I heard about the Pan African Space Station from the guy working in Cape Town’s raddest little record store, Mabu Vinyl. He was playing some wacky ’70s electric jazz by the American jazz legend Chick Corea (look him up), which got me stuck in the shop and chatting to this guy as he was mixing in store. The ‘guy’ in question turned out to be one of Pan African Space Station’s DJs, and none other than the notorious DJ Mighty (below). Already sold on his music taste, I had to follow it up and find out more, and this is what it’s all about.
On the one hand, Pan African Space Station (PASS) is primarily a streaming radio station that features some amazing jazz as well as stuff like ‘afro-futurist punk opera’ – and from that to hip-hop, electro-soul, kwaito, etc. On the other hand, it’s a series of events, as – awesomely – they record their tunes live from Cape Town over a month-long period each year.
On their website PASS describes itself as ‘a 30-day music intervention from September 12 to October 12, 2010, on the internet, as well as live in venues across greater Cape Town’. The streaming radio part took place in Long Street’s New Space Theatre, as well as other locations like Woodstock’s Albert Hall and the city centre’s St George’s Cathedral. Included in the lineup’s motley crew are names like the South African Thandiswa Mazwai (top left; ex-lead vox and songwriter for Bongo Maffin, and credited as one of the founding members of the Kwaito music scene), West African Brice Wassy (‘King of 6/8 Rhythm’), and American Georgia Anne Muldrow, notable for her impact on the West Coast hip hop scene.
Presented by the Africa Centre (also responsible for Infecting the City, the Spier Contemporary and the Badilisha Poetry X-Change), 2010 saw PASS’s third incarnation. Curated by music masters and cultural adventurers Ntone Edjabe and Neo Muyanga (collectively known as the Heliocentrics), the Pan African Space Station brings fresh talents from the African continent and abroad.
Make sure you click through to their website for some seriously sexy audio delights. This year, the Cape Town Pan African Space Station will be mirrored by a live PASS radio-cast from Limbe, Cameroon. During the month-long PASS journey, fans will be able to listen to live feeds from Cape Town and Limbe via the website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also find PASS on Facebook right here.
Words: Sarah Jayne Fell
Originally written September 2010 for onesmallseed.net. Edited March 2011 for onesmallseed.com.
