Phillip Kakaza Live music
Back in the 1980s South African music made a radical turn – the locally created home-brew kwaito took the music scene by storm. Its tsotsi taal- flavoured lyrics and irrestible dance rhythms are still heard blasting in clubs, shebeens and parties.
Recently, much in a similar way, BMG (South Africa) is grovelling in the dustbins of the ghettos in search of new talents and sounds. Every Wednesday at 206 in Orange Grove, the company hosts a musical showcase of a different kind with a funky name; Jozi Vibes – Vibes 2 Smoke Ya.
Also featured at the gigs is the in- house DJ Da’ General S’busiso Nxumalo and MC Sista Bev.
“Jozi Vibes is about showcasing contemporary African sounds,” says BMG’s Sifiso Ntuli. “It’s a musical concept that combines musos, DJs, MCs and dancers to come up with a new sound and vision from the next millennium.”
The project, which was launched last year, is a follow-up of a successful compilation CD which features established musos like Vusi Mahlasela alongside up-and-coming groups including Cape Town’s ragga muffin trio, Earth Quake, the hip-hop outfit Pille and Dagga, fame troupe Funny Carp and kwaito wiz-kids, TKzee.
This year, the Jozi Vibes gigs kicked off on a high note with TKZee’s Zwai Bala doing the jazz classic song, Ntshilontshilo, in a dub-style. “Though Zwai is mostly associated with kwaito music, we discovered that he is a musical genius and can divert from kwaito to anything of his liking,” says Ntuli.
Some of the groups to be featured are Basadi, an all-women Afro-jazz act that promises to rock the venue; Mbali, a gospel singer who recently collaborated with Tkzee’s Zwai on her new album, about to be released; Pathways Crossing, consisting of South African singer, composer and guitarist Cliff Shain; and Swedish guitarist Peter Nordling.
The two musicians have been working together for the past seven years, combining influences from classical to jazz, folk and rock music. They are currently recording an album with Mike Makhalemele (saxophone), Isaac Mtshali (drums), Andre Abrahamse (bass guitar) and Tapelo Khomo (keyboard).
Another interesting band worth checking out is the Survivors. The band has never performed on a professional stage before. Described by Ntuli as a cocking roots-rock- reggae, the Survivors were discovered by Ntuli basking on a cold winter afternoon at the fleamarket in Newtown. They are now on the lineup and all excited about it.
“I’m glad that I’ve discovered them and they are future stars. The only way to develop their talents is to provide them with an audience and record their music. That’s how stars are made,” says Ntuli.
Indeed, that’s how stars were made in the late 1930s in the United States. The cultural visionary in Ralph Cooper and a few crack musicians were keen at forever changing the American popular culture. Every Wednesday at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, they started amateur nights at the Apollo, out of which the world got to know the likes of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt, James Brown and The Jackson Five. It was at the amateur nights that these stars were baptised. Much in the same way Jozi Vibes promises to bring us a new breed of musos.
Jozi Vibes is on every Wednesday at 206 Louis Botha Avenue, Orange Grove. Next Wensday’s lineup consists of Earth Quake, Survivors and the African Marimba Band.