Cape Town - The Real Estate Agents

On my last day in Cape Town, I had the pleasure of meeting up with The Real Estate Agents. Funnily enough, I realized that I had already met Markus when I played at the Flux festival a couple years ago on New Year's Eve. I caught the Max Normal set and really liked the DJ. They announced that they would be playing right after in another tent as The Real Estate Agents. As it turned out, their set was absolutely my favorite of the entire festival. It was a one of the first times I heard somebody using Ableton Live in a live situation. They had some drum machines, turntables and effects and a back up CD in case things went wrong. There was almost no one there. I just sat in the corner and listened. Even though the beats were big and phat, they used a lot of sound effects and dialog and samples. Very much a sonic journey. Afterwards, I went and said hello. But, they were busy packing up and trying to make room for the next DJs, so we agreed to meet at the bar in the tent nearby. I waited and waited and waited and finally gave up. When we met, I told them the story and we had a laugh about the whole thing. We all met for breakfast on Long Street (too much Brenda Fassie there!) and then headed up to the studio "complex" they share nearby.


Sibot in his studio.

Anyway, they've gotten some really warped, phat and sometimes silly and sometimes evil beats going on.......check this out....

The Real Estate Agents - "Super Evil (Real Estate Mix)" with one Watkin Tudor Jones on the words.

Markus Wormstorm in his studio.

Somewhat Random

A somewhat random, anecdotal post.......
You too can be a virtual Jackson Pollock. Some good clean fun.












I gotta announce that I'm really really REALLY feeling Dub Gabriel's new track "Spirit Made Flesh feat. Karen Gibson Ror aka KGR." You can check the track on both of their sites. It is as steady as a tree sprung from god's chest........





Dr. Robert M. Bowman Says 9/11 Was An Inside Job. Watch it.
I posted once about Loose Change. Somebody wrote that I wasn't looking closely enough and that the Loose Change gang is just making a huge spectacle of 9/11. It seems that people are afraid to even entertain the thought that the American government is capable of being manipulative and deceitful. As though it is even more ridiculous to consider the possibility that there is a conspiracy (or many) going on. I say open the fucker up and take it all apart and figure out how it works. Don't worry if you can put it back together again.

Maybe I'll finish up my observations on my African sojourn tomorrow.......

Cape Town

As I think I've said a few times in earlier posts, I'm a huge fan of African Dope records. I heard about them on my last trip to South Africa and Mozambique in 2004. My glass blowing friend in Durban, Cornell, turned me on to the compilation "Cape of Good Dope." Later, in Berlin at Multikulti FM, I found their "The Sound of Dub" and "Silverlab Harambe Sessions." One of the tracks that really jumped out at me was "FCK" by Teba. I promptly ripped it and stuck it in my Ableton Live session and (due to the limited text/naming) it just became FCK, I played it out all the time and forgot that it was Teba. Fast forward......

The possibility came up to set up a stopover in South Africa (I have a hard time stopping in random strange places on the way to my real destination without getting out and at least having a look around) and i decided to write to them and see if they could help set up a gig in Cape Town (or anywhere in SA). I got lucky and they decided to hook me up. Always on the look out for musicians, i asked about the possibility of hooking up with some people there and they were down for facilitating connections. When they mentioned Teba, it rang a bell and I digitally backtracked and realized that it was the FCK guy. Cool, me thinks.

Listen to "FCK" - Teba, The Original Social Worker, aka the Shepherd.

The gears were in motion. I was to be picked up by Fletcher, aka DJ Dope aka founder of African Dope Records. We had a lot to talk about and a lot to do. Duncan who was responsible for promoting the night had gotten us hooked up with tickets to go to Robben Island where Mandela had been in prison for many years. Of course, as most Cape Townians, Fletcher had never been there and jumped at the chance. That gave us plenty of time to talk about Cape Town, South Africa, Apartheid, the Mandelas, all the former prisoners who are now cabinet members, education, food, music, rappers, you name it. Then it was back to town to get ready for our gig at the Fiction Bar on Long Street. The night was a great success. Everybody was happy, satisfied and tired. We trudged off with our gear for home. Along the way, Fletcher got a call from the security company that his house alarm had gone off. I suggested that maybe his cats had set it off, but, very calmly, he said he was sure that he'd been broken into. Back at the crib, there was a security guy standing in front of the house. The bottom half of the door had been kicked in. The thieves had run in, grabbed the turntables from the front room, knocked over the amp, magazines and records and taken off. Probably in about 30 seconds or so we figured. It was a long night. We had to wait for the police to properly report it so that he could claim it on insurance. It was light out by the time we got to bed.

