Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman are reactivating their 1 Giant Leap brand in 2008 with a movie, TV show, three-hour DVD and a 16-track album under the “What About Me” name via 19 Entertainment. The new installment follows 2002’s “The Unity in Diversity,” which was nominated for two Grammys.
Catto was in Johannesburg last week to debut portions of the 90-minute movie and the eight-part TV show as part of the Moshito Music Conference and Exhibition. Among the artists featured on the project are Daniel Lanois, k.d. lang and Michael Stipe, who is joined by South African newcomer vocalist Aluta Continua on the track “I Have Seen Trouble.”
With a name that means “the struggle continues,” Aluta has been hand-picked by Catto as his first artist project arising out of 1 Giant Leap. “Aluta has something very special that made me stop in my tracks when I first heard her sing,” Catto explains.
Catto has significant plans for the 24-year-old Johannesburg-based singer, who spent many years in exile in Tanzania with her African National Congress activist parents. He is currently recording a reggae album with her that will be billed as Aluta and the Mystics and he reports that Chris Blackwell’s Palm Pictures is already interested in releasing the project.
Catto is co-writing the material, working with Nick Raphael of London-based Mannasseh Sound. Aluta’s debut will also include a version of Bob Marley’s “Mellow Mood.”
Alongside his 1 Giant Leap and Aluta projects, Catto is also working on his solo album, “Kid and the Big Bad Wolf,” to be released through Manchester’ Reaction Records. It will feature the same 11 pieces of music played twice over, in different musical styles.
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