Ismail Mohamed-Jan, better known as Pops Mohamed, is an important figure in the South African jazz and traditional music scenes. What sets him apart from the others is his combination of fierce devotion to preserving and promoting local styles and his tendency to experiment with electronic music and production styles.

Well liked both at home and abroad, Pops Mohamed has been playing various instruments for various bands including about a half a dozen solo releases, for the last twenty or so years. One of his early influences was Abdullah Ibrahim, a great South African jazz musician featured on the Freedom Blues album I posted a track from.

The track I picked for today’s post demonstrates this particularly well, mixing several kinds of percussion and electronic noises with flute, mbira and electric bass. I also picked this one because, as those who’ve been listening to the music on this site for a while will know, I have a particular weakness for the mbira. It’s off his second latest release, 2000′s How Far Have We Come?.

Pops Mohamed – Mbira Shuffle