Tolika Mtoliki

A dozen years after forming as a performance art and music ensemble in Johannesburg, The Brother Moves On releases one of 2021’s essential records. Tolika Mtoliki (Interpret Interpreter) is a masterclass in making protest music – as much against the ethical failures of the times as the commodification of music itself – by reshaping the sonic terrain of the past and thrusting it towards the future. Covers of music by South African elders including Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani, the Malopoets, Batsumi and Philip Tabane, and Moses Taiwa Molelekwe’s words provide the fertile soil for TBMO to grow, like a living, breathing thing, the impeccably chosen set of songs on this album. In this, TBMO is magnificently aided by the inclusion of jazz sax, an elegant flute and buoyant keys – by collaborators including Muhammad Dawjee and Bokani Dyer – that bring great beauty to the propulsive energy of this standout record. At times the lyrics are uncomfortable. ‘You Think You Know Me’ layers an excoriating poem by Siyabonga Mthembu and Thobeka Mthembu over Blue Notes trumpeter Mongezi Feza’s ‘You Think You Know Me (But You’re Never Gonna Know Me)’. But, at others, TBMO anchors the songs in a keen sense of the need for healing at a time of deep societal fracturing and spiritual disconnection. ‘Fo Mo’, the album’s only original composition, features stunning music by Zelizwe Mthembu and Siyabonga Mthembu that intuitively blossoms out of the late Molelekwe’s words. Both ‘Fo Mo’ and a lovingly crafted version of Dyani’s ‘Together’ offer sonic solace for all those who seek it.