Outernational Meltdown

OUTERNATIONAL MELTDOWN 1994

October, 1994. Johannesburg Airport.
Airto had left long-time collaborator and guitarist Jise Neto in Cape Town and along with two new school London-based musicians, trumpeter Byron Wallen and drummer Andrew Missingham, was awaiting a flight back to Europe. The previous twelve days had been spent immersed in a myriad of exhilarating, unprecedented musical exchanges and conversations in both the recording studio and live onstage. They were all still reeling with the feeling.
Airto was in a reflective mood. For him, this trip was an opportunity to create understanding and to prove that black and white can come together without being afraid; without the fear and mistrust that divides people not just in post-apartheid South Africa but from Rio to London to LA: all round the world. "Just what we did this time shows me the incredible potential that exists here," he says. "The people here have been really isolated. They have been starved of music from other parts of the globe and they are ready for it, they want to know what is happening, who is happening, they want to be part of the whole thing."
Unlike some previous excursions to South Africa by prominent Western artists, this modest group of musicians, all signed to M.E.L.T. 2000, came to establish a lasting dialogue. This process had started within hours of their arrival at the studios in downtown Joburg owned by Gallo Records with the founder of Sakhile and legendary bass man, Sipho Gumede; gifted young pianist, Moses Taiwa Molelekwa and one of the greatest South African musicians, Pops Mohamed. Such an all-star assembly attracted many of the most accomplished players in the country, including Mabi Gabriel Thobejane  and Amampondo.
Amampondo joined Airto in an extraordinary encounter with a troupe of tribal spiritual healers, the Sangomas, which yielded the album Healers Brew(BW077). When the posse transplanted the spontaneous musical experiences from the Downtown studio to the stage at Jo'burg's Megamusic complex, the Sangomas both opened and closed the session amid a tropical storm of percussion and sound that crackled with vitality. Sandwiched between was a flow of generous, ego-free performances that maintained the vigilant open minded spirit of jazz musicians worldwide.
The surprise set came from Durban-based Madala Kunene who was backed by Sipho's band which featured three effervescent women vocalists and the fearsome percussion of  Mabi Gabriel Thobejane. Zim Ngoawana's spiralling horn playing was a reminder of how the spirit of Coltrane was alive and well in Jo'burg. Max Mntambo and his spar stepped on stage to inject the presence of the migrant workers. They dropped some serious dance moves, moves that are perfected each and every Sunday during the competitions between the miners' hostels.
In Cape Town, the chemistry between Airto and Amampondo was explosive. The djembes fired off volleys of rhythm and the Brazilian wailed as he spiced each improvisation with the sound of the caxixis or whatever was at hand. The tapes rolled and the individual pieces gradually took shape. Voices and sounds were over dubbed... suddenly the studio was filled with the noises of birds and the bleating of goats. Amampondo spend much of their time teaching but are no strangers to touring internationally. Their last CD was the first time they had experimented with non-African instruments and they loved it.
It had been a fitting finale to a fantastic voyage of discovery and Airto Moreira felt elated: "I used to feel like this when I was in Brazil, when I was 18 or 19 and would feel this urge. I don't normally get excited anymore. I go onstage and play my best and people say, 'Yeah, that was great!' and I think maybe it was good, but not great. Here, I think everything has been great and I am the one trying to tell myself not to get too excited. The source of this music has no ending...it's much stronger, much more beautiful...and it's really important that the African musicians realise how strong and how beautiful it is and how great they are as musicians."

Paul Bradshaw, Straight No Chaser