Co-moderating and playing after party for this social sculpture / performance event on Friday in Wedding organised by some super talented, friendly, and open minded people and curated by the inimitable Tatiana Saphir.
Gqom is South African rhythm tradition shaped by and reflecting the social reality of neoliberalism under a corrupted ANC, after Mandela having had to make major concessions to foreign pressure, unable to carry out the land and property reforms that were central to his post-independence program — high crime rates, high levels of social tension and conflict, high levels of discontent and anxiety.
As manic, brooding, and heavy as the best doom metal, but you know, FUNKY. Some real scrunch-face type stuff with relentless energy; most definitely not for the faint of heart.
The structure of the music is just as crazy, in terms of innovation: almost no straight 4/4 patterns, instead, all triplets like house-tempo Juke/Footwork; sometimes there are major drum sounds that happen only once in a track (!!!); the drum rolls are often placed at the BEGINNING of bars rather than the end (!!!!!!); the 1 actually comes at 1.5 (!!!!!!!!).
I am super jealous of you: wish I was hearing this mix for the first time 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Futurism in Europe, the sonic avant garde, for the past half century or more, has proceeded on a total rejection of tradition. A cultural product of post-modernism and historical nihilism, the assumption rested upon is that the past is only shit and must be destroyed, wiped clean, to have tabula rasa – which is nothing but a fantasy, never mind the result of false understanding. So what we end up with at Atonal or Transmediale is an aversion to melody, a rejection of musicality, thousands of artists making bleeps, bloops, rigid, mechanical, inhuman forms, all of which mono-cultural, mono-rhythmic, and deeply pessimistic. But in the end, contemporary European electronic music, for all its rhetoric and pretence at “futurity”, fails to innovate, and is today in 2024 still near entirely reliant on innovations made 40+ years ago in Detroit and Dusseldorf — clubs are mostly still playing the exact same single untz untz rhythm pattern.
Futurism in the Global South is the opposite.
Firstly there is a formal revolution every few years in which new palettes, new rhythm patterns, and new dynamics emerge. In South Africa alone, we have seen radical new styles like Gqom and Amapiano within just the past decades.
Secondly, contemporary African electronic music is characterised by an EMBRACE of tradition, and not only those of the music makers themselves. In a heavy bass number, all of a suddent bursts of ecstatic deep jazz saxophone. Forms like Samba, Jamaican dancehall, etc., etc., are often alluded to and paid respect or re-interpreted. Angolan Kuduro often references Brazillian music as well as include Portugese influences; Amapiano encompasses near everything that has happened in not only African but also African American music during the past century, from jazz to house to hip hop and reggae, but done in unmistakeably South African ways.
The horrors unfolding around the world today in 2023 can be seen as the birth pangs of a new, more just and peaceful world to come.
Along with the final and real removal of colonial forces and increased cooperation with the multipolar world, we will see, are already seeing, authentic economic development, connection, and integration in and of the motherland. In the next decades to century or more, the humanist technologies of the Global South will thrive, multiply, and cross pollinate.
Now is a time to mourn, to struggle, as well as to celebrate the deep, world historic changes taking place, and what is to come.
We should dance not despite, not in trying to forget, the violence and sadness of current conflicts, but in the realisation that this is the end of the imperialist era; and in solidarity with the rise of multi-polarity, envisioning a bright future for the formerly colonised.
Futurism in Europe, the sonic avant garde, for the past half century or more, has proceeded on a total rejection of tradition. A cultural product of post-modernism and historical nihilism, the assumption rested upon is that the past is only shit and must be destroyed, wiped clean, to have tabula rasa – which is nothing but a fantasy, never mind the result of false understanding. So what we end up with at Atonal or Transmediale is an aversion to melody, a rejection of musicality, thousands of artists making bleeps, bloops, rigid, mechanical, inhuman forms, all of which mono-cultural, mono-rhythmic, and deeply pessimistic. But in the end, contemporary European electronic music, for all its rhetoric and pretence at “futurity”, fails to innovate, and is today in 2024 still near entirely reliant on innovations made 40+ years ago in Detroit and Dusseldorf — clubs are mostly still playing the exact same single untz untz rhythm pattern.
Futurism in the Global South is the opposite.
Firstly there is a formal revolution every few years in which new palettes, new rhythm patterns, and new dynamics emerge. In South Africa alone, we have seen radical new styles like Gqom and Amapiano within just the past decades.
Secondly, contemporary African electronic music is characterised by an EMBRACE of tradition, and not only those of the music makers themselves. In a heavy bass number, all of a suddent bursts of ecstatic deep jazz saxophone. Forms like Samba, Jamaican dancehall, etc., etc., are often alluded to and paid respect or re-interpreted. Angolan Kuduro often references Brazillian music as well as include Portugese influences; Amapiano encompasses near everything that has happened in not only African but also African American music during the past century, from jazz to house to hip hop and reggae, but done in unmistakeably South African ways.
The horrors unfolding around the world today in 2023 can be seen as the birth pangs of a new, more just and peaceful world to come.
Along with the final and real removal of colonial forces and increased cooperation with the multipolar world, we will see, are already seeing, authentic economic development, connection, and integration in and of the motherland. In the next decades to century or more, the humanist technologies of the Global South will thrive, multiply, and cross pollinate.
Now is a time to mourn, to struggle, as well as to celebrate the deep, world historic changes taking place, and what is to come.
We should dance not despite, not in trying to forget, the violence and sadness of current conflicts, but in the realisation that this is the end of the imperialist era; and in solidarity with the rise of multi-polarity, envisioning a bright future for the formerly colonised.
Premiering a new sound system and brand new sets of current electronic music from the motherland. Bring friends, drinks, and wear warm clothes even if most people take off jackets after dancing for 30 minutes 🙂
We celebrate the closing of the awesome kongress over the weekend with 5 hours of tri-continental rhythms, and embody the anti-imperialist struggle with the sweetest and heaviest rhythms from the Global South.
Music to die for, in celebration of life and a bright future for West Asia. These 3 mixes in the series were inspired by the rapproachement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the movement towards rapproachement between Syria and Turkey, and the recent developments in West Asia towards peace and stability after 40 years of continuing foreign invasions and bombs which destroyed hundreds of cities, killed tens of millions of civilians, and created hundreds of millions refugees.
Amapiano emerged out of either Durban or Joburg in the recent 5 years or so. Jury is still out on which city – I’ve met Durbanites who swear on the graves of their ancestors that the sound is Durban, as well as Joburgians who say it was developed in Soweto, and popularised in the legendary Poniaza club (bigup bigup!!).
Musically, it is a response to the previous sound to dominate the South African scene for some years, Gqom, which evolved out of the rougher side of South African House, defined by a relentless and repetitive dark energy that might be described as African Berghain hard techno (though I am very aware of the problems of describing African electronic music by Western terms, it is what Western audiences can understand and relate to).
Amapiano swings the vibes hammer in the other direction: toward more “accessible” musicality, more melody, and drops the BPM from 130 down to exactly 114 (I would love to interview the pioneers on why this exact bpm which all Amapiano tracks seem to strictly adhere to).
Stylistically it is a superb vision of African Futurism which is decidedly the opposite of the futurism of European electronic avant garde, which is all about a REJECTION of history: minimalist bleeps and bloops that try to divorce itself from past genres. In stark contrast, Amapiano EMBRACES all of the African and Afro-diasporic modern traditions: including recognisable influences from Jazz, Reggae, Dancehall, Hip Hop, R’n’B, and even chart Pop.
But make no mistake: this music is revolutionary, in a structural sense. Amapiano turns many conventions on its head, most importantly, changing the relationship between the lower and higher ends, and reversing the roles played by the hats and the bass.
In Western modern dance music, the bass kick provides a constant repeating pattern (nearly always a 4/4 lol) on top of which higher frequencies float, doing variations within the sameness. The central passages of Amapiano tracks turns this on its head: the constant repeating patterns are done with the highs, such as melodic refrains, and it is the BASS which does variations within the sameness. Like the Mama Ngoma drum of the Congo, largest and heaviest of the family of drums, always doing the SOLOS, I believe this is a reconnection with ancestral African musical heritage.
