Joseph Odindo

African music is a passion of Joseph Odindo and what I found most interesting about this subject was the term, mbaqanga. One of my favorite albums of all time is Paul Simon's Graceland. When asked to describe this African sound, Joseph Odindo and others have described it as an eclectic mix of pop, a capella, rock and mbaqanga. I'd never heard the term before and was interested in the history of the African sound and how it came to be.

This music genre is South African with rural roots in Zulu and the style was originated in the 1960's. People like Joseph Odindo have described the music as having been born of necessity to share music among African tribes. Before the 1960's there were laws in effect that prevented people from integrating into another tribe. This made it difficult for music to pass from one tribe to another and for musicians to establish themselves outside of their own tribal boundaries. This sound, traditionally, indicated a mix of western instruments and South African vocals. These sounds are said to be similar to the sounds of jazz and the blues.