Achimota cd by Derek Davey
This is fresh and original African music, which draws on both traditional and modern genres. Achimota has a repertoire of well over 50 songs, mostly written by singer and songwriter Mike Mbatha. You will find elements of Chimurenga music, rap, ragga, soul, gospel and reggae. There’s even a tinge of rock from the white musos in the band.
Early in 2006 producer Brendan Jury offered to record the band free of charge. It took a year of recording, during which time he added tracks by bassist Eric Pilani and some thumb-piano himself. Brendan then spent another year playing around with the raw material, which he formulated into some very accessible marimba music.
In 25 years of playing with bands, Achimota is easily the best one I’ve ever played with. There is no bullshit and no egos here. When we get together to play music, that is what we do.
I’ve always had this dream - to travel the globe with a cooking band - and I’m determined to take the ‘marimbians’ on tour.
I’ve been working with Mike Mbatha, who lives at Orange Farm, since 2000. I’m Derek: I live near Melville and met Mike busking there on a street corner.
We formed the group Chapungu, which over two years went on to record the CD Sons of the Sun, appeared on Take5 children’s TV show, visited the Khomani San in the Kalahari, and toured around SA campuses with the MTN ‘Multi-Talented Nomads’.
Mike and I then worked with a community project called Isidingo, which went performed at Aardklop Festival 2004. We did a play called The Magic Marimba Tree, ran workshops in the townships, and played gigs at the festival. We then formed Achimota.
Achimota has been one of the main acts at the ‘Green Africa’ poetry and music evenings, a performance collective which took place every month during 2005 and 2006. The band also performed at esoteric fairs, art exhibitions, churches, parties and poetry evenings.
In 2005, Achimota made a live recording, called Live at Otherworld. Later that year we played at a Bushman festival in the Cradle of Humankind. We’ve also played at Earthdance for the last five years, which attempts to create the vibration of peace, simultaneously, at several different venues worldwide.
Achimota has played at many cultural events in Newtown Cultural Precinct, at the request of Johannesburg Development Agency. We played at the Joburg Carnival and helped to create the carnival’s radio adverts. The band is listed on the books of five music agencies, including The Drum Café, and now plays corporate gigs on a regular basis.
Achimota is also a community project, which encourages about 20 Orange Farm kids to learn culture and art (Orange Farm is an informal settlement outside Joburg, near Soweto). The children gather after school to learn pantsula and Zulu dancing, marimba playing, singing and drums. Playing with the kids is like a breath of fresh air, although it can get pretty fast and hard to keep up with them!
The Achimota crew also manufacture their own instruments, and have sold many marimbas to private clients and instrument distributors.
Two years ago the band was joined by guitarist Dax Butler, giving a warm, jazzy feel to the music and adding resonance to the percussive marimbas and drums.
Playing with this group is a huge privilege; it’s an intimate act of worship to the ancestors and the powers that created our spirits. The name Achimota means ‘don’t ask, just listen’. Perhaps now its time to listen to the cd …
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74,796 MP3 tracks available @ R7 per track ($0.88) and growing daily!
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play buttons to hear samples.
