Pan African Space Station
With: Bebson De La Rue (voice); Dicoco Boketshu (bass, video); Djanga (drums, percussion); guests DJs and musicians
WHERE/ WHEN: the Assembly in District 6 (Wed Oct 1, from 9pm); Guga S'thebe in Langa (Fri Oct 3, from 6pm)
Bebson de la Rue is a singer/rapper and the leader of Tryonix, an Afrofuturist project based in Kinshasa (DRC). Bebson and his brother Dicoco Boketshu, a bass player and video artist, formed Tryonix during the mid-1990s, as a collaborative project that blends Congolese rumba with rap and Jamaican raggamuffin with jazz sensibilities and electronica. Lyrically, Bebson taps into his vast knowledge of proverbs, Mongo chants and Kinshasa's street slang. A sound they call Original Raggamuffin Folklore (ORF).
CARLO MOMBELLI & THE PRISONERS OF STRANGE
With: Siya Makuzeni (voice & trombone); Marcus Wyatt (trumpet); Carlo Mombelli (bass & manipulated strings); Lloyd Martin (drums)
WHERE/ WHEN: Slave Church on Long Street (Thurs Oct 2, from 6pm); Mowbray Town Hall (Sat Oct 4, from 6pm)
The Prisoners of Strange is a collective 'spontaneous freestyle chamber jazz' ensemble from Johannesburg, under the leadership of Carlo Mombelli. The current line-up has been together since 2001, and has evolved into an exciting live performance group with a cult following in South Africa. Aside from appearing at nearly every major South African arts festival, they also recently performed before Abdullah Ibrahim at the Leipzig Jazztage in Germany. Their latest CD, 2007's I stared into my head features the Prisoners of Strange with the J.M.I. string section and artwork by Norman Catherine. It was nominated for a 2008 SAMA award.
CINDY BLACKMAN QUARTET
With: J.D. Allen (tenor saxophone); Carlton Holmes (piano/fender rhodes); George Mitchell (bass); Cindy Blackman (drums)
WHERE/ WHEN: Slave Church on Long Street (Wed Oct 1, from 6pm); Slave Church (Fri Oct 3, from 6pm)
Cindy Blackman is widely regarded as one of the top drummers in the world. She's upheld the backbeat and created texture for a veritable Who's Who in jazz: Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Don Pullen, Hugh Masekela, Pharaoh Sanders, Sam Rivers, Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofill, Bill Laswell, Buckethead. However, she's better known as keeper of polyriddims for funk rocker Lenny Kravitz since 1993. Indeed, she is one of a few drummers who can easily move from straight-ahead jazz to rock to funk and back again. Of her album Woks on Canvas, jazz critic Mike Zwerin said: "Some drummers act, some react. Some keep time, others create it. Cindy Blackman is among the few who can..." Cindy Blackman has also released an acclaimed drumming instructional video entitled Multiplicity.
MADALA "BAFO" KUNENE: SOUNDS IN THE DARKNESS OF LIGHT
With: Madala Kunene (guitars, voice)
WHERE/ WHEN: Slave Church on Long Street (Thurs Oct 2, from 6pm); Slave Church (Fri Oct 3, from 6pm)
Known to many simply as Bafo, Madala Kunene is undeniably one of the best guitarists to have come out of Durban. This eclectic musician has an aura of calmness and wisdom that is meticulously replicated in his music - deep-rooted in spiritual and traditional rhythms.
For his appearances at PASS in Cape Town, Bafo launches a concept titled "Sounds in the Darkness of Light", a solo performance in complete darkness. This places the audience in a realm of darkness where only sounds illustrate the images of one's immediate surroundings. A realm well understood by the visually impaired, who dwell in it daily. Members of blind societies from surrounding communities will be invited to the event and will escort the artist himself onto the stage.
FUNSHO OGUNDIPE & AYETORO
With: Funsho Ogundipe(piano, wurlitzer, fender Rhodes); Ayo Odia, Shabaka Hutchings, Ayo Solanke (saxophones); Byron Wallen (trumpet); Curtis Shaw, Mike Collins (guitars); Falna Amodu King, Karl Adedare Rasheed-Abel (bass); Pharoah Russell, Frank Tontoh (drums); Dayo Rasaq-Ayandele, Samson Olawale, Angela Paz Alhucima, Hafiz (percussions); Kwesi Frimpong (spoken word)
WHERE/ WHEN: Guga S'thebe in Langa (Wed Oct 1, from 6pm); Guga S'thebe (Fri Oct 3, from 6pm)
Ayetoro ("world of peace" in Yoruba) is the 9-piece band/vehicle for live performances of the music of Nigerian composer and pianist Funsho Ogundipe. Although heavily influenced by Afrofuturist big band projects such as Sun Ra's Arkestra, Miles Davis's electric groups and Fela Kuti's various outfits, Ayetoro is no mere funk-jazz-Afrobeat revival band. The collective's members, all established musicians in Lagos, Accra and London, get together for performance and recording projects. In accordance with the Felasophy of only performing works-in-progress, Ayetoro never perform pre-recorded music: they work on new songs, perform them and once recorded never perform them again.
BIBI TANGA & PROFESSEUR INLASSABLE
With: Bibi Tanga (voice, bass); Le Professeur Inlassable (turntables, programming); Rico Kerridge (guitars); Arnaud Biscay (drums, percussions); Arthur Simonini (violin, keys)
WHERE/ WHEN: the Assembly in District 6 (Wed Oct 1, from 9pm); the Assembly (Fri Oct 3, from 9pm)
Bangui-born, Paris based Bibi Tanga is a singer and bass player whose music combines Curtis Mayfield's truth-speaking falsetto, James Brown's funk epics and Sly Stone's lysergic experimentation with Africa's big band traditions, including Miriam Makeba's Bembeya Jazz National, Franco's TPOK Jazz and Fela Kuti's Africa 70. His current project is a collaboration with Professeur Inlassable, an accomplished DJ/producer and studio sorcerer, and a walking library of gothic samples. Their album, Yellow Gauze is a unique hybrid kaleidoscope of black music traditions. Weird and good.
ANTHONY JOSEPH & SPASM BAND
With: Anthony Joseph (voice); Andrew John (bass); Colin Webster (sax, flute); Adrian Owusu (guitars); Paul Brett, Paul Zimmerman and Craig Tamlin (percussions)
WHERE/ WHEN: the Assembly in District 6 (Thurs Oct 2, from 9pm); Mowbray Town Hall (Sat Oct 4, from 6pm)
Anthony Joseph is one of the leading writers of his generation. Born in Trinidad, his experimental poetry, fiction, music and spoken word performances fuse Calypso rhythms with a postmodern eye, creating what he calls 'liquid textology'. Joseph is the author of two poetry collections, Desafinado and Teragaton, a novel African Origins of UFOs, in addition to releases featuring his Jazz septet The Spasm Band. The band's debut album Leggo de Lion has echoes of dub poets, Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra cosmic visions, but the Spasm Band definitely has a sound of its own. Joseph's new collection of poetry Bird Head Son is due in 2008 followed by a new Spasm Band album with the same title.
BLK JKS
With: Linda Buthelezi (voice, guitars); Mpumi Mcata (guitars); Molefi Makananise (bass); Tshepang Ramoba (voice, drums)
WHERE/ WHEN: Guga S'thebe in Langa (Thurs Oct 2, from 6pm); the Assembly in District 6 (Fri Oct 3, from 9pm)
BLK JKS are an internationally acclaimed, Johannesburg based band. Says music journalist Miles Keylock: "What makes them hip is that they're South African and damn it, they sound it. In fact listening to BLK JKS is kind of like taking a slow cruise through Jozi with your windows rolled down. Afro-jazz riffs segue into tribal rhythms, which swagger through street-level sociology before exploding into hardcore bursts of noise, kwaai kwaito beats and addictive rock hooks. It's not funk rock. It's not punk rock. It's not indie rock. It's just music, and it'll infect your mind if you let it." BLK JKS have released two EPs. The latest, Mystery, was recorded at the famed Electric Lady studios in New York.
R.U.I. PRESENTS DUB VAULTS
With: Rui Sorero (turntables); Paulo Chibanga (turntables)
WHERE/ WHEN: the Assembly in District 6 (Wed Oct 1, from 8pm); the Assembly (Fri Oct 3, from 8pm)
As the riddim providers behind acclaimed bands such as 340ml, Tumi & Volume and Levi pon the Mic, the Mozambique born, Johannesburg based Rui Sorero (bass) and Paulo Chibanga (drums) are the contemporary South African equivalent to the famed riddim factory Sly & Robbie. And like their Jamaican heroes, Rui and Paolo are also dub producers. As a selector, Rui has also produced the acclaimed Dub Vaults I &II compilations, focused on contemporary South African dub. During their DJ sets at PASS, Rui and Paulo will select a mashup of local and international reggae, dub, dancehall and dubstep.
GOEMATRONICS
With: Mac Mckenzie (guitar); Brendon Bussy (electronics)
WHERE/ WHEN: Slave Church on Long Street (Wed Oct 1, from 6pm); Mowbray Town Hall (Sat Oct 4, from 7pm)
Goematronics is a collaboration between goema guitar supremo Mac Mckenzie and electronic instrument inventor Brendon Bussy. Jazz composer, goema legend McKenzie, once of punk band the Genuines, is currently the lynchpin of the Goema Captains, a Cape Town all star orchestra that includes saxophonist Robbie Jansen. Bussy is a musician, researcher and electro-acoustic sound artist working on the border of the classical/popular continuum. His predominantly research based work - including his 2003 album Diesel Geiger - combine traditional acoustic instrumentation with new media inventions. For PASS the duo performs a messy mix of malay-choir melodies on six slinky electric strings salted in live rhythm manipulations of a goema beat eaten with computer-chips.
Tickets are very reasonably priced. Once people find out, the tickets are gonna fly..
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