The Goema Project
The Goema Project documents, expands and shares Goema history, music and artists. André’s current focus is layering the lens of Goema over contemporary jazz to explore the complex and nuanced results.
Goema is a type of music indigenous to Cape Town, South Africa. As with many port cities across the world, Cape Town became a melting pot of people, languages, food, and music. Slaves, who built the Cape colony, were not allowed in the city center, except on January second, when they received their clothing allotment for the year. A musical procession went through parts of the city with slaves dressed in their new clothes, singing and dancing songs inspired by their cultures countries of origin, as well as caricatures of popular Dutch, and British songs. These songs were later replaced with original compositions as well as caricatures of contemporary popular music.
In the 1960s-1970s, younger musicians who were versed in Goema and felt an affinity for American Jazz began experimenting with adding Goema rhythms to jazz harmonies and chord progressions, sometimes sticking to the I-IV-V ( 1-4-5) chord progression so prevalent in South African music.
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Charlie Brown Goes to South Africa
When I first heard Charlie Brown goes to South Africa, my reaction was “Check these American cats, trying to sound like us!” On alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s Charlie Brown goes to Cape Town, Chris Dave [...]
Book Review: Effortless Mastery
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South African Jazz Albums: Genes and Spirits by Moses Molelekwa
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“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”