“The second installment of Thath’i Cover Okestra with the Pan African Space Station was, like it’s Johannesburg predecessor: a day-time concert, and in the same way, a child, woman and man family affair. The sound that came out of Guga S’thebe Arts and Culture Centre in Langa, Cape Town was now-now, an old-school kwaito of the future. What I saw and certainly experienced was an open, inter-generational classroom ruled by boogieing and screaming teacher-learners of all shade and size.” – Ra, Rangoato Hlasane, catalyst (with Keleketla! Library accomplice Malose Malahlela) for this coming together.

On 4 November 2012, Pan African Space Station presented Thath’i Cover Okestra LIVE at Guga’ Sthebe Theatre in Langa.

Directed by Bokani Dyer (piano) with Masello Motanapitsi Ya Legola (vocals), Shane Cooper (synths), Tito Zwane (bass guitar), Tiko Ngobeni (percussion, didge and toys), Zweli Mthembu (guitar), Simphiwe Tshabalala (drums) and Lee Thomson (trumpet).

A love letter to kwaito. Revisit the performance here.

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The PASS arkives (re)awaken with a performance from Netsayi and her Black Pressure band. Doreen Gaura takes us back:

Just a little over 10 minutes into the show, she removed her high heeled shoes and jokingly feigned regret for the action as she apologised to the audience, suggesting that she’d only worn them for our sake. It was at that moment that I realised that I was in the presence of spirit and realness and I was in for a great night. Zimbabwean electro – folk band Netsayi & Black Pressure, graced Cape Town with their electro-meets-traditional energy when they performed at the Slave Church on October 5th, 2012 and I had the pleasure of attending their gig. I am generally not the most punctual of humans and that night was no exception as I arrived just as the show was about to start and my waiting friends and I had to hustle for some seats in the gallery as all the ones downstairs were already occupied. This little bit of misfortune later turned into a blessing as my positioning at the far right end of the back row of the gallery made it possible for me to jive away to the band’s more jivable tunes without really disturbing everyone else who chose to remain seated for some weird reason. After all, it wasn’t that kind of party.

The band’s presentation of their individual and collective gifts and offerings was very memorable; from Ray’s tenor/soprano marimba and bass vocal awesomeness to Matthew’s mad skills on the baritone marimba and electric guitar to Ngoni’s badassery on the ngoma and drums to Netsayi herself’s captivating voice. Their performance also featured South African trombonist and singer, Siya Makuzeni, whose beautiful voice added a Xhosa flavour to the mostly Shona and English set. Through their music, Netsayi & Black Pressure comment on various realities, issues, joys and struggles in people’s everyday lives, mostly Zimbabwean people, both in Zimbabwe and in the Zimbabwean diaspora. A natural conversationalist, Netsayi kept the performance interactive by regularly engaging with the audience between songs and encouraging them to interact with her, using her dry sense of humour as a tool to do so.

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Listen to enigmatic, innovative seer and composer-band leader Doctor Philip Tabane’s set, recorded live at St. George’s Cathedral on September 30, 2010

The Dr is a giant in South African music. Since the early 60s he has forged a musical path that defies boundaries, channelling the voices of his ancestors, the Malombo spirits of Venda, through rich polyrhythmic African beats and alchemic free jazz improvisation.

While Tabane has toured internationally, playing with jazz greats like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Charles Mingus, his home is in South Africa with Malombo. Here, working with an ever-shifting cast of musicians, his Malombo Jazz Makers, the master lets loose with intricate improvisation and free-form soloing that trace the linage of gospel, blues and funk back to its African roots.

But Malombo is not just music. It’s an individualised spirit force that uses song and dance as a vehicle of expression. It’s Tabane eschewing traditional cord structures as he fashions harmonious sound around the innuendo of his voice. It’s the Doctor, dressed in snakeskin trousers, injecting his Gibson hollow-body with an insatiable sense of discovery, coaxing free form sounds by hitting the strings or sparking otherworldly melodies from feather light plucks. It’s energy music, a potent life force that reignites black consciousness and speaks to the soul while insisting you get up and dance.

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Listen to the jazz pianist and composer’s trio set, recorded live at St. George’s Cathedral on 30 September 2010.

Kyle Shepherd’s music displays a timelessness that challenges musical dichotomies. A skilled jazz composer, bandleader and pianist, he roots his sound in unique rhythms, harmonies and melodic devices of Cape Town and South Africa. But he’s unafraid to chart new territories, teaming up with fellow young jazz guns Shane Cooper (double bass) and Jonno Sweetman (drums) to fearlessly blaze a trail through everything from full-on free jazz improv to experiments with global roots music, slam poetic and more. In Shepherd’s hands, everything from Afrikaans volksliedjies and Muslim calls to prayer, to goema grooves, the hymns of a dozen different community churches and Xhosa melodies are reworked in a sonic space that’s far beyond the original contexts but also outside of jazz as we know it. As the doyen of South African jazz scribes Gwen Ansell points out: this is music that lives in the jazz world but is never imprisoned by it.

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Listen to Imperial Tiger Orchestra, featuring Endress Hassan, LIVE at Albert Hall, Woodstock on 1 October 2010.

Switzerland based Imperial Tiger Orchestra, in a unique collaboration with Ethiopian singer Endress Hassen, chart a similarly timeless trajectory, mixing ancient Ethiopian traditions with killer big-band hooks and fierce grooves that betray a future-forward electronic vision

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On 30 September 2009, Pan African Space Station presented ‘War Chorale’, composed and directed by Bheki Khoza in response to a short novella by Chilean author and activist, Fernando Alegria. War Chorale is a musical exploration into the slipperiness of history, love and memory, and the nearly invisible line that separates fiction from reality.

It brought together multi-talented jazz vocalist and trombone player Siya Makuzeni, Mozambican guitarist and bandleader Dino Miranda, jazz ensemble A Congregation and the Unqambothi mixed choir in a once off performance that opened PASS II in 2009

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On 2 October 2009, Pan African Space Station presented Nothembi Mkhwebane, LIVE at Centre for the Book, Cape Town.

African Queen of Ndebele music Nothembi Mkhwebane tunes her electric guitar to both urban and rural traditions, engaging the now through age old verbal idioms of experience, and a polyvocality of tone, tune, and texture; of hue and cry. Mkhwebane has her roots in rural Mpumalanga where she grew up steeped in Ndebele musical traditions. Since her move to Pretoria in 1977 she has recorded multiple albums, collaborated extensively and formed her own record company.

At once soulful and ecstatic, visually mesmerizing and intellectually challenging, her spectacular performances combine music and song with wildly energetic dance routines and sensational outfits, decorated with typical, intricate Ndebele bead and metalwork. These have secured her a following both in South Africa and abroad and she regularly performs everywhere from cultural gatherings and traditional ceremonies, to big stages in the US, the UK and Europe.

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On 1 October 2009, Pan African Space Station presented Franck Biyong and Massak Afroclectic Orchestra, LIVE at Centre for the Book Cape Town.

Cameroonian composer and producer Franck Biyong operates outside the boundaries which map the trajectories of African musicians in and out of the continent. After migrating to France in the late 80s, he consciously bypassed Paris and Brussels’ factories of Afro-pop slickness to establish himself as an electro producer in the London Underground. And although he formed Massak in 1997 as an Afrobeat ensemble-tribute to the legendary Africa 70 and Egypt 80, he used the band as a platform to project the music forward – a sound he called “Afrolectric”.

As a producer and musician, Biyong has collaborated with Afropolitanist greats such as Keziah Jones, Tony Allen, Cheick Tidiane Seck and many more; and released several 7′ and 12′ on dance labels such as BBE, Compost, Soul Fire and the rising Truth & Soul. He wrote and performed an opera, in memory of the poet Aime Cesaire, titled Knowledge-Identity-Reconstruction. He’s currently at work on a new Massak LP in collaboration with bikutsi legends Les Tetes Brulees.[Franck Biyong (guitar, vocals); Xavier Sibre (baritone sax, bass clarinet, flutes); Loc Da Silva (keyboards); Nicolas Baudino (tenor sax, soprano sax, flute); Thierry Tauliaut (percussion); Olivier Berthelot (bass); Auguste Manly (drums)] 

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On 1 October 2009, Pan African Space Station hosted Udaba, in collaboration with spoken-word author and filmmaker Kgafela oa Magogodi, at The Centre for the Book, Cape Town.

Udaba is a musical flurry of passion, soul, soothsaying, truth-telling and jazz poetry that takes you on flights of improvisational abandon. Their politically engaged elegies fuse vernacular lyricism, Xhosa praise singing and African indigenous music on jam-like sets with a rotating crew of regular collaborators. Udaba draw their inspiration from Xhosa literature and refer to their music as Umculo Buciko (musical essays). Based in the Eastern Cape, they regularly perform at gatherings, poetry jams, festivals and clubs and recently released their debut album Umculo Buciko.

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