Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Xonti ready to tap into audience’s love of jazz
SISONKE Xonti has performed on the Cape Town International Jazz Festival stage as a supporting act too many times to remember.
Now the 29- year- old lawyer- turned- musician will serenade jazz lovers with sounds off his debut album, Iyonde which means “to be enjoyed”.
Iyonde is also Xonti’s middle name.
Iyonde is a 10-track album released early last year. According to Xonti, jazz lovers can expect “music that anyone and everyone can relate to, whether you’re a jazz listener or not”.
He said that given the chance to play his own music at the jazz festival meant he had the “opportunity to play on a big stage for people who otherwise would have not been exposed to me or my music”.
“It also gives me the opportunity to grow my fan base,” he added.
Although Iyonde has been out since last year, Xonti said the album was doing well considering he was an independent artist.
“It’s been selling well and from what I can gather from people’s reactions I think the majority like the music.”
Having played alongside jazz musicians like Benjamin Jephta, and seeing one of his heroes McCoy Tyner performing on the Rosie’s stage over a five-year period, Xonti believes he is ready to “serenade music lovers on the Rosie’s stage next Saturday evening”.
Xonti fell in love with jazz at the age of 13, inspired by the late Ezra Ngcukana.
Although the pair had not met, Xonti made it his personal mission to find Ngcukana.
He joined the Cape Townbased jazz band, The Little Giants led by Ngcukana and George Werner.
He was then chosen to be part of the Schools’ Big Band competition at the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival in Grahamstown.
But it was after meeting musician Jimmy Dludlu that Xonti’s career began to soar.
Dludlu took him under his wing, and the pair performed in China, Mozambique, Angola, Reunion, and Switzerland together, among others.
He holds a Grade 8 music qualification in classical saxophone from Unisa, which he achieved with distinction.
During his music career, Xonti has performed with some of South Africa’s most acclaimed musicians, including Dludlu, Victor Ntoni, Lira, Hugh Masekela and Judith Sephuma.
Xonti has also performed at local and international jazz festivals, including the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, the Grahamstown Jazz Festival, and the Calabar Jazz Festival in Nigeria.
asanda.sokanyile@inl.co.za