Africa Today
(Night Dreamer, B086Y5P9DW) (
first 13 seconds, then to bed)
GEORGES: WE’RE HEARING NIGERIAN TRUMPETER AND COMPOSER ETUK UBONG FROM HIS 2020 RELEASE
AFRICA TODAY, RECORDED DIRECT TO DISC IN THE NETHERLANDS. ETUK IS PART OF A POWERFUL MOVEMENT OF ARTISTS FUSING JAZZ AND AFRICAN MUSIC IN NEW WAYS.
ACTY:
01
Etuk-Africa.wav: Trust me, what made Hugh Masekela who he is? It was because when Hugh Masekela got to America, the likes of Coltrane, the likes of Miles Davis and Art Blakey told him, You need to play
African
jazz, man. You need to reflect Africa.” And then Hugh Masekela becomes great automatically. With my kind of music, it s just about the culture. It doesn t sound like pop. It doesn t sound like rap music. It sounds like Africa.
do remember him.
Michael Wimberly: That was the beginning. Plus I ve been using your Afropop book for some time now.
Fantastic.
So the Urban Bush Women project was the thing that brought you to Mozambique?
Yes. I went there in 2001, 2002, and then again in 2010. I was scheduled to go this past year, but of course,
this happened. So, whenever life resumes, I will make an effort to get back. What s nice is that people there are using Facebook and Instagram, so I get to see who s doing what.
What were you doing there?
Well, initially, I went there because of Urban Bush Women. I was their musical director, and we were doing a play that Lincoln Center supported us on. So we just went to learn what some of the traditions were, religious traditions, language, music, costumes, art, and we kind of took all of that and weaved it into a story in collaboration with Urban Bush Women. That was very successful. It was called