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What Africa Express’s Molo EP Where All digital music platforms Why
The seminal music project has created a collaboration between Damon Albarn and South African musicians to bring the new sounds of the country to the world. Featuring appearances by BCUC, Zolani Mahola, Moonchild Sanelly, Sho Madjozi, Morena Leraba, Infamous Boiz and more.
In 2006 Blur’s frontman Damon Albarn took a trip to Mali in the company of fellow musicians, including Martha Wainwright and Fatboy Slim. They spent nights jamming with legendary Malian musicians such as Toumani Diabaté, Bassekou Kouyaté and Amadou & Mariam. The resulting album, Mali Music, was a groundbreaking reconfiguration of traditional African sounds with modern western beats. The Africa Express project was born — resulting in a legendary five-hour-gig at the Glastonbury Festival the following year. Since then Africa Express has produced a series of collaborative albums that highlight the music of the world — from the Congo to Syria and now SA.
The Molo EP, released this week as a teaser for a full album coming out later this year, is the result of collaboration between Albarn and local musicians early last year in Johannesburg. It’s an eclectic mix of sounds that incorporates elements of gqom, the alt-rock traditional fusion of Spoek Mathambo and the maskandi guitar drive of Phuzekhemisi that serves as a kind of Graceland for 21st-century South African music. It will be promoted on March 29 with a sold-out gig in a circus tent that headlines the Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture celebrations.
As lead singer of Freshlyground, Zolani Mahola has performed alongside such luminaries as Hugh Masekela, Johnny Clegg, BB King, Harry Belafonte and, of course, Shakira for everyone’s favourite Fifa World Cup anthem Waka Waka. Mahola says she’s “very much into bringing together different worlds”, so she jumped at the opportunity when she was asked to participate.
Lesotho shepherd turned rapper Morena Leraba enjoyed the opportunity and found the experience to be “great because of the opportunity to collaborate with a group of upcoming artists like Sibot and Moonchild, Domino and Infamous Boiz”.
For the four days of the workshop and recording session in Fourways, Johannesburg, Leraba found the Africa Express team to be as enamoured of the traditional accordion sounds of Lesotho music as he is. He hopes that the final product will “definitely help to get my music out there”.
He says the experience “was a really unique opportunity to test my ideas about blending traditional music with new sounds”.
He says he believes his contribution will help to serve his project of promoting his mission to use the Sotho language to speak about current issues.
Leraba sees the EP as the result of a project that “has taken the best of SA now and will promote it to the rest of the world”.
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LThe Africa Express Molo EP is currently available. The full album is due for release later this year.