The Drift

Horizon

In the world of Skinwave, music is more than sound  it is a living current, a force that shapes memory, lineage, and destiny. Moments Of African Ballet emerges from that current like a whispered legend finally given breath.

Led by Malachi Mangham, grandfather of Brainboy and VernY two artist also apart of GAMMANHxTHINK, the album rises from an ensemble with no fixed number, a collective of shifting spirits and musicians whose identities blur into rhythm, brass, breath, and movement. They gather in hidden rooms, in back-alleys of Skinwave City, on moonlit rooftops where the air hums with ancestral voices. Every performance reshapes the group; every member becomes another limb in its infinite body.

But the heart of this project has always been Betty, Malachi’s wife the visionary dancer who once studied African ballet so intensely that her movements were said to bend gravity. She founded the Skinwave African Ballet Project, where she taught dancers to move like memory itself, like storms, like prayers that refused to die.

Then she vanished.

Captured by the industry and pulled inside The Wave, the chamber where sound becomes imprisonment and brilliance is devoured, Betty has remained suspended in a timeless echo her motion frozen, her voice stretched thin across an eternal beat.

And so Moments Of African Ballet becomes something more than an album.
It is a rescue mission.
A ritual.
A calling-back of a woman the world forgot but the music never could.

The compositions on this record twist avant-garde jazz into new shapes  horn lines fracture into shimmering shards, drums scatter into impossible polyrhythms, bass wavers like a trembling shadow, and ghost-choirs emerge from the cracks in reality. The melodies feel like limbs reaching for freedom, like dancers performing steps remembered through dreams. At moments, you hear Betty herself not her voice, but the echo of her movement, recreated through Malachi’s arrangements, interpreted by the ensemble’s shifting constellation of players.

Each track is a doorway.
Each rhythm a coded message.
Each improvisation a step closer to breaking the chamber that holds her.

And somewhere far inside The Wave inside that swirling pressure of sound and memory  Betty hears the music calling her name.

This is not simply avant-garde jazz.
This is ancestral science.
This is Skinwave mythology sharpened into rhythm.
This is the Mangham legacy fighting its way back into the light.

Moments Of African Ballet is a testament to love, lineage, and the unstoppable force of movement a reminder that even in the darkest chambers, someone is still dancing back toward freedom.

05. evelyn's theme

10. bluud

03. african ballet

01. 4allthedogs

08. outside is beautiful

Litle stone in my hand. My composition for guitar and grand piano, ..and som more 

Liten stein i hånda

just breathe v1

Day 20 - Love Will Come by Vince Guaraldi performed and recorded on a Dexibell Vivo H7 by @claracmee (Instagram) as a #30DaysofLoveSongs Challenger nominated by @akuahinds (Instagram) who was nominated by @tahako.tank (Instagram)

Thank you for listening and see you tomorrow! 
#pianoteachersplayingpiano #amorfati❤️

Love Will Come, by Vince Guaraldi

Tana Yonas collects songs like souvenirs, each recalling precious moments found leafing through dusty foreign record shops or catching sonic fragments weathered by time from the radio of bumpy taxi rides. Listen as she delicately guilds together these memories and shares music from lesser known and under represented musical traditions from across the globe and decades.

From the host: _"A moody mosaic of ambient jazz, experimental soul, and alternative cosmic textures. These tracks drift in, as gently as the inch towards the long shadow of winter. From the spectral warmth of Sister Irene O’Connor’s devotional fire to the windswept minimalism of Yasuaki Shimizu. - Tana"_ 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/tana-yonas/episodes/tana-yonas-5th-december-2025

Wabi Sabi w/ Tana Yonas 051225

Live human piano performances by Clara on Dexibell Vivo H7 | Banner by Jade Chen

Independent record label and recording studio founded in 2012 and based in Nancy, France.

Shining a light on innovative grooves while cultivating eclecticism and a sense of thoroughness in production.

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New tracks tagged #Ambient Jazz