A long way from the block - Ep. 70-Seeing the bandstand as a place for ritual-my conversation with Nduduzo Makhathini

Ep. 70-Seeing the bandstand as a place for ritual-my conversation with Nduduzo Makhathini

04/10/23 • 73 min

In this episode, musician Nduduzo Makhathini and I talk extensively about African spirituality and cosmology and their influence on his creative process. We discuss the effects of apartheid in South Africa and what it was like for him to grow up in racialized townships. American jazz was an early inspiration; we touch on the legends—including Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner, Don Pullen, Alice Coltrane, and Randy Weston—who continue to inspire him today. Nduduzo delves into how he approaches live performance and why it's important to him to incorporate history, culture, ritual, and chanting in his shows. Lastly, he shares what it's like being signed to the iconic Blue Note label.

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Ep. 69-Protecting human and civil rights—my conversation with Andrea Guerrero

A lawyer by trade, Andrea Guerrero approaches the law with an eye toward change. In this episode, she shares how being multilingual and multicultural—she was raised in Mexico—has helped to shape her outlook on life and her work. Guerrero is known in her community as an organizer, someone who walks what she talks and is willing to fight for clients to bring about justice. We discuss one of her most impactful cases, involving Anastasio Hernandez Rojas and what happened on the night of May 28, 2010. We talk about the changes she seeks; her ideas on immigration, border issues, and use of force laws as currently practiced; and some of the ways that we can all make change.
Alliance San Diego is a community organization whose mission is to build collective power to create an inclusive democracy. We believe that by working together to engage effectively in the civic process, we can make systemic change and shape a future that belongs to all of us.
Watch Ms. Guerrero's TEDx talk Immigration Reform: A Chance for a Better America.
https://www.alliancesd.org

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Ep. 71-Capoeira Angola Beyond the Roda—my conversation with Mestre Roxinho

In this episode, Mestre Roxinho and I discuss his childhood in Bahia, playing soccer and living on the streets. We talk about the strong sense of cultural identity instilled in him by his mother—his first hero and the rock of the family—which helped him navigate the extreme racism in Brazil. Metalworking, not capoeira, was what he learned first from his capoeira mestre. We talk about how they met, and about Roxinho's connection with African spirituality, Candomble specifically. His Capoeira Angola lineage is distinct from the Mestre Pastinha lineage; we talk about how it serves as a social political movement, and how the art of it saved him and showed him a positive way to live his life. He shares about his time teaching in Australia, and where he'd like to see capoeira develop in the future. Recent transgressions of some prominent mestres come into conversation, as does trauma and the process of healing. Finally, we discuss his latest book—Ginga of Resilience.