Friday 30 January 2015

Sathima Benjamin :: Africa (Hilton Schilder Trio)



Sathima Bea Benjamin performing "Africa" with the Hilton Schilder Trio on 1 May 2013. Benjamin's appearances in Cape Town in mid-2013 culminated in a string of celebratory events in July that marked the South African launch of the reissue of her 1976 album African Songbird and included a performance at Tagore's Jazz Bar and a screening of the film Sathima's Windsong at the Labia Cinema. Her magnus opus "Africa" was recorded for African Songbird following her return to South Africa after a long period abroad. The Soweto Uprising of 1976 precipitated a second period of exile in which she lived in New York City for 34 years. She returned to the city of her childhood in 2011, making Cape Town her home once again until her death at the age of 76 on 23 August 2013.

Thursday 15 January 2015

Sathima Benjamin :: Music (Cape Town Goema Orchestra)



Shaken by the Soweto Uprising in 1976, jazz singer and composer Sathima Bea Benjamin left South Africa in 1977 with her then-husband Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand) and settled in New York City for 34 years. She returned to the city of her childhood in 2011, making Cape Town her home once again and continuing to perform until her death at the age of 76 in August 2013. She appears here on 8 December 2012 in the first of a pair of performances with the Cape Town Goema Orchestra. Written by Benjamin, the spiritual ballad "Music" was recorded for her canonical African Songbird album in 1976 and revisited for LoveLight on Benjamin's own Ekapa label in 1987. The composition was arranged for orchestra by conductor George Werner.