If you're on stage and you're playing and there's nobody in the audience to receive what you're putting out, it doesn't work. He said, “I am because you are.” I started thinking about music. Marcus Miller: Well, it took me a minute to really, really understand, but Jonathan said a phrase and it all came together. Marcus, why was it so easy for you to embrace this whole Ubuntu philosophy? What does it mean to you? When you talk about humanity, the two of you would certainly come to mind, so I think it's a perfect pairing. When I asked him, “Can you drive the car because I want to be a passenger. Marcus and I have a kind of a preordained situation that happened here and he had nowhere to run, Pat. People being burned by tires, by the police. There was this message that came through the music that I was trying to make, and trying to make a statement to South Africa where there was political uprising, violence and death and killings. Marcus played on Heal Our Land and a bunch of other songs. I just really believe it's God ordained because I met Marcus in the eighties doing a record called Heal Our Land with Loris Holland producing it. Since Marcus and I started doing the cruises and when we did “Sublimity,” like we played on Marcus's record. It’s a real movement, which I'm discovering is also around the globe, in DC, in LA, in San Diego. I have a 20, 30, 45-minute jam session which is still on my hard drive capturing the moments that we've had. I thought I had fans until Miller walked in the studio and it was like these guys were just in awe of the moment. Everything that happened after the safari when Marcus and I first met, and then we had three days in Johannesburg to record and that studio was packed with Marcus Miller fans. Throughout Africa is a philosophy that you feel and see it when you're there. Where we met and made this record was in the bush in Africa, and it's just an amazing story of how it all really came together. When Marcus and I started this record, the world was in a hell of a different crisis. It means, “I am because we are.” It could be a biblical meaning of grace, of having to show grace to other people, to the world we are living in. We were like a bunch of kids in the room, you know? Things just automatically changed with these. He gets up and looks around the room and tells his grandkids, “No, get up and sing.” These kids start singing, a real happy song in Sesotho and the room was just light. I'm getting ready to hold hands, and pray. They're going to pray now, before the dinner. These kids and grandkids are all sitting at the table. We get there and it's a big room full of people, with all sorts of food coming. I got up, got dressed and drove to this gala where the chairman of Princess Di’s foundation. I remember he was in LA and he invited me to a gala in San Diego, early in the morning. He personified and walked this language of Ubuntu and showed me how. I learned all of this stuff when meeting Desmond Tutu on several occasions. Jonathan Butler: It's always been a movement. Explain the meaning of Ubuntu which is really more of a movement than just a word, isn't it? It’s a kind of celebration for your culture. Pat Prescott: Jonathan, here you are with your good friend, Marcus with this beautiful collection of songs called Ubuntu which is sort of a love letter to your African heritage. Jonathan, Marcus and I talked about this global concept and the experience of working together on this engaging new record. Jonathan Butler and Marcus Miller have been friends for a very long time and that friendship is now cemented by a new collaborative project called Ubuntu, which in Zulu literally means humanity but is loosely translated as "Because I am, you are.” It’s about a lot more than a collection of songs, though the effort has resulted in some pretty compelling music.
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