Live, straight from the moon and other planets..... Maji Maji, an inner and outer stellar journey armed with music as both the weapon and the cure

Marcus Wyatt’s music collective Language 12 return with their 2nd album Maji Maji, the product of a collective of musical nomads whose crates of vinyl would clearly be worth years of digging in, such is the astonishing range of influences. Genre-defying can sound like cold fusion but Maji is no lab project.This is a deeply spiritual and unfettered record that doesn’t so much break boundaries as bend dimensions. Language 12 move with complete freedom, sometimes with stealth, sometimes raw power but always with relentless invention.
Language 12 represents a different approach to South African Jazz –an elusive sound that is moving forward, respectful of the past, whilst not being afraid of twisting boundaries. The music moves to a more groove based concept, with contemporary loop-based ideas and soundscapes interspersed with unique live improvisations. Drum n Bass, Hip Hop, Afro-Jazz and sounds from all over the South African musical map blended together in a fresh, original sound that is hard to define .
Language 12 has notched up an impressive list of appearances including a successful 4 city tour of India (a highlight being 2 performances at the famous „Blue Frog“ club in Mumbai). As well as the sub-continent , the project has performed in Sweden, France, Switzerland, Mozambique, Angola and all around South Africa. They also played to standing ovations at the Paris Jazz Festival, Stockholm Jazz Festival, Cape Town International Jazz Fest, Joy of Jazz Festival (Johannesburg) and Rio Loco festival (Toulouse , France ).

„The club hosts a rare appearance by trumpeter Marcus Wyatt’s iconoclastic jazz group, Language 12. There’s a sense in which ist appearances are always protest concerts: protests against the complacency, predictability and blandness of much of the country’s alleged jazz. Yet although Language 12 sometimes ask their audiences to travel with them down some chancy roads, and contemplate some steep precipices, neither musicality nor enjoyment are ever sacrificed. This is genuinely exciting music: fresh riffs on ideas rooted deep in both world and South African jazz traditions.“ (Gwen Ansell - Business Day)

„Moving with liquid ease between trip hop, R&B, standard jazz, bossa nova and Brazilian-enriched Latin hybrids, South African-born trumpet emissary, Marcus Wyatt, guides the way with his remarkably adaptable style and tone that can be as agile and fine as a flute and robust as a tuba. The fact that he appears equally at home within standard and contemporary styles, always having an artistic statement to offer, always breathing life into whatever form he enters, has earned Wyatt an enviable reputation among audiences and critics“. (CD Baby.com)

„Elemental forces collide at the heart of this deep piece of work. We’re pulled by gravitational emotions through a heavy rotation of dark, crushing grief, heart-bursting joy and all colours in between.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRQrgdpYfz0&list=PLCpac8CUzT50pSIm-ityMjiMtQcjbF_Ag&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2k1nvDE63E