Musik ye Afrika is the brainchild of Louis Mhlanga assisted by fellow virtuoso musicians Jimi Indi and (the late) Jethro Shasha. Sam Mataure, who was taught and mentored by the great Jethro Shasha, joins the band in this recording as the drummer. The new trio's combined creative genius blossoms.

The three artists have a long and distinguished pedigree, having, between them, worked with the who’s who of the music industry. The concept features budding artists and seasoned musicians in recordings with enriched experiences in traditional and contemporary idioms. This offering, in addition, features the magic touches of some of Southern Africa’s greatest artists, here appearing as guests on certain tracks. From Zimbabwe, Oliver Mtukudzi and Chiwoniso Maraire, as well as South African Busi Mhlongo, all add a lovely spice to this already very exotic dish.

Their album Song for Nomsa was nominated for the SAMA Awards in South Africa in 2000 and sold over 70000 copies. The duo toured all over the world and regularly tours Europe and Africa.

The new album titled Keeping the Dream, was released on EWM on 12 October 2003. The album contains very special contributions by Habib Koité, the Malinese guitarist-singer. The duo presented Habib Koité as a special guest on the last weeks of the tour through Holland and Belgium in October and November 2003.

The next Europe tour is scheduled for October to November 2005.

The band came together in studio and recorded this album over a few days. All material on Dance with Me was written and arranged specifically for this Sheer All Stars project, with each band member composing a few tracks.

This was a project that Louis initiated in the early nineties to show the relationship between guitars from Southern Africa and the rest of the continent. It featured guitarists from different regions in Africa, and fused poetry as a way of explaining the origins of the music.
Aside from Louis, the guitarists featured were Duncan Senyatso (Botswana), Simi Zecko (Zambia) and Mfaz' Omnyama (South Africa). Poet Lesego Rampolokeng, Jimi Indi on bass, and drummer Jethro Shasha completed the band.
This project played in Johannesburg at the Arts Alive Festival, at the Grahamstown Festival, and toured in Germany, France & Austria.

2003	* Louis Mhlanga Steel string acoustic guitar, electric guitar & vocals * Eric van der Westen Double bass & backing vocals * Habib Koité Nylon string acoustic guitar (2 & 8) * Jeroen van Vliet Additional keyboards (7 & 9) * Olivier Nijs Additional soundscape
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2000	* Louis Mhlanga - Guitar & vocals * Eric van der Westen - Double bass
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Other Projects

Musik ye Afrika
Musik ye Afrika is both a concept and a band with deep roots in diverse African sounds blended into dynamic and live polyrhythms to create beautiful music.
Musik ye Afrika is the brainchild of Louis Mhlanga assisted by fellow virtuoso musicians Jimi Indi and (the late) Jethro Shasha. Sam Mataure, who was taught and mentored by the great Jethro Shasha, joins the band in this recording as the drummer. The new trio's combined creative genius blossoms. The three artists have a long and distinguished pedigree, having, between them, worked with the who’s who of the music industry. The concept features budding artists and seasoned musicians in recordings with enriched experiences in traditional and contemporary idioms. This offering, in addition, features the magic touches of some of Southern Africa’s greatest artists, here appearing as guests on certain tracks. From Zimbabwe, Oliver Mtukudzi and Chiwoniso Maraire, as well as South African Busi Mhlongo, all add a lovely spice to this already very exotic dish.

Louis Mhlanga and Eric van der Westen
An exquisite mix of acoustic guitar, vocals and double-bass. Two friends who live 10000 km. apart (South Africa and The Netherlands) share a common love: acoustic music.
Their album Song for Nomsa was nominated for the SAMA Awards in South Africa in 2000 and sold over 70000 copies. The duo toured all over the world and regularly tours Europe and Africa. The new album titled Keeping the Dream, was released on EWM on 12 October 2003. The album contains very special contributions by Habib Koité, the Malinese guitarist-singer. The duo presented Habib Koité as a special guest on the last weeks of the tour through Holland and Belgium in October and November 2003. The next Europe tour is scheduled for October to November 2005.

Sheer All Stars
As the name suggests the make up of the band is an all star one. The individual members have an impressive pedigree with a number of solo recordings between them. Dance with Me is the third All Stars album released by Sheer Sound, and sees a slight change in the band's composition. Together for this particular project, the current Sheer All Stars comprises Louis Mhlanga (guitars), Sipho Gumede (electric bass), McCoy Mrubata (saxophones / flute), Wessel van Rensburg (piano / keyboards) and Frank Paco (drums / percussion).
The band came together in studio and recorded this album over a few days. All material on Dance with Me was written and arranged specifically for this Sheer All Stars project, with each band member composing a few tracks.

2002	* Louis Mhlanga - Guitar * Frank Paco - Drums * McCoy Mrubata - Sax * Wessel van Rensburg - Piano * Sipho Gumede - Bass
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The African Axemen
This was a project that Louis initiated in the early nineties to show the relationship between guitars from Southern Africa and the rest of the continent. It featured guitarists from different regions in Africa, and fused poetry as a way of explaining the origins of the music. Aside from Louis, the guitarists featured were Duncan Senyatso (Botswana), Simi Zecko (Zambia) and Mfaz' Omnyama (South Africa). Poet Lesego Rampolokeng, Jimi Indi on bass, and drummer Jethro Shasha completed the band. This project played in Johannesburg at the Arts Alive Festival, at the Grahamstown Festival, and toured in Germany, France & Austria.