Johannesburg - The Englewood-Soweto Exchange is a collaborative exchange project led by internationally acclaimed saxophonist and composer Ernest Dawkins.
It is a project that involves African-American improvisational jazz and hip-hop performing artists and comparable artists from South Africa.
At the weekend, the launch of the collaborative project took place in Rosebank and Soweto as part of a three-city tour.
Dawkins relationship with South African artists dates back to the 1980s when he was still a young musician attending festivals in Europe.
“The first major festival I went to I met the South Africans from the Brotherhood of Breath, Louis Moholo and Dudu Pukwana, while we were hanging out with Salif Keita who were doing the after-parties. We were hanging with the West Africans, going to dance parties at night and here come these guys with hats to the side and they reminded us of us. We had a certain kind of affinity going on.”
Not long after that Dawkins met Zim Ngqawana and the two formed a friendship that would see them travel from the US to South Africa exchanging music. Dawkins introduced South African musicians such as Lulu Gontsana, Louis Moholo O Moholo of the Blue Notes and many others to the stage of the Englewood Jazz festival.
“I met Hugh Masekela and others and they started bringing me over here to start doing workshops and by that time I had my own music festival which they would come to and ever since then the relationship has grown. So, this exchange project is a continuation from the projects that I have done in relation to South Africa.”
In 2015, Durban-based jazz pianist and educator Neil Gonzalves joined Dawkins for An Afro Opera: Homage to Nelson Mandela, an orchestral jazz suite.
The Englewood-Soweto Exchange started in 2018 after Dawkins was asked to head up the project.
“My organisation is based in Englewood, which is like a township in the city of Chicago, much like Soweto.
The exchange is about going to the community to experience the way other people live and experience the culture because there are similarities and differences,” he said.
We Want Our Land Back is the debut single produced by this collaborative project between the US and South Africa and was released officially across music streaming platforms in February.
“It doesn’t only speak on the land issues but it also speaks to culture, to Black Lives Matter, to the spiritual point that we are in relation to mankind, the dawning of age and the pandemic. We are never going to go back to what we used to be. It is time for justice, equality, righteousness and spirituality. That’s the beginning of that change,” said Dawkins.
The album features the talents of Chicagoans, pianist Alexis Lombre, drummer Isaiah Spencer, bassist Darius Savage, Brother El Mixologist on the decks, MC Artemis and South African rapper Memphis on Spoken Word, South African New York-based Lesedi Ntsane on trumpet and now Durban-based Linda Sikhakhane on tenor sax. The latter two joined the recording since they were in the US at the right time.
Band founder Dawkins is on the saxophones. Special mention goes to Eastern Cape-based bass player and educator Chantal Willie-Petersen and trumpeter and composer Thabo Sikhakhane who could not travel.
The album launch tour heads to KwaMashu at the KCAP Ekhaya multi-arts centre on Saturday.
The Star