Born in Togo and raised in Israel, Kodjovi Kush's story runs deep and wide, crossing continents and soaking up an array of musical traditions in a remarkably short space of time.
Kush touched down in London in the mid-nineties, when the Africa Centre was fast becoming a stronghold for African culture – a home away from home. He has since dedicated himself to gathering many of those same musicians to perform at the Afrospot, which rolls into action on the first Friday of the month at Passing Clouds, Dalston.
Q. TAKE US BACK TO THE BEGINNING: HOW DID YOU FIRST STEP INTO MUSIC?
“Before my father Koffi Mawuenam Kowouvi became the Ambassador of Togo in Israel, he formed a band called Eryko Jazz, touring extensively across West Africa in the late sixties and early seventies and gaining widespread popularity for their pioneering Afro Cuban style, which was spliced with traditional Togolese rhythms. My father arranged for me to receive piano lessons at the age of nine, where I was taught by Maître Dossėh, who was the Catholic priest and wrote the Togolese National Anthem ‘Salut á toi’. That gave me patience. Patience is something I’ll never forget when dealing with music."
WHAT WERE YOUR EARLY INFLUENCES GROWING UP IN TOGO?
“I was writing, arranging and performing music at the age of 12. At the time, in every corner, every ‘quartier’ of Lome, there was a combination of ballet dancing and African drumming. Watching this mix of drum rhythm and dancing movement opened my eyes to the different types of time signature. I learnt how the cowbell announces the rhythm, why it is the ‘chef d’orchestre’ and why you are lost without it."
HOW DID MOVING TO ISRAEL AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE AFFECT YOUR MUSICIANSHIP?
“I moved to Israel at the age of 15. There, we stayed at hotel Dan Panorama in Tel Aviv while my father was establishing the embassy. As it happens, all the stars that came to play in Israel stayed at the same hotel, so I met [guys like] BB King, UB40 and Dire Straits. We also had the reggae band Israel Vibration rehearsing at the school next door. So the exposure continued but I became a bit of a rebel to my father as the exposure to rock made me leave behind classical lessons. By the time I left Israel, I returned to Togo with this soul rebel in me, dressed in a suit and influenced by the American sounds of rock and blues."
FOLLOWING ISRAEL, YOU MOVED TO PARIS WHERE THERE WAS AN ESTABLISHED AFRICAN MUSIC SCENE DURING THE EARLY NINETIES. WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF THAT?
“In 1991, my father was stationed temporarily in Paris; While I didn’t really connect with the French music happening at the time, that period of my life did expose me to the whole African jazz music scene there, with Manu Dibango and Hugh Masekela peaking in their popularity. I also managed to gain work experience in Parisian studios and learnt the basics of how to mic, amplify and record a band, and more importantly how to record dry."
PARIS SEEMED TO DEVELOP YOU PROFESSIONALLY AND MAKE YOUR SKILL SET EVEN MORE ROUNDED. YET YOU WERE STILL INCREDIBLY YOUNG. FROM THERE, YOU MOVED BACK TO AFRICA. WHAT PROJECTS DID TO GET INVOLVED IN AND WHERE DID THE TOURING TAKE YOU?
“Soon after a stint in Paris, we were positioned in Gabon were I worked in the Oscar Studio. It was there that I became the musical director for the Lycėe Lėomba Orchestra, where I learnt how to organize musicians and developed a passion of how to play in harmony with others. I returned to Togo 1993 and joined the National Ballet Troupes of Togo ‘Balafon and Cobato’, where I learned traditional dance and rhythms. It was like going full circle, and I was still only 20.
"I started to perform solo around that time, under the name Kodjovi Rasta, although people referred to me as the Kodjovi Falasha – the Jew – because I had returned from Israel. I began touring with Balafon and Cobato to Belgium, which already had aN established Congolese music scene. Then I left the troupes and moved to Germany where I was allowed to play with the reggae band called the Flavors. It was August 1995 when my cousin advised me that I should go to London to see the Notting Hill Carnival. I’d never seen such diversity before, and I thought to myself that there is something musically here for me; this was to be the place I would stay."
ARRIVING IN LONDON IN 1995 MUST HAVE BEEN FASCINATING AS IT WAS A REALLY IMPORTANT TIME FOR UNDERGROUND MUSIC IN THE CAPITAL. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST REACTION TO THE MUSIC SCENE AND HOW DID YOU MAKE OF THE PREVAILING DANCE CULTURE?
"My early memories of London were watching youngsters dancing to this bizarre music, like they were possessed or that something was wrong with the DJ. It was like the music was being played at the wrong speed. I asked people what kind of music this was, and got these confused looks as they were listening to music called 'jungle'. At the time, that was not music to me; that was just noise. Eventually, it was explained to me that this was the new era, and I saw how different eras would come and go in London, like garage music. Youngsters liked to experiment with the rhythms of life – once I got the sense out of it, it made sense. It felt good.”
I'M INTERESTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR REACTION TO LONDON'S UNDERCURRENTS – THE PUSH-PULL DYNAMIC. DID YOU CONNECT WITH LONDON OR DID YOU SET ABOUT MAKING LONDON CONNECT WITH YOU?
“My first musical project was a band named Jah’z Afrik which performed at the Africa Centre in King Street, Covent Garden. That was the only place we could perform as a young African jazz group. It was a platform. The band had Mamadi Camara (who played percussion with Nina Simone) and Sony Akpam (an original from the Funkees, Nigeria 70’s band). I was also doing ballet and drumming workshops with Lord Eric (Sugumugu). He introduced me to Finlay Quaye who I also worked with for a while. This was a revelation to me – London was allowing me to do something I could never have done before. It was the land of opportunity."
