https://afrindianfiction.com Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction Thu, 07 Jan 2021 10:35:34 +0000 https://afrindianfiction.com en https://afrindianfiction.com/Homepage Fri, 11 Dec 2020 15:52:14 +0000 Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction https://afrindianfiction.com/Homepage <img width="4500" height="2311" width_o="4500" height_o="2311" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b9ac798c3fb0c656e7e965889696e127619181bc23e97fc138ac8ba4c57b0193/website-cover-image_2-02-02.jpg" data-mid="94121093" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b9ac798c3fb0c656e7e965889696e127619181bc23e97fc138ac8ba4c57b0193/website-cover-image_2-02-02.jpg" /> "Postcolonial perspectives emerge from the colonial testimony of Third World countries and the discourses of ‘minorities’ within the geopolitical divisions of East and West, North and South. They intervene in those ideological discourses of modernity that attempt to give hegemonic ‘normality’ to the uneven development and the differential, often disadvantaged, histories of nations, races, communities, peoples. They formulate their critical revisions around issues of cultural difference, social authority and political discrimination in order to reveal the antagonistic and ambivalent moments within the ‘rationalisations’ of modernity." (Bhabha 1994: 171). Bhabha, H., 1994. The location of culture. Routledge.&nbsp; Afr(indi)an fiction* is a south-south sonic dialogue that seeks to open new territories for discourse, culture and meaning in an imaginary place where borders do not exist and the medium for discourse is sonic. The collaboration brings together SAMA nominated South African indo-jazz trio&nbsp;Kinsmen (Dhruv Sodha – Sitar, Shailesh Pillay – Tabla, Muhammad Dawjee – Saxophones) and the prolific Zimbabwean ethnomusicologist, percussionist and instrument builder Othnell Mangoma Moyo to probe at the intersection of Indian / African / X identities and creative practices by exploring the limits of the fictional and the radical. Initiated as a response to the rapid shutting of national borders during the COVID-19 pandemic and global cries for returns to ‘normalcy’, Kinsmen creatively asserts here that indeed we as a people have never been or known any form of ‘normal’ and we need desperately to reckon with our belonging on this continent. Through a series of action/research exchange dialogues that transact digitally across space, place and time – we ask: What if this picture, becomes a story, a moment, was a place, a sound, a journey and song? What are the territories of our shared landscapes and how do we share? What stories do have to tell each other? How are things at home? By deprioritising live synchronous performance as an output we celebrate the asynchronous as a form of hyper-delayed&nbsp;call-and-response not bound to a single moment but working across time and geography. <img width="3105" height="4096" width_o="3105" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b3e32a5bf9eaaa5e6f2fab2e00225e144f31605613031240e83b51327fae0cea/process-work.jpg" data-mid="93172358" border="0" data-scale="81" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b3e32a5bf9eaaa5e6f2fab2e00225e144f31605613031240e83b51327fae0cea/process-work.jpg" /> [call-and-response as traditionally experienced in real-time dialectical sonic exchanges in the South African Marabi Jazz tradition; and in Jugalbandi in the Indian classical traditions. Each exchange is allotted a fortnight which includes developing the brief, nominating someone to put out the first sonic statement (the call) and allowing each of the respondents a chance to listen and make contributions in the form of their response (which also became a subsequent call for the next respondent). The process is fairly linear in format, yet still allowed a complex interplay of ideas - each version of the call &amp; response exchange was instigated by a different conceptual brief and followed a unique sequence of contributors.] Communication took place over Whatsapp, Zoom &amp; Bandlab Project description: Muhammad Dawjee – Kinsmen Afr(indi)an fiction* was supported by a 2020 