This socio-politically engaged group from Johannesburg (South Africa) has been changing its line-up and music for over a decade, but from the very beginning it has been invariably promoting the idea of true freedom. The producer of The Brother Moves On’s latest album is Jazztopad’s favourite saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings.

The Brother Moves On began around 2008 with a line-up featuring Mthembu and his brother, visual artist Nkululeko Mthembu. This self-funded collective focused on the art of performance bringing together different artistic disciplines, but over time the musical part grew larger and larger. The band’s name comes from the misread words “Brother Mouzone”, the name of a ruthless killer and member of the Louis Farrakhan movement, Nation of Islam, a character from the award-winning American TV series The Wire.

From the outset, The Brother Moves On reject stylistic orthodoxy and ambitiously forge multi-style sound, drawing on numerous traditions and genres. They have always remained faithful to South Africa’s liberation policy. The strongly guitar-driven sound is complemented by the brass section involving some of South Africa’s top jazz musicians: alto saxophonist Mthunzi Mvubua, tenor saxophonist Muhammad Dawjee, and trombone player Malcolm Jiyan, a member of the sensational SPAZA group, who helped arrange the songs for the new album. The band also features Bokani Dyer on keyboards. In 2021, the group released the Tolika Mtoliki album, on which it drew from its links with the United Kingdom, and which was called by the leading magazine Songlines a “championship in creating protest music – against unethical actions [...], as well as commodifying the music itself – through transforming the soundscape of the past and projecting it into the future.”