Africa Is a Country

Blue Note

Blue Note

By
Sean Jacobs

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrvzEbrf8Ow&w=500&h=307&rel=0]

Master musician Dudu Pukwana, he played the  saxophone, who was part of a great generation of South African jazz musicians (I blogged about them a few days ago), died on this day in 1990.

An appropriate time to post this clip, above, that appear  to be from a documentary about the Blue Notes, the seminal 1960s South African jazz, led by Chris MacGregor, that Pukwana was a part of.  The group later became Brotherhood of Breath outside South Africa. Louis Moholo and Pukwana’s wife, Barbara, talk about the band and its impact.

You can also see a bit of Pukwana at work in this clip from a documentary about music and exile: He plays at the 4:20 mark.

— Sean Jacobs

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.