Ugandan folk musician and dancer, Seby Ntege and his Ngoma arts band invited me to tour across, Devon, south west England in February 2010. The audiences were not only receptive but brought family members to enjoy. Seby Ntege is passionate about keeping traditional African music alive accompanied by dancer and musician, Hassan Kayemba and John Raymond M, on bass, who also produced this clip. Here, we are performing Ntwara Mata, a popular Ugandan song with me on drums and percussion.
Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Monday, 4 May 2009
A song called : Freedom
I penned this song in 1980 while reflecting on various types of freedoms in many ways and million places around the world...I was living in one of the poorest districts of Dar es Salaam (called Mwananyamala Kisiwani) in Tanzania. The previous night i experienced a very troubled sleep due to prolonged chilling shrills and screaming... a man was beating his wife for borrowing a piece of soap from a neighbour.
That is how poverty interacts with freedom and relationships.
Playing and enjoying this memorable session in Winter 2009:
Piano- Kaz Kasozi (Ugandan multi-instrumentalist musician);
Bass- Andre Mathurin (from St Lucia where they have that special annual jazz festival)
Percussion- Trevor Antonio (African- Carribean rhythm man)....
I have been playing on and off with these great guys for over a decade. They have one thing in common which i always look for and love in musicians: they are sensitive, creative, they listen and do not over play...
On a hand held Camera is Krawl, a man of such intense talent; he is also a Capoeira (the Brazilian martial arts and dance) teacher.
This London session was recorded, edited and produced by Kaz Kasozi for his Video-cast series which showcases various musicians with similar themes and styles.
That is how poverty interacts with freedom and relationships.
Playing and enjoying this memorable session in Winter 2009:
Piano- Kaz Kasozi (Ugandan multi-instrumentalist musician);
Bass- Andre Mathurin (from St Lucia where they have that special annual jazz festival)
Percussion- Trevor Antonio (African- Carribean rhythm man)....
I have been playing on and off with these great guys for over a decade. They have one thing in common which i always look for and love in musicians: they are sensitive, creative, they listen and do not over play...
On a hand held Camera is Krawl, a man of such intense talent; he is also a Capoeira (the Brazilian martial arts and dance) teacher.
This London session was recorded, edited and produced by Kaz Kasozi for his Video-cast series which showcases various musicians with similar themes and styles.
Saturday, 1 November 2008
JAZZ MOSS… A YEAR LATER
For those who read this space last year…here is the end of a cycle that began in Greenwich flew all over the UK ...and ended in Greenwich... at Oliver’s Jazz Bar...
Yes... still in Greenwich, south London ….
Yup. We are talking Jazz again.
The best music class you can ever get …
The lady who wrote the songs, steered the music, organised the band is perched on a high stool. That's right. A year later Louisa Le Marchand is no longer a bag of nerves. She is relaxed and singing and we even get to hear her fantastic harmonica solo; leaving us, the audience gasping for more.
…And as usual she is so humble and so, so modest, it is almost embarrassing.
Always highlighting and praising the players.
“Please clap for the musicians after they solo…show them your appreciation.”
Louisa in action...
That is partly the spirit of Jazzmoss and Louisa’s character. Egos and showing off are completely out of bounds here. This is a character college, a free workshop in honesty; a rare trait in these days of greed, gluttony and bumptiousness.
...Lack of it presented us with the recently dreaded credit crunch.
Jazzmoss’s gig at Oliver Jazz Bar is a finale to an annual collaboration (in creation) between Singer-songwriter Louisa Le Marchand and Ugandan born multi-instrumentalist musician Kaz Kasozi.
She wrote the songs, he made the music; she sings he plays piano; she organises the gigs, band and flyers; he counts the beginning of the songs, making sure the texture and melody and rhythm is flowing like the wine at Oliver’s bar. She even gets time to offer a chocolate cake for the woman with black hair in the audience who celebrated her birthday on this autumn night of Sunday October 26th.
I have never seen so many children and young people at an adult gig. Probably some were family and friends of Global Fusion Music and Arts. But please give the event a pat on the back. What young people would stay and listen to music which is not rap, rave or hip hop?
Kids are extremely honest…
Young people offer flowers to the band...
There must be something in the very lovely duet between Gill and Louisa, who opened the concert.
Henry Lowther and Art Theman: excellent horn section.
