Thandi Ntuli – Blk Elijah
https://amf.didiermary.fr/thandi-ntuli-blk-elijah/
“Blk Elijah & The Children of Meroë” is the 5th release and 3rd studio album by South African Jazz pianist Thandi Ntuli.
Through her work over a hitherto 13-year career, Thandi has carved space for herself, and others seeking home, to fully exist – thereby firmly situating herself and the contemporary South African generation in […]
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.
Coltrane Quartet – Africa/Brass
https://amf.didiermary.fr/coltrane-quartet-africa-brass/
Africa/Brass is the eighth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane (Coltrane Quartet), released on Impulse! Records on September 1, 1961.
Its big band sound, with the unusual instrumentation of French horns and euphonium, presented music very different from anything that had been associated with Coltrane to date.
Remembering Pharoah Sanders
https://amf.didiermary.fr/pharoah-sanders-africa/
Africa is an album led by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders (born Farrell Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022), recorded in 1987.
Dowdelin Feat. Pat Kalla – Funky Chicken
https://amf.didiermary.fr/dowdelin-pat-kalla-funky-chicken/
“Dowdelin explores as a tireless ever moving trailbazer a path where Creole jazz, electronic dancefloor sounds and Caribbean percussions come together to create a unique Future Kréol feeling.”
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
Mwandishi Sextet Project
Afrofuturism & psychedelism in the 70s, with Herbie Hancock.
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
Sharhabil Ahmed – Argos Farfish / Zulum Aldunya
https://amf.didiermary.fr/sharhabil-ahmed-argos-farfish-zulum-aldunya/
Sharhabil Ahmed, also known as the “King of Sudanese Jazz,” was born in 1935 and is the founding father of the Sudanese Jazz scene. His aim was to modernize Sudanese music by bringing it together with western influences and instrumentation. Contemporary Sudanese music draws a lot of influences both from [...]
#60smusic #AfroFunk #Ethiojazz #Jazz #Soundcloud #Sudan #OldAfricanMusic
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.
Nina Simone – Liberian Calypso
https://amf.didiermary.fr/nina-simone-liberian-calypso/
Nina Simone (1933 – 2003), here playing “Liberian Calypso,” which was inspired by her stay in the West African country from 1974 to 1977.
In this song, she revisits “Run Joe” from the album “Miss Calypso” by Maya Angelou released in 1957.
Oum – Taragalte
https://amf.didiermary.fr/oum-taragalte-soul-morocco/
Oum El Ghaït Benessahraoui, known as Oum, is a singer-songwriter of modern Moroccan popular music. Performing and recording both in North Africa and in Europe, she mixes multiple traditional and international influences.
Soul meets Gnaoua meets Jazz in her album “Soul of Morocco” in 2013.
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 […]
Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela – Lagos Never Gonna Be The Same
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tony-allen-hugh-masekela-lagos-never-gonna-be-same/
“Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be The Same)” is a single taken from Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela’s very special collaboration “Rejoice“.
In this track, Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela pay tribute to Fela Kuti.
#HughMasekela #Jazz #Nigeria #SouthAfrica #TonyAllen #AfroBeat
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.
Le Mystère Jazz de Tombouctou
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mystere-jazz-tombouctou/
The Orchestre Regional de Tombouctou, also known as “Le Mystère Jazz de Tombouctou”, did not release a recording until 1977.
During the era of Mali’s first President, Modibo Keita (1960-1968), the government created regional orchestras and arts troupes in each of the nation’s seven regions. These groups were state-sponsored and from 1962 they competed in […]
Ahmad Jamal – Swahililand
https://amf.didiermary.fr/ahmad-jamal-swahililand/
From “Jamal Plays Jamal” an album by American jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, featuring performances recorded in 1974.
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, […]
Diteboho - Pitso (1st Movement)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGkMKHlbrjY
Black classical music, with traces of Abdullah Ibrahim...
Hailing from Arusha, #Tanzania, Frida Amani is known for her unique blend of Afro-fusion, Hip-Hop and more traditional sounds.
Her 2021 release “Madam President,” advocating female empowerment and encouraging young women to aspire for leadership roles, such as the presidency, earned her an invitation to the Tanzanian State House, where she was recognized by the President of Tanzania as the “Madam President” of rap.
Almon Memela (Soweto)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/almon-memela-soweto/
Born in 1936, Almon Memela is (was?) a South African composer, guitarist and producer, from Donnybrook, KwaZulu-Natal, who taught himself to play guitar as a child (first on homemade instruments and with no encouragement from his family). A remarkably versatile artist, his music went from Soul Jazz and Jive to Mbaqanga and AfroFunk. [...]
#70smusic #AfroFunk #Jazz #Mbaqanga #SoulJazz #SouthAfrica #OldAfricanMusic
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 […]
