PRESS RELEASE

01/04/08

African Groove Experience combines the talents of one of Africa's finest flugelhorn players, Siphamandla "Spha" Bembe and producer extraordinaire and multi-SAMA award winner, Thapelo Khomo.

Siphamandla Bembe's first original solo release is the realisation of a long-held desire of these two friends to collaborate. An accomplished flugelhorn player at the top of his game, Bembe has played in bands led by the likes of Blondie, Ringo and Tsepo Tshola and became a member of legendary South African group, Stimela.

Besides his renown as Stimela's keyboardist, the esteemed Thapelo Khomo is one of South Africa's most accomplished music producers and has worked with talents like Simphiwe Dana and Jabu Khanyile and won numerous awards for his work. African Groove Experience sees Khomo stepping into the producer's role as well as providing his unique keyboard playing skills.

A heart-warming blend of African jazz-fusion styles with modern studio technology, this cultural celebration of classic fusion sounds is filled with flugelhorn and swirling keyboards over laid-back foot-tapping beats. A fresh release that also sounds wonderfully nostalgic, it's an inspired, smooth and immensely satisfying listening experience.

Healing Sounds From Mother Africa: An African Ambient Experience is the latest album release from Pops Mohamed (aka "The Fucha-Rist"). South Africa's celebrated ethnic African musician is a pioneering traditionalist who fuses soulful music with modern influences and sublime expertise.

On this continuation of his constant musical and traditional explorations, he plays a number of instruments, including unusual ones like the kora (a West African harp), the mbira (a Zimbabwean thumb piano), the didgeridoo (native to the Aboriginal people of Australia) and the birimbau (developed by the South American Indians and the Khoisan of the Kalahari Desert).

Healing Sounds contains a variety of moods and evocations. It fuses fresh futuristic beats with ancient cultures and indigenous sounds. Sounds from the source conjure up the calling of the ancestors to hear our pleas while the modern rhythms lend contemporary appeal. The symbiosis takes African music into the next millennium and beyond.

Through Mohamed's solo recording, studio engineering and producing of jazz and township pop, he has generated an extensive discography. Previous albums include Ancestral Healing, which won a SAMA (South African Music Award) for Best

Traditional Jazz Performance and Timeless, a collaboration with Bruce Cassidy, which won the a SAMA for Best Instrumental Performance.

If it's true and deep African music you're after, this is as authentic as it gets. With African instruments played by a true master, you'll be hard-pressed to find an album that so beautifully evokes the spirit of our indigenous people--delivered with real love and understanding by one of the foremost South African musicians of his generation.

The SAMA awards take place on May 3^rd 2008.