Or the sublime yet powerful trumpet solo by Henry Lowther on “Some people like it hot”:
STORMY DAYS MAY HAPPEN
RAIN MAY BEAT ME DOWN
A SMILE IT COSTS ME NOTHING
WHY SHOULD I WEAR A FROWN…?
Or the lovely bass intro in “Topsy Turvy” by Israeli musician, Liran Dorin…
In this Halloween week such lyrics brought back the ghost of one of Bob Marley’s songs ...the Jamaican musician with a gift for making you feel positive.
In Jazzmoss the feeling is reincarnated; re-told in this repetitive mantra:
ONE DOOR OPENS AS ONE DOOR CLOSES
ONE DOOR OPENS AS ONE DOOR CLOSES…
Louisa, Gill Swann, Art Theman and Liran (partly hidden at the back)
When Louisa mumbled about these being tough economic times, Art Theman’s Sax Solo was like a soothing breeze. Yes the wine and the chocolate cake tasted better and better.
Oh,Yeah … the youngsters stayed throughout the four hour gig.
More of Liran’s bass intro. Always grooving harmonically with Kaz’s keys.
ON with songs and chit chatting…. conversational manner of the lead singer as she presented the two set repertoire: “Soul Gipsy”, “I Sip your Lips”, and “Duality”…the philosophical “Illusory Mirror”… Ying and Yang… life and death.
THOUGH THE PATHWAY MAY BE NARROW, OUR COMPANIONS WITH US TRAVEL
THEY MAY WALK A WHILE BESIDE US, HELP OR HEAL OR SIMPLY GUIDE US.
And through these turns and sounds, Trevor Tomkins, the master kit drummer struck his subtly timed brushes….like the rest of the Jazzmoss band he is such an under-player…never ever fighting, never challenging Liran’s bass, the singer or Kaz’s piano chops. And when his turn to solo came at the end did we suddenly noticed him. This exemplary mastery of an instrument is what should be taught in all art schools.
To be soft (yet hard and effective)…shining when you have to, like the sun.
Besides Trevor Tomkins everyone else had his sun too. Kaz’s cameo piano-vocal scat. Louisa’s harmonica, which I mentioned earlier… Even when Gill Swan the backing vocalist, was reluctant to give a vocal solo, she still hobbled, brightly for ten seconds…I don’t know …I don’t know...
Jazzmoss… is a unique project.
Krawl films the special event...
Where will it go? Their last song asked.
After a year of gigs, wine, chocolate and cool jazz what next?
Better tune in to their website for forthcoming news and events; and buy the album… if I may quote their year’s theme:
IF YOU LOVE JAZZ YOU WILL LOVE JAZZMOSS.
Jazzmoss on tour in the South West seaside area this summer.
Yes... still in Greenwich, south London ….
Yup. We are talking Jazz again.
The best music class you can ever get …
The lady who wrote the songs, steered the music, organised the band is perched on a high stool. That's right. A year later Louisa Le Marchand is no longer a bag of nerves. She is relaxed and singing and we even get to hear her fantastic harmonica solo; leaving us, the audience gasping for more.
…And as usual she is so humble and so, so modest, it is almost embarrassing.
Always highlighting and praising the players.
“Please clap for the musicians after they solo…show them your appreciation.”
Louisa in action...
That is partly the spirit of Jazzmoss and Louisa’s character. Egos and showing off are completely out of bounds here. This is a character college, a free workshop in honesty; a rare trait in these days of greed, gluttony and bumptiousness.
...Lack of it presented us with the recently dreaded credit crunch.
Jazzmoss’s gig at Oliver Jazz Bar is a finale to an annual collaboration (in creation) between Singer-songwriter Louisa Le Marchand and Ugandan born multi-instrumentalist musician Kaz Kasozi.
She wrote the songs, he made the music; she sings he plays piano; she organises the gigs, band and flyers; he counts the beginning of the songs, making sure the texture and melody and rhythm is flowing like the wine at Oliver’s bar. She even gets time to offer a chocolate cake for the woman with black hair in the audience who celebrated her birthday on this autumn night of Sunday October 26th.
I have never seen so many children and young people at an adult gig. Probably some were family and friends of Global Fusion Music and Arts. But please give the event a pat on the back. What young people would stay and listen to music which is not rap, rave or hip hop?
Kids are extremely honest…
Young people offer flowers to the band...
There must be something in the very lovely duet between Gill and Louisa, who opened the concert.
