DJ Ntone
A tribute to the life & work of Franco
François Luambo Makiadi—best known simply as Franco—needs no introduction. Guitarist, singer, bandleader, composer, Congo colossus, sorcerer of the guitar, the Grand Maitre.
Together with his band, Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinois Jazz, or TPOK Jazz, he transformed music – combining African sounds, Caribbean rumba and American jazz and R&B into the sweet exuberance, and palpable, contagious optimism, dense polyrhythmic textures and sharp social and political critique of Congolese rumba and soukous.
Twenty three years after his death in Belgium in 1989, DJ Ntone goes crate digging though his massive body of work: nearly two thousand songs, many of them the full length of both sides of an LP, to pay tribute. La Rumba OK!
Preview of TPOK Jazz music below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgZ9GU_HxpI
Church
Annual Stevie Wonderful birthday special
Church
DJ Ntone
DJ Ntone: the Church Sessions
Intercultural composition & Pan African re-emerging & merging in music
Catch the PASS curatorial team of Ntone Edjabe and Neo Muyanga (the Heliocentrics) in conversation on “Intercultural composition and Pan African re-emerging and merging in music” as part of GIPCA’s Emerging Modernities programme at the University of Cape Town, February 18 – 20. Their discussion forms part of a two day event aimed at exploring the current conceptual issues surrounding the notions of redefining contemporary identities and art. In addition to sessions that critically reflect on existing bodies of work, …
Playing with electricity: Dr. Satan’s Echo Chamber
“…We can re-interpret, version, the Big Bang. It is a sound which makes possible the universe and then the world. Creation is merely an echo of that primal sound, a product of its sonic waves. This myth establishes one of the most crucial dialectics in human knowledge: sound and silence. What bridges the two elements is echo, the traces of creation. If sound is birth and silence death, the echo trailing into infinity can only be the experience of life, …
Playing with electricity: Thomas Mapfumo “unplugged”
Organised in celebration of Thomas Mapfumo’s 50th birthday in 1995, “Live at El Rey” is a sort of “unplugged”-projekt featuring a stripped-down crew of two mbira players, a trap-kit drummer and the phenomenal talents of Allan Mwale on electric bass. The idea is to let Thomas Mapfumo’s music stand out as naked as possible, stripped of effects, without big arrangements. [display_podcast]
Playing with electricity (vol4): Electric Ladyland
The Voodoo Chile departed 40 years ago – found gone. We pay tribute via his last and arguably most lasting work. The Ladyland in full in your player. [display_podcast] And here, in full, Brother Greg Tate (greetings!) on the meaning of Jimi (first published in Chimurenga Magazine, vol 5): MEDITATIONS ON JIMI HENDRIX All roads lead to Jimi Hendrix. As all roads veer off from Hendrix, guiding us toward whatever promised land, crossroads, or dystopia we may choose to imagine. …