Dubbed a thanksgiving ritual: umgidi, Nduduzo Makhathini’s concert is in partial fulfillment of an integrated PhD in Music, at Stellenbosch University.
Makhathini will be on piano and spoken word with Mbuso Khoza who will be on vocals and poetry backed by superb musicians in the Cape’s jazz genre including Justin Bellairs on saxophone, Stephen de Souza on double bass and Dane Paris on drums.
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“At the core of this sonic ritual/meditation, I demonstrate the importance of a community (in the form of a large ensemble with an audience) in music-making as a collective process,” explains Makhathini.
His work inside the concepts of ngoma and ntu as invocations of wholeness. Also his performance will form part of locating his approaches in improvisation, which he calls ingoma-sbhulo, a divining sound-field that points towards revealing and elsewhere.
“Part of what this meditation does is to (re)contextualize the piano in an African context, both within African music practices/repertoire and as a ritual object performing in ritual technology. Parallel to that, I seek in this event to juxtapose the idea of multiple-voices multiple voices to that of ‘the throwing of the bones’ during divination. In this sense, improvisation enters the realm of prophetic knowledge via a meditation sequence: known-unknown-new knowing,” says Makhathini.
Ultimately, this performance will be a thanksgiving ritual to pay gratitude to the spirit guides that collaborated with Makhathini in creating this work.
To book tickets go t Quicket
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Picture: Twitter