The collaboration between Thomas Mapfumo and Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, broke new ground and should have grown cult status
About the collaboration, Smith said that the connection with Mapfumo and his band had been a “magnificent moment for me”, one that “made me realise how to think about the link between me and Africa, between African American people and Africa”.Based in Eugene, Oregon, in the US, Mapfumo explained the origins of the idea.
Decades before the two musicians collaborated, Smith was already gesturing towards his later collaboration. On his classic 1979 ECM record– when he was still known only as Leo Smith, before he converted to Islam and before he added the names Wadada and Ishmael to his birthname – Smith featured the saxophonist Dwight Andrews who, among other instruments, played the mbira on some tracks.
Neither of the musicians found the collaboration difficult. This was because, says Smith, “musicians around the world are some of the most international people and often they play with other musicians from different places and languages”.
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