EN / FR

“From my side of the city to your side of the city”

Parissoweto has teamed up with Itai Hakim – currently on tour in Europe with The Brother Moves On as part of their “Oorkant 2016 Tour” – to bring you a mixtape entitled “Four4 Masihlalisane”. As the French leg of their tour comes to an end in Paris, Itai Hakim leaves us with this parting gift, a radio story.  Hakim has created a narrative that invites the listener to absorb this shared space – the South African minibus taxi – that connects lives, cultures, sounds and stories. The South African minibus taxi conveys themes that are central to the dynamic ways artists and musicians are forging themselves: exchange, and movement. A theme that is also central to Parissoweto’s mission statement, and we are therefore very pleased to present you with this innovative project.

Itai Hakim will be publishing features on his tour tumblr site about every artist collaborating on this playlist – visit Analogue Folklore for more details about his mixtape. Itai has provided us with a background story to his mixtape which you can read below:

ITAI HAKIM: “ ‘Four4 Masihlalisane’ is a Zulu phrase commonly used at South African taxi ranks in reference to the additional member that must occupy the often minimal space left to fill the taxi to capacity, in order for the taxi to start moving. It is said with the emphasis on making space for another passenger to also take the trip. Using the taxi as a microcosm that parallels the lived human experience of constant interpersonal exchange between different cultures, traditions, knowledge systems all coexisting and even if temporarily merging while in transit.

The Four4Masihlalisane Mixtape is and imagined ‘radio story’ about a fictional character who is a DJ asking the taxi driver to play his mixtape in the taxi. The mixtape features South African musicians representative of a broadening pallet of cross pollinating genres, influences, styles but also of a generation of musicians in a socio-historical-political transit, not only sonically but in terms of deciding for themselves what music is. The shared experience of listening of the taxi mixtape seeks to remind us that music is a communal experience and something that connects people even though we often consider ourselves strangers.

The Four4Masihlalisane Mixtape acts as a sharing point of cultural and heritage exchange for South African and French audiences, giving them a sense of the happenings in the South African music scene. This compilation is a dedication to all creators, fans, musicians, promoters and festivals globally in every taxi/bus/airplane/boat trip where you meet a fellow passenger, and how these passengers sharing a mutual experience of listening to music somehow become friends.

The radio story which features the sonic fragments of the city soundscape and the character dialogue and exchange in the taxi is recorded and mixed with the help of friend, musician and producer Thor Rixon.”

Cover illustration by Jotam Schoeman – Bedoelende Kommunikatiewe Produksies

ARTIST LIST:

1. .SQ. : https://soundcloud.com/sq-deep
2. Zoe Modiga: https://soundcloud.com/zoe-modiga
3. Mello B Jones: https://soundcloud.com/tumi-1
4. Follow me Follow You: https://fmfy.bandcamp.com/
5. Paving the Labyrinth: https://soundcloud.com/pavingthelabyrinth
6. IX Music: https://soundcloud.com/ix-music
7. Johnny Cradle: https://soundcloud.com/johnnycradlenoise
8. Urban Village: https://soundcloud.com/urban-village-906132602
9. Yusuf Makongela: https://soundcloud.com/yusuf-makongela