PASS II launches online radio station

PASS aims to provoke new forms of creative expression and social mobilisation. Now in its second year, PASS includes 30 days of cutting-edge music that is being streamed live via the internet. The station plans to feature guest DJs, themed shows, live performances, readings, tributes, debates, sound art, speeches, interviews etc.

The second live musical expedition takes place between Thursday, 30 September and Saturday, 4 October 2009. It includes international artists Kora maestro Toumani Diabaté in his first South African performance; the nine-piece, Chicago-based Hypnotic Brass Ensemble; Cameroonian funk-master Franck Biyong and his Massak Afroletric Orchestra; Zanzibar's legendary taarab orchestra, the Culture Musical Club; LA-native Ras G and the Afrikan Space Program; and Ghanaian "afro-punk" with Wanlov the Kubulor's "pidgin music".

Local artists include Ndebele musician Nothembi Mkhwebane; Siya Makuzeni adds textures to world-renowned drummer Barry van Zyl's Baboti; and jazz upstarts uDaba are joined by poet and spoken-word author Kgafela oa Magogodi. PASS II will also feature African progressive DJs, including Dar es Salaam's DJ Yusuf Mahmoud and Cape Town's own Fong Kong Bantu Soundsystem.

The live events starting on 30 September will be launched with the collaborative, experimental choral work based on the novella War Chorale by pioneering Chilean academic, visionary, writer and revolutionary Fernando Alegría, with composition and direction by jazz guitarist Bheki Khoza.

For more information, go to www.panafricanspacestation.org.za or book through < a href="http://www.computicket.com"target=_blank>Computicket from Friday, 25 September 2009.

PASS is a creation of the Heliocentrics in partnership with the Africa Centre.