Talking Drum

Gallo Vault Sessions podcast is a 6-part series brought to you by Gallo Music in collaboration with KONJO.

We delve into the story of Gallo Music, Africa’s largest and oldest recording company, and reflect on the ways music shapes culture, and how our culture has been shaped by music…both at the centre and periphery of Africa’s music history. We bridge 95 years of Gallo’s music history with KONJO’s passion for cultural storytelling and chat with artists, label executives, radio veterans and music thinkers as we explore the undercurrents, backstories and overlooked tapes from the Gallo Vault; from mbaqanga to soul, and also, provide you with a curated playlist to soundtrack each month.

Follow us on @gallorecordcompany & @k.o.n.j.o

This episode is a recording of a live taping event that took place under the autumn trees at FARMHOUSE @ 58 in the Cradle of Humankind in front of an intimate live audience. KONJO invited jazz drummer and writer, Tumi Mogorosi to interpret a selection of songs from the Talking Drum podcast series and perform them with an ensemble of his choosing. Tumi’s work is concerned with the Black Sonic as a dislocated episteme, which identifies the aesthetic as a limitation. It is from this position that this episode (re)considers the “jazz standard” and translation/interpretation as it relates to questions of fugitivity and freedom.

This episode is an experiment with trans-geographic collaboration in a moment of limited physical mobility.

This episode was co-produced by Zara Julius & Tumi Mogorosi

Live mix by Garrick Van Der Tuin

Podcast music by BULI

Find all the links and show notes from this episode at: konjo.co.za/talking-drum/

This project is supported by a Breathing Space grant by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg

In this episode we’re joined by Sudanese musician and ethnomusicologist, Alsarah — lead vocalist of Alsarah & the Nubatones. We speak about the weaponisation of music as propaganda by a repressive state, both historically and in the wake of Sudan’s 2018/2019 revolution. We also chat through the failure of the nation state, orientalism as it relates to East & North Africa, as well as the legacies of not just European colonialism, but also that of the Turk and so-called Arab empire in the region.

Special thanks to Tamador Sheikh Aldeen for her guest appearance in this episode.

This episode was co-produced by Zara Julius & Alsarah

Podcast music by BULI

Find all the links and show notes from this episode at: konjo.co.za/talking-drum/

This project is supported by a Breathing Space grant by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg

In this episode we chat with Oualid Khelifi, an Algeria born cultural producer and communications strategist at Anzul about his deeply personal relationship to Algerian musics, diaspora-being as kidnapping, and the ways in which the nation state necessitates particular types of sonic responses within both post-civil war Algeria and its vast diaspora.

This episode was co-produced by Zara Julius & Oualid Khelifi

Podcast music by BULI

This episode was produced by Zara Julius.

This project is supported by a Breathing Space grant by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg

In this episode we chat with South African radio host and jazz tastemaker, Brenda Sisane about the unbounded nature of South African "jazz", the ways music and personal politics are co-implicated as well as the importance of archiving. 

Find all the links and show notes from this episode at: konjo.co.za/talking-drum/

Podcast music by BULI

This episode was produced by Zara Julius.

This project is supported by a Breathing Space grant by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg

In this episode we chat with Cuban producer Isnay Rodríguez Agramonte aka DJ Jigüe about the dynamic musical relationship between Cuba and the African continent, Cuban medical internationalism and Tropical Afro-Futurism.

Find all the links and show notes from this episode at: konjo.co.za/talking-drum/

Podcast music by BULI

This episode was co-produced by Zara Julius & Isnay Rodríguez Agramonte.

English-Spanish translation by Natalie Howard. Voiceovers by Beatrice Pignatelli (Spanish episode) and Julio Sanclemente (English episode) 

This project is supported by a Breathing Space grant by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg

En este episodio charlamos con el productor cubano Isnay Rodríguez Agramonte alias DJ Jigüe sobre la dinámica relación musical entre Cuba y el continente africano, el internacionalismo médico cubano y el 'afrofuturismo tropical'.

Encuentre todos los enlaces y las notas de este episodio en: konjo.co.za/talking-drum/

Música de podcast de BULI

Este episodio fue coproducido por Zara Julius y Isnay Rodríguez Agramonte.

Traducción inglés-español de Natalie Howard. Voces de Beatrice Pignatelli (episodio en español) y Julio Sanclemente (episodio en inglés)

Este proyecto cuenta con el apoyo de una beca Breathing Space de Pro Helvetia Johannesburg

In this episode we chat with Adam Cooper about some of the core liberation values of carnival culture in Trinidad & Tobago, the spirit of Black rebellion, and the many sounds and influences of Soca music in the Caribbean.

Podcast music by BULI

This project is supported by a Breathing Space grant by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg 

‘Talking Drum' is a limited podcast series brought to you by KONJO, which explores the aesthetic and affective links in Africa’s musical echo-chamber (Chude-Sokei, 2008), through conversations with cultural producers, DJs, researchers and artists from various geographies across the African continent and the African diaspora. Responding to a time of limited global mobility, the project re-focuses KONJO's mission as an independent Pan-African creative agency invested in curating live music experience, and moves to explore the archives, and cultural contexts from which various African folk musical traditions emerge, evolve and continue to find vitality.

This project is supported by a Breathing space grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg.