Performance of jazz rooted in Africa
NIGERIAN trumpeter Joseph Kunnuji, with chromatic marimba player Bongani Sotshononda and the Youth Ensemble, will perform at Guga S’thebe in Langa on Sunday from 3pm.
The versatile Kunnuji will lead the Kunnuji Experiment, an African-jazz ensemble, into original jazz compositions rooted in Africa.
Kunnuji graduated top of his class in 2010 at the Muson Diploma School in Lagos.
He then did Jazz Performance Studies and his Masters in Ethnomusicology, after which he did his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the South African College of Music at University of Cape Town.
Kunnuji blends Yoruba and Ogu folk melodies with jazz harmony to create a syncretic style that appeals to jazz and African music lovers.
He researches the same music at doctoral level, lectures part time at the South African College of Music and presents a World Music Show on Fine Music Radio.
Kunnuji’s performance is supported by Concerts SA, aSouth African/Norwegian initiative housed under the auspices of the Stakeholder Hub within the Samro Foundation.
It receives financial, administrative and technical support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Samro Foundation and Concerts Norway.
The project aims to support music in South Africa by finding and implementing ways to create a vibrant and viable circuit.
Sotshononda, an internationally-acclaimed chromatic marimba, percussionist and composer, will return with a youth ensemble band to complete a set of youth celebration on the same stage.
For the past 20 years, he has wowed audiences in the country and internationally.
His work includes collaborations with world renowned vibraphonists such as Stephon Harris (New York), Pascal Schumacher (Belgium), Magda de Vries (a classical marimba player who lectures in Japan) and the UCT Big Band, headed by professor Mike Campbell.
Musicians he has played with include the Brubeck Brothers, Morris Goldberg, Willie Van Zyl Haubrich and Shannon Mowday.
Tickets are R100 at the door. Student and pensioner discounts available. For more information, call Luvuyo Kakaza on 060 960 8935.