In this edition we
move into the 1960's, which I remember, so I couldn't possibly have been there,
but I digress. The background was race riots in the USA, West Indian immigrants
to London being faced with discrimination, a groundbreaking Cameroonian
guitarist in Paris, and many jazz musicians in Scandinavia, including John
Coltrane and Don Cherry.
It was the time of
the Alabama race riots and the music of such as Otis Redding, soul music and
jazz. In Paris there was the music of Francis (didn't catch the surname, a
hazard of radio) from Cameroon, who hailed from a musical family and played
classical guitar which he successfully married to African traditional music,
giving many concerts. He argued that society couldn't possibly be truly
cultured if racist attitudes existed.
In 'swinging' London there was African dance
music, cha cha and quicksteps, known as 'High Life'. Participants would dress
smartly to go to events held at St Pancras and Islington town halls. Then came
'Afrobeat' and African percussionists influenced such people as the Rolling
Stones, Georgie Fame and Ginger Baker. 'Criss cross' rhythms were featured on
an album called The Dawn in 1971.
In South Africa it
was still the era of apartheid and in bands of mixed races the black musicians
had to play hidden behind curtains. Incredible! Many of them came to settle in
London, where they stopped playing bebop and instead embraced free jazz. (Well
ahead of their time – I'm still getting used to bebop!) A big band was
established, the Brotherhood Of Breath.
The scene widened
to the rest of Europe, especially Scandanavia, involving such people as Dexter
Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry and John Coltrane. These musicians were
hailed as heroes. At one concert a fire started and everyone was so engrossed
that no-one moved. On another occasion a red carpet was rolled out for John
Coltrane. Don Cherry used to play an unusual instrument (pocket trumpet) which sounded to me
like a pleasantly muffled guitar in the recorded excerpt. Cherry was open to
many influences which we would today call 'world music'.
Next week we move
to the 1970's, which includes pop music from Cape Verde, as played in Sweden.
Ann Alex
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