Muniini K. Mulera

The Big Beat: Art Blakey and the jazz messengers

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicOctober 15, 20220 comments

#Art #Blakey #Jazz #Messengers #Lee #Morgan #Wayne #Shorter #Jymie #Merritt #Bobby #Timmons

This is indispensable jazz. How can a record sound so fresh after multiple listening sessions over four decades? I first "met" Art Blakey and this edition of his jazz messengers in 1978. Full credit to George Cook Jr. of Columbus, Ohio who introduced me to Jazz in Maseru Lesotho. ...

Freedom - Kenny Burrell's hidden masterpiece

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicOctober 12, 20220 comments

#Kenny #Burrell #Freedom #Blue #Note #Cuscuna

FREEDOM! This swinging album led by Kenny Burrell, the great guitarist from Detroit, was first released in Japan in 1980. Recorded in 1963 & 1964 for Blue Note, the tapes sat in the vaults untouched until they were discovered 16 years later by Michael Cuscuna. (Mr. ...

Ready for Freddie - a Desert Island Disc

By Muniini K. MuleraOctober 10, 20220 comments

#Freddie #Hubbard #Ready #for #Freddie #McCoy #Tyner #Art #Davis #Elvin #Jones #Blue #Note

The date: August 21, 1961 The venue: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood, New Jersey, USA The musicians: Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Bernard McKinney (euphonium), McCoy Tyner (piano), Art Davis (bass), Elvin Jones (drums). Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder Label: Blue Note ...

Uganda independence: A more ill-prepared country hard to find

By Muniini K. MuleraOctober 10, 20220 comments

I honour the great men and women who stood tall in the struggle for equality, freedom, democratic participation in our national economy and governance, and political independence from Britain. An incomplete list of the heroes of our pre-independence struggle, many ...

Soultrane: John Coltrane & Company

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicOctober 10, 20220 comments

#Soultrane #Coltrane

The date: February 17, 1958 The venue” Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA The company: John Coltrane tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Art Taylor (drums) The Engineer: Rudy van Gelder The label: Prestige 7142 Re-issue: Analogue Productions Enjoyed ...

My Favourite Things include Coltrane's rendition of this classic music

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicOctober 8, 20220 comments

#My #Favourite #Things #Coltrane

Whereas my top favourite record is constantly changing, John Coltrane’s rendition of My Favourite Things has permanent residence among my most favoured pieces of music. You do not have to like Jazz to enjoy this music that was made famous by Julie Andrews in Sound ...

Uganda at 60 – Poisoned Eden: Model Country, Wrong Dreams, False Starts, Poisoned Country: PROLOGUE to a Series of Articles

By Bbuye Lya MukangaUgandaOctober 8, 20220 comments

#Uganda #Obote #Amin #Museveni #dictatorship

– Prologue – Central message: “Nation of Uganda” is, so far, a failed concept that requires radical rethinking, agreement on, and implementation of measures for its restoration." Bbuye lya Mukanga 1 June 2022 Uganda at 60 – Poisoned ...

Tenor Madness: My kind of musical therapy in a troubled world

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicOctober 8, 20220 comments

#Sonny #Rollins #Tenor #Madness #Red #Garland #John #Coltrane #Paul #Chambers #Philly #Joe #Jones #Jazz

The love of great Jazz music reflects a healthy madness that is very healing in a troubled world. This Saturday evening finds me receiving the ministrations of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane on tenor, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. This ...

A changing Britain, and my mother’s verdict on colonialism

By Muniini K. MuleraSeptember 13, 20221 comments

#Britain #Queen #Elizabeth #II #King #Charles #III #colonialism #slavery #Africa #Truss

What a week this last one was! On Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom receives two prime ministers at Balmoral Castle. She accepts the resignation of Boris Johnson, a male, her fourteenth prime minister. She requests Elizabeth Truss, a female, to form a government as ...

British are not our enemies

By Muniini K. MuleraSeptember 19, 20220 comments

#Britain #Elizabeth #Charles #Nkrumah #Mandela #Nyerere #Kaunda #Tutu #Ghana #South #Africa #Kenya #Tanganyika #Diamond

A photograph is a wonderful thing. It tells a story better than the finest wordsmith. It emits emotions that the pen can hardly bring to life. It forces the truth on those who flourish on emotion and supposition. There is a beautiful black and white photograph, captured at ...

Forgive and get out of prison

By Muniini K. MuleraSeptember 5, 20220 comments

#Forgiveness #Uganda #Tumwine

My appeal to those who were angry with the late Gen. Elly Tumwine to embrace the power and freedom that come with forgiveness did not sit well with some readers. The idea of forgiving someone they associated with the ruling regime’s use of deadly force against Ugandans was unacceptable ...

Sunset: Gen. Elly Tumwine safe and free

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 30, 20220 comments

#Tumwine #Uganda #Makerere #Salvation

Gen. Elly Tumwine was human. Neither saint nor villain, the son of Kazigirye na Ruhondeire of Burunga, Kazo, Nkore walked a journey whose story is yet to be told, one that must not be reduced to errors he made in his final years or peppered over with deification as though he ...

Hopeful signs of democratization in Africa

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 22, 20220 comments

Advocates of democracy in Africa have reason to smile. Once again, Senegal had genuine political competition early this month that left President Macky Sall without a parliamentary majority. Neither Sall’s governing coalition nor the opposition was able to win an ...

Hand over election management to the Commonwealth or United Nations

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 15, 20220 comments

#Kenya #election #IEBC #Ruto #Raila #Odinga #Tanzania #Chebukati

Writing about this year’s presidential election in Kenya was akin to chasing a bouncing, curving tennis ball. Now you see it. Now you don’t. Signs of hope. Signs of despair. Not because of who was leading, but because of the cumulative evidence of fraud within the work ...

Lessons from Kenya’s history of political assassinations

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 8, 20220 comments

#Mboya #Pinto #Kenya #Ngala #Kodhek #Kariuki #Kenyatta #Moi

Tom Mboya Statue, Nairobi. Photo: © Muniini K. Mulera Tuesday August 9, 2022 Kenya votes today. Theirs is a real election. The president of Kenya has been on a hunt for votes for Raila Odinga. No overt state violence against opposition candidates. The two main ...

How will history judge Uhuru Kenyatta?

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 1, 20220 comments

#Uhuru #Kenyatta #Raila #Kenya #Ruto

The Kenyan political marathon enters the home stretch with the country, and the world, in Olympic-size suspense. Will the next president of Kenya be Raila Amolo Odinga or will it be William Samoei arap Ruto? Will the result reveal a decisive winner, or will there be a runoff, complete ...