JD Twitch is one half of legendary Glasgow outfit Optimo, who - alongside Jonnie Wilkes - steered the musical direction of their city’s most iconic weekly club night, Optimo (Espacio), as well as touring the world extensively under the Optimo banner. Last year though, Twitch struck out on his own with a project that was close to his heart.
‘Autonomous Africa’ was the first in a planned series of annual EPs, to feature productions from Twitch and other likeminded producers with the dual intention of raising money, as well as awareness, for the problems being faced throughout Africa as a direct result of outside interference from other countries. The first installment in 2012 saw Twitch linking with Auntie Flo for an EP of four Afro-inspired club tunes, with all proceeds donated to the Médecins Sans Frontières medical and humanitarian aid organisation. “The motivation was simply to do something,” Twitch told Pulse. “Because I’m in the privileged position of being able to do that, and putting a record together and getting it out there isn’t a very hard thing to do. Raising money is the most important motivation, but I felt it was a good opportunity to perhaps make people aware of and think about things happening in Africa”.
The second installment of the Autonomous Africa project has just been released, and this time Midland joins the collective, recruited by Twitch after it was discovered that Midland spent his early years in Tanzania, with his parents involved with the Mtandika Mission; which in the end was chosen as the beneficiary for the funds raised by the second release. “I played a gig with Midland in Glasgow last year, and we stayed in touch,” Twitch told Pulse. “Through conversing with him, I discovered his parents ran the charity that raised funds for the Mtandika Mission in Tanzania. He had already suggested contributing to a future 12", but when I heard about his parent's charity I felt that was the perfect thing to try to raise funds for, and it gave the whole release a bit more of a personal slant.”
The project’s mantra also carries across to the creative direction of the work heard on both EPs, with Twitch confirming that he was looking to do a lot more with his work than taking the common route of sampling a piece of African percussion, and passing it off as an ‘Afro’ track. “It's disrespectful to the original artist, just sticking a big kick drum on top of their work,” Twitch says. “I can only really speak about my tracks, and while they do contain samples, I hope use them in a bit more of an imaginative way”. With the 2013 edition of Autonomous Africa now available to purchase on vinyl, Pulse caught up with Twitch, as well as Midland, and poased a couple of quick questions to find out more about what's driven the project this year.
How do you feel the different creative approaches came together across the different tracks, in terms of forming the whole EP? There was no brief given to the other artists. It didn't have to be an African sounding or inspired track, but I guess everyone felt inclined to go in that direction. Auntie Flo had already made his track for his live sets and kindly offered it up, while Midland had a recording of the children from the Mtandika mission singing and wanted to base his track around that. I normally work very slowly but my two tracks came together very quickly and I made them with my own DJ sets in mind. All the tracks are distinctly different, but I feel they all compliment each other and don't sound out of place alongside each other.
While the focus of the music itself has an African theme, the approach is quite different to the standard sampling of African percussion you often hear. How did you to work these different creative ideas into the tracks on the EP? The Olaiya track samples an African cover version of James Brown, whose music was enormously influential on Afro beat. As James Brown is probably the most sampled artist ever, I liked the idea of sampling a cover version of his and adding a (manipulated) drum break from his original song on top as the basis of the track. The other track JuJu contains a micro sample I took from an incredibly rare Nigerian record that sells for several hundred pounds. I don't own a copy as I would never pay that amount for a rare record - the prices for rare 70s and 80s African records can be insane. I took the sample from an MP3 that was on the Ebay listing, as I liked the incredibly-lo fi sound of the low bitrate MP3, and imagined I was liberating this incredibly exclusive record from the world of a serious record collector.
The objective is also slightly different to your average charity project, in that it’s meant to draw attention to the problems caused by outside interference in the affairs of African countries. What inspired the focus on this particular topic? It’s something I have been interested in and concerned about for a very long time, and something that doesn't really get discussed very much. We hear about atrocities, wars and droughts in Africa but little about how the actions of other countries and multinationals are equally devastating in their own way. I thought it important to highlight this issue, as while we may think we are powerless to change anything, collectively people have great power to change things based on their purchasing decisions and actions.
Tell us a bit specifically about how you hope to make an impact with this release? If it leads a few people think about it, then it has been a positive thing, especially if they act on it and tell other people. If I can inspire one person to do something, then it has been a positive. I don't want to preach to anyone but rather help spread information and foster discussion. Of course this is a small run 12" that will have little impact on the world, but I am fortunate that I am in a position to be able to do something, however small that might be. In my opinion, doing something is better than being concerned about these issues but not actually ever doing anything to address them.
This particular EP will be raising funds for the Mtandika Mission in Tanzania. There’s a bit more of a personal aspect this time, as it was the country where Midland grew up. Midland, can you tell us a little about your connection with the country? Midland: I moved Dar- Es-Salaaam in Tanzania with my Parents in 1990 at the age of three, they had previously been out there for 10 years up until 1986 as my Dad was an engineer building roads out in the deepest bush of Tanzania. We lived there for another eleven years, a time I spent wearing no shoes, surfing most days and generally being a bit of a menace. I went back to boarding school at the age of nine, but came back for holidays until I was thirteen. Africa still does, and will always, hold a massively special place in my heart.
When I had just started school in England, my Nanny and a hugely special part of our family, Anna, died from AIDS leaving two young daughters, Jossie and Lafsa behind. My parents promised to educate them, and the school they sent them to was run by a nun called Sister Barberina Mhagala. Through this, they came in to contact with other AIDS orphans and began to find sponsorship from people back in England. When Sister Barberina retired from the Primary School in 2005 she decided to start a Trade School for Orphans and children who couldn't afford school fees, and lots of the previous sponsors began to send money for the education of these children. This was eight years ago, and the school has changed out of all recognition thanks to people’s ongoing generosity. More info can be found at www.actioninafrica.org/about-mtandika.php
What's the future for Autonomous Africa? I hope it will be an annual thing so there should be a third 12" in the summer of 2014. I don't want to pester anyone to participate and would rather it came about organically, and am open to all approaches from people who would like to contribute.
Listen to Midland & JD Twitch on Pulse Radio.