On a recent trip to London I was hoping to catch a performance by Cape Town drummer Louis Moholo Moholo, the last surviving member of the famed jazz bands, The Blue Notes and The Brotherhood of Breath. Especially with the release of “Before the Wind Changes,” a live recording of The Blue Notes on tour in Belgium in 1979. For the uninitiated, The Blue Notes, along with Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela, defined South African jazz internationally for much of the period between 1960 and 1980. The band consisted of Chris McGregor on piano, Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana on alto sax and Johnny Dyani on bass. They left South Africa in the early 1960s after being invited to a jazz festival in France and subsequently became key players in Britain’s jazz scene.

Meanwhile, while I am trying to get my hands on “Before the Wind Changes,” I’ll substitute with Youtube videos, like the 5-minute video just below. It is footage of Moholo-Moholo (close to the camera on the right) and his quintet playing in London last year.

Then right below is another video — 9 minutes long — filmed at a festival in London in 2010. Moholo (at the back on the left) with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith and Steve Noble:

Finally, there’s this interview filmed at the 2011 Pan African Space Station music festival in Cape Town with musician and composer, Neo Muyanga:

Further Reading

Who owns Afrobeats

Does Afrobeats come from the continent or the diaspora. This reviewer of a new book on the genre’s history and rapid takeover of our airwaves and playlists, argues we need to center Africa more.

The cemetery of cinema

Thierno Souleymane Diallo’s latest film traces his search for what is likely the first film made by a Guinean, in the process asking: how is a film culture possible when the infrastructure and institutions are lacking?

Whose democracy?

In Israel, tens of thousands have demonstrated against the new right-wing government’s plans for judicial reform. But what of the Palestinian question? In this episode of the podcast, we discuss.