Music, Loyalty and Death: Moses Taiwa Mololekwa

Moses Taiwa Mololekwa

I claim no expertise or special insight into South Africa but I am very fascinated with its music, and from the comfort of a Lazy Boy, I enjoy hearing about its politics.  So, unlike my friend Phillip, who is very much an expert on matters South African (music and politics) and who is also responsible for introducing me to today’s spotlighted artist, I enjoy the protection of the novice, which means I’m to be forgiven for making sweeping generalisations and broad judgments.

And my first such generalisation is this: there appears to exist within the South African soul an equal capacity for creativity and destruction. For art and violence. Sure, this is true for most human beings and societies at some level. But the two forces of violence and artistic imagination seem to find a unique hospitality in South Africa.

This thought came to me as I read an article about Moses Taiwa Mololekwa, the pianist/composer who died a dozen years ago. A death, not of natural causes or illness, but of violence.

Here is the article from the blog Africa is a Country

Moses Mololekwa and the loss of “new” South African innocence

FEBRUARY 18, 2013 BY STEFFAN HOROWITZ

Recently, I’ve found myself listening to more and more South African Jazz. In particular, I’ve been gravitating towards the late pianist and producer, Moses Taiwa Mololekwa. Now, I must admit that my appreciation for Mololekwa’s music did not come about immediately and I fully acknowledge that his music is not for everyone (especially his inaccurately-labeled ‘fusion’ work), but there is certainly something magical and profoundly important about his work.

The reason I chose to write about this now is that last Wednesday marked the twelve-year anniversary of Moses Taiwa Mololekwa’s death at the age of 27. On the morning of February 13, 2001, Moses was found hanged next to his wife, who had evidently been strangled, in their office. The circumstances of their deaths are troubling, to say the least, yet this should not obfuscate the significance of Mololekwa’s contribution to South Africa’s already impressive musical legacy.

Predominantly active in the 90s, Moses Molelekwa’s music fused an eclectic mix of influences such as Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, and Bheki Mseleku, among others. His compositions contain references to genres as varied as hip-hop, jungle, kwaito (in fact he produced a number of tracks for the legendary kwaito group, TKZee), and perhaps most notably, marabi. His ability to play around with and recontextualize marabi grooves was nothing short of spectacular and as such, his music should be considered the archetype or standard against which all bubblegum and crossover production and instrumental arrangement of the time should be compared. This is true more for albums like Wa Mpona and Genes and Spirits, than for his comparatively straightforward (yet equally brilliant) Finding One’s Self and Darkness Pass.

For many of those who listen to the former two albums today, the music may come across as rather kitsch. However, the sound Mololekwa crafted on albums like Wa Mpona and Genes and Spirits must be understood within a larger context. The particular moment in South African history in which Taiwa made his music was one of excitement and celebration, as the apartheid era officially ended and the popularity of the ‘new South Africa’ rhetoric reached its peak. From a musical standpoint, this was a moment of immense pride, where musicians were looking inward and trying to create sounds and aesthetics that were uniquely South African, thereby setting themselves apart from the rest of the world (people were attempting to define themselves largely in relation to their ‘South Africanness’). Hence, popular genres like kwaito and crossover emerged as this shift towards prioritizing and performing ‘new South African’ subjectivities picked up steam. To be clear, Mololekwa was not necessarily trying to create music that was uniquely South African in the same way that folks like Johnny Clegg and the Trompies were, but this sentiment and the sonic aesthetics of the time inevitably found their way into his compositions. In many ways, Moses Mololekwa’s music became emblematic of the ‘new South Africa’ and for some, his death signaled the loss of this ‘new South Africa’s’ innocence.

Today, it does not require much of a leap of the imagination to hear Moses’s influence when listening to much of the deep house music being produced by popular South African acts like Black Coffee and Culoe De Song.

What drives a man so full of talent and Spirit to kill his lover and himself? A man who is young and admired at that. What great darkness is so powerful as to extinguish one’s light with such finality?

There is a school of psychology and therapy which is founded on the belief that each individual belongs to a ‘system’ or more accurately, multiple systems; family, society, culture, class, country. And at an unconscious level she/he retains strong bonds of loyalty to the values of those systems and acts out what those systems demand. Healing is finally brought through awareness and consciousness. By consciously severing these bonds, one experiences liberation.

It seems as if many artists from South Africa (Oscar Pistorius, falls into this category, too. He’s an artist of the track) remain unconsciously but very loyally and mightily bound to the expectations of an apartheid society that was born and experienced in violence.  Art is never far from violence and death.

This recording is from 1997 when a 23 year old Moses Taiwa Mololekwa performed at the Nantes Fin de Siecle Festival. The music is thrilling. You can feel his talent and imagination. And at the end feel the sadness that he was unable to break the bonds of loyalty to a monstrous system.

            Track Listing:

            01 Biko's Dream

02 Matswale

03 Mountain Shade

04 Dance To Africa

05 Ntatemoholo

06 Spirits Of Thembisa

here

Silenced not Silent: South African Apartheid Era Jazz

Next Stop Soweto: Volume 3, today’s selection, is a long overdue retrospective of the rich jazz scene happening in South Africa from the early '60s to mid-'80s. While many major artists lived in exile abroad and furthered their careers globally, many of South Africa's finest jazz players remained, performing under the strict auspices of the Separate Amenities Act.

Jazz has a deep heritage in South Africa, dating from the early 20th Century. The country's jazz scene flourished during the '50s, despite the increasing restrictions of apartheid, with musicians like the Jazz Epistles and Chris McGregor influenced by Charlie Parker & Duke Ellington before adding local marabi and kwela to their be bop. During the '60s, the Sharpeville Massacre, radio restrictions and police clampdowns made the life of a black musician often untenable. Major names like Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba left to live abroad.

Next Stop Soweto Vol. 3 is the story of the music that survived in South Africa during this mid-'60s to mid-'80s era. The album features many of the recognised South African jazz greats like saxophonist Dudu Pukwana and drummer Early Mabuza, the potent soul jazz grooves of The Heshoo Beshoo Group and The Drive and some of the many artists creating unique fusions like Philip Tabane's Malombo mixing African drums and hand percussion with guitar, vocal and flute. This is important music, a defiant statement in the face of unimaginable cultural repression. (http://www.nextstopsoweto-3.com)

The years this album covers are often dubbed  the Silent Years of South African Jazz...nothing could be further from the truth. It was an era on intense creativity--not silent but silenced. Because by the end of the 1960’s, the apartheid police state had learned to operate far more effectively and consolidate its cultural policies. The effect was to push black creativity to the margins of visibility.  

Black urban culture was was expelled from ‘white’ cities. Much of the Johannesburg jazz scene migrated to Cape Town where the process was happening more slowly though by the mid-70s the impact was the same. The number of artists choosing exile grew dramatically as work opportunities and creative freedom shrunk. (from the liner notes)

Unfortunately, I do not yet have Vols. 1 and 2 of this series but I have really enjoyed exploring this double CD. As another critic has said, this is jazz played by South Africans rather than anything that is uniquely South African but so what? If nothing else, it demonstrates the universal ownership of the music that was born in, but then immediately migrated from, the United States. And of the power of art to keep hope, courage, joy and creative juices alive in places where those in power try to control the human spirit.  One can do little more than bow yet again to the amazing musical ability, spirit and culture of South Africans.

Track Listing (D1):

01 Ngena Mntan'am [The Ministers]

02 Be There [Skyf]

03 Joy [Spirits Rejoice]

04 Orlando [Dennis Mpale]

05 Dedication-To Father Trane and Brother Shorter [Mankunku Quartet]

06 Itumeleng [Batsumi]

07 Ou Kaas [Themba]

08 Sibathathu [Malombo Jazz Masters]

09 Stay Cool [Tete Mbambisa]

here

Track Listing (D2):

01 Little Old Man - Maxhegwana [Early Mabuza Quartet]

02 Inhlupeko [The Soul Jazzmen]

03 Switch [Chris McGregor and the Castle Lager Big Band]

04 Emakhaya [Heshoo Beshoo Group]

05 Oosoga [Christopher Columbus Feelings]

06 Sangoma [Malombo]

07 Joe’s Jika [Dudu Pukwana and Spear]

08 Pinese’s Dance [The Soul Giants]

09 Take Me to Brazil [Jazz Ministers]

10 Spring [Chris Schilder Quartet featuring Mankunku]

here

Booklet

The Important Things: Pops Mohamed

Pops Mohamed

The name of tonight’s selected piece of music is Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, which is a very appropriate title for this annual watershed when the year fades away and emerges, on the other side of night, as something new.

2012 has been a year characterised by the most amazing intensity; in many ways it has been one of the highlights of my life. I’ve had the privilege of spending lots of time with my children and wife, exploring dreams and communing with, in the words of Gil Scott-Heron, ‘the Spirits’. The Washerman’s Dog continued to attract new fans around the world, many of whom struck up conversations with me and shared a bit of their own lives. Such experiences are always precious and I thank all of you who did get in touch.

One of the big events of the year was putting a stake in the sand and setting up Harmonium Music which, though not as nearly as mature as I would have liked, has been a fantastic adventure (and steep, slow learning curve).  In August my son’s football team won their championship and he was named the Player of the Series! My daughter continued to wrap me tighter around her finger and surprise us (and sometimes, freak us out) with her natural acrobatic skills.  My wife renewed an academic journey and became even more of a mentor to friends and family.

