Africa Is a Country

Louis Moholo’s drum

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Louis Moholo’s drum

By
Sean Jacobs

On a recent trip to London I was hoping to catch a performance by Cape Town drummer Louis Moholo Moholo, the last surviving member of the famed jazz bands, The Blue Notes and The Brotherhood of Breath. Especially with the release of “Before the Wind Changes,” a live recording of The Blue Notes on tour in Belgium in 1979. For the uninitiated, The Blue Notes, along with Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela, defined South African jazz internationally for much of the period between 1960 and 1980. The band consisted of Chris McGregor on piano, Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana on alto sax and Johnny Dyani on bass. They left South Africa in the early 1960s after being invited to a jazz festival in France and subsequently became key players in Britain’s jazz scene.

Meanwhile, while I am trying to get my hands on “Before the Wind Changes,” I’ll substitute with Youtube videos, like the 5-minute video just below. It is footage of Moholo-Moholo (close to the camera on the right) and his quintet playing in London last year.

Then right below is another video — 9 minutes long — filmed at a festival in London in 2010. Moholo (at the back on the left) with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith and Steve Noble:

Finally, there’s this interview filmed at the 2011 Pan African Space Station music festival in Cape Town with musician and composer, Neo Muyanga:

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