Each Wednesday, The World Africa presents three new musical products from or inspired by the continent. This week, let’s head to South Africa, where jazz is more alive than ever, whether solo or in collective.
« The Wedding », d’Abdullah Ibrahim
“At 6 years old, I touched my first piano note with the tip of my index finger”, remembers Abdullah Ibrahim. Eighty years later, and following having collaborated with the biggest names in jazz (Duke Ellington, Max Roach, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman …), the pianist released Solotude, an album recorded in Germany and where he revisits, alone facing his 88 keys, classics from his repertoire and pieces from more recent albums, while unveiling new compositions. The one that Nelson Mandela had designated as “Our Mozart” thus delivers a meditative and melancholic work, available digitally since the end of November and from Friday January 14 on vinyl and CD.
«Angels’ Prayers», d’Ayanda Sikade
Born in 1981, Ayanda Sikade also started playing drums at an early age (8 years old), later learning his skills with South African jazz figures, notably saxophonist Zim Ngqawana. It was under the direction of the latter that he met the pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, with whom he forged a strong musical bond and which we therefore logically find on Grandmother, his second album as a leader, alongside Simon Manana on alto saxophone and Nhlanhla Radebe on bass. On this nine-track record released in early December, the drummer almost disappears, all in discretion and subtlety, to give way to the composer and the solos he wrote for his acolytes.
«Ntate Gwangwa’s Stroll», by Malcolm Jiyane
It is also a collective work published by trombonist Malcolm Jiyane, 39, with Creator, his first album as a leader. Bass, drums, percussions, alto saxophone, keyboards, trumpets and vocals… Eight other artists, mostly from Soweto, were guided by this disciple of the late Johnny Mekoa, founder of the Gauteng Academy of Music, to give birth to a “Dark but fiery exploration of life, death and creativity”, in the words used by the Mushroom Hour Half Hour label to define this opus released in mid-November and whose five long tracks were recorded in two days in Johannesburg.
Find all the musical favorites of the editorial staff in the playlist YouTube from World Africa.
The “Winter sounds” at the Quai Branly Museum
Did you like the songs presented in this article and you will be in Paris on Sunday January 30? So we can only advise you to go to the Quai Branly Museum, which, for its first concert of the year and as part of the “Sons d’hiver” festival, “Invites jazz lovers to an exceptional dive into the heart of the bustling South African scene”.
Gathered around singer Siyabonga Mthembu and pianist Bokani Dyer, the artists who will perform from 5 p.m. are the same ones that the compilation highlighted. Indaba Is, released a year ago on the British label Brownswood Recordings. Jazz meets gospel, pop or hip-hop, in a melting pot of influences faithful to the cosmopolitan bustle of Johannesburg.
More information here: www.sonsdhiver.org