Tune in with talented musicians at jazz concert
The audience can expect music that is simple and yet incisive, showing a deep engagement with the rich history of southern Africa.
Renowned musicians, Dr Thokozani Mhlambi and Iza Ngoma will perform at the Luthuli Museum in Groutville on Friday, 1 June at 6pm.
Dr Thokozani Mhlambi is an internationally recognised KZN-born cellist and composer and his style of music draws from the rich heritage of KZN, while still asserting global standards of quality music-making.
“The audience can expect music that is simple and yet incisive, showing a deep engagement with the rich history of southern Africa, while wrestling with contemporary forms; conveying the rigours of Western classical discipline, with the imaginative limitlessness of African performance traditions,” said Dr Mhlambi
In 2016 his composition “Uyambona lo Mfana,” was performed by the Delta Ensemble of Modern Music in Brazil. He is a winner of the African Studies Prize. In 2016 he was also commissioned by New Music SA to compose an electronic piece which was performed at the Unyazi Electronic Music Festival in Cape Town.
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Mhlambi was also one of the featured artists in the World Summit on Arts & Culture. His piece ‘Ukuxhentsa kwa Miriam: Inspired by the life of Miriam Makeba’ was proudly published by the Miriam Makeba Foundation on their online platforms. ‘Ukuxhentsa’ was originally commissioned by the Izithunguthu Precolonial Conference 2015, a conference curated by the Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative and the Five Hundred Year Archive Project.
Iza Ngoma was started in late 2016 when three UKZN music students, bassist Charles Mdakane, trumpet player Phuti Mofokeng and pianist Sibusiso Shabalala, gravitated towards each other, with a common interest and resonance in musical preferences.
They started performing on campus and realised the music resonated with the audience as much as it did with the trio. The band is constantly exploring other colours in the music spectrum, besides jazz, which happens to be what they study academically. “Our audience can look forward to a change in African-brewed jazz, which is one of the wonderful things about modern jazz,” says bassist Mdakane.
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On the Iza Ngoma band stand will be Hlubi Vakalisa Jele on saxophone, Phuti Mofokeng on trumpet, Sibusiso Shabalala on piano and vocals, Charles Mdakane on bass guitar and Kabelo Mokhatla on drums.
This performance by Dr Thokozani Mhlambi and Iza Ngoma is part of the Concerts SA Venue Circuit which aims to foster a love and support for live music in local communities, as well as anchor small and medium-sized venues in urban and rural Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
For more information please visit https://concertssa.co.za, follow @ConcertsSA on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ConcertsSA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ConcertsSA.
