Durban-based pianist and composer Sibusiso ‘Mash’ Mashiloane who is known to be both a virtuoso player and conductor, with his live performances being the drawing card that has garnered attention by audiences across the world, will be performing live in Cape Town on Friday, 30 April at Alliance Francaise and on Sunday, 1 May at jazz in The Native Yards.
Mashiloane said: “Performing in Cape Town is always very special to me since it’s a city that played a significant role in affording our SA heroes with a platform to perform during the apartheid era.” Mashiloane’s band will consist of acclaimed Cape Town-based musicians Shaun Johannes on double bass, Bonolo Nkoane on drums, Nono Nkoane on vocals, and Buddy Wells on saxophone and flute. “Playing with this band will be very helpful since they are very experienced in my exploration of sound and, of course, Shaun and Buddy played with my heroes such as Moses Molelekwa, Zim Ngqawana and Winston Mankunku Ngozi,” said Mashiloane. It is no coincidence that Mashiloane chooses the weekend of International Jazz Day to visit the mother city, he said: “Jazz as an art-form, conceived through freedom and identity, is worth celebrating, not just in one day but daily, especially in the context of embracing and exploring our identity and heritage.” Mashiloane, now synonymous with the South African Jazz scene and music stages across the globe, has released five albums that have since reached critical acclaim. He is a multi-award winning and nominated artist at prestigious ceremonies and events like the SAMAs, the AFRIMA awards and the International Urban Music Awards and said, at present, he is studying towards a PhD which befittingly aims, through the lens of South African Jazz, to focus on the nostalgia-seeped themes of home that Mashiloane can’t help but find himself instinctively returning to.
Mashiloane’s music is steeped in rich, indigenous history and scholarship that doesn’t try to erase the West’s influences in shaping how we see ourselves and our individual and collective relationship to music. “I have an aspirational view in raising awareness about the value of our works as Africans and I am to be one of the influences in a new generation of musicians, music collectors and live music audiences who will pride themselves on their African heritage,” he added.
