Dirty L'il Blunt

He's the man who has given us sad songs such as Goodbye My Lover off Back to Bedlam and Same Mistake off All the Lost Souls - even You're Beautiful even had a touch of melancholy to it. But Mr Blunt is sounding a lot happier these days. Witness the new single off his latest album called Stay the Night. 



There's a different kind of energy that comes though in Some Kind of Trouble. Blunt himself acknowledges this, saying his two previous albums were a pair of book ends - action and reaction. Some Kind of Trouble starts a new chapter.

Some Kind of Trouble is out now. 

Follow James Blunt, the self-confessed performing monkey, as he gets more comfortable on Twitter here.

Make Things Happen

This is the advert Sharlto Copley made for Nedbank. I love that Sharlto, who is currently in talks to star in the upcoming Men in Black 3 movie, was involved in filming this in downtown Joburg. It has such a great message - one that I have been taking to heart.



John Kani also made one, that will air on TV as a follow-up to this one.
Well done to Nedbank on bagging two of the country's finest actors!

RIP Hotep Galeta

It was with a sad heart that I wrote up one of today's stories: jazz musician and teacher Hotep Idris Galeta passed away.

Hotep was one of the first interviews I did when I started out as a music journalist, while I was living in Cape Town. He was so warm and friendly, and full of knowledge - knowledge he was so eager to pass on. He remained that way, up until I last saw him a few months ago in Cape Town.

He may not have been as well known as Abdullah Ibrahim or Hugh Masekela, but Hotep was more comfortable behind the scenes, as writer Evan Milton attests in this piece he wrote last year. But the contributions Hotep made should not be forgotten and will live on in the many young students who gained so much from his wisdom and warm smile.

Hotep's death comes in a year in which we've lost many a wonderful soul, like Winston Mankunku Ngozi, Robbie Jansen, Rex Rabane and Ezra Ngcukane. As the new Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile says, it's been a sad year indeed for jazz lovers.