Louis Moholo (original) (raw)

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South African jazz drummer (born 1940)

Louis Moholo
Background information
Birth name Louis Tebogo Moholo
Born (1940-03-10) 10 March 1940 (age 84)Cape Town, South Africa
Genres Jazz
Occupation Musician
Instrument Drums

Musical artist

Louis Tebogo Moholo (born 10 March 1940)[1] is a South African jazz drummer. He has been a member of several notable bands, including The Blue Notes, the Brotherhood of Breath and Assagai.

Born in Cape Town, Moholo formed The Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Nikele Moyake, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana,[2] and emigrated to Europe with them in 1964, eventually settling in London, where he formed part of a South African exile community that made an important contribution to British jazz. In 1966, he toured Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he performed at the Theatron with Steve Lacy, Johnny Dyani and Enrico Rava and recorded the album The Forest and the Zoo with the same musicians. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Breath, a big band comprising several South African exiles and leading musicians of the British free jazz scene in the 1970s and is the founder of Viva la Black and The Dedication Orchestra.[1] His first album under his own name, Spirits Rejoice on Ogun Records, is considered a classic example of the combination of British and South African players. In the early 1970s, Moholo was also a member of the afro-rock band Assagai.

He has played with many musicians, including Derek Bailey, Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, Enrico Rava, Roswell Rudd, Irène Schweizer, Cecil Taylor, John Tchicai, Archie Shepp, Peter Brötzmann, Mike Osborne, Keith Tippett, Elton Dean and Harry Miller.

Moholo returned to South Africa in September 2005, performing with George E. Lewis at the UNYAZI Festival of Electronic Music in Johannesburg. He now goes under the name Louis Moholo-Moholo because the name is more ethnically authentic. South African promoter Slow Life in March 2017 at the Olympia Bakery in Kalk Bay, Cape Town, produced a show where Moholo performed along with Mark Fransman, Reza Khota, Keenan Ahrends and Brydon Bolton.

Louis Moholo Moholo Quintet (2011) with Paul Dunmall (saxophone), Alan Tomlinson (trombone), Alexander Hawkins (piano) and Olie Brice (bass)

with Chris McGregor

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with The Brotherhood of Breath

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with the Blue Notes

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with Peter Brotzmann Group

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with Curtis Clark Quintet

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with The Dedication Orchestra

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with Circulasione Totale Orchestra

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  1. ^ a b Larkin, Colin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1722. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ Corbett, John (29 August 2017). "South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo fans the spark of resistance into the flame of liberated jazz". Chicago Reader.