Using music to heal, teach
‘Cultural worker’ believes in employing improvisation as a form of divination
We caught up with award-winning pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini to chat about his latest album, Ikham
bi, and his performances at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) this week.
Your latest album, Ikhambi, has won a South African Music Award (Sama). It’s yet another accolade you’ve been honoured with. How does this affect how you think of yourself as an artist? I am thankful and utterly grateful always. In all my works over the years, I have been religious and cognisant about the presence of the ancestry realm, so partly these accolades are dedicated to them.
I can only be grateful for how warm a space this industry has been to me in recent years.
How does Ikhambi differ from your previous records? I don’t think it is different, but it rather carries a closeness to some of the themes and narratives I have been trying to address through composition.
Musically speaking, all my records are unique in that they are recorded at different periods of my journey, with various kindred spirited artists.
All your previous albums were released on your independent label. You signed with Universal Music to release Ikhambi. How did this come about? Yes, all my records were previously signed to Gundu Entertainment, which still exists.
Due to the work that I do, I felt a need to expand the reach of my work. This happened at a time when Universal Music was also looking for me and the record deal was simply a synchronicity of events.
The track, Amathambo , on Ikhambi refers to bones used by healers to perform divinations. You’ve spoken before about how you see the piano keys like a healer sees his bones. Could you please explain? Oh yes, I have been exploring a means to performance spaces and instruments in a similar way that isangoma pays special attention to umsamu as a living space for the ancestors and amathambo as his or her tools to seek solutions.
Over time, this has led me to a view that improvisation is a form of divination in that it explores the “unknown” and seeks meanings.
Improvisation is also a platform for connecting to other planes and so is ukwebhula (the throwing of the bones).
So I employ this outlook to give myself an alternative way to understand Western classical instruments in a South African – or rather African context. Perhaps on a deeper level it forms part of the de-colonial project.
You’ve just graduated with a master’s degree where you focused on the music and life of late pianist Bheki Mseleku. How important was he to you as a musician and for the South African jazz tradition? He is still a very important contributor to consciousness.
Regarding South Africa’s jazz tradition, he has contributed immensely in the construction of various vocabularies in our pianism and the jazz aesthetic at large.
What was the most striking and surprising discovery you made about the legacy of Mseleku during your studies? Well, I would not say I was at any point surprised, having known the man. The greatest surprise was learning that so little has been written about him in jazz literatures.
What can jazz lovers expect from your shows tonight? I am very excited to be featured as I will be presenting Ikhambi for the first time at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival, and that indeed is an honour.
It is important to mention that I will also be presenting new material with a great lineup of alchemists as I call them.
Nduduzo Makhathini: Ikhambi Nduduzo Makhathini (piano), Linda Sikhakhane (sax), Nhlanhla Radebe (bass), Ayanda Sikade (drums) will perform at DSG Hall today at 5pm and tomorrow at 8.30pm.