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Dear all,

The wait is finally over! ‘Wrapped In Rhythm, Vol. I’ is now available on all platforms, and physical copies (CD & vinyl) can be purchased through the webshop of our label SoulFactory Records.

I am sooo happy to finally share this music with you, and I cannot wait to play it live with my band at a concert near you. See below for the poster with the release tour dates, or go to the agenda of this website for more.

Here’s some lovely words about the album already <3 :

“When Tutu started sharing her experiments online during the pandemic, and when I first heard what she and Ewout were doing in their home studio, it felt like multiple timelines were collapsing and converging at once. Across continents, in the isolation of lockdown, on social media, I felt intimately connected to Tutu’s imagination of these poems, and seen and affirmed in a way that no artist has ever made me feel before.” – Lebo Mashile, Johannesburg – South Africa

“The way she sings the poems is at times blood-curdlingly beautiful” –  Marcel Haerkens, Jazzism – The Netherlands

“With vocal flexibility and crisp storytelling that reminds this listener of Gregory Porter, Puoane’s lyrics (Mashile’s poems) are sparklingly creative and executed simply perfectly.” – Debbie Burke, Blog – USA

“Puoane’s vocal re-visioning reminds us of the intense South African creativity born from the complicated, contrary pulls of hope and disillusionment as the 1990s unfolded and of how we need to keep breathing on the flame of that hope.” – Gwen Ansell, Mail & Guardian – South Africa 

“With ‘Wrapped In Rhythm’, Tutu Puoane realizes a dream come true, in spirit and roots entirely her own, a profound and powerful statement, which she musically translates and serenely animatedly sings in a grandiose way.” – Bernard Lefèvre, JazzHalo – Belgium. 

“Wrapped in rhythm: vol. 1′ proves to be a pleasure to re-listen to, although that may also have something to do with the way Puoane and her band seize the rhythmic and spiritual, poetic eloquence of Mashile’s lyrics as an impetus for the somewhat classical based, but nevertheless elegant vocal jazz music.” – Philippe De Cleen, Cutting Edge – Belgium

Please  stay safe, healthy and radiate positive high vibrations ❤️

I sincerely hope you love the music as much as I do, and I hope to see and meet you live at a gig somewhere very soon.

With warm greetings,

Tutu Puoane.

Tutu Puoane Sings The Poetry Of Lebo Mashile

A decade long dream is finally seeing the light of day. Official release date: 15 March 2024.

Related show

• Artist: Tutu Puoane
• TOUR: Wrapped In Rhythm: VOL I – QUINTET
• Date: 03/07/24
• Time: 8:00pm
• Venue: Jazz Op Het Plein, C-Mine
• City: Genk
• Country: Belgium
• Notes: Ewout Pierreux – piano Clemens van der Feen – bass Tim Finoulst – guitar & pedal steel Dré Pallemaerts – drums

In collaboration with Fakkeltheater and Studio Dongo, I will invite some of my favourites musicians to play some tunes with me, once a month on a Monday night. For more details on who’s coming, have a look at the agenda & Come Hang Out 🙂

Mimi’s Shebeen is a powerful new theatre production by KVS face and artist Alesandra Seutin with her company Vocab Dance.

Through dance, text, song and music, she takes the audience into the caverns of a deconstructed Shebeen* and on a journey full of life, struggle, perseverance and determination.
Inspired by South African singer Miriam Makeba and exile from her home country, Seutin taps into the legacy of Makeba’s work as a political activist to bring stories of exile, immigration and human rights.

In Mimi’s Shebeen, the unique and distinctive style of Alesandra Seutin’s afro-centric dance theatre is evident. Lisette Ma Neza and Lebo Mashile provides the text, Angelo Moustapha and Tarang Cissokho the music and Tutu Puoane sings.

Where do you get the strength to hold your head high when you are exiled from your motherland, separated from your mother, your people and your roots? How do you survive – and even thrive – so far away from everything and everyone you know?

*A shebeen is an unofficial café in South African townships

Credits

CONCEPT & CHOREOGRAPHY –  Alesandra Seutin

MUSIC –  Angelo Moustapha & Tarang Cissokho 

TEXT – Lizette Ma Neza & Lebo Mashile 

PERFORMERS – Tutu Puoane, Nandi Bhebhe, Kopano Maroga, Valerie Ebuwa, Hendrickx, Elisa van der Kust 

DRAMATURGY – Gerardo Salinas 

SCENOGRAPHY –  Stef Stessel 

COSTUMES –  Caroline Fainke 

SOUNDSCAPE – Hans Mullens 

PRODUCTION MANAGER – Ella De Gregoriis

ASSISTANT TO THE CHOREOGRAPHER – Nandi Bhebhe 

RESEARCH – Kopano Maroga

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT –  Uprise Rebel 

TRANSLATION –  Isabelle Grynberg, Alex Stockman

PRODUCTION – Vocab Dance & KVS 

COPRODUCTION–  Perpodium

WITH THE SUPPORT OF the Belgian federal government through Cronos Invest

An ode to phenomenal women! From Billie Holiday to Nina Simone. A spoken word concert with Tutu Puoane & Pat Donnez.

What do Billie Holiday or Nina Simone have in common? They are wonderful jazz vocalists, and the songs Tutu Puoane sings in ‘Anything Goes’ are all about marrow and bone.
Unforgettable women. Phenomenal women. Girl Power and Sisterhood were written in their blood.
‘Anything Goes’ is a highly personal confession. About life and survival. From a man, radio producer and author Pat Donnez, who likes to listen to these and many other jazz women when he is down.
Does it never happen to you that you ask yourself in an unguarded moment: Is that all there is? Believe it or not, but with such a Peggy or Billie around, you survive that question.

This series of concerts will take place in the spring of 2023. For dates, visit the agenda of this website.

Tutu Puoane – vocals

Pat Donnez – spoken word

Ewout Pierreux – piano

Carlo Nardozza – trumpet

Tim Finoulst – guitar

Kris Vanderstraeten – artwork (which will be on sale at the concerts)

In collaboration with Jazzzolder vzw Mechelen