Hugh
has started to heal the biggest musical wound which apartheid censorship
inflicted on South African jazz.
Seun Anikupulako Kuti and Egypt 80's "From Africa with Fury - Rise" is
only Egypt 80's third CD of the last two decades. Still led by the great Lekan
Animashaun now in his sixth decade of working with the Kuti family, the band
features a rhythm section which is one of the most unusual in all jazz
incorporating clefs, giant conga and tenor guitar together with a world class
horn section. On the evidence presented so far from their live performances and
on this CD the new baritone saxophonist , Adebiyi, is simply the best baritone
player ever to have emerged from Africa and a major new star.
Seun does a good job fronting the band but it's notable that the best
composition on the CD "African Soldier" like the excellent "Na
Oil" on their last release is by another baritone saxophonist Rilwan "Showboiy"Fagbeni
who doesn't play on this recording. For more on thus great band's current
line-up, see my review of their show at London's Royal Festival Hall also
published in this month's intuition-online.
Seun Anikupulako Kuti & Egyopt80 at the Royal Festival /Hall on 13./4/11
Fela's son Seun trumps all
Nigerians and music lovers revere Seun Kuti's father Fela. He and fellow
musicians, notably drummer Tony Allen and baritone saxophonist Lekan Animashaun
created the afrobeat genre and Fela's political courage and message have made
him a modern icon.
Fela believed passionately in the African extended family. His wives and
daughters performed as his singers and dancers and his son Femi became featured
alto saxophonist before striking out on his own. Seun, his youngest son started
singing with the band at the age of 9.
More than 20 years on Seun still sings with Fela'ss fabulous big band Egypt 80;
and the band is still led by Lekan Animashaun, now in the sixth decade of an
illustrious career. If their Lodon show is anything to go by, Egypt 80 remain
absolutely unmissable.
How does such an old band sound so fresh? One reason puts all others in the
shade. Every other afrobeat act tries to sound like Fela's first afrobeat band
Africa 70 and its superlative drummer Tony Allen. But not Egypt 80. When Allen
departed and Africa 70 disbanded, Fela and Lekan Animashaun decided to do
something different. Instead of trying to find another Tony Allen - an
impossible task - they radically redesigned the entire rhythm section. The
rhythm section of today's Egypt 80 retains this unique sound and many of the
best musicians from Fela's day. Clefs player, Wale TorIola stands in front of
the band and hiss subtle, distinct tick tock is the hallmark and heartbeat of
Egypt 80. Then there's Kola Onasanya on giant conga who goes back to Fela's day
too and plays exuberant solos on his enormous instrument as well as underpinning
the drums. A third unique element dating back toi Fela's day is that of Davi
Obayendo on tenor guitar. Drummers and bassists have come and gone over the
years but the distinctive elements are all still in place. Even in the sombre
Royal Festival Hall this magnificent rhythm section had members of the audience
on their feet from first 'til last. Hearing and seeing them live one cannot help
but conclude that Egypt 80's rhythm section is one of Fela's greatest musical
creations.
The brass section is world class. The great LekanAnimashaun has retired from
baritone sax and leads the band from the piano but his chosen successor, Abidimi
Adebiyi Adekunle, is the star of the current Egypt 80 line up. Every solo is
greeted with thunderous applause. It's worth going to see Egypt 80 for his
performances alone but the other horn players aren't far behind. Tenor sax
stalwart Oyinade Adeniran dates back to Fela's day and glues the horn section
together much as Lekan Animashaun used to. But the key solo instrument right
back back to Fela and Animashaun's highlife days is trumpet. Current incumbent
of the first trumpet chair, Muyiwa Kunuji, fulfils his role perfectly: he's one
of the best in West Africa.
It'd be easy to dismiss Seun Kuti's role in all this as shallow and
opportunistic but he's been singing with this band since childhood - long before
afrobeat became fashionable again - and it shows. After twenty years performing
with Egypt 80 he meshes well with the band. He looks, struts and rants like dad.
He may not have his vocal chords or skill as a composer; nor is his sax playing
on a par with his brother Femi.; but the really big inheritance -Egypt 80 -
trump everything and everyone else in all afrobeat.
AFRICAN JAZZ HEARTBEAT
African jazz is what happened when Africa started hearing African American
jazz. The global swing craze of the 1930's and 40's led to the inception of new
hybrid African music styles, especially in the biggest Cities - Johannesburg,
Lagos and Kinshasa.
The website www.africanjazz.info is delighted to be celebrating its fifth
birthday with this article at Intuition.
THE BEST RECENT RELEASES :
AFROBEAT
Afrobeat is a fusion of big band Jazz, funk and highlife that was created by the
Nigerian political activist Fela Kuti. His best band Africa 70 featured Tony
Allen, widely regarded as Africa's greatest e kit drummer. Jazz musicians Roy
Ayers, Lester Bowie and Ginger Baker together with Paul McCartney stated
incorporating Afrobeat in their music in the early 1970's. By now Afrobeat is
global in the sense that it's played world over by musicians of numerous
nationality.
