HOLLER!: Who were your most important spiritual influences?

MWANGA: Stemming back to my earlier years I would say my mother, Mrs. Hazel Conley was a strong spiritual influence on me. She insisted on her 4 sons going to church every Sunday and that we develop a relationship with GOD. I remember she would express gratitude for all her blessings, especially the protection of here family. She used to say, "GOD has been so good to me, I should stay on my knees." This has profoundly influenced me in all my spiritual activities. She use to also say, "No one owes you anything so be grateful for anything given to you". We, Mom Dad, my three brothers Donald, Leroy and Kunle Mwanga were in regular attendance at church on Sundays, First Baptist and later my brother Kunle got the family interested in becoming Catholics, due to his and Leroy's joining the Choir.
   When I moved to Calif. in 1971, my spiritual influences were affected by my association with the Republic of New Africa. I started reading about African History. I had my name changed in a Kwanzaa Celebration in 1972. The ways of Eastern Philosophy grew in our community, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ' Transcendental Meditation practices, works by Ram Das, Krishnamurti, and Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, spread. So, when in approximately 1973, an ashram was established 4 blocks from my house I thought I'd at least go around and see who this Swami was. It was then and there I fell in love with my Spiritual Advisor, Swami Muktananda Paramahansa.


Swami Muktananda Paramahansa


HOLLER!: When did you first hear about the AACM, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians?

MWANGA: It was approximately around 1965 that I and one of my best friends, George Favors, [bassist] Malachi Favors' younger brother, used to go to a club around the corner from my house called The Olde East End. The club allowed George and me to come in on Saturday afternoons as long as we didn't try to drink any alcohol. These concerts were put on by the AACM. We became familiar with the sound of many of the musicians.

HOLLER!: Who are your favorite musicians and styles of music?

MWANGA: Malachi, Charles Clark, Joseph Jarman, were some of my favorites. At that age George and I were avid jazz fans. I collected most of Coltrane's work, George was into Ornette Coleman. We both liked Eric Dolphy, Miles and Monk. My earlier listening and collecting started around 1959. I was about 12years old. I would save my money and by albums. Mostly bebop artists [like] Jackie Mclean, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, 3 Sounds, Jazz Crusaders, Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal to name a few.
  Now, after many years of listening to Free Jazz, Avant-garde, New Music (as it was called), I enjoy this form of the music best. I like the expanded sounds and spaces - Coltrane (of course), David Murray, William Parker, Pharaoh Sanders and many others.

     HOLLER!: You lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over thirty years, beginning in the early 70s, and presently live in the Atlanta Georgia area. With that, you lived in one of the most socially active areas of this country if not the world, with the Black Panther Party's influence, and alternative lifestyles; what made you leave California for Georgia, and how is that looking; do you miss California, or has it changed and no longer the vibrant, dynamic place that it was?

MWANGA: You are right; I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years. I worked at Childrens’ Hospital Oakland for 30 years in the physical therapy department. I've attended North Peralta Community College ["Grove Street College"], formerly Merritt College (The campus that gave birth to Huey Newton and Bobby Seale's vision of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) and I've been involved through friendships with the Republic of New Africa (RNA). These associations gave rise to my cultural connections to Kwanzaa, African Liberation Day ceremonies, Peoples Park gatherings and other alternative lifestyles. I immersed myself in Black Studies and associated with revolutionary students of the Black Power movement, in the 70's and 80's. The result of these associations fueled my desire to "Know Myself"... I accepted a name change at Kwanzaa in 1972, on the second day, Kugichagulia. The naming ceremony was conducted in the West African tradition of the Yoruba in Nigeria.
   It was also during this period that my thirst for Black Classical Music (Jazz) was being quenched by my trips to S.F., Berkeley and Oakland, jazz sites. It was a matter of time before the music of the AACM was coming to the Bay Area, assisted by my brother Kunle Mwanga, who at that time was managing, producing, and promoting, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, and other AACM musicians. When Kunle moved west, the music came, our extended family grew as did our consciousness. Transcendental Meditation was being taught throughout our community by many of the brothers and sisters in our spiritual family.

     

Nantambu, dreads and all, in Oakland CA, circa 1975

        Three decades and many beautiful experiences later (birth of my daughter Nalungo, seven trips to North, East and West Africa, marriage, etc.) I heard that Atlanta, Georgia was the "MECCA" of the south. So when my 1st cousin Linda Goodwin suffered 3 strokes, I planned a visit to the Atlanta area. This was in 2007, shortly after I retired from "Childrens". The economy was not as bad as it is now but, it became very clear to me then that, buying a house or even a condominium in Calif. was not going to work, on my fixed retirement income. So when I was visiting my cousin in Atlanta, I also visited my dear friends Mehib and Okannona Holmes. Mehib was a real estate broker. He showed me how I could afford a 3-bedroom, 2-bath townhouse. I packed my belongings and "my lady" Tyrrah and moved here to Georgia in December 2007.