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Issue #04
Contents
editorial
NEVILLE DUBE
“What shall we do with the tools?”
PALESA MOTSUMI & TARIRO MUDZAMIRI
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Arts in South Africa
Theme Africa Synthesized
CARINA VENTER & STEPHANIE VOS
Africa Synthesized: Editorial Note
GEORGE E. LEWIS
Recharging Unyazi 2005
MICHAEL KHOURY
A Look at Lightning – The Life and Compositions of Halim el-Dabh
KAMILA METWALY
A Sonic letter to Halim El-Dabh
SHANE COOPER
Tape Collage
ADAM HARPER
Shane Cooper’s Tape Collage – a living archive
HANS ROOSENSCHOON
Tape loops: Cataclysm (1980)
STEPHANUS MULLER
Hans Roosenschoon's Cataclysm: message in a bubble or mere spectacular flotsam?
SAZI DLAMINI
Composing with Jurgen Brauninger: 1989-2019
LIZABÉ LAMBRECHTS
The Woodstock Sound System and South African sound reinforcement
CATHY LANE
Synthesizer and portastudio: their roles in the Tigrayan People’s Liberation struggle - an audio essay.
MICHAEL BHATCH
Africa Synthesized: A Sonic Essay
NEO MUYANGA
Afrotechnolomagic before the internet came to town – How electrons made Africans in music zing
NIKLAS ZIMMER
Interspeller (some B-sides)
WARRICK SWINNEY
House on Fire: Sankomota and the art of abstraction
MAËL PÉNEAU
Beatmaking in Dakar: The Shaping of a West-African Hip-hop Sound
ARAGORN ELOFF
Materials of Relation: A Sonic Pedagogy of Non-Mastery
BRIAN BAMANYA
Afrorack
ZARA JULIUS
(Whose) Vinyl in (Which) Africa? A Zoom Fiasco
galleri
SLOVO MAMPHAGA
Mandela is Dead
&and
Undercommons
HUGH MDLALOSE
Jazz Speaking
IBUKUN SUNDAY
A Peaceful City
NIKKI SHETH
Mmabolela
PIERRE-HENRI WICOMB
A Composition Machine
SONO-CHOREOGRAPHIC COLLECTIVE
Playing Grounds: a polymodal essay
STELARC & MAURIZIO LAZZARATO
Parasite: A Government of Signs
JURGEN MEEKEL
The Bauhaus Loops
borborygmus
KING SV & MARCO LONGARI
The Black Condition
SIPHELELE MAMBA
Enough is enough
SEGOMOTSO PALESA MOTSUMI
Explaining racism
KHANYISILE MBONGWA
Mombathiseni UnoDolly Wam
PHIWOKAZI QOZA
Choreographies of Protest Performance: 1. The Transgression of Space
TSEPO WA MAMATU
The Colonising Laughter in Leon Schuster’s Mr. Bones and Sweet ’n Short
ANA DEUMERT
On racism and how to read Hannah Arendt
TALLA NIANG
Sembène Ousmane
MAVAMBO CHAZUNGUZA
Sacred Sonic Cosmos
GRAYSON HAVER CURRIN
The Saharan WhatsApp Series - an Experiment in Immediacy
BEN EYES
Cross-cultural collaboration in African Electronica
STEVEN CRAIG HICKMAN
The Listening of Horror
MICHAEL C COLDWELL
The Noise made by Ghosts
GABRIEL GERMAINE DE LARCH
I will not be erased
frictions
JESÚS SEPÚLVEDA
Viaje a Tánatos
KATYA GANESHI
From Beyond the World of Dead Sirens
RIAAN OPPELT
(Ultra) Lockdown
SINDISWA BUSUKU
Let’s Talk Kaffir
JOHAN VAN WYK
Man Bitch
MAAKOMELE R. MANAKA
Four Indigenous Poems
claque
KOLEKA PUTUMA
Language & Storytelling: On Zöe Modiga’s Inganekwane
LINDELWA DALAMBA
After the Aftermath: Recovery?
ATHI MONGEZELELI JOJA
Uninterrogated Phallophilia
HILDE ROOS
Sicula iOpera – a raised fist?
PAUL ZISIWE
19 Feedbacks
TSELISO MONAHENG
How to build a Scene
WAMUWI MBAO
Struggle Sounds
MKHULU MAPHIKISA
Short but not sweet: Skeptical Erections and the Black Condition
MBALI KGAME
Tales from The UnderWorld
ekaya
STEPHANIE VOS
The Exhibition of Vandalizim – Improvising Healing, Politics and Film in South Africa
MARIETJIE PAUW, GARTH ERASMUS & FRANCOIS BLOM
Improvising Khoi’npsalms
off the record
KHADIJA TRACEY HEEGER
Lewis Nkosi – treasured memory
LEWIS NKOSI
Jazz in Exile
EUGENE SKEEF
Chant of Divination for Steve Biko
BRENDA SISANE
How I fell in love with music
SAM MATHE
Skylarks
THOKOZANI MHLAMBI
Early Sound Recordings in Africa: Challenges for Future Scholarship
MARIO PISSARRA
Everywhere but nowhere: reflections on DV8 magazine
DEREK DAVEY
Live Jimi Presley 1990-1995
HERMAN LATEGAN
Pentimento
ARGITEKBEKKE
AFRIKAAPS compIete script deel 3
feedback
PHILLIPPA YAA DE VILLIERS
An urgency to action
PABLO VAN WETTEN
Sort of a ramble
the selektah
PONE MASHIANGWAKO
Artists' Prayer - A Tribute to Motlhabane Mashiangwako
hotlynx
shopping
SHOPPING
Purchase or listen
contributors
the back page
MICHAEL TAUSSIG
Unpacking My Library: An Experiment in the Technique of Awakening
© 2023
Archive About Contact Africa Open Institute
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    #04
  • Theme Africa Synthesized

