New Orleans and South African musicians forge musical and economic ties

New Orleans and Africa have clear historic ties, but musicians are forging even closer connections through bridges of music and commerce.

Damon Batiste, who frequently travels between the United States and South Africa, recently took a musical contingent to Johannesburg, South Africa, where they belted out New Orleans’ favorites at two major festivals and conducted music workshops.

At every stop, he said they received overwhelming appreciation and excitement.

“New Orleans music is hot,” said James Andrews, leader of the Crescent City Allstars, who has twice accompanied Batiste to South Africa.

“Everybody was diggin’ that sound,” he said.

If Johannesburg crowds were enthusiastic about New Orleans’ R&B, traditional and contemporary jazz, the New Orleans musicians themselves were ecstatic to land on the continent.

“Being in the motherland, I was in heaven,” Andrews said.

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, but its roots reach as far as African.

“Even if you are not musically educated, you can feel it in your body, your spirit and your mind,” said Max Moran, who played bass with Donald Harrison at the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival, one of their stops on the recent trip to Johannesburg.

In addition to the Batiste Sons of the New Millennium — Damon, Jamal and Ryan — another New Orleans’ musical ambassadors included Terence Blanchard, James Andrews, Kid Merv, Marlon Jordan, Donald Harrison, Max Moran and Joe Dyson.

Terence Blanchard opened Friday in the Newtown cultural district on the same stage as pianist Abdullah Ibrahim.

In the Market Theatre, Donald Harrison, Moran and Joe Dyson backed up South African trumpeter Lwanda Gogwana as he broke into a traditional South African song.

Hugh Masakela, two-time Grammy winner and one of Africa’s premier jazz musicians, sat listening to Kid Merv all night long, James Andrews said.

According to South African singer-songwriter Pilani Bubu, “Kid Merv kills you with nostalgia as he summons the spirit of the great Mr. Louis Armstrong, as he effortlessly delivers this sound while dancing an old school groove.”

At South West Gauteng FET College and Bassline Jazz Center, the Satchmo Trumpet Summit comprised of Andrews, Kid Merv and Marlon Jordan, improvised performances with young South African musicians, “providing a perfect example of intercultural collaboration,” said John Rowett, a South African scholar.

“There was a distinct willingness from the New Orleans musicians to share their vast knowledge, and this kind of knowledge sharing is priceless,” said Brad Holmes, producer of Jazz on the Lake.

Tens of thousands attended the free concerts, and sat on blankets, clapping along.

At one point, crowds stampeded the gate for Mardi Gras beads, Andrews said.

Damon Batiste is well known on the Cape where he has visited more than 70 times, developing strategic relationships to enhance trade, music, art and tourism through the New Orleans South African Connection.

One of the most favorable indicators of South Africa’s progress since the historic 1994 elections that ended the apartheid system is the government’s willingness to work with private sector and international investors to create economic and social opportunities, Batiste said.

The group touring the region formed a second line in the Executive Mayor Cir Mpho Parks Tau’s office, visited the Nelson Mandela house in Soweto and played for the King of the Zulu nation, Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.

“New Orleans’ enthusiasm was left permeating like strong Italian espresso in a small coffee shop in Paris,” Holmes said of the visiting musicians.