JAZZY SOULFUL WEDNESDAYS: An Intimate Performance

You are welcome to download his song entitled Divine Intervention above for free!

FRESH OUT OF THE BOX

MIRIAM MAKEBA's LEGACY LIVES ON

On 9 November, Tlale Makhene and songstress Zenzi Makeba Lee will perform at the Universal Hall in Berlin. Among other items on her repertoire, attendees will delight in Zenzi’s most revered a cappella song entitled "Mama", a traditional Jewish song originally entitled "Yiddisha Momme" which she always dedicates to her late mother and to all the mothers of the world. Tlale on the other hand will do a solo performance on voice and percussions using a loop station set to get the audience on a natural high as he invites Miriam Makeba’s spirit to sing through him.

It has been 18 years since the first democratic elections took place in South Africa and 4 years since the passing of Mama Afrika. In 1994, the bomb that attacked the ANC building shook flats inhabited by children and adults alike who then ran chaotically on the streets of Johannesburg for their dear lives. The war between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC) unfolded, a battle of the hero’s costume. Tlale Makhene was one of those musicians who in this chaos, still carried on as a soldier of music. During this time, Zenzi Makeba Lee, Miriam Makeba’s grand-daughter, had just completed her studies  at the Manhattan School of Music (previously known as Julliard) in New York City. The battle of the hero’s costume has not yet been won and as human beings, we continue to find ways to negotiate a civilised human order driven by love and good deeds.

With that said, one does not have to understand the language of music to feel its impact. Mama Afrika will once again pass on the baton to Tlale and Zenzi who have always respected music as an outlet for the spiritual realm to communicate with and guide us. All we have to do is pay attention to it and it will speak to us in ways beyond human contribution.