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Jazz in Africa

1 sep 2019 - 14:45

Jazz music runs through the veins of all Africans, not only because the continent and its people are the originators of the genre but also because it has the ability to unify people from different regions and language groups.

South African trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni is one of the most talked about jazz musicians in South Africa at the moment.

And jazz is not always about a specific sound; it's about an attitude that defies the rules and is always prepared to redefine itself when the next creative force enters the genre. Its propensity to attach other genres to its philosophy is also a laudable trait, with hundreds of hybrids and sub-genres making up the massive family tree that is jazz.

As much as jazz is undisputedly one of the most important genres around the world, responsible for the discovery of new approaches to music, it has also earned many negative connotations; it is often seen as pretentious, highbrow and out of touch with ordinary music fans, many of whom believe that most of the sub-genres that make up jazz constitute nothing more than disjointed noise.

Be that as it may, jazz is essentially the difference between evergreen experimental cinema and the next comic-book blockbuster that is forgotten quickly after all the hype is over, or as soon as the next big Hollywood release takes centre stage. In the African context, albums such Hugh Masekela's Home Is Where the Music Is (1972), Manu Dibango's Makossa Man (1973) and Abdullah Ibrahim and Johnny Dyani's Echoes From Africa (1990) will be jazz staples for many years to come, teaching tomorrow's jazz stars about the mastery needed to execute compositions in an authentic and convincing way.

In the month of September, we have chosen jazz as our theme. We pay homage to this great discipline by covering the artists and events doing all the hard work to keep the genre afloat in a music industry increasingly becoming more mainstream and steadily forgetting the roots of pure creativity.

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Also be sure to check out the Music In Africa directory to find the best jazz promoters, labels, studios and venues on the continent