Double Black Vinyl
Internationally-acclaimed outfit The Brother Moves On (TBMO) are part of a musical underground that connects London and their home city of Johannesburg. They exist in a powerful lineage of protest music and in the role that sound and music has in combating and soaking up the everyday struggles of life. They were described as ‘the most important band in the country’ by online publication Platform and ‘the last remaining protest band’ by saxophonist Steve Dyer, who assisted in the recording of the 2021 Gilles Peterson released compilation Indaba Is.
Fast forward and word has been spreading beyond the two cities. The Brother Moves On’s exceptional 2021 album Tolika Mtoliki rebirthed classic South African music and messages into a stunning collection that made Apple Music’s Top Releases list of that year. Mthembu is also part of the critically-acclaimed Shabaka And The Ancestors and now, $/He Who Feeds You… Owns You is being released on Shabaka Hutchings’ Native Rebel label.
The album title comes from a speech by pan-African revolutionary Thomas Sankara to the Organisation of African Unity. “It takes his words into this time. It has a lot to do with food sovereignty and land – whoever feeds you, whoever owns your food system runs you.” The songs on $/He Who Feed You… Owns You have been bubbling away for years. Siyabonga describes it as ‘a time capsule of a moment before the pandemic’ when they were away from home, touring Europe a lot. “All the songs became harder, stronger, thicker. They had to find their source of meaning because we were chanting them into spaces of people who got the energy but may not have got the words.”