By Philip Songa

Jazz, they say, just would not be jazz without its African roots. “Jazz as we all know it would be unthinkable without its African roots, and the African influence in the very earliest forms of jazz came from New Orleans”, writes Nat Chediak, author of The Dictionary of Latin Jazz. He goes on to say that important developments in the evolution of jazz occurred in New Orleans, Havana and Rio de Janeiro, all port cities with strong ties to Africa. “What resulted was a culling of the different experiences of the African diaspora”, says Chediak.

Bearing that in mind, the term African jazz is then is something of a misnomer, because the term ‘jazz’ already includes the African ingredient by virtue of the manner of its development. For our purposes, therefore, we shall take ‘African jazz’ to mean jazz as performed by African artists, many of whom instill musical sounds and influences that are unique to their region or country of origin on the African continent. Mention jazz in Africa and the same names keep cropping up – Hugh Masekela, Fela Kuti, Mosa Jonas Gwangwa, Abdullah Ibrahim, Miriam Makeba, etc. These were among the pioneers of jazz in Africa.

The majority of the jazz artists in Africa were, and still are, from South Africa. The country has a unique musical history, perhaps replicated nowhere in Africa. The apartheid period that they went through served to enrich their musical archives, because in the absence of other basic rights, music became a reprieve for thousands of oppressed Black South Africans, not to mention a mouthpiece through which to voice protest. It is not surprising, therefore, that prominent artists like Masekela, Gwangwa and Makeba all found themselves in exile at some point or the other in time, for long stretches of time.

Probably the best known of the African jazz musicians, Hugh Masekela has an extensive jazz background, but has enjoyed major success as one of the earliest leaders in fusion. His vibrant trumpet and flugelhorn have been featured in pop, R&B, disco, Afro- pop and jazz contexts. He began playing in the Huddleston Jazz Band led by anti-apartheid crusader Trevor Huddleston, who was eventually deported. He later co-founded the Merry Makers of Springs with Gwangwa, and played in several other bands. He left South Africa about 1960 with Makeba, who was then his wife. His travels landed him in America finally, where he worked with jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie. He cut several albums while there, and his song Grazing in the Grass topped the charts in 1968, eventually selling 4 million copies.

Makeba started out with the Manhattan Brothers in 1953, later forming the all-female group the Skylarks. In 1959 she toured South Africa with African Jazz and Variety and made an appearance in the documentary film Come Back Africa. These successes led to invitations to perform in Europe and the US. She only returned to South Africa in the early nineties, after three decades in exile.

Their success and the apartheid situation in their country gave birth to many more jazz musicians, among them Sipho Gumede, RaTau Mike Makhalemele, Jonathan Butler, Caiphus Semenya, Bayete, African Jazz Pioneers, Soweto String Quartet etc, most of whom have had significant international impact. In short, it is hard to mention African jazz without mention of the South African contingent. West Africa gave us the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Manu Dibango and King Sunny Ade. East Africa, unfortunately, does not appear prominently on that list, though we could consider someone like US-based Ugandan Samite as carrying the torch for the region in that respect.