Pops Mohamed

BIO

Pops Mohamed (10 December 1949 - 05 December 2025) was a South African multi-instrumentalist and producer based in Johannesburg.

Born in Benoni east of Johannesburg, Pops Mohamed is said by many to be South Africa’s ‘unofficial minister of music’. In the '90s he began recording the music of the San from the Kalahari in Namibia and integrating it into various projects ranging from jazz and funk to drum ‘n’ bass and trance.

His nickname dates back to his childhood enthusiasm for the comic seaman Popeye. At the age of 14 he founded his first band The Les Valiants, with whom he played kwela, soul, pop and Latin music. With his band Children’s Society (early 1970s) he recorded his first hit in the townships, 'I’m a Married Man'. In the '80s, Pops worked as a producer and sound engineer, while also learning to play the mbira and other African indigenous instruments.

In 1991 and 1992 he produced for the South African market the solo albums 'Kalamazoo' and 'Sophiatown Society', both nominated for the Best Jazz Album Award at the South African OKTV awards, now known as the SAMAs. In 1995, he issued his international debut album 'Ancestral Healing', recorded in New York with New York musicians like the native American vibraphonist and percussionist Valerie Naranjo and Emma as well as with musicians from South Africa. Pops himself played the piano, the kora, the mbira and various percussion instruments. This album won the 3rd annual FNB SAMA Award for Best Traditional Performance.

Before turning to traditional sounds, he played the keyboards and guitar with eminent jazz musicians live and in the studio. The end of apartheid was for many of his colleagues a personal relief and a professional setback, since the public then rushed to hear popstars streaming in from abroad instead of their own musicians. Pops Mohamed countered by launching himself on an international career, which has since led to many tours. At the same time he took more interest in traditional music from all over the world. Fearing that it would vanish in the wake of electronic music, he wished to have it not only recorded but also suffused with modern sounds and rhythms to appeal to a wider audience. As he put it: ‘If people don't understand where they come from, there is a hole in their soul.’

Some of the countries and regions Pops has toured include the US, UK, Scandinavia, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania (especially Zanzibar), Germany, Switzerland, Kathmandu in Nepal and Vietnam, among many others.

Pops' most successful album is 'How Far Have We Come', the first product of his long-lasting connection to the San people from the Kalahari. In the Kalahari waste he made recordings which he then processed with a computer and supplemented with tracks made by studio musicians in Johannesburg and London. In a similar project with the singer Samia from Bangladesh, he accompanied old Bengali songs with not only traditional instruments but also keyboards and a drum machine. He has produced other records with such various colleagues as the trumpeter Bruce Cassidy, formerly with the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, the London Sound Collective, Basil Coetzee, Robbie Jansen, Gcina Mhlophe, Sipho Gumede, Khaya Mahlangu, Ntsiki Mazwai, Steve Newman, Emma Mthakathi (New York) the imitable rapper Zubz, Andreas Vollenweider, Airto Moreira from Brazil, Madala Kunene, Busi Mhlongo, Amampondo, Mabi Thobajane, Max Lasser from Switzerland and many more.

On some of his world tours, Pops Mohamed also appeared as a duo group with the London-born singer and multi-instrumentalist Zena Edwards but also with other musicians such as his Khoisan friends from the Kalahari, the Xhosa’s from Eastern Cape and a tradition Venda group. As a former board member of the JYO (Johannesburg Youth Orchestra), Pops worked and performed with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra.

Pops Mohamed & Friends

Pops has his own personal band simply called ‘Pops Mohamed & Friends’. This band has been together for 10 years. They have travelled in and out of South Africa making a name for themselves wherever they performed. This project is very close to Mr Mohamed’s heart since he carefully chose the band members himself. Pops’s vision with this band was to concentrate on a future South African sound which no-one has ever heard before, while also protecting and preserving African indigenous musical instruments for the 21st century.
Pops Mohamed & Friends were highly praised by former deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe. Pops Mohamed & Friends are a five piece outfit featuring:

Pops Mohamed on African indigenous instruments, vocals and keyboards.
Femi Koya on all saxophones and flute.
Maxwell Baloyi on keyboards and acoustic piano.
Gally Ngoveni on bass and vocals
Bernice Boikanyo on drums

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His other baby project as a quartet is called ‘The Millennium Experience’ The band features Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse on vocals, flute and saxophones. Poorvi Bhana on vocals and the Indian classical Sitar. Ashish Joshi on Tabla’s and Cajon and Pops plays traditional African instruments.His current duo collaboration project is with Dave Reynolds, South Afrca’s top steel pan player. They simply call themselves ‘Acooustic Masala’ and has just released their first CD entitled ‘Live in Grahamstown’, which was nominated for a SAMA for best jazz performance for 2017 at Sun City.

Pops also features and collaborated on a track on Coenie de Viliers latest release, Emoji..the track is titled Naledi with Coenie on all keysboards and Pops on Kora. An
Animated music video was released for this track.

Apart from composing music for his CD’s etc, Pops scored the music for the forthcoming movie ‘The Whale Caller’ which was filmed in Hermanus. ‘The Whale Caller’ won an award for best African movie at the Johannesburg Film Festival earlier this year. The film is due to be screened throughout South Africa and abroad in October, 2017. Pops will also release the soundtrack of the movie in October, 2017.

With the spearhead of the underground sounds of the 21st century, Pops still loves to blend and experiment traditional music with electronic instruments for the dance floor and other spiritual platforms. One looks forward to this unusual musician’s new projects!

Mr. Mohamed is a three times Lifetime Achievement Award winner for preserving and protecting South African Heritage, especially ancient African musical instruments and the use thereof.

Links to Pops Mohamed’s work etc >>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqfEPSFKCvA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqfEPSFKCvA
Pops Mohamed is currently working on his new album (Things with Strings) due to be released in the middle of 2019, followed by a country wide tour! He will also be re-releasing his hit album (KALAMAZOO) of way back 1990, in the beginning of 2019. Lot’s to be looking forward to in 2019 from multi-instrumentalist Pops Mohamed (aka) ‘The Futurist or also known by most of his followers and friends as Bra Pops!’