MICHAEL BHATCH

Africa Synthesized: A Sonic Essay

This compilation of synth-based music was quilted together from my personal record collection, and constitutes of tracks that are not generally available, or widely referenced within mainstream discourse and dialogue around African electronic music. Each track should be understood as such, and, perhaps, as mere fragments of the obscure histories of electronic music experimentation and techno-artistic expression in Africa. This ‘sonic essay’ is not concerned with engaging electronic music in Africa through its chronological trajectory, but rather through how it interacts with human bodies on the dance floor, and how these human interactions with electro-sonic experiments, in turn, influence street culture and counter-culture.

Situating this sonic essay on the dance floors of Africa is important as it is indeed the physical context, in which the music is consumed and experienced, that influences its sound design. In other words, the dance-floor is where many aspects of electronic music production manifest and come alive, it is where the magic of electronic music is felt. To tease out these loose ‘themes’, I explore electronic dance music that was produced between 1974 and 1994, as this era of production showcases an innovative time in electronics when (mostly) Japanese electronic instrument producers were creating fascinating new synthesizers, drum machines and sound effects units. During this time these new innovations became widely available to African musicians who used and, often times, ‘misused’ them to shape modern electronic music. This period also coincides with the collapse of the colonial enterprise, which created a fertile context in which experimentation, imagination and innovation could thrive like never before.

That being said, this sonic essay hopes to usher you towards an appreciation for the innovative techniques that were employed in the sound design, sound synthesis, production, recording and post production of each track that is presented within its body. It hopes that each fragment of sound demystifies electronic music production in Africa a little bit more for the listener.

As a guide that serves to facilitate the ‘defragmenting’ process during the listening experience, peruse the notated tracklist below:

MICHAEL BHATCH 12

The Genuines – Doctor Love is ghoema punk/electro rap from Cape Town. It was released in 1989 on Crossover Records, and could be regarded as one of the earliest examples of South African Rap. A fine example of early expressions of afro punk too.

MICHAEL BHATCH 11

Ray Lema – Peuplo Eyo was released in 1985 and features the afrobeat progenitor Tony Allen on drums. The track almost serves as a blueprint for later African electronic music experiments such as Rocket Juice and the Moon and is reminiscent of Detroit techno, which was coming into existence in the USA around the same time. This techno-Africa connection recently manifested again as Tony Allen and Jeff Mills, one of the founding figures of techno, teamed up for a collaborative techno-afrobeat album which highlighted the connection between traditional drums and drum machines.

MICHAEL BHATCH 10

The Chris Hinze Combination – African Rapness is a bold fusion of electro rap and jazz-funk with African rhythms. It does a great job of collapsing the electronic into the organic. Released in 1984, with synthscapes that still feel futuristic in 2020, this track was forward-thinking and sonically innovative. It reminds me of kasi-futurist work of contemporary South African rapper Okmalumkoolkat.

MICHAEL BHATCH 13

Francois Nyombo – Funky Child (1976) is a Congolese psychedelic disco jam that brings together the guitar electronics of Hendrix with the space aesthetic of the disco movement. I suspect electronic effects may have been added during the production phase to create the overall ‘dub-iness’ of the track.

MICHAEL BHATCH 9

Gérard Cimiotti et Son Ensemble ‎– 40 Mozart (1974) is an Mauritian electronic music rendition of a Mozart classic. It sounds like the arcade game soundtracks that emerged in the early ’80s.

MICHAEL BHATCH 8

Groovy G – Love Thang (1994) is an example of the emerging electronic music sound of the ‘new South Africa’. The track is hyper-urban with multiple influences from other black electronic music scenes in the diaspora, Chicago specifically. This one gets filed under kwaito/mid tempo house music in South Africa.

Image – You want to do it (1987) features the great kwaito innovator Don Laka on keys. I love the vocal effects, synthesizers and overall electronic sound design of this funky banger. The song is also quite jazzy and anticipates kwaito. Side note: Don Laka was one of first South African musicians to use a drum machine in his music.

Zone 3 – You are mine (hot dance mix) (1986) is an example of experimental afro-synth pop. The song would later be sampled by kwaito artists. The synths are awesome here and the spaced-out vocal ad-libs take the track to another level sonically.

Midnite Magic 1 – Zambezi (1988) is atypical electronic music from Zimbabwe. It is resonant of the work of deep house progenitor and electronic music legend Larry Heard. It is an absolutely amazing example of the innovative and interesting electronic music that was coming from the continent in the ’80s. Listen to the lyrics.

MICHAEL BHATCH 6

Wizzy Masuke – Antsatiwamina (1991) is a glimpse of the magic that happens when electronics are incorporated into and used to produce traditional African dance-oriented music. This particular track allows us to imagine other forms of electronic dance music that are not overwhelmingly influenced by house, hip hop or techno. This is what Mozambican dance floors sounded like in the ’90s.

MICHAEL BHATCH 5

Night Force and the Tom Cats – Search for Love was produced by Enoch Ndlela in 1981. South African funky, futuristic, spacey disco at its best, with the depth and feel of deep house. Who would have thought that this kind innovative electronic music experimentation was happening during the apartheid era? In 2019 I worked with Afrosynth records, in conjunction with Rush Hour Music, to reissue this almost forgotten track for the global vinyl reissue market.

MICHAEL BHATCH 4

Mandingo – Powerhouse (1990) is a sample of African electronic music that was produced outside the continent. Co-producer Foday Musa Suso hails from Gambia but made a life for himself in Chicago, the birthplace of house music. Perhaps this explains why house music/techno is at the core of this track.

MICHAEL BHATCH 3

Rex Rabanye – African Wedding (1986) is the reason why many DJs regard Rabanye as a pioneer of African electronic music. What you hear is African choral gospel reimagined and electrified through the use of drum machines and synthesizers. It is ethereal and uplifting and is known to be played at weddings and social gatherings that involve dancing. Modern afro house music draws heavily on this sound.

MICHAEL BHATCH 2

Peta Teanet – Africa (cement mix) (1990) is a beautiful electronic dance music banger by the king of Shangaan disco. It is an interesting example of how new music technologies facilitated the expression of rural (Shangaan) rhythms within the urban electronic music mold of Black America.

MICHAEL BHATCH 1

Mory Kanté – Yéké Yéké (Afro acid mix) (1987) is an electronic music remix of the Guinean/Malian vocalist and kora player’s work, and was created for nightclub scenes of New York, Chicago, London, Paris etc. The song was a global hit that would later spark interest in many electronic musicians from across the globe to draw on African music and rhythms for influence. This remix left its mark on contemporary French house music production.

MICHAEL BHATCH

Prophets of the City – Stop the Violence (1990) contains a sample of earlier ghoema/Cape jazz recordings. At the time of its release sampling wasn’t a common or widespread practice in African music production. While the song might not sound incredibly ‘electronic’, I appreciate the use of technology (in the form of sampling) to establish the geographical and socio- cultural context in which the lyrics operate. This is consistent with the chrono-political and hyper-technological nature of hip hop.

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