Pan-African Music: A Black Atlantic Dialogue
Featuring: David Sánchez and Brenda Sisane
Music has for centuries been at the heart of the expression of African descendent people globally. In this panel, the eminent Puerto Rican composer and saxophonist David Sánchez – a major figure in contemporary music who consciously pursues the unity of African descendent music – will be in conversation with the South African broadcast journalist Brenda Sisane during her Duke residency. Through the career and musical practice of David Sánchez, this conversation will explore the concept of Pan-African music – bridging genre, nationality and style in thinking about what it is that unites the cultures and aesthetics of African descended people.
Date: Wed., April 2, 12pm-2pm EST
Location: Smith Warehouse, Bay 4, C105, Ahmadieh Lecture Hall
Free lunch for participants
RSVP for in-person attendance: duke.is/pan-african
Zoom option: register at duke.is/pan-african-zoom
Speaker bios:
David Sánchez:
GRAMMY® award-winner David Sánchez is recognized around the world as one of the finest saxophonists of his generation. His mastery of the instrument is undeniable and his sound unmistakable. Combine that with Sánchez’s deep-seated knowledge of both Jazz and Latin music, and the traditions that mold them, and the results are extraordinary.
Sánchez was born and raised in Puerto Rico, an island rich in the culture and folkloric traditions of the Caribbean’s Afro-descended people. His unique musical sensibility can be traced to his home, Puerto Rico, where he began playing percussion and drums at age 8. He migrated to tenor saxophone a few years later. The Bomba and Plena rhythms of his homeland, along with Cuban, Caribbean, and Brazilian traditions, were among the biggest influences on Sanchez’s early taste in music. Soon, jazz masters
such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, and John Coltrane would command his ear and his imagination. Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson have also been major influences.
As a leader Sánchez has released nine recordings, including “The Departure” (1994), “Sketches of Dreams” (1995), “Street Scenes” (1996), “Obsesión” (1998), “Melaza” (2000), “Travesía” (2001), the GRAMMY® award winning “Coral” (2004) and “Cultural Survival,” (2008). Sánchez is a member of the San Francisco Jazz Collective, also known as the SF Jazz Collective, and continues to tour the world as a bandleader, bringing his mix of mainstream jazz with Pan-African influences to global audiences. In 2011 he contributed as co-leader to “Ninety Miles,” a collaboration with Stefon Harris, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah and some of Cuba’s finest musicians. The album was recorded in Cuba. His most recent recording is “Carib” released in 2019. The original compositions in “Carib” are inspired by melodies and rhythms coming from the Afro-Puerto Rican and Haitian traditions.
Brenda Sisane:
Award winning broadcaster Brenda Sisane is in the South African Radio Hall of Fame. She has more than thirty years of experience in broadcast journalism, advancing the curation, programming and preservation of jazz music in South Africa and beyond. She is Founder and Director of the Spin Group companies comprising of a specialist communications agency in the arts and a non-profit agency using arts education to build new audiences in marginalised communities. She is passionate and writes about African culture particularly music and facilitates conversation with leaders in this subject. An experienced event producer, she continues to serve on funding juries for the sector, and often gets commissioned as artistic director for festivals and exhibitions. Collaborators include the Milan Handicrafts Expo, the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, The Prince Albert Journey to Jazz, the Music and Lifestyle Expo South African jazz and health Alliance and more.
