I must confess I had some trepidation at doing this interview. With a career as involved as my guest has. with awards and recognitions galore. I was hard press to find questions That he did not already reply to a thousand times before.

Those who roam the funk world know my guest Plunky & Oneness. A true legend!

HI and welcome to the zine! Hope you are fine?

Hello. Yes, I am doing extremely well these days. Thank you for asking.

After reading your extensive bio on your site, I almost feel deprived for just having my birthname as everyone on there seems to have what I gather to be a "spiritual name". Can you tell us about that?

Actually, my name, Plunky, is only a nickname that my father gave me when I was a little baby. He would toss me up and say, “Plunky, Plunky, Plunky!” and it would make me laugh. When visitors would come to see the new baby he would tell them if they called me Plunky I would smile. And they did and I did. In 1970 I was given the last name Nkabinde by a South African Musician, Ndikho Xaba, who was my musical mentor at that time. It is a Zulu name that means “tall bull” and he gave me the name because I was tall, and tan and talented and strong willed, but mostly because I had a lot of girl friends at the time, so I’m not sure if that was so spiritual either. Nidikho gave my brother the name Muzi, which means extender of the family. But back in the early 70’s my group was called Juju and we were originally formed to perform the music for a ritual drama by Marvin X called the “Resurrection of the Dead” in which each night’s performance was an actual African ceremony in which members of the cast would “die” and then be renamed to symbolize a resurrection of their true spiritual self. That was a spiritual process and did involve spiritual development. Our group played high energy Africa and Afro-Cuban rhythms and avant-garde jazz and that musical was spiritual and transforming in nature.

How did you come about playing the sax, was it your first instrument?

Actually I started played clarinet in grammar school. I also played Oboe, bassoon, and timpani drums in high school but I always loved the sax because when I was growing up all the R&B and rock and roll records had a sax solo in the middle and I wanted to be the guy that took the solo. I didn’t start playing the sax until I went to college at Columbia University in New York in 1965.

What fascinates me in your music, among other things, is your inclusion of traditional African instruments, which add an unexpected texture. As a group you must have an extensive collection?

I have quite a collection of African instruments but the most important in terms of our sound is the Shekere, the beaded gourd shakers. We have used shekeres since 1971. These days however most of our African percussion instruments are played by our master percussionist, Asante who is from Ghana West Africa. Asante has performed, toured and recorded with Hugh Masekela, Lonnie Liston Smith, Paul Simon and Fleetwood Mac, but he is most at home when he’s with Plunky & Oneness. Also my son, Jamiah “Sir Fire” Branch plays electronic percussion samples with us, giving us a more modern, hip-hop sound.

You are involved in so many educational projects It must be tremendously rewarding to meet with the kids and expose them to musical creativity?

You’re right. I love working with kids. Playing in schools, for pre-schoolers, grade school, middle school, high school; tha’s some of my most enjoyable work. I’ve had so many students and even teachers say that they thought that they didn’t like jazz and African music until after we did our lecturing and had fun informing them and giving them learning experiences that were at the same time entertaining.

What is for you the difficult part of creating?

Writing lyrics takes the most time and effort for me. I spend a lot of time in the studio mixing and re-mixing trying to get the sounds just right. That maybe the most difficult part for me. Improvising, playing the instruments and working with other musicians are all a breeze.

Let's talk about your CD for a few moments, what prompted you to include these particular tunes?

Actually, we recorded enough material for two complete CD’s and then we selected the ones that were funky and commercial and neo-soul and radio friendly and full of love. All those factors went into the selection process. Then after we recorded our concerts at the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia this summer, we liked that music so much that I decided to include a second disk of live recordings. Many fans and friends have requested a live album for so long; and this was a chance to release new studio material and a live album at the same time.

Are there any discoveries or challenges left, that you would like to take on?

I really would love to do more touring in Europe, Africa, the Caribean and the Far East and then come back and make movies and videos that tell the story of this music and inspire people. I also like to produce for television.

What was your all time favorite Gig?

There have been too many to pick just one. Way back in 1984 we played in New Orleans at the World’s Fair and then flew to Atlanta to open a concert for Nigeria musician Sonny Okosun; that was a great weekend. One of the times we played at the Hampton Jazz Festival was with David Sanborn and Patti Labelle and the Pointer Sisters: That was great! One time we did a free concert in downtown Richmond, Virginia, my hometown and there were 30,000 people there! Wow! Last year we did a tour of the UK for Strut Records and that whole tour was the bomb! And then the time we toured Ghana for their National Commission on Children was great too. But honestly, I love to play live so most of the gigs have been wonderful. When you look at what is happening musically today, what thoughts comes to mind?

Well, I continue to be excited by what’s happening with technology and music; in terms of both the recording and the distribution. I love some of the creativity of Hip-hop and poetry and music, but I do think those artists need to take more responsibility for the impact they have and can have on society and the youth. Music should inspire people to be and do their best, to vibrate at the highest level that they can imagine. We do have that potential.

I would like to thank you for taking time for answering my questions

Any special advice for our readers?

To be and do your best, you’ve got to move something!

Please visit Plunky & oneness website:http://www.plunkyone.com.

email your comments to: plunky@plunkyone.com