Island Jazz from the Indian Ocean
https://amf.didiermary.fr/island-jazz-indian-ocean/
Island Jazz Feat. Monika Njava (voice – the Diva of Madagascar) & Linley Marthe (bass – Mauritius)
Manipule-Nareo: the song recounts the manipulation and crimes committed by foreigners during the colonial period.
“The Island Jazz quartet reworks traditional melodies with modern harmonies. And twists irresistible rhythms like tsapiky and jihe into [...]
Soriba Kouyate – Kanakassi (1999)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/soriba-kouyate-kanakassi-1999/
Soriba Kouyate was a Senegalese Kora virtuoso (Korafola). Just before his death in 2010, he played in the Kora Jazz Band, after Djeli Moussa Diawara left the Kora Jazz Trio.
He played with musicians like Youssou N’Dour, Salif Keita, Peter Gabriel, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Toure Kunda, etc.
The Jazz Epistles – Verse 1
https://amf.didiermary.fr/the-jazz-epistles-vary-oo-vum/
Verse 1 by the Jazz Epistles in 1960 is “a genuine hard bop session, swinging and persuasive, coming out of South Africa in an era when black musicians weren’t making any recordings, let alone forward-looking modern jazz albums.”
[They] were South Africa’s first important (albeit short-lived) bebop band, inspired by Art Blakey [...]
#60smusic #AbdullahIbrahim #HughMasekela #Jazz #SouthAfrica #AfroJazz
Group Theory Black Music
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tumi-mogorosi-group-theory-black-music/
“The Group Theory Black Music” documentary follows the creative process, and intentions between drummer Tumi Mogorosi and the many collaborators on the album.
Since his international debut on Jazzman Records in 2014 with Project ELO, Mogorosi has been in the vanguard of the South African creative music scene’s burgeoning outernational dimension, [...]
#Documentary #LiveMusic #SouthAfrica #AfroJazz #AvantGarde #Opera #Jazz
Batsumi (1974)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/batsumi-apartheid/
Many years after the fall of Apartheid, Batsumi remains sublime… and transformative, and its resonance hasn’t faded at all over the years.
During the brutal era in South African history known as Apartheid, the minority-white ruling party forcibly moved millions of black South Africans from their homes to segregated areas, stripping them of their citizenship […]
#70smusic #Apartheid #FullAlbum #SouthAfrica #AfroJazz #Jazz
Manu Dibango – Electric Africa
https://amf.didiermary.fr/manu-dibango-electric-africa/
Released in 1985, Electric Africa is an album with Herbie Hancock, Wally Badarou & Mory Kante, produced by Bill Laswell. […]
#80smusic #AfroFunk #Cameroon #FullAlbum #Jazz #ManuDibango #AfroJazz #HerbieHancock
Modern Africa (1984)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/modern-africa-1984/
From “Modern Africa” (BRR20) “Contemporary Brass, Woodwind, Rhythm and Percussion” by Teddy Osei, Mac Tontoh, Aaron Harry & Martin Luther Owusu in 1984, musicians forming the core of Osibisa.
Sathima Bea Benjamin – Africa
https://amf.didiermary.fr/sathima-bea-benjamin-africa/
Beatrice “Sathima Bea” Benjamin (17 October 1936 – 20 August 2013) was a South African vocalist and composer, based for nearly 45 years in New York City.
Mike Makhalemele – Going West
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mike-makhalemele-going-west/
Mike Makhalemele (1938-2000), from Alexandra, South Africa, nicknamed “Ratau” (“lion”), played saxophone, here with Jabu Nkosi (keyboards) and Sipho Gumede (bass) in a reissue of a classic album.
"[He] was a force of nature with a robust yet soulful tone and seemingly endless breath. He embraced the pop music scene as an enthusiastic collaborator and […]
Jimmy Dludlu – Tote
https://amf.didiermary.fr/jimmy-dludlu-tote/
Jimmy Dludlu (1966) is a jazz musician born in Maputo, who grew up in Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe and started playing guitar at 13 years old when he taught himself with a homemade guitar.
Vusi Mahlasela, Norman Zulu & Jive Connection
https://amf.didiermary.fr/vusi-mahlasela-norman-zulu-jive-connection/
A lost recording from the archives of producer Torsten Larsson with a 2002 collaboration between acclaimed South African folk singer Vusi Mahlasela, singer songwriter Norman Zulu and Swedish Jazz / Soul collective Jive Connection.
The links between South Africa and Sweden have long been strong with Sweden one of the most supportive European nations in [...]
TRUE STORY – Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O
https://amf.didiermary.fr/true-story-malcolm-jiyane-tree-o/
While the Tree-O’s previous outing UMDALI presented a snapshot of an inspired few days of spontaneity, TRUE STORY is a more deliberately crafted opus. Recorded in Johannesburg over three sessions between December 2020 and April 2021 and further polished for months in post-production sessions in 2023, the record is synesthetically vivid throughout, […]
Ibrahim Khalil Shihab – Spring
https://amf.didiermary.fr/ibrahim-khalil-shihab-spring/
South Africa’s lost jazz history contains many an overlooked classic. But even within that hidden tradition, there are few albums that suffered such an unlucky fate as Spring, the monumental 1968 debut album by pianist Ibrahim Khalil Shihab, formerly Chris Schilder.
Though Shihab was only twenty-two when Spring was recorded, he was already a lynchpin of […]
Abraham Mennen
https://amf.didiermary.fr/abraham-mennen/
Abraham Mennen is a South African saxophonist, improvisor and composer. In 2019, he released “The Really Revered Whole Story.”
Tèsfa-Maryam Kidané – Heywèté
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tesfa-maryam-kidane-heywete/
The saxophonist Tèsfa-Maryam Kidané was one of the most remarkable stylists of his generation and between 1965 and 1972 emerged as a brilliant, inspired player. Tesfa Mariam got his start with the Police Orchestra in Asmara. After his stints with the second Ras Band & The All Star Band. He left Ethiopia to study at […]
#70smusic #Ethiojazz #Ethiopia #Instrumental #MulatuAstatké #AfroJazz
Abdullah Ibrahim – Mannenberg
https://amf.didiermary.fr/abdullah-ibrahim-mannenberg/
Filmed in 1987, Abdullah Ibrahim describes in this interview how the iconic track “Mannenberg” came into being and performs it live. Taken from the BBC Arena film “A Brother with Perfect Timing.”
“Mannenberg” is a Cape jazz song by South African musician Abdullah Ibrahim, first recorded in 1974. Driven into exile by the apartheid [...]
#AbdullahIbrahim #Apartheid #Documentary #Jazz #SouthAfrica #AfroJazz
