As the year draws to a close, we picked our favourite Albums of 2023.
Tag Archives: Asher Gamedze
Asher Gamedze previews upcoming album with second single, ‘Sometimes I Think To Myself’; shares album documentary short film
Photo: Dylan Valley
We’ve not hidden our excitement for Asher Gamedze‘s upcoming new album Turbulence and Pulse when the news emerged last month. With release day a month away, and following the stunning and celestial ‘Wynter Time’, the visionary and virtuosic South African drummer, composer, writer and activist has just shared a potent and gripping new single called ‘Sometimes I Think To Myself’ featuring Julian ‘Deacon’ Otis. As Asher explained, the track is “a song about the experience of losing a friend, the heartbreak of that ending and having to make your own closure”.
Listen to ‘Sometimes I Think To Myself’ below and watch out for the release of Turbulence and Pulse on May 5th through International Anthem and Mushroom Hour Half Hour.
In other related good news, today sees the release of an album documentary short film featuring Asher in conversation with two of his close collaborators and mentors – Leigh-Ann Naidoo and Marcus Solomon. With all the music lifted from the upcoming Turbulence and Pulse, the 17-minute documentary explores the album’s themes and features performance footage and the coastal scenery of Cape Town. Dylan Valley, who made the documentary, had this say:
“This film is a true collaboration between Asher and me, the filmmaker. We took the concepts and inspiration behind the album as a departure point and then improvised our approach as we found the groove, and each other. We hope you enjoy the end result as much as we enjoyed working together.”
Asher also commented:
“Leigh-Ann Naidoo and Marcus Solomon are two amongst the many people who have taught me a lot about politics and living a principled and committed, radical life. What I have learnt with and from them, and others who I have organised with and think with regularly, has shaped how I want to be in the world, and what I want to do in the world, and this in turn shapes my orientation to music. This is one of the ways in which what is outside of the music, actually informs and directs the music’s intention in my practice.
Leigh-Ann is an activist, ex-Olympian, educationist and a scholar, amongst other political work she has been involved in black student and worker struggles at universities, the LGBTQ movement, and Palestinian solidarity campaigns.
Marcus Solomon is a lifelong community activist. As a committed socialist he has been broadly active in the national liberation movement since the late 1950s in student politics, civic struggles, guerilla study groups, worker education and The Children’s Movement.”
Here’s the documentary for your viewing and listening pleasure.
Asher Gamedze announces new album, Turbulence and Pulse, and shares first single ‘Wynter Time’
Photo: Dylan Valley
We’re a little bit more than excited to hear about the upcoming double album from visionary and virtuosic South African drummer, composer, writer and activist Asher Gamedze. Entitled Turbulence and Pulse, it follows his extraordinarily staggering and powerful debut Dialectic Soul, which was one of our Album Picks of 2020. Slated for a May 5th release through International Anthem and Mushroom Hour Half Hour, Turbulence and Pulse already looks set to be one of the most compelling albums to bless our ears in 2023.
Gamedze’s forthcoming album saw him working with the same stellar quartet from Dialectic Soul, comprising Thembinkosi Mavimbela on bass, Buddy Wells on tenor saxophone, and Robbin Fassie on trumpet. “I chose these musicians specifically because I know that they’re open to understanding and interpreting the music from my perspective and my way of working.”
On Turbulence and Pulse, and as the press release explains, Gamedze “explores relationships of time between music and history”. He elaborates:
“Time in music is a metaphor for thinking about time in history and how time moves. The way we’re taught history is generally in a way that robs people of agency in imagining themselves as part of history and how it unfolds. It is something that happens to us. I think there’s a productive metaphor in that because the sense of time in music is created by musicians playing together. If we can use that to think about history and time in history, you can see that, actually, history is created by people in a whole range of ways. At the heart of it, historical motion is created by people organized and acting together, whether for progressive or reactionary ends.”
Gamedze also shared his thoughts on the album’s theme, stating that the underlying message is “to claim a form of historical agency and realize that the future is not a foregone conclusion. As people we can organize, to transform our world in small and big ways.” He continues:
“One of the ideas that I’ve had for a long time is to unsettle the way that people think about culture as something static or as something fixed. There’s this tension in Africa, because of the way that the colonists have constructed visions of African culture, where people speak about this need to conserve culture and document it. I think that’s important, but you also have to understand that these things are moving. And we are the people who have to participate in that movement.”
