On Black Music...

Museum Africa, on Bree Street in Newtown, recently opened its doors for the International Exhibition Of Black Music. Here, everything from soul to afrobeat to funk, hip hop, jazz and everything in between is explored. As long as it came from a black mind and mouth, it's in here.

The travelling exhibition is an interactive one that asks you to trade in your smart phone at the reception for the exhibition's one. This is so that the exhibition gets all their equipment back but also because the pre-loaded smartphones from the exhibition allow you to unlock a world of gems about black music. Divided into six rooms, the touch screen technology allows you to engage with different aspects like videos, audiovisual poetry and even asks you to physically blow out a candle on the tiny device.

Armed with earphones and a smartphone, you can learn more about everyone from Miles Davis to Ali Farka Toure, Afrika Bambataa, Hugh Masekela, Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Fela Kuti, Stevie Wonder, Tumi And The Volume and loads more. In one room, the four sections of our continent are explored separately, while there is also a room full of Black Music Legends biographies. They are quite short and concise so its not as though you're going to spend aeons at the museum.

But to be honest, the information is overwhelming to the senses - there are over 13 hours of footage - and because it's so insightful, you may want to give it your full attention and make more than one trip to the museum. The entrance fee is R40 and the exhibition runs until 12 December. If you've already been, then let us know what you think.

Read This

I would salivate over this biography (written with D Michael Cheers) when it still sat on my brother's desk, begging me to read it. My brother was still busy with it so I couldn't grab it from him. It's called Readers Courtesy...or something.  I think he'd received Still Grazing: The Musical Journey Of Hugh Masekela from a ladyfriend. I can't quite remember. What I do remember is that he ran through these pages like Dude and I used to run through 2 litre Coca-Cola bottles back when we still drank it. See, Mikko? I did quit the stuff.

Ok, back to Ntate Hugh. Back in those days, my brother wasn't much of a reader. He had a bedroom recording studio where all his friends could stink up his room, what did he need to read for? I'm only teasing. Once he allowed me to get his hands on his copy, the book and I were inseparable. Something in me shifted. I was already a massive fan of the jazz icon and I'd still pay good money to watch him live, any day.

But, you know how they say you should never meet your idols? This was kind of like that, but in a good way. It's like meeting your idol, finding out he's a fcuk-up but loving him anyway because he was able to find a place to be ok with who he is "when he's alone, naked and in the dark" (as a friend once said) and still reveal all of that work-in-progress-ness to us.

For someone who is so revered, I don't see how that's ever easy. We're not talking about El Debarge being honest about his drug use here. We're talking about a man who received a birthday card from an incarcerated Nelson Mandela. Surely, he didn't owe the readers an explanation. But he showed us his building blocks anyway. So if you've ever wondered just how one survives exile, how volatile Mirriam Makeba really was and who Hugh Masekela is, then pick this book up.

Also, last month, the Encounters Film Festival screened ALEKESAM, a documentary about the relationship between Hugh Masekela and his son, Sal, as the latter embarks on a musical journey of his own. Try to see it wherever you can. Here's the trailer: