Friday, November 17, 2006
Youssou N’Dour - In Your Eye's
Ahh… its Friday. And that is always a good thing! It’s not like people are going to say – damn… wish it was Monday! Though the Springbok fans among us are probably hoping for Saturday to pass quickly, and we’re becoming as rare as pre-1994 National Party voters – so few to be found these days…Someone who sounds great every day of the week – whether live or from my Blue Room speakers – is one of Africa’s greatest… Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour.
I have seen him live a couple of times; the first time at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague, and then quite a lot during the first 46664 concert in Cape Town. We’ve also had the pleasure of dealing with his management, and are excited to be able to offer an artist of him calibre.
When I first saw him at the NSJF, he had the audience eating out of his hand; even getting everyone to sit down on the floor, as is custom in his home village, while he sang a traditional song normally sung at the fireside… As one man, everyone crunched themselves down in a tangle of arms and legs onto the floor. Very cool.
Youssou has really made a mark on the world music scene. As an African he has gone where very few artists have gone before, and it’s his associations with artists like Peter Gabriel (Picture right taken by Bob Gruen) over more than 20 years that really brought him into Western homes.That’s not to say he isn’t big back home in Senegal, where he is still based. Youssou’s album SET, in which he makes urgent moral appeals to his people, caused a groundswell of action – by the people and not government – under a sort of urban ecological movement known as “Set-Setaal” (“Be Clean”), where the ghetto’s were painted and cleaned up, getting water to more people and where communities helped each other to make their lives better. He has done much more, which is why there have long been calls for him to enter politics as the people want him to be President.
So, looking back, but ahead to a good weekend, here is a classic Peter Gabriel track (yes, that is what he looked like 20 years ago!) filmed at a WOMAD Festival in which he features Youssou N’Dour – In Your Eye’s. Enjoy.
Labels: 46664, North Sea Jazz Festival, Peter Gabriel, Senegal, WOMAD, Youssou N'Dour
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Amampondo live - Drums for tomorrow
"At last" he cried - Peak has some excellent live footage of Amampondo, South Africa's top Marimba & Percussion ensemble, to give you a real sample of their power on stage. Robert & MELT have brought out Amampondo's first DVD titled Amampondo 25 Years of Skins (MZADV 003) to celebrate this milestone, and I think it is a must have for any decent DVD collection.Its is made up of mostly unreleased video footage of the groups performances over the past two decades, filmed by passionate supporters such as Chris Lewis - the sound engineer who has been a major part of bringing out the best of the MELT stable of artists, and other fans who have followed Amampondo around the world.
There is footage from journey's to Pondoland in the heart of the Transkei, to live performances at Festivals such as WOMAD, the Spoleto Festival in Italy, and the Africa 2000 Festival and Bagley's Club in King's Cross, London.
Amampondo are the true treasurer's, and creators, of a culture that continues to transform, combining the rural sounds and expressions with the urban responses to what is happening around them.
It is never easy not being a part of the main-stream in terms of Arts & Entertainment; people often take cultural groups for granted as just being a part of the make-up of society. But I think they represent a far more important facet, as the stronger our ties to our past are, the more it indicates how we look after each other in the present.
25 years of keeping tradition alive; of passing it on to younger generations; of being ambassadors of their culture and country, deserves all the recognition and respect that we afford to the hip and happening artists who create hits that we dance to today, but are more likely to forget tomorrow. These kinds of groups cannot easily be replaced.Here is Amampondo's track Drums for tomorrow, composed by Mzwandile Qotoyi & Michael Nkululeko Ludonga, and published by MELT 2000 Publishing, and of course, available LIVE through PEAK!
Labels: Amampondo, MELT, WOMAD
Friday, July 14, 2006
Madosini & Patrick Duff
I am focusing on Madosini at the moment because we saw her again yesterday - arranging her visa's to travel to the 5th International Jew's Harp Fesstival in Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw Aan 't Ij on 28 July.
She's such an amazing mama, and even though we can't communicate through language, we understand eachother so well.
It made me think of her performances at the WOMAD festivals that she performed at with Patrick Duff, of Strangelove, (as I mentioned in my earlier post) and some recordings I had made of their rehearsals at Vuyo Katsha's house in Montana, Gug's in July 2003.
Patrick had been mesmerized by her performance the year before and had received a grant from the Performing Rights Society in the UK to create a cultural collaboration with Madosini.
And so he flew out for two weeks so they could get to know each other and play around with idea's before getting into serious rehearsals and performances in the UK and a recording in Singapore. This video is grainy and low quality, but I am searching for the tape!
Patrick and Vuyo accompany Madosini as she tells a Xhosa story.
I think the whole experience with Madosini inspired Patrick to get his head back on his shoulders, because soon after his experience of touring with her, he wrote and recorded his latest album Luxury Problems where his songs define a more collected Patrick Duff.
I have a full interview with him where many people will be amamzed at how calm and peaceful he was, sitting on the floor in the middle of a foreign township. He was in a place he really wanted to be in, with a very special new friend - Madosini Manqina.
Labels: Madosini, Patrick Duff, Strangelove, WOMAD
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Madosini - The Queen of Pondoland music
An artist very close to our hearts at Peak is Madosini Manqina from Langa in Lenny spent a good month with her when we took Amampondo on tour to the
Though essentially a solo artist and story-teller, its her mastery in the making and playing of the Uhadi (berimbau), Isitololo (Jews Harp) Umrhubhe (mouthbow), and she adds this speciality to the sound of many groups and collaborations.
She's been a regular part of Amampondo, she worked with Thandiswa Mazwai on the short film Spirit of the Uhadi and her album Zabalaza, and has appeared at WOMAD Festivals in the UK, Australia, Singapore, and many more, with artists like Patrick Duff (ex-Strangelove) and Vuyo Katcha. She also represented the Xhosa tribe in the multi-cultural Jazz ensemble PedXulu (a combination of Pedi, Xhosa and Zulu musicians)
One of our most exciting experiences with her was our first attempt to send her off on tour with the Pondo's in 2002. The group were on their way to perform with the The Sto:lo (People of the River) or First People of Chilliwack, Canada, and we had booked all the travel and accommodation using the information we had received from the group, including Madosini. But when we arrived at the BA check-in counter, they refused to let her on the plane, as the name on her ticket was different from the name in her passport...
You feel the bottom of your world fall out from under you when this happens, and the only thing to do, is to move into four-wheel drive and pull the funniest faces you can to ensure the artist is on that plane.
The ground-staff were amazing, and gave us the time of the flight to Johannesburg to sort it out with the airline there – they let her on the flight as long as we knew that there was a chance she would be stranded in JHB – motivation enough for Lenny to pull out all stops and beg, plead and threaten. What a relief it was to eventually get her on the flight to Canada later that night.
It was only later that same year, when we sent her to WOMAD Canary Islands when another abnormality was sorted out. Madosini’s birth date made her out to be a beautiful, sprightly 82-year old. We were always amazed at how good she looked, with clear skin and eyes, and great spirit, but the Spanish didn’t feel the same.
When travelling to
It was only during the research and filming of Thandiswa’s Spirit of the Uhadi while in the
Madosini is currently performing in
Madosini lives in a single room in an old hostel in the heart of Langa with 6 other adults, and 4 children under the age of 6.
But it’s her music that opens the mind to the wide sky of the
Madosini Manqina – the Queen of Pondoland.
Labels: Amampondo, Langa, Madosini, Patrick Duff, Thandiswa Mazwai, Uhadi, WOMAD
