Collaborative Wouter Kellerman bags Grammy nomination as Thandiswa’s ‘Sankofa’ misses out

South African flautist Wouter Kellerman earned a Grammy nomination for his collaborative project with Japanese and Indian Vocalist Chandrika Tandon.

Nominees for the 67th Grammy Awards were announced on Friday and Kellerman’s Triveni was included in the Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album category alongside five other nominees.

“I’m deeply grateful for this Grammy nomination and honoured to share this journey with such inspiring artists as Eru and Chandrika,” averred Kellerman.

The category is for albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental new age recordings.

ALSO READ: SA flutist and composer Wouter Kellerman nominated for a Grammy award

Collaborative Kellerman

The seven-track Triveni weaves together musical traditions from three continents, creating a unique and meditative sonic experience.

“Our goal with Triveni was to create a space for healing and reflection, a meeting place for different cultures, and a celebration of the power of music to connect us all,” said the Kellerman.

Other nominees in the category include Ricky Kej’s Break of Dawn and Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn by British-American muso Anoushka Shankar.

The 67th Grammy Awards are set to take place live at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on the first Sunday of February.

Kellerman is a Grammy winner having won the Best Global Music Performance category in 2022 for Bayethe together with fellow South Africans Nomcebo Zikode and Zakes Bantwini.

But the flautist’s first Grammy came nearly a decade ago in 2015 for another collaborative project, Winds of Samsara, together with Kej.

ALSO READ: Ready to dazzle: Afro-soul singer Thandiswa Mazwai releases ‘Sankofa’ album

Thandiswa’s Sankofa misses out

Singer-songwriter Thandiswa Mazwai submitted her latest album Sankofa for Grammy consideration but was unfortunately not nominated.

Similar to Kellerman’s nominated work, Thandiswa’s Sankofa is also steeped in collaboration. The album has songs produced by US singer-songwriter and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello.  

Globe-renowned musician Nduduzo Makhathini also contributed to the 11-track album, which also included contributions from musicians from West Africa.

In a recent interview with the Mail & Guardian Thandiswa admitted to not being fixated on awards but felt the urge to submit Sankofa at the upcoming Grammys because of how the project was assembled.

“[Sankofa] really ties together this history between all of us Africans and the diaspora [along with] the history of slavery, the history of empire and the histories of our connectivity.

“With this album, I felt that it was about a much larger group of people and it made sense for us to try for the Grammys this time around,” she averred.

For the recording of Sankofa, Thandiswa dug into the International Library of African Music (ILAM) at Rhodes University which is an archive of African sounds.

The word Sankofa is derived from the Akan Tribe of Ghana and can be translated into “go back and get it”.

The essence of the meaning symbolises going back, so one can move forward.

ALSO READ: Thandiswa Mazwai creates a safe space for black women at Carnival City

Reflecting on Africa at Havard

Thandiswa will be in conversation with writer and philosopher Dr Sarah Setlaelo about how her body of work speaks to culture, spirituality, identity, race, gender and politics at the Harvard University Center for African Studies on Tuesday.

Thandiswa is currently in the US for a tour and she is expected to perform at New York’s (Le) Poisson Rouge (LPR) on Thursday and at Boston’s Crystal Ballroom the day before.

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