Sade – Soldier Of Love

Feb 5, 2010 |

It is a day that blurs into the rest - nameless, timeless, and vaguely familiar – except for one thing. I must have been about 13/14 years old. Young enough to still be naive about and frightened by the hormonal murmurings that seemed to manifest themselves more and more frequently each day but, at the same time, starting to understand what caused them – the opposite sex. There were pre-MTV days but still we devoured whatever music videos we could get our hands on. In Maseru, Lesotho, an American man based there used to have someone record videos in the US and send them down. He booked a...

read more

Tumi – Whole Worlds Live

Feb 3, 2010 |

Boitumelo Molekane - aliases Tumi, Tumi from the Volume – is an artist who has comfortably found that groove, that spot where everything just happens the way it should. Having recently released his second solo album, Whole Worlds, and signed with a major, Sony Music, for the first time in his musical career, he is at the start of a new chapter in an already rising career. Tumi has systematically built that career, through his company, Motif Records, over the years and has established a strong following beyond South Africa, particularly in Europe. The music he creates is insightful,...

read more

Into Nneka’s World

Jan 19, 2010 |

A product of the conventional music business model, I have not always explored beyond what the ‘system’ pushes out. I am not proud of that and I have attempted to make up for it by submerging myself in the crevices of the Internet, where so much beautiful music resides. I visit music blogs & sites and interact with those in the know in spaces like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. These recent forays have unearthed – for me – some amazing gems, one of which Nigerian-German artist Nneka. I regrettably haven’t had the opportunity to hear her debut EP, The Uncomfortable Truth, or her album...

read more

Tumi Traverses Whole Worlds

Dec 15, 2009 |

Many moons ago, I frequented a spot in Doornfontein, Johannesburg called Jungle Connection, a place I have mentioned in previous posts. One of the people I met on these poetic excursions was Boitumelo Molekane. He was at the heart of a creative, artistic collective called P.E.R.M. and would come through to Jungle infrequently, but always with words to provoke the mind and inspire the heart. Everyone drifted out of Jungle Connection after a while. While we would bump into each other infrequently, Tumi the Poet-Emcee started carving a place for himself in South Africa and beyond both as an...

read more

Blk Sonshine: Memories of an Era

Dec 6, 2009 |

It was a normal night somewhere in 1999/2000. Like many, I had come to Joburg in search of dreams and a taste of the big city’s bright lights. I had been invited to a party in Morningside by a young lady I was interested in getting to know better – I was single and allowed. At the same time, my cousin wanted me to go through to a spot called 206 in Orange Grove for a live performance by a group he did not know. In reality, he probably just wanted me to go through with him because I had the car, but he claimed it was because he had met a member of the group and it would be a fun evening out....

read more

Definite Pop Art

Sep 8, 2009 |

I've been wanting to post this for a bit but been so caught up. A couple of years ago, researching the legendary Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse for something – think it was tv show Afro Café - I came across a name: Mpho Skeef. Word was that Ntate Sipho had a daughter in the UK who was also involved in music. Interesting but, with no real access to her music, the fascination died before it even really began, until a few weeks ago when Put Me On It’s newsletter landed in my inbox with the following heading: PLEASE SUPPORT SUPER HOT SOUTH AFRICAN/ SOUTH LONDON SINGER MPHO! Mpho, as the cliché goes, was...

read more