To bring the album to life, Gamedze has also enlisted guest vocalist Julian Otis on one of the tracks and the LP, CD, and digital versions feature three additional tracks, alternate versions of ‘Melancholia’, ‘If It Rains. To Pursue Truth’, and ‘Out Stepped Zim’, which Gamedze recorded on a rooftop in Cairo with his Another Time Ensemble featuring Maurice Louca (synthesizers), Adham Zidan (bass), Alan Bishop (alto saxophone, voice), and Chérif El-Masri (guitar).
It may seem like a long way away for the album to be out but we can already hear the stunning and celestial ‘Wynter Time’, which only heightens our anticipation for what is to come. ‘Wynter Time’ is dedicated to Black Caribbean radical intellectual, writer and cultural theorist Sylvia Wynter, in particular her book Black Metamorphosis. The single if offered with an accompanying video directed by Adrian Van Wyk and you can watch it below.
Le Guess Who?’s Who 2022: Asher Gamedze
There’s less than a month to go before Le Guess Who? takes over Utrecht. With over 150 artists set to perform, how do we make sense of such a monumental line-up? We made a list of the artists we’re most excited to see and asked them for their recommendations.
Asher Gamedze
Performing Thursday 10th November
Photo: Lungiswa Gqunta
South African drummer, composer, writer and activist Asher Gamedze is one of the most incredible and impressive musicians of today. Visionary and virtuosic, with a phenomenal adaptability to a wide range of styles, he relishes playing together and has performed and recorded with various artists and ensembles across genres like jazz, pop, rock, hip-hop and soul music. Gamedze first rose to worldwide prominence through his work with Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood in 2019. The following year he released his debut album as a bandleader, Dialectic Soul, an absolute masterpiece which was one of our Album Picks of the Year, and remains an active favourite. out side work | two duets is his latest musical offering, a conversational record of improvised duets with Xristian Espinoza and Alan Bishop. Needless to say we can’t wait to see Gamedze perform at Le Guess Who? and we asked him what other artists he is looking forward to seeing live. Read on to find out, with a few words from him.
Nancy Mounir
Performing Friday 11th November (as part of Hidden Musics)
“her recent album is one of the most interesting engagements with an archive of music that i’ve ever heard, it’s like a really fresh take on sampling. i really love the layers of history, and the warm and sometimes tense spaces between notes and various voicings that you can hear in the music. Very excited to see how it’s performed live.”
Master Musicians of Jajouka
Performing Thursday 10th & Friday 11th November (as part of Hidden Musics)
“Music from the Maghreb and particularly from Morocco has been very important to my own study of rhythm, music and spiritual practice. This group holds so much knowledge of a tradition that has been continually developing over many years, it will be an absolute privilege to experience them.”
Tumi Mogorosi
Performing Sunday 13th November
“Tumi is a dear friend and one of the most unique voices on the drum kit and as a composer in creative music today. The new album, ‘Group Theory: Black Music’, is fire!”
Le Guess Who? will take place 10-13 November. For the full line-up, tickets and more info visit leguesswho.com. And take a look at other artists we’re excited about picking their own Le Guess Who?’s Who.
Cast the Dice 2020 Album Picks
As the year draws to a close, we picked our favourite Albums of 2020.
Asher Gamedze announces debut album and shares ‘state of emergence suite’
South African drummer Asher Gamedze has announced the release of his debut album this summer. Entitled Dialectic Soul, it arrives on July 10th through On The Corner Records. A visionary musician, Gamedze recorded the album live over two days in Cape Town with a stellar cast of musicians, Thembinkosi Mavimbela on bass, Buddy Wells on tenor sax, Robin Fassie-Kock on trumpet and Nono Nkoane on vocals.
Dialectic Soul, as Gamedze remarks, “is about motion and a refusal to remain static or stay still. It’s the commitment to be continually moving”. He adds:
“Fundamentally, it is about the reclamation of the historical imperative. It is about the dialect of the soul and the spirit while it moves through history. The soul is dialectic. Motion is imperative. We keep moving.”
As a mesmerising introduction to the album, Gamedze has shared the opening suite ‘state of emergence’. This composition, he comments, “introduces the themes that constitute the album; free drums representing autonomous African motion, the saxophone reflecting deeply and honestly on the violence of colonialism, the teachings of Coltrane, Biko, Makeba, Malcom and others inspired the music’s positive manifestations of resistance.”
Lend your ears to sublime ‘state of emergence suite’ now, featuring ‘thesis’, ‘antithesis’ and ‘synthesis’. You’ll be rewarded!
