Pops Mohamed
Pops Mohamed ( born December 10, 1949 in Benoni, the original name of Ismael Mohamed -Jan ) is a South African multi-instrumentalist, jazz musician and music producer.
Life and work
Mohamed was born in Benoni east of Johannesburg. He grew up in the Kalamazoo area, which was later vacated and demolished as part of the policy of apartheid. Nicknamed the Pops he was because he liked to eat as a child like Popeye spinach. In Dorkay House in Johannesburg, he attended concerts by Abdullah Ibrahim and Kippie Moeketsi. At 14 he became a member of the band The Valiants, to which he belonged until 1971. Then he had with the band hit the Children's Society I'm a Married Man. In the late 1970s he played with the jazz musicians Basil Coetzee and Sipho Gumede in the band movement in the City. From 1979 to 1984 he studied jazz at the Fuba School of Music.
From 1981 he worked as a sound engineer, 1988 as record producer. He was known by a variety of use of traditional and modern styles; he treated on his album released in 1996, How Far Have We Come the music of the San and combines it with typical South African township music, like soul, pop and Kwela. He since 1986 engaged in the game of traditional instruments such as the mouth bow, musical bow, bird whistle, didgeridoo, lamellophones and Kora, which he plays as well as modern instruments ( guitar, keyboard, synthesizer). His nickname is Minister of Music (Music Minister ).
Mohamed produced Finding One 's Self, an award-winning album of jazz pianist Moses Taiwa Molelekwa. He wrote songs like Lolly 's Song and A New Hope!
Honors
The albums Kalamazoo and Sophiatown Society were nominated in the category "Best Jazz Album " for the South African OKTV Award. The album Kalamazoo 3, Mohamed took up with Sipho Gumede, was nominated for a South African Music Award ( SAMA ) in the category Best Traditional Jazz Album, as well as Ancestral Healing.