More on the Pan African Space Station

Between September 12 and October 12, 2008, the Pan African Space Station was “articulating musically, in techno-tender tones of post-millennial curiosity the Africa Centre’s programmatic theme of entangled nations…and to engage up close with the web of grooving soundwaves that binds Africans across the continent”. This “revolution” included a series of live shows and radio & internet streaming of, afro-jazz and funk. It was an incredible experience. In our previous post, we mentioned the Cindy Blackman Quartet. We went to two others shows, at different venues, as a part of the Space Station.

One show was Bibi Tanga at Assembly. We have mentioned the Assembly before, it’s a great place. The Bibi Tanga show was an awesome show. Opening for them was the Blk Jks. They were tremendous. They have an experimental rock-jazz sound, and were awesome performers

Once the Blk Jks finished, Bibi Tanga and his band took the stage. They blew it up. They had a more classic jazz sound, with great beats and old-school groove. The musicians were top-notch and the crowd LOVED it. The place was packed, and everyone was dancing.

The next night, we went to the Mowbray Town Hall, for the final concert of the Station, Anthony Joseph. The Mowbray Town Hall was a venue that clearly had been used for different things, both speaking and music engagements. When we walked in, the crowd was hushed, listening to soft experimental jazz. It was a small, old -fashioned auditorium-type building, with everyone seating on the ground in the main room, or on the balcony. Shortly after we arrived, there was a break, and then Anthony Joseph and his band (the Spasm Band) started. He seemed to know the weight of his time slot, as he was the final performance of the Pan African Space Station. He spoke briefly of that, and the greatness of the event. Then he started playing. He was not from Africa, but his culture and heritage, which was a big part of his music, was influenced by many of the same things as the other modern African music we had been listening to as a part of the Station. His music incorporated rock and old rhythm and blues chords. The formerly quiet crowd rose to it’s feet, and danced along. It was a lot of fun.

Blk Jks guitarist

Bibi Tanga at the Assembly

Anthony Joseph at the Mowbray Town Hall

Anthony Joseph and the Spasm Band

The Pan African Space Station was a great event. It was a showcase of the great sounds being created across the continent, and around the world. In addition it was a well organized event. There were shuttle buses to each venue, and streaming radio to let all those who could not attend in person, join the movement. Congratulations to the performers and the organizers on great events, and thank you for a memorable experience.

Cindy Blackman Quartet at the Pan African Space Station

First of all, we apologize for the long break since our last post; we’ve been doing some traveling and having some adventures with a good friend from Alaska. So, we have much catching up to do…

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We attended a stellar music festival called the Pan African Space Station a few weeks ago. We’ll share more about it in the next post, but in the meantime, enjoy this clip from an incredible performance by Cindy Blackman (you may know Ms. Blackman from her great work with Lenny Kravitz).

Zimfest 2008! (part 2)

Zolani of Freshly Ground

Freshly Ground stirs it up

Zimfest 2008 was an extraordinary event. The music was incredible, and the cause was inspirational. We previously described one of our favorite musical acts, and now we want to highlight our other favorite. That was Freshly Ground.

Freshly Ground is a band made up people from Southern Africa, primarily South Africa. It’s in eclectic group, with guitars and percussion, as well as horns and a violin. There are 7 people in the group, and when they’re performing all eyes are on them. Their sound is African pop, although, it is not easily labeled. Their songs touched on issues we can all relate to, like the pressures to compare ourselves physically to a perceived ideal of beauty and jealous feelings when your partner is away from home. They also mix in that African rhythm and even a few Xhosa clicks. It was a fantastic show.

After the show we had a chance to speak to the lead singer, Zolani, about Zimfest and living in Cape Town. It was a pleasure to talk to her, and to see Freshly Ground. We definitely recommend checking them out when they come to your town. (We apologize for the poor audio quality.)

Zimfest 2008! (part 1)

In the lobby

Zimfest rocks!

Necklaces from Zimbabwe

Nomfusi is super cool.

On Saturday, the 6th, we went to Zimfest. Zimfest is a fundraiser concert to raise money and awareness for the people of Zimbabwe. We learned that there are many people from Zimbabwe living here in South Africa, to escape the difficult conditions in their own country. The event highlighted the wonderful arts that come from Zimbabwe, and the plight of many Zimbabweans around the world.

First and foremost it was a music festival though. We saw many bands that we liked a lot, but we’re using our site to highlight two of our absolute favorites. One of those is Nomfusi. Nomfusi (backed by two vocalists) dazzled with her amazing voice. We felt ourselves swept away by their incredible vocals, as did the crowd around us.

We had a chance to talk to Nomfusi backstage after the concert, and ask about why this event was important to her. She explained that there was much that we know, and much that we don’t know, and hopefully events like this will build support for important causes. She wants to support all the good causes like this one, to raise awareness for Zimbabwe.

Happy Birthday to Bush Radio!

This was written on the morning of the 10th:

We went to a great party last night. The friendly people at Bush Radio invited us to their annual celebration.

We showed up at a bar in Observatory called Roots. We walked into an open courtyard, where a number of people from the station greeted us. It was a warm night, and it was tempting to stay in the open courtyard, but we could hear the good music inside, and it pulled us in.

We went into the club, and it was crowded with friends hanging out and toasting each other. We chatted with many people we bumped into as we made our way through the crowds. The dance floor was packed, and the DJs were Bush Radio personalities.

We ordered beers and took in the scene. We meet DJs and interns, all great. After finishing our drinks, we joined the group on the dance floor and took in the music. After a while, we moved into another open courtyard area. We looked up to see the stars, and sat back listening to the tunes and the four or five languages being spoken all around us. It was a Cape Town kind of night.