On 30th of October, Senior Lecturer Justin DeHart was featured on two international record releases. At Seventy: The Percussion Music of Stuart Saunders Smith, a 6-disc retrospective album of music from American composer Stuart Saunders Smith on Chen Li Records.
Justin is featured as soloist for the entire first, of six discs. His contribution includes Smith’s complete suite of three works for drumset, and solos for tubular bells, xylophone, marimba/voice, and a vibraphone/violin duet with UC colleague Mark Menzies.
“Stuart’s music is just gorgeous!” says Justin. “He works intuitionally to create a very distinct lyrical musical vocabulary that nods to jazz and new complexity movements while remaining incredibly intimate and personal.”
Again She Reigns, from South African electronic music duo, BATUK, was released on their Teka Music label on the same day.
The album celebrates legendary women from African history, such as Sibongile Promise Khumalo, Negeste Saba Makeda (famously known as the Queen of Sheba), Josina Mutemba Machel, Hypatia of Alexandria, Fezekile Kuzwayo, Dahomey Ahosi, Muthoni wa Kirima, and Perpetua and Felicity.
Each song is also accompanied with a painting from the duo which has been shown in Cape Town and Luxembourg (see below for cover, which is the painting for Hypatia’s Theory).
As frequent collaborator with Spoek Mathambo (one-half of the duo), Justin was approached to mix 7 of the 8 songs. Justin adds, “The album features an amazing futuristic blending of hypnotic groove-oriented musical styles, from techno, afrobeat, and house, while the vocalist, Manteiga, soulfully sings songs of female empowerment.” Read more about it here.