So it was a year of deepening love, family, Spirit and the beginning of important journeys.  On the ‘bring home the bacon’ front 2012 continued to be challenging. Attempts to find work of any sort failed with dismal predictability.  This has led to a situation where on this  the very first day of the New Year, I have had to take the decision to pull up stumps and move away from Australia for work.  In a few weeks time I will be taking up a new job in Beirut with the UN, assisting on the humanitarian response to the people’s crisis in Syria.

This is not what I thought 2013 would hold but it bears remembering that often the road home is a circuitous one. And one thing I’ve learned in the past 2 years: be open to all possibilities and settle in for the ride.

So how much time I will have to keep the Dog barking this year remains to be seen.  But I can promise I’ll be avidly exploring the musical souks of Beirut and posting some things here from time to time.   So keep coming back.

Tonight’s selection is from the wonderful South African musician, Pops Mohamed. My old friend PW, who recently made his own overseas move back to Africa, is responsible for introducing me to this music.  This album from 2002 is mellow and evocative of this time of transition.  It’s a story told about comings and goings, family, movements and journeys of several different sorts.  Just the sort of thing that’s on my mind and probably that of many others at the moment.

Ismail Mohamed-Jan, (Pops Mohamed) was born on 10 December 1949, Bemoni, South Africa. Mohamed founded and played guitar with his first band, the Valients, in the mid-60s. Their repertoire was made up of soul, Latin and local kwela music. Following the break-up of the Valiants, he formed Children’s Society, predominantly a covers band who, nevertheless, had a big local hit with the self-penned ‘I’m A Married Man’. In the 70s Mohamed teamed up with Basil Coetzee and Sipho Gumede, bass player with Sakhile, and made four albums that became huge hits in the townships of South Africa. The 80s saw him working behind the scenes as a producer and recording engineer while also mastering the mbira (a South African thumb piano). In the early 90s he released two solo jazz albums for the local market only, Kalamazoo in 1991 and Sophiatown a year later. Both sold well and received lavish critical praise.

Having produced and played on the Outernational Meltdown recording sessions in 1994, he released Ancestral Healing, his international debut, a year later. Subtitled ‘From New York To Jo’burg’, it was recorded in New York and featured local musicians, such as Valerie Naranjo (vibraphonist, percussionist, ex-Caribali), along with South African players and Mohamed himself playing piano, penny whistle, mbira and a whole range of percussion instruments. The album successfully melded traditional styles with the South African jazz sound made internationally popular by artists such as Abdullah Ibrahim and the African Jazz Pioneers.At the time of the release of Ancestral Healing, Mohamed was in the Kalahari Desert recording the chants and music of the Khoisian bushmen. Tapes of these recordings were used as the basis for a recording session featuring Mohamed and a group of young British jazz musicians including Chris Bowden and Roland Sutherland. The result, released as How Far Have We Come, featured funky South African-style jazz, with the tribal elements integrated more effectively on some tracks than on others. (AMG)

Happy New Year!

            Track Listing:

            01 Kalamazoo

02 Mother And Child

03 Gauteng Vibes

04 Lament

05 Movement In The City - Part 1

06 The Journey - Part 1 (Mayibuye)

07 The Journey - Part 2 (The Groove)

08 Spirit

09 The Journey Continues…

10 Arosa

11 Movement In The City - Part 2

12 I'm Going Back

here

Nefertiti of Soweto: Brenda Fassie

Brenda Fassie

Brenda Fassie died in 2004 of cardiac arrest. But claims that cocaine was found in her blood and that she was HIV positive hung about.  Like Whitney Houston, another talented artist who passed away recently, Brenda Fassie, the continentally acclaimed ‘Madonna of the townships’ (Time magazine, 2001) led a scandal filled off-stage life that kept  many a mediocre journalist employed long past their prime.

She came up to Johannesburg from Cape Town as a teenager when apartheid was still unchallenged.  Her moving hit Black President was banned by the government but endeared her to millions of fans in the townships across the country.  Her fame spread quickly across Africa; her hits I am Not a Bad Girl  and Memeza (among a bevy of others) were immensely popular from Nairobi to Free Town.  She won multiple awards and dominated the charts for all of the 80s and much of the 90s.

She had a fiery, shit-kicking personality which led her to a cocaine addiction, serial affairs and a horrible experience of waking up in a run down shack in Soweto next to the drug addled corpse of her lesbian lover.  Amazingly she turned her life around and went on to record some of her biggest hits in the 90s.

Brenda’s music is 1980s nightclub music. But her voice is strong, the production top class and overall this is a great record of South African pop music. Black President, Jail to Jail, I am Not a Bad Girl, The Lord is My Shepherd…all standouts!

            Track Listing:

            01 Black President

02 Too Late For Mama

03 Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu

04 I am Not A Bad Girl

05 Boipatong

06 Jail To Jail

07 Ngiyakusaba

08 I Straight Le Ndaba

09 Yo Baby

10 Bump Bump

11 Heroes Party

12 The Lord Is My Shepherd

13 Black President [US Remix]

here