Henry Lowther and Art Theman: excellent horn section.
Or the sublime yet powerful trumpet solo by Henry Lowther on “Some people like it hot”:
STORMY DAYS MAY HAPPEN
RAIN MAY BEAT ME DOWN
A SMILE IT COSTS ME NOTHING
WHY SHOULD I WEAR A FROWN…?
Or the lovely bass intro in “Topsy Turvy” by Israeli musician, Liran Dorin…
In this Halloween week such lyrics brought back the ghost of one of Bob Marley’s songs ...the Jamaican musician with a gift for making you feel positive.
In Jazzmoss the feeling is reincarnated; re-told in this repetitive mantra:
ONE DOOR OPENS AS ONE DOOR CLOSES
ONE DOOR OPENS AS ONE DOOR CLOSES…
Louisa, Gill Swann, Art Theman and Liran (partly hidden at the back)
When Louisa mumbled about these being tough economic times, Art Theman’s Sax Solo was like a soothing breeze. Yes the wine and the chocolate cake tasted better and better.
Oh,Yeah … the youngsters stayed throughout the four hour gig.
More of Liran’s bass intro. Always grooving harmonically with Kaz’s keys.
ON with songs and chit chatting…. conversational manner of the lead singer as she presented the two set repertoire: “Soul Gipsy”, “I Sip your Lips”, and “Duality”…the philosophical “Illusory Mirror”… Ying and Yang… life and death.
THOUGH THE PATHWAY MAY BE NARROW, OUR COMPANIONS WITH US TRAVEL
THEY MAY WALK A WHILE BESIDE US, HELP OR HEAL OR SIMPLY GUIDE US.
And through these turns and sounds, Trevor Tomkins, the master kit drummer struck his subtly timed brushes….like the rest of the Jazzmoss band he is such an under-player…never ever fighting, never challenging Liran’s bass, the singer or Kaz’s piano chops. And when his turn to solo came at the end did we suddenly noticed him. This exemplary mastery of an instrument is what should be taught in all art schools.
To be soft (yet hard and effective)…shining when you have to, like the sun.
Besides Trevor Tomkins everyone else had his sun too. Kaz’s cameo piano-vocal scat. Louisa’s harmonica, which I mentioned earlier… Even when Gill Swan the backing vocalist, was reluctant to give a vocal solo, she still hobbled, brightly for ten seconds…I don’t know …I don’t know...
Jazzmoss… is a unique project.
Krawl films the special event...
Where will it go? Their last song asked.
After a year of gigs, wine, chocolate and cool jazz what next?
Better tune in to their website for forthcoming news and events; and buy the album… if I may quote their year’s theme:
IF YOU LOVE JAZZ YOU WILL LOVE JAZZMOSS.
Jazzmoss on tour in the South West seaside area this summer.
Sunday, 16 September 2007
A Saturday Afternoon with Mariam...
This Weekend's Profile
Mariam has that "rare something" that photographers love. She does not have to pose or prepare for the shot.
Mariam's body, eyes, vibes, countenance, rhythm, manner and moods...all sink, swim and dance with the camera. She doesn't have to do anything. It is all there given to her by nature's creation. Light and shadows are her mates.
.JPG)
Mariam does not have to dress too much (it is like those folks who do not have to speak too much to prove they are right) She has that "hard to find" magic you see in the clouds; in a glass of milk, in dew, in trees, in your happiest hour; in someone's infectious jokes that make you laugh.
Something.
Do you remember the song?
And....
.JPG)
Mariam hails from Uganda, in East Africa surrounded by Lake Victoria. It is no wonder this place is called the pearl of Africa. A pearl is a unique gem.
Mariam has that "rare something" that photographers love. She does not have to pose or prepare for the shot.
Mariam's body, eyes, vibes, countenance, rhythm, manner and moods...all sink, swim and dance with the camera. She doesn't have to do anything. It is all there given to her by nature's creation. Light and shadows are her mates.
.JPG)
Mariam does not have to dress too much (it is like those folks who do not have to speak too much to prove they are right) She has that "hard to find" magic you see in the clouds; in a glass of milk, in dew, in trees, in your happiest hour; in someone's infectious jokes that make you laugh.
Something.
Do you remember the song?
And....
.JPG)
Mariam hails from Uganda, in East Africa surrounded by Lake Victoria. It is no wonder this place is called the pearl of Africa. A pearl is a unique gem.
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