Where did the name of the album come from?
My obsession has been African Fusion music and when I was looking for a title my friend Toby Gifford mentioned the genre of techno called "Electro-Clash". This genre is about a fusion as well but the clash aspect is very different to the African aesthetic. A lot of African writers and musicologists think that the idea of cross-rhythms or clashing rhythms is foreign to African culture. They see the contrasting patterns in African music as complementary, not clashing.
There is an interesting use of language in the part of South Africa where I lived for a few years. It is common in the Xhosa country to use the prefix "No" before names. There are many people whose name begins with the word No, such as Nosasini, or Nofinishi. The story I heard is that when a woman marries, her father-in-law gives her a new name based on something she doesn't have or doesn't do. "Nofinishi" means someone who doesn't finish things. If a woman marries and there is something missing from the dowry or "bride-price" her name might become "nowashing-machini" for example. Pretty wild way of getting a name!
Anyway, it seemed to me that this use of negative language is also common in Australia, where we answer a question about our welfare by saying "Not bad". Afro No-Clash comes from this common way of thinking. It means African fusion music where there is no clashing, where the musical ideas are about complimentary and mutually supportive parts. So its a new way to say African Fusion, and I hope its an African way. I wonder what reaction I will get when I go back?
