Moloco Music is Going To Africa Posted: Dec 6, 2008
We recently became aware of PROMOTE AFRICA, an organization focused on preserving distinct traditional forms of African music, art, and literature by providing them with the resources or market access to leverage their talent and productive energies. Learn more...
Together with PROMOTE AFRICA we’ll be travelling to Africa (Namibia and Malawi) in the summer of 2009. With us we’ll bring a portable recording studio, cameras, and backing tracks (the rough outlines of songs) made by Moloco. These tracks will build the foundation for what is going to be the most exciting collaboration of the year! We will partner with a variety of talented artists who will all sing, dance, and/or play their instruments to the backing tracks. We will record all of their wonderful contributions and put it on CD and DVD for you and the world to enjoy. And best of all, most of the proceeds go straight back to the artists and their communities!
By providing the various artists with the same backing tracks each recording will have the same rhythmical structure and harmonies. This way artists can be in different places at different times, and once we compile everything it’s like they are all jamming out together! That’s the advantage of modern technology. The artist no longer has to come to the studio. We bring the studio to the artist - wherever that might be!
The treatment of "music" and "dance" as separate art forms is a European idea. In many African languages there is no separation between these two terms. For example, in many Bantu languages there is one concept that might be translated as "song" and another that covers both the semantic fields of the European concepts of "music" and "dance". In Africa there is usually only one word for both music and dance, while the exact meaning of the concepts may differ from culture to culture. This is why African music and African dance must be viewed in very close connection.
And now you understand precisely why we’re not just recording an album. To capture this symbiosis of music and dance we’re taking a camera crew to Africa to film our entire journey. In addition, we will engage with the artists and their communities to give a more in depth impression of the country, the people, and the culture. The result - A groundbreaking musical collaboration combined with a compelling music documentary presenting Africa.
So . . . We’ll keep you informed as we go along. Summer 2009 seems like a long time away but we have a lot of work to do! We are currently in the process of looking for grants but if you’re interested in chipping in we’d greatly appreciate it! We don’t have a donation account set up yet but instead of just giving your money away you can purchase Moloco's album BONBONERA (2008). All of the proceeds will directly contribute our Africa Project. You can also support us by telling all of your friends about this. The more people know about us the better! Thanks a lot for your interest and please keep in touch!
Moloco
Download BONBONERA at
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