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Artist List:
Amampondo
Amjad Ali Khan
Asad Qizilbash
Bembeya Jazz
Chico Cesar
Clave Y Guaguanco
Eliza Carthy Big Band
Ensemble Kaboul
Jimmy Cliff
Julien Jacob
LoJo
Manecas Costa
Manu Dibango and
Ray Lema
Nitin Sawhney
Ojos de Brujo
Oumou Sangare
Pape and Cheikh
Samba Sunda
Sevara Nazarkhan
Sierra Maestra
Super Rail Band
Temple of Sound
Teofilo Chantre
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Profile:
Amampondo
 
Some people say that a musician must suffer to improve their art, but Amampondo have had no choice. They began life in Langa Township near Cape Town in 1979, playing in St Anthony's Church where they were introduced to the marimba by the local padre. The aim of the original seven was to preserve the rich musical traditions of South Africa in general and the Xhosa people in particular.
After busking in the streets of Cape Town to earn the money to buy instruments, Amampondo started to play regularly in local venues and also began to support the local meat workers who were on strike in 1980. This brought them unwanted attention from the apartheid authorities, who did everything to make life as hard as possible.
An ethnomusicologist called Andrew Tracey introduced the group to some fast vanishing Southern African instruments like the Kudu horn, the akadinda, a large wooden xylophone and the chopi xylophone from Mozambique.
The group settled in Johannesburg and started touring the country and then the world, first to a kibbutz in Israel, then Edinburgh Festival, Taiwan and elsewhere. The big break came when Amampondo performed at Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday concert at Wembley Stadium in 1980 which brought them worldwide recognition. The group remain favourites of both Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Since then they have recorded several albums for the MELT2000 label, "Drums for Tomorrow" (1996) and "Vuyani" (2000), as well as collaborating with groups like Juno Reactor and Alan Skidmore.
Theirs is the sound of joyous pride and bitter struggle. It does sound sweeter for all that.
Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2003
Elsewhere on BBCi:
Amampondo play in Leicester - BBC Report
Official website:
www.amampondo.com
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