The next day we went out to Gugulethu to check out the sunday afternoon sound system. Normally, they set up in the basketball court, but it had been taken over by an ANC rally and so the sound system was moved to a nearby basketball court. This was a totally DIY mission to make the music happen. The equipment was an amalgamation of stuff brought by whoever had it. It sounded pretty nasty, but the good vibes more than made up for that. We arrived just as the sun was setting and managed to catch quite a few MCs in the short time we were there. The amount of talented hip hop and ragga MCs in Cape Town is astounding (especially after being in Zenj and Bongo!). When it got dark, it got cold. The MCs gave way to just the DJs and people danced all over the basketball court trying to stay warm. Fletcher introduced me to people left and right - Teba was there, Crosby, a producer/MC that I'd meet the first night, Vuyo, a super nice guy who is a producer of roots reggae, Spencer, who was the man responsible for putting the whole thing on.......then it was time to go to the studio and listen and talk and show and tell. Perhaps some things from the studio tomorrow.......
Fletcher, aka DJ Dope with Teba














Sound system Gugulethu style












African Dope Studio headquarters

Catch Up - Zenj, Bongo and Bagamoyo

Aaaighttchyall. Sorry for my absence, but i had some travellin' to do....specifically, Zanzibar - Dar es Salaam - Bagamoyo - Dar es Salaam - Johannesburg - Cape Town - Johannesburg - Frankfurt - Rio de Janeiro. yes, it was a long trip! Frankfurt was lovely. I was so tired I slept in a park and then left. Thanks Varig......

I'm gonna try and make up for this lost time and fill in the empty spaces little by little......wrapped everything up in Zanzibar.

Matona and me on the last day - he gifted me halewa and I gifted him rough mixes of all the tracks we worked on together. My hard drive is heavy with new tracks to be edited and mixed........









In the last few days, it was a marathon of recording - both to finish my tracks and to finish Matona's.

Finally....something to listen to from all of this recording. Matona's Ud Solo.

Matona is fully bent on coming to Rio. I hope he comes. He says he doesn't mind sleeping in a hammock.......

Matona walking Leila through the track at the Dhow Countries Music Academy (by the way they have a job vacancy for director -check it on the site).











Leila doing vocals on our beni/ragga track.

















Fadl on tabla.

















Muda Criss laying down the vocals for our track at Akhenaton studio. He wrote about his father who is in prison unjustly in India for murder. He hasn't seen him for 10 years.














As I think I spoke of earlier, I had been invited by one Mr. Jhiko Manyika to spend some days at his house in Bagamoyo making music. We managed to do a track of his, another track with his cousin, Squeeza (his friends used to say that he squeezes the words and rhymes) who came out for a day from Dar to do a track and another track with Andrew, Jhiko's guitar player. Jhiko has to be one of the sweetest, most genuine people on the planet. I count myself very lucky and blessed indeed to have made his acquaintance. Thanks Jhiko!

Jhiko Manyika

















Squeeza squeezing the rhymes

















Andrew













To the very last minute, Fid Q called and sent text messages saying he was trying to come and make the hook up to record a track, but alas, it was not to be.....maybe next time.

I want to say thanks to some folks for their guidance, enthusiasm, interest, hospitality during my trip to Zanzibar - Matona!!! Ally "Star" - thanks for the talks sitting on the baraza late night and don't worry the monkey won't bite! Kheri, Hilda, Yasser (see you in Cairo), David, Juma 20, Muda Criss, Sweet Ray, Abeid, Yusuf (sorry for the screwed up link! It is http://www.busaramusic.com - go dere!), Adel, Mohammed for the biscuits and soda every other day, Khamis, Hamad, Fadl, Leila, Jhiko, Andrew, Shida, Kasim and last, but definitely not least, Ali for the mishkaki and chips.