ANT Adaptation Fund grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). #afrindianfiction #kinsmensa #othnellmangoma #prohelvetia_johannesburg <img width="2092" height="465" width_o="2092" height_o="465" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d3f078fd37655da8700fcf9fcfe6fa9c53e7a02db26efd0c0fa2609be137c850/ANT_EN_blackwhite.jpg" data-mid="93172611" border="0" data-scale="26" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d3f078fd37655da8700fcf9fcfe6fa9c53e7a02db26efd0c0fa2609be137c850/ANT_EN_blackwhite.jpg" /> https://afrindianfiction.com/Kinsmen Sun, 27 Dec 2020 14:13:42 +0000 Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction https://afrindianfiction.com/Kinsmen <img width="4368" height="2912" width_o="4368" height_o="2912" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/158c693d7e4521a537ae129c48a6a1c4e65e28f3dd3fa70af577896bf6d90551/Kinsmen_The-Orbit_13-July-2017.jpg" data-mid="93169271" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/158c693d7e4521a537ae129c48a6a1c4e65e28f3dd3fa70af577896bf6d90551/Kinsmen_The-Orbit_13-July-2017.jpg" /> &nbsp; © Natasha Laurent (2017) Kinsmen was founded by Dhruv Sodha, Shailesh Pillay and Muhammad Dawjee, all originally from Laudium – an Indian Apartheid Group Area on the Western outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa. Their work explores the intersection of culture, tradition and modernity through composition and improvised music. Kinsmen released their debut album, Window to the Ashram on June 16, 2017 - a collection of narratives, poetically woven together with the creative use of space afforded by a trio. “These themes run parallel to our lived experience as (4th Generation) South Africans of Indian descent in a country that is intensely undergoing the realisation and unpacking of internalised forms of racism and segregation. Our music expresses a desire for a meaningful creative dialogue with this continent that is mostly inexistent in our community.” The language of Kinsmen draws on a myriad of influences including: Indian Classical, Mainstream Jazz, Avant- garde, World fusion and South African Jazz. The instrumentation is an innovative leap away from traditional forms of ‘Indian’ music currently promoted and exhibited in South Africa. It is an experimental rebellion against that culture through a sonic re-appropriation and reinterpretation of the music of a traditionalist culture and school. Their work inspires possibilities for extensions and re-readings of the role and relevance of culture, its limitations and the meaning of cultural artefacts for people of Indian descent living within the country today. ︎&nbsp;Instagram: @kinsmen.music ︎&nbsp;Facebook: kinsmen.sa︎&nbsp;Youtube: kinsmen&nbsp; ︎&nbsp;Music In Africa: kinsmen︎ Window to the Ashram: streaming links https://afrindianfiction.com/Othnell-Mangoma-Moyo Sun, 27 Dec 2020 14:33:17 +0000 Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction https://afrindianfiction.com/Othnell-Mangoma-Moyo <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f02847cf766277679383e124e1c25620df3714917bdce0dc9028d988383d9ba3/TEN---Nguboyenja--Bulawayo---By-KB-Mpofu-355.jpg" data-mid="93170431" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f02847cf766277679383e124e1c25620df3714917bdce0dc9028d988383d9ba3/TEN---Nguboyenja--Bulawayo---By-KB-Mpofu-355.jpg" />© KB Mpofu Othnell Moyo is an ethnomusicoloigist and craftsman based in Zimbabwe who builds the majority of the instruments he uses. Othnell Moyo has produced two eponymous albums and lent his services as a composer and a session player to a number of internationally released albums. He tours extensively in many collaborative world music ensembles including Kullokcall (Norway/Zimbabwe), Amakwekazi (Zimbabwe/Austria/Sweden/Indonesia), SOWE (Burkina Faso/Zimbabwe) and Kunzwana #1 (Zimbabwe/France/Austria). Othnell currently teaches a music and dance rehabilitation program for inmates and is the founder of Talent Explorer in Nguboyenja (TEN) – a music festival and symposium. ︎ Instagram: @othnell ︎ Facebook: othnell.moyo︎ Youtube:&nbsp;othnell moyo https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-01-introductions