SA jazz muso plays guitar during brain surgery

South African jazz musician Musa Manzini underwent a craniotomy while awake at a Durban hospital, IOL has reported.

Manzini was asked to play guitar during the rare procedure, carried out by a team of neurosurgeons at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, led by Dr Basil Enicker and Dr Rohen Harrichandparsad.

According to University Hospital Southhampton, an awake craniotomy is a preferred technique for operations to remove tumours close to, or involving functionally important (eloquent) regions of the brain

“The decision to perform an awake craniotomy rather than one under general anaesthesia was motivated by Dr Enicker’s concern to preserve and restore my finger movements, taking into consideration my career as a musician,” said Manzini.

The doctors hoped that by conducting the operation while Manzini was awake, they could make sure the musician avoided loss of function in the part of the brain controlling voluntary movement.

Musa Manzini has won awards for his bass guitar playing and is also a music lecturer.

In 1995, while a student at the University of Cape Town, he received the Prof Peter Klatzow Award for composition.

He has since released several albums and toured the world. He is known for playing both acoustic and upright bass.

His style uses the bass guitar as a lead instrument, much like other jazz bass virtuosos such as Sipho Gumede, Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller.

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