Some people in Europe who are accustomed to edgy hardcore menacing moods in their club music seem to think Amapiano is too soft and “pleasant”… But they just don’t get it 🙂
For some reason the soundcloud embed isn’t working at the moment, so here are ghetto ass links to the 3 parts series 😀
Sorry for neglecting this site for some time. There is a lot of exciting things happening with my dj work but just have been a bit overwhelmed with other projects. Much more soon!
But for now, any lucky people attending Fusion this weekend should know that Dj Zhao’s set will be Sat. night / Sun. morning from 3am – 6am, on the Salon De Baile stage.
Expect next level and all inclusive African Futurism.
Thursday YAAM at 7pm sharp will be a real Ngoma set from me, meaning Afro-centric poly-rhythms not restricted by the forms of the usual dance club. And the opening and closing sets will be special ones, encompassing Spiritual Jazz, deep Yoruba drums, Jungle, Juke, Reggae, and much more.
Einlass 19:00 / Konzert: 20:30
VVK ab 15,- incl. Gebühren bei KOKA36 / EVENTBRITE & An allen bekannten VVK Stellen
In 2011 Mark Ernestus (of Basic Channel, Rhythm & Sound, and Hardwax fame) traveled to Senegal in search of original Sabar and Mbalax recordings but ended up inviting over 20 percussionists and other musicians – most of whom he had become interested in via local cassettes or Youtube clips – for a spontaneous recording session in Dakar. Mark arranged and mixed these recordings back in Berlin, which were released on the 2012 twin albums “800% Ndagga” and “Ndagga Versions” under the “Mark Ernestus presents Jeri-Jeri” moniker – simply using the Sabar drummers’ clan name.
Since then, the project has evolved into something new in its own: From the initial pool of artists involved, Mark has handpicked a smaller core group with whom he intensified collaboration, toured throughout Europe and recorded new tracks to arrange, edit, finish production, and mix with his own, more electronic aesthetic. The album “Yermande” was released to much critical acclaim late in 2016.
The group has become a killer live outfit and has played clubs and major festivals all across Europe – including Melt!, Roskilde, Dour, OFF! in Katowice or the Festival Ile d’France in Paris – and in the process long have outgrown initial limitations. We’re more than happy to have MARK ERNESTUS & NDAGGA RHYTHM FORCE at YAAM Berlin in August!
Wed night 26th of June 1 – 5am @ Haupttresen, main bar of the festival, open air stage Function One in the center area between Turmbühne and Triebwerke –– 4 hours of Afrocentric Electro-Bass on The hottest day of the year, my 10th of rocking Fusion
A set of Jungle/D’n’B, Juke/Footwork, Afro-Rave, Rap/HipHop, and Reggae/Dancehall that I had a lot of fun playing on the awesome A-Sound System. Turnup!
Tomorrow Friday my talk at 18:00 will be on the Insurrectionary Politics of Dancing, and dj set from 21:30 – 23:30 of Afro-centric Breaks and Jungle.
“Understanding the sound system as a social space, we want participants of different genres and scenes (from roots, dub and contemporary bass music to techno/tekno) to gather and exchange.
In a colorful program of exhibitions, live-performances, workshops, talks, discussion and diverse music Berliners and international artists are entering into a dialogue and are actively shaping the event.
Exhibitions:
– Roots of sound system music & culture – including audio examples and open dialogue by David Riley (Supported by Mr. Glue)
– UK sound systems in the 90ies – photos and input by Ed Twist
Workshop:
– “Listen! Material and Loops – A hearing experience” by E.L.L.I.
Discussion Panel (FLTI):
– “Sound Systems, Rave Collectives and Gender” by Meetup Berlin & PRIZM:Berlin
Talks:
– The revolutionary essence of social dance by He Zhao
– Sound system culture, hardcore techno and the Berlin Fuckparade by Bianca Ludewig
– Sound System Cultures of the Black Atlantic: Angolan Kuduro by Stefanie Alisch (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
– Rave & psychoanalysis by Feli Concat
– Musique Concrète Jungle – spatial delivery research by Lukas Jakob Löcker
NGOMA SOUND 