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Bassist/Producer Tshaka Mayanja Interviewed at AAJ

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'Jazz' and 'Uganda' are rarely used in the same sentence. This little country in East Africa does not have much of a jazz tradition to speak of, let alone write about. Aside from international artists, the likes of Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, as well as specially arranged cultural exchanges by the American, German and Dutch embassies, there has been, until recently, little to speak of locally.

All that is starting to change, for a variety of reasons. Somewhere in the thick of things is Tshaka Mayanja, who has staked his musical reputation on finding and thrusting some fine local artists into the spotlight. Mayanja has led a varied career, starting off as a bona fide reggae artist in Uganda, at a time when local music was not getting much airplay and recording facilities were hard to come by. He later moved to the United Kingdom, where he spent several years before returning to Uganda in 2004 to find great changes in the local music industry.



AAJ Contributor Philip Songa spoke with Mayanja about his umbrella moniker, BlackRoots UNLIMITED, his own work and that of two of his label's artist, singer Angela Kalule (aka K'Angie Mtume) and pianist Pragmo N'Saiga.



Check out Tshaka Mayanja: Chasing His Jazz Dream at AAJ today!

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