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Track Listing (30 Second Samples)

1. INTRODUCTION BY ANNA
2. ZET - MY BUSHMEN PEEPS (MAMA DANCE)
3. EBOMVU KALAHARI MIX
4. CLAPS & BOW AT BROWNHILL FARM
5. VOODOO JULIE
6. LEKKER LEKKER
7. PURPLE MIX U
8. HONEY SONG
9. 'LOOKING BACK !GUBI'
10. CROCODILE RIVER
11. KALAHARI SAN STORM
12. KABUYE (THE RETURN) SILK T/BEN AMATO
13. MELT MIX
14. MUHADI (INTERLUDE)
15. ACID ROCKERS MIX
16. AMBIENT MIX

The San Bushmen - the indigenous people of southern Africa are Africa's oldest inhabitants, having lived in the region for over twenty - five thousand years. Musical Energy Loud Truth brings to you the remixes of the san music in collaboration with local and international producers.

IN AID OF THE BUSHMEN OF THE KALAHARI
If there were ever a tribe on earth that could connect us to our ancient hunter-gatherer roots then the Bushmen of the Kalahari would be our spirit guides for the new millennium. The Bushmen our purported to be the oldest race left on earth and after years of racial prejudice and denial of political voice in modern Africa, this much maligned and misunderstood group need our help urgently.
The particular Bushmen that appeared on the original MELT 2000 CD Pops Mohamed presents: Bushmen of the Kalahari originates from the desolate and unforgiving wilderness of the Kalahari desert in Namibia. Amongst these are !Ngube Goute, Anna Goute, and Marcella Goute. !Ngube is a shaman, musician and tribal leader. Anna and Marcella are his daughters and the other Bushmen on this album are his tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers.
Sanscapes One was initiated as a way of helping to raise awareness for these nomadic Bushmen. We thought long and hard about how to undertake this project in a very honest, sympathetic way without it looking like we were exploiting the Bushmen culture for a couple of ‘banging’ dance tunes. But as soon as you add the concept of remix to a project like this certain people will automatically throw their hands up in horror. We heard cries of ‘plundering sacred music for evil dance music hedonism’ uttered in some quarters. Certain individuals had sacrificed their so-called intellectualist stance in favour of a knee jerk reaction and patronising pat on the head for the Bushmen. Well, we have never seen these people as separate from us, and they deserve to be treated as modern people who are our absolute equals even if they don’t happen have a mortgage and 2.5 kids.
When !Ngube, Anna, Marcella, and their Botswanan friend Kuela travelled over to England for a series of very special shows I for one was slightly nervous as to what they might feel about their music being interpreted by other musicians and producers. However I needn’t have been concerned because seventy year old !Ngube proved to be more forward thinking than most of his contemporaries. My enduring memory of !Ngube is at the rehearsal space at Melt2000’s Farm Studio smiling broadly with the headphones on listening to the Raj Gupta mix from Sanscapes One. He said that the music reminded him of flying. He also became a big fan of Bob Holroyd’s now legendary mix ‘Looking Back’ and insisted on meeting Bob to thank him in person. The difference in attitude between our Namibian friends and the Western ethnomusicologists that pretend to protect this ancient culture is remarkable in the extreme.
Why do some people feel the necessity to conform others to their own patronising and antiquated ideas? I would have dearly liked these people to have seen Marcella dancing enthusiastically to the System 7 mix that you now hold in your hands. The hardest dance sounds proved to be a big hit for our Namibian friends.
The London shows at the October Gallery and 93Feet East in London were remarkable events in every sense of the word. Even if the Bushmen troupe had been dislocated from their desert skyline, they managed to evoke the sights and sounds of the Kalahari Desert in a series of mesmerising performances. For the Sanscapes launch party at 93Feet East in Brick Lane we even attempted to bring on some of the remixers to jam with the Bushmen. It was an experiment at genuine fusion in both a cultural and musical sense. At one point on stage we had Smadj from Paris via Tunisia, Mehdi Haddab from Paris via Algeria, U-Cef from London via Morocco, Youth, Pete Lockett and Pam Chowhan from London, Pops Mohamed from South Africa, Zena Edwards from London, Kuela from Botswana, and the Goute family from Namibia. This is how the future of Global fusion should be, understanding and tolerance of every musical culture without losing any sense of cultural identity.
Sanscapes Two sees the future visions of the Bushmen continue in emphatic style. This time we have attempted to go even deeper and challenge the concept of what is old and what is new, what is future music and what is ancient rhythm. The Bushmen inserts were taken from original unreleased material and from a very special party that was held at Melt2000’s Farm studios near Worthing. This remarkable event held round a campfire saw !Ngube, Marcella, Anna, and Kuela giving close Melt friends and family a taste of Bushmen festivities and trance dancing in a Kalahari Desert style. We’ve tried to extract a little of the feeling of these events in Sanscapes Two and we hope you enjoy the results.
If this project has taught us anything it is to listen without prejudice and to enjoy the music for what it is. The remixers have interpreted the Bushmen sounds in a very personal way and this unique meeting should be valued as much as the wonderful source material that they were privileged to use. The multicultural aspect of Sanscapes continues and for volume two we have very special mixes from France, Turkey, Morocco, England, and South Africa. Once again we extend our thanks to all the people who gave up a little of their valuable time to be involved in this project and once again we thank you for buying this album and helping raise awareness for the Bushmen of the Kalahari.
Respect, Phil Meadley Proceeds from the sales of Sanscape go to WIMSA: Working Groups of Indigenous Minorities of Southern Africa.