1. Tsala with Faith Kekana, John Hassan, Frances Reardon, Geoff Gasgoyne and Andrew Missingham.
2. Spirits of Tembisa with John Hassan, & Andrew Missingham
3. Down Rockey Street with Fana Zulu, Vusi Khumalo, Jose Miguel Melendez, Khaya Mahlangu, Lawrence Matshiza, Denis Rollins and Rowland Sutherland
4. Itumeleng with Bassie Mahlasela, Frances Reardon, Geoff Gasgoyne
5. Sogra with Flora Purim, Fana Zulu, Vusi Khumalo, Jose Miguel Mendez, Khaya Mahlangu & Lawrence Matshiza
6. Genes & Spirits with Jantshi Mayo, Kwazi Shange & Tlale Makhene.
7. Kwaze Kwangcono with Marc Anthoni, Lungiswa Plaatjies, Faith Kekana, Julie, Kwazi Shange, Jantshi Mayo, John Hassan & Lawrence Matshiza
8. Rapela with Brice Wassy & Hilaire Penda
9. Dance to Africa with Brice Wassy, Byron Wallen, Jose Neto, Zim Ngqawana, Airto Moreira, Valerie Naranjo
10. Ntatemoholo with Chucho Valdes and Taiwa
Recorded at Rhino Studios, Downtown Studios, The Garden in London, Real World in Bath, Brownhill farm Studios in West Sussex and Livingstone Studios London
Engineerd by Richard Edwards, Richard Mitchell, Jasper, Pete Hoffmann, Mark Braithwaite, Russell Kearney, Chris Lewis and Peter Thwaites (Dance to Africa)
Quotes from Ian Nicolson: " His second allbum for the "no boundaries" M.E.L.T. 2000 label is a delightful dip into a barrel filled with seductive influences. Moses has layered Cuba (with celebrated Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes as mentor), Brazil (Flora Plurim's unmistakeable vocalisations), the Cameroon (funked up by Brice Wassy's infectious time-keeping), and even Bristol (just a lickle drum'n'bass from somewhere...) over his own instinctive township feels. The resultant blends are so cheering I think Taiwa's left hand could probably heal the sick - or at least make them feel a sight more chirpy. Heartily recommended."
Johannesburg Mail & Guardian January 1997
Gwen Ansell
A child plays in the dusty streets of Tembisa township on Johannesburg's East Rand. It is 1978. From one doorway floats the scratchy sound of a Charlie Parker album. From another, an equally scratchy recording by alto saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi. And down the street, live, on a bare piece of open ground, the complex, multilayered polyrhythmic drumming of a troupe of traditional Pedi musicians...
It's from these three roots that Moses Taiwa Molelekwa's unique jazz piano has grown.
South Africa is one of the few countries outside the USA where jazz has been a genuinely popular music, and not the preserve of an elite. In the townships, American jazz was (and is) purchased at great expense; heard avidly; the solos dissected with skill. But there's also a unique South African jazz heritage, blending folk styles, modern instrumentation and big-band swing. In the marabi music of the 1940s and 1950s, three chords and a two or four-bar sequence carried a hypnotic, constantly changing melodic ribbon. The music grew, enfolding and adapting influences from bebop, free jazz and rock, and - in a society of enforced migrancy between city and countryside - constantly receiving fresh transfusions from a score of distinctive folk traditions. And it was dangerous music: challenging the cultural categories and divisions of apartheid and the rules which tried to legislate settled black citizens out of existence. It has its heroes (like the legendary Moeketsi), its exiles (Masekela, Makeba, Dollar Brand, Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGregor and more) and its own canon of standards -including many defiantly joyful titles which threw apartheid's laws back in its own face.
That musical heritage can be heard in Molelekwa's complex, percussive left hand, (Ntate Mohalo) in fractured, staccato phrasing (Down Rockey Street) and in the close-to-marabi structure of Itumeleng. It's also there in the stark lyricism of Sogra/Mmatswale, with its folk-like simplicity of melodic line. South Africa sings in Molelekwa's almost choral approach to instrumental arrangements, and in his densely-textured use of percussion.
But there's more to South Africa than rhythms and harmonies, and more to this album than South Africa. The intensely spiritual quality of black community life (botho/ubuntu - respect for the humanity of others) is sewn with unbreakable thread to its music. Apartheid's project of de-humanisation created spiritual tragedy and crisis in the townships. And Molelekwa, growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, was also marked by that crisis. He told a film-maker: "There was so much pressure, everyone had to find a way to let it out. The pressure drove my best friend into crime; I'm lucky, I can deal with it through my music." Those emotions, too, are here: the warmth of friendship, the joy of celebration and the regret for what has been lost.
The 1 990s are a time of movement and hope for South African jazz. There's a rediscovery of musics which were pushed underground or into exile, like the free jazzing of Brotherhood of Breath. And there's a new process of musical bridge-building to the sounds 9f the rest of Africa, to Asia and Latin America and to the clubs of Europe and America. That process resonateson this album in the collaborations with Chucho Valdez, (Ntate Moholo) and singer Flora Purim (Sogra/Mmatswale). It dances through the ragga flavours and programmed drums of Spirits of Tembisa.
What makes this work unique - and much more than the sum of its influences - is Molelekwa's own voice as a musician, his vision and his technique. Equally fresh are the approaches of his South African collaborators, in the main young players from his own generation. This album pays its respects to South Africa's jazz past - but it has its feet on the road to the future.
![Featured artists on Ekhaya: Bass – Nik Cohen , Congas – Mabi Thobejane , Djembe, Vocals – Amampondo , Drums – Andy Gungadeen , Kudu Horns – Michael Ludonga , Mzwandile Qotoyi, Simpiwe Matole , Xola Mlambo , Keyboards – Nick Coler , Simon Wallace , Simon Davies , Marimba – Mandla Lande , Percussion – James Mac, Percussion [Tablas] – Naushad Sheikh , Saxophone – Tony Kof , Trombone – Trevor Edwards , Trumpet – Kevin Day Picture above: Simpiwe Matole, Dizu Plaatjies, Mzwandile Qotoyi and Lungiswa 1996](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/577bcab6f7e0ab8d80113f94/57838caed1758e9af41439af/57838f8b15d5db8fe56ea310/1470940609504/Amampondo+%26+Lungiswa.jpg)
