Â鶹Éç

Corey Mwamba presents new music that haunts and remembers, from ancestral whispers to musical eulogies.

During the tumultuous summer of 2020, the New York-based vocalist Amirtha Kidambi and bassist Luke Stewart came together for a seance-like dialogue. Kidambi’s soothsayer vocal improvisations join in communion with loop pedals, feedback and Stewart’s reverberant bass: the result is a haunting exchange that soothes intergenerational trauma with a hopeful eye on tomorrow.

The Blue Notes were a seminal South African band that formed in 1962 - a multi-racial outfit that moved to Europe to escape the dangers of apartheid. In 1975, one of the band members, trumpeter Mongezi Feza, died at the age of 30 from pneumonia. We hear a tribute to Feza, recorded in London nine days after his memorial: a free and ferocious testament to his life and the group's artistic bond.

Elsewhere in the programme, saxophonist Tom Challenger creates a quietly blistering world of strings that slip and slide, accompanied by John Edwards, Benedict Taylor and Kit Downes.

Produced by Tej Adeleye
A Reduced Listening Production for Â鶹Éç Radio 3