Sankofa: An Experience of African Musical Entanglements

SANKOFA: An Experience of African Musical Entanglements

Jo Kunnuji & the Pan-African Jazz Ensemble

Featuring: Sharonrose Bolaji - vocals | Sonkanise ka Nkosi - vocals & uhadi | Zeke Le Grange - tenor saxophone | Claire Rontsch - baritone saxophone | Kayode Abimbola - drum kit

This concert aligns with the annual SASRIM Conference and will serve as a valuable contribution, enriching both the programme and the overall artistic and academic experience. Sankofa, an Akan concept meaning "to go back and fetch something of value," is widely used in postcolonial scholarship to describe the retrieval of traditions to restore their cultural significance. However, once recontextualised, such practices inevitably take on new forms shaped by the frameworks into which they are integrated. Understanding Sankofa, therefore, requires attention to the intermediaries that shape these renewed expressions. In this concert, the musicians highlight how recontextualised African practices evolve within new cultural settings, becoming eclectic while still rooted in tradition. They explore reimagined indigenous expressions and earlier popular genres through collaborations with OSMSM students and colleagues, as well as artists from Bloemfontein's broader popular music and jazz communities.