OUR FRIENDSHIP WAS BUILT OFF THE BACK OF YOUR WORK WITH SOOTHSAYERS, WHO PERFORM WHAT'S BEST DESCRIBED AS A UNIQUE AFRO-DUB COLLISION, WITH TANGLED ROOTS. SOOTHSAYERS HAVE STEADILY BUILT A GOOD REPUTATION; TELL US HOW THAT PROJECT EVOLVED…
“I was getting tired of session work by 2004 and wanted to do something for myself. When the Ghanaian drummer Kofi Adu introduced me to Ade Sosse-Wallace, who is a guru of the African music scene, I was brought into the band Ebile, where I was allowed to play bass and sing, which allowed me to develop musical leadership qualities. This evolved into Soothsayers with the addition of Robin Hopcraft on trumpet, and Idris and Zoe Rahman on Saxophone and Keyboards respectively. Soothsayers felt like home to me. We performed at the Jazz Café, North Sea Jazz and South Bank Centre, and the late great Charlie Gillett interviewed us for BBC Radio 3, where we played live in their studio – a very important milestone for me, personally."
DALSTON HAS BEEN HOME TO YOU FOR ALMOST A DECADE. DURING THAT TIME YOU'VE NEVER SAT STILL OR WATCHED PEOPLE CREATE SCENES AROUND YOU. INSTEAD, YOU'VE TAKEN THE INITIATIVE AND BUILT YOUR OWN MOVEMENTS. PLEASE CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH THE STEPS?
“I’ve always lived in Hackney, East London. I actually started Afrospot at the Royal Inn near Victoria Park, which began with Sunday afternoon jazz, and following that we performed on Friday nights. Word of mouth was packing upstairs with 200 people; then it spilled over into a packed beer garden with a hog roast on offer to keep the audience fed. Unfortunately, the management changed, and we had to change too, first moving to Charlie Wrights International in Shoreditch, before finally touching down in the current residence of Passing Clouds, Dalston."
AND WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR KODJOVI KUSH? IS LONDON STILL THE PLACE FOR YOU OR ARE YOU ITCHING TO SCOUR THE EARTH FOR MUSICAL INSPIRATION?
“Before going forward, I need to go back, and go back to Africa. I haven’t been in Togo now for over a decade and I feel that my people need me to go back to the source and recharge the battery. Just like the youth got confused with experiments like jungle here in England, back in Africa you have 'hip-life' taking over the younger people. I have nothing against this music but it is NOT here to stay, it has nothing inside and lacks culture. My mission is to bring back the love, to teach the children, to have a museum of African music that allows you learn about musicians past and present. The future, as I see it, is Afrospot. I know it will change things musically and I know it will help people know more culture."
2. THE SESSION: AFROSPOT
Kodjovi Kush has carried forward the meaning of ‘Afro Spot’ from its origins in Lagos, where Fela Kuti formed his first nightclub in the Seventies, to Passing Clouds in deepest Dalston.
Passing Clouds has no room for squares; instead, the venue promotes a range of musical styles and cultures from all four quarters of the globe each night. Afrospot takes top billing; a collection of West African musicians performing an original expansion of High Life music to a converted mass.
What differentiates Afrospot is that it not only respects the origins of High Life music, it celebrates its meaning with many of the original musicians who performed on those legendary recordings. Two names come to mind: legendary drummer Kofi Adu and the guru of London’s African music scene, Adesose-Wallace. Between them rests a catalogue of classic African recordings and a noteworthy list of collaborations in both Ghana and Nigeria. For newcomers to West African music who want to learn more about its 6/8 rhythms and far-reaching influences, Afrospot is the place to go.
Kush views his Afrospot night more like a mission than just a ‘mash up’: “Passing Clouds began as a community base which enabled me to re-aggregate the African music scene which was introduced to me in London ten years prior at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden," he explains. "I was telling many of those same musicians ‘you know what, we’ve got a scene here, and we can really build this'.
"Afrospot was initiated so we could build an African cultural centre for London. Of course, it starts with the live performance, but now it needs to develop the arts and crafts, the food, the documentaries – this is not just a live band, it has to become a cultural mission."
Thanks to persuasive word of mouth alone, the project has grown in ways that the musicians on stage could only dream of. To see long queues extending along Kingsland High Road with people of all cultures wanting to see the Afrospot roll into action continues to defy their expectations.
The unique venue is split on two levels, with chill upstairs and anarchy down. The night commences with DJs splicing and dicing together different global styles, while a wide range of musicians prepare to ‘crowd-out’ a narrow stage. What follows are two live sets; the first is draped in the rich music of West Africa whereas the second is allowed to deviate like a global globetrotter. Guest musicians with a proven record, like vocalist Ricky Rankin, Johnny Clarke and Soothsayers, often take over the second part of the evening with renewed energy, connecting with every soul that’s in session. Afrospot closes with the DJs being let off the leash to throw down the deep funk, helping Dalston’s nocturnal clubbing community to push through till dawn.
Afrospot takes place on the first Friday of every month at Passing Clouds, One Richmond Road, which is located behind the Haggerston Bar, 440 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London E8 4AA
Check www.myspace.com/afrospot for more details.
Words: Will Page
Pictures: Courtesy of Passing Clouds