Fela and Africa 70 had a purple patch in the mid 1970's and their music of that
period is unquestionably some of the best in African jazz. "Anthology
2" combines an excellent 2 CD compilation of Fela's best work from this
period with a previously unreleased DVD of a performance at the Berlin Jazz
Festival. Little of Fela on film survived the army raids on Kalakuta Republic,
the compound where Felsa lived out his politics in trademark Speedos with his
band and innumerable wives amid thick clouds of cannabis smoke. This DVD is the
only footage we have of Fela with Africa 70. It's easy to see why it wasn't
released. This was a "Let it Be" like effort made as the band was in
the process of breaking up; Fela looks a bit out of sorts and both he and his
band are slightly below par. But which would you rather have? The Beatles on a
bad day or no Beatles at all? Fela, Allen and Africa 70 really are that good and
he was happy enough with these performances to put them out on vinyl and didn't
see any need for studio versions. The songs, "Authority Stealing" and
especially "VIP" bristle with wit, political anger and sophisticated
sensual rhythm all considerably enhanced by seeing Fela, The Black President,
goad his German audience and dance like a demon. Possibly some band members
thought Fela guilty of exactly the same hubris and hypocrisy which he scorned in
Nigeria's political leadership but that detracts nothing from this great music.
Fela's spiritual heir Lágbájá is possibly past his recent purple patch too
but his last twin CD release worth seeking out. The title tracks on both
"Sharp-Sharp!" and "Paradise" are especially good.
Lágbájá means "somebody" or "anybody" and along with his
mask is a key part of his anti celebrity persona. It's fitting therefore that he
is barely known outside Nigeria. He's massive in Lagos and simply doesn't need
fame anywhere else - but we need him because, arguably, he's the best living
jazz musician in Africa.
SOUTH AFRICAN JAZZ
The closest South African has come to producing jazz artists to match Fela's
stature are the biggest stars who went into exile during Apartheid like Hugh
Masekela, the late Miriam Makeba and Abdullah Ibrahim. Certainly Bra Hugh tops
the bill wherever he goes and his new CD "Jabulani" shows us why. It's
a recreation of township wedding music from the 1940's but I if makes it sound
dry and worthy Bra Hugh will put you right. In his sleeve note he explains:
-"In the townships, being unable to dance is a sign of dementia and total
social bankruptcy."
"Jabulani" is a full on party album and his best recording in years.
Production by Don Laka, creator of the hybrid hip-hop style Kwai Jazz is a big
part of the picture. He's long been South Africa's go to guy when someone wants
a hit and he pulls out the stops on this jubilant CD.
For many South Africans however it's not the musicians who went into exile who
are heroes it's the ones who stayed behind and played for them during the
struggle. The short lived Jazz Epistles in which Masekela, Ibrahim and the
equally wonderful Jonas Gwangwa made their names and recorded South Africa's
first jazz LP in 1960 epitomise this. To the outside world it's the three exiles
who became stars. But all three say the greatest member of the band was the
saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi. Kippie didn't go into exile. He toughed it out a
home and died in relative obscurity in 1983. But to this day he is revered above
all jazz musicians in his home land and South Africa's premiere jazz club
Kippie's is named after him.
The recent two disc compilation "Next Stop Soweto Vol 3" features two
Kippie Moeketsi tracks. "Switch" performed with Chris McGregor is one
of his most prized recordings and "Orlando" with Dennis Mpale is a gem
- previously unreleased on CD and reminiscent of his best known piece "Tshona"
recorded with Pat Matshikiza.
Philip Tabane who features on the same compilation led his band Malombo since
the early 1960's. His DVD "Live at the Market Theatre Johannesburg"
(also on CD) shows that he is one of the great 1960's guitar heroes.
Post apartheid jazz has been music of extremes: unparallel hope and creativity
marred by senseless violence and tragedy. The death of Moses Taiwa Molelekwa ten
years ago at the age of 27 is a prime example. Moses reigned supreme as the
greatest African musician of his generation and his demise left a gaping scar in
African jazz. As pianist, composer, producer, band leader and innovator Moses
was in a league of his own. Happily his music lives on as demonstrated in the
recent release of his CD "Live in Joburg Nineteen Ninety Nine." Stand
out tracks include "Genes and Spirits" and "Itumeleng."
STYLE JAZZ CONGOLAIS
When it comes to African Jazz one band towers above the others. The Congolese
big band OK Jazz was Sub Saharan Africa' s dominant musical force from the late
1950's until 1989 when its leader and virtuoso guitarist Franco passed away.
After Franco, Vice President, Le Poęte Lutimba Simaro who's been in the band
since the early 1960's took up the reins. The band, later eenamed Ban OK (=
children of OK Jazz) continues to this day and is without a shadow of doubt the
greatest jazz band in Africa. Anyone doubting the veracity of this needs to put
on their dancing shoes and check out the reissue of their best DVD. "C'est
La Fęte" as it's now called was originally recorded in 2003 and features a
great performance by the entire band especially veteran vocalist Josky
Kiambukata and the scintillating young lead guitarist Olivier Tshimanga who like
so many great musicians many decades is a product of Simaro's uniquely laid
back, hands off style of leadership. Simaro, the coolest man in African jazz,
makes his customary brief appearance in a big hat, platys some crisp, elegant
rhythm guitar and quietly slips off stage after a few minutes. Under his
leadership Bana OK are so good, he simply doesn't need to be there!
Franco's long term rival Tabu Ley Rochereau started his career in the seminal
band African Jazz alongside Manu Dibango, Le Grand Kalle and Dr Nico. The two CD
compilation "Voice of Lightness Vol 2" is worth purchasing just to
hear Africa's most influential musician ever - the guitarist Dr Nico - on "Ohambe"
which hasn't previously appeared on CD. Anyone wondering where Vampire Weekend
get their bite should start with Dr Nico. Like Hedrix in rock, Dr Nico's is
omnipresent in all Congolese derived music.
Commplied and © Ben Robertson, 2011