Fri, 11 Dec 2020 16:11:27 +0000 Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-01-introductions &nbsp;[01] : 09.09.2020 <img width="4500" height="1645" width_o="4500" height_o="1645" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/df32fd8ac2bd71527b9674525cc5684e2effe88c4f1f0c2caf429fa1c89debec/exchange-dialogue-01_introductions_v2.jpg" data-mid="94106776" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/df32fd8ac2bd71527b9674525cc5684e2effe88c4f1f0c2caf429fa1c89debec/exchange-dialogue-01_introductions_v2.jpg" />Imagine this: We’ve just arrived at a jam session in digital space. The space is silent, for now... Nobody really knows each other so how do we begin? How do you say hello? How do we say hello? Use these sentences to guide your thoughts: My name is… I am from… I am currently living in… I am a… (artist / writer / musician / etc etc etc) I am really interested in… … is what I’d like to get out of this experience. Introductions: Part A Introductions: Part B Introductions: Part C ︎ Link to full dialogue video here <img width="690" height="1298" width_o="690" height_o="1298" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c8820fa7d82392181455202ceb4c0c6868ab36c738c60fc47e2a2a3230dd1bbb/Mo.jpg" data-mid="94906120" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/690/i/c8820fa7d82392181455202ceb4c0c6868ab36c738c60fc47e2a2a3230dd1bbb/Mo.jpg" /> <img width="1298" height="690" width_o="1298" height_o="690" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6df0fae8c3fd7faffd378f422846202cdbd3a8f1e7976617bf3d396f79652175/Mangoma.jpg" data-mid="94906119" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6df0fae8c3fd7faffd378f422846202cdbd3a8f1e7976617bf3d396f79652175/Mangoma.jpg" /> <img width="690" height="1298" width_o="690" height_o="1298" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c05adcc9840e200f12ea6ed92f53e79cf160270663e9027c28dcfc581f3b6cfa/shailesh.jpg" data-mid="94906121" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/690/i/c05adcc9840e200f12ea6ed92f53e79cf160270663e9027c28dcfc581f3b6cfa/shailesh.jpg" /> <img width="690" height="1298" width_o="690" height_o="1298" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a2f8588cecd84ce1e498943c15ae6f1fb7bdb4b3ac4e6f7e9afc875ddbaca8d3/Dhruv.jpg" data-mid="94906118" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/690/i/a2f8588cecd84ce1e498943c15ae6f1fb7bdb4b3ac4e6f7e9afc875ddbaca8d3/Dhruv.jpg" /> https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-02-call-response-action-research Mon, 28 Dec 2020 06:07:39 +0000 Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-02-call-response-action-research [02 A] : 16.09.2020 <img width="4500" height="1645" width_o="4500" height_o="1645" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ccf3247ccd63884e9e978873cd99a6016f25495e9c6c663ddd07c56a57aa8882/exchange-dialogue-02_call-respondv2.jpg" data-mid="94122984" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ccf3247ccd63884e9e978873cd99a6016f25495e9c6c663ddd07c56a57aa8882/exchange-dialogue-02_call-respondv2.jpg" /> This is our imagined world. We nurture intelligences through sound that are untainted by reason and language. To listen is to speak to a voice that urges you toward your inner truth. This is how we communicate our magic. In this dialogue we start a chain of exchanges through sound. “Making that magic happen is also a dialectical process, governed by what he (we) calls “speculative practice. I don’t know if the note fits, but I’m going to play it and see where it leads us. Someone in the ensemble responds based on that note, and we are all moving to a different place because that response has given you new ideas, and the way you thought it might resolve has changed also.”” Gwen Ansell on the creative process of Cape Town based drummer Asher Gamedze. <img width="3310" height="3450" width_o="3310" height_o="3450" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8b0565585947d2c62710981b33199e7a7afbce5ee3ad4a026c0dd948db2e44c1/dialogue-02_diagram_300dpi-04.png" data-mid="93736045" border="0" data-scale="39" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8b0565585947d2c62710981b33199e7a7afbce5ee3ad4a026c0dd948db2e44c1/dialogue-02_diagram_300dpi-04.png" /> Exchange excerpt 01: Dhruv first call,&nbsp; Shailesh responds, Mangoma responds,&nbsp; Muhammad responds Exchange excerpt 02: Mangoma responds as an ensemble Exchange excerpt 03: Snippet of call and response Kinsmen Music · Afr(indi)an fiction* - Exchange dialogue 02 [02 B] : 10.10.2020 <img width="4500" height="2792" width_o="4500" height_o="2792" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d6698222ac2aa672f4dc3049f94c6913618986a65fe02ec1b3ea98a26a612747/dialogue-03---action-research-07_300dpi-07.png" data-mid="93735999" border="0" data-scale="60" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d6698222ac2aa672f4dc3049f94c6913618986a65fe02ec1b3ea98a26a612747/dialogue-03---action-research-07_300dpi-07.png" /> “I engage in dialogue not necessarily because I like the other person. I engage in dialogue because I recognize the social and not merely the individualistic character of the process of knowing.” Paolo Freire The call-and response continues, but we shift from the sonic to the verbal and intellectual, and back. Together, through continued dialogue - this time in a different form - we speculate on the potential next steps of this journey. Starting from the canon - Raag Durga, rhythmic displacement &amp; participatory practice: Mbende / Makwa; and another linear canon -Jazz / Blues / South African Inflection An interpretation of meaning and responses to emotion and spirit How dialogue takes place over space, over time. How we listen, how we respond, how we fail and find our own way; and completing a thought as it enters the ether.&nbsp; ︎ Link to full exchange dialogue 02 https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-03-call-response-action-research Mon, 28 Dec 2020 06:46:18 +0000 Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-03-call-response-action-research [03 A] : 03.11.2020 <img width="4500" height="1645" width_o="4500" height_o="1645" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9758d81f71a46764eb409643ba9257d07c3debd3c10bf31da083219236014079/exchange-dialogue-03a_call-respondv2.jpg" data-mid="94247396" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9758d81f71a46764eb409643ba9257d07c3debd3c10bf31da083219236014079/exchange-dialogue-03a_call-respondv2.jpg" /> “The music hears the whole story of how everything will go. &nbsp; &nbsp; It shows the spaces that you (we) are going to give each other...” Othnell Mangoma Moyo<img width="6507" height="6507" width_o="6507" height_o="6507" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/99e007bfcafc0f58fc0d3e973b19b09cbd3a27739572b0926fce665b4874cdd5/dialogue-3---diagram-04v2.png" data-mid="94246230" border="0" data-scale="43" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/99e007bfcafc0f58fc0d3e973b19b09cbd3a27739572b0926fce665b4874cdd5/dialogue-3---diagram-04v2.png" /> Exchange excerpt 01: Mangoma first call, Shailesh responds, Dhruv responds Exchange excerpt 02:Muhammad responds to ensemble Exchange excerpt 03: Snippet of call &amp; response Kinsmen Music · Afr(indi)an fiction* - Exchange dialogue 03 “To abandon the cherished object, the guaranteed insurance, established and recognized references, to abandon oneself to a music that goes beyond the state of “pleasure” and is not scared to open the door to self-assessment in an unpossessed alterity, ravishment, raputre. Who knows what loss the change might bring? What is there to lose? Possibly the frame that imprisons us.” Philippe Carles, Jean-Louis Comolli (2000) Free-Jazz / Black Power [03 B] : 26.11.2020 Dialectic: A process of thought by which apparent contradictions (thesis and antithesis) are seen to be part of a higher truth (synthesis). Dharma: untranslatable - a fundamental substance, a medium of motion, the inherent nature of things, the eternal law of the cosmos. <img width="9000" height="6276" width_o="9000" height_o="6276" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/514da3746bbdbd731d011d0b5a69ea7a73ad2f3c3a74205e6501c802019bf07b/exchange-dialogue-05_dialectic-dharma_2_diagram-05.png" data-mid="94385324" border="0" data-scale="61" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/514da3746bbdbd731d011d0b5a69ea7a73ad2f3c3a74205e6501c802019bf07b/exchange-dialogue-05_dialectic-dharma_2_diagram-05.png" /> Intention / spirit mediums / music making practices / the role of tradition An alternate history of reed music (ngororombe &amp; saxophone) [Community making, values &amp; principles] Tapping into traditional timezones, borrowing from and making ideas relevant to this moment / across genre, across geography. &nbsp; Reflections on process and individual contributions through texture, timbre and melody. &nbsp; Navigating conflict and contradiction in an intuitive process of composition. Cyclical structures as conceptual anchors – always a target in mind [Indian Classical / Ngororombe / Orchestration / Mbira] Speculative practice and emergent language(s) Self-actualisation: making new paths from pre-existing forms and practices ︎ Link to full exchange dialogue 03 https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-04-call-response-action-research Thu, 07 Jan 2021 10:35:34 +0000 Kinsmen - Afr(indi)an fiction https://afrindianfiction.com/exchange-dialogue-04-call-response-action-research [04 A] : 11.12.2020 <img width="4500" height="1645" width_o="4500" height_o="1645" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0ba0800e2c6d8d572a0bb78beb9787e87a738826900d5fc35aa1a6aec96ee643/exchange-dialogue-06-header.jpg" data-mid="95763270" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0ba0800e2c6d8d572a0bb78beb9787e87a738826900d5fc35aa1a6aec96ee643/exchange-dialogue-06-header.jpg" /> [Sonic] dialogues: Embodied aural experiences driven by intuition and intellect operating in orbit. In a musical scenario skill and instinct operate simultaneously to form the communicative exchange and arrive at clarity and precision. Simultaneous musical components work collectively in an exchange. This exchange, started by the tenor saxophone – is limited to the melodic and rhythmic as driving factors for the dialogue.In this dialogue each respondent edits the bandlab project file to create, reshape and restructure the collective sound – the way it’s heard and felt - editing the audio files in the software to create an arrangement from the contributions that begins to structure the narrative. Exchange excerpt 01: Muhammad first call, Mangoma responds, Dhruv responds, Shailesh resonds Exchange excerpt 02:Dialogue continues (with reshaping rearrangements and edits by Dhruv)&nbsp; Exchange excerpt 03: A moment between Shailesh &amp; Othnell&nbsp; <img width="4500" height="4100" width_o="4500" height_o="4100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b832b0d6bdf26d1135df438a08c3627098048592235d434b0cca7d44a433bb3a/dialogue-6_diagram-09.png" data-mid="95765018" border="0" data-scale="50" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b832b0d6bdf26d1135df438a08c3627098048592235d434b0cca7d44a433bb3a/dialogue-6_diagram-09.png" /> Kinsmen Music · Afr(indi)an fiction* - Exchange dialogue 04 “Through their continuing praxis, men and women simultaneously create history and become historical-social beings. Action and reflection occur simultaneously. A critical analysis of reality may, however, reveal that a particular form of action is impossible or inappropriate at the present time. Those who through reflection perceive the infeasibility or inappropriateness of one or another form of action (which should accordingly be postponed or substituted) cannot thereby be accused of inaction. Critical reflection is also action. Because liberating action is dialogical in nature, dialogue cannot be a posteriori to that action, but must be concomitant with it. And since liberation must be a permanent condition, dialogue becomes a continuing aspect of liberating action.” Paolo Friere - Pedagogy of the Oppressed [04 B] : 20.01.2021 Critical reflection(s) Kinsmen x Othnell Mangoma Moyo x Siyabonga Mthembu in dialogue &nbsp; Raag Mpende Meeting points Femininity Generosity Family Shared landscapes Dialogue &amp; future-making What stories do we have to tell each other? A picture of people talking,&nbsp;Home, ︎ Link to full exchange dialogue 04 with Siyabonga Mthembu