Vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin Interviewed at AAJ
Sathima Bea Benjamin's amazing life reads like the plot to movie. She took time out of her busy schedule to recollect her life's journey from her childhood in pre-apartheid South Africa singing during movie house intermissions to self-imposed exile in Europe where she and pianist composer husband Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) were discovered by Duke Ellington. Despite witnessing and being part of not just her country's history, but her chosen art's as well, this singer remains, to the casual listener an as yet undiscovered treasure.
AAJ contributor Maxwell Chandler spoke with Benjamin about her lengthy but sadly under-documented career, rubbing shoulders with jazz legends, her exposure and contribution to world music, and much, much more.
Check out Sathima Bea Benjamin: Song Without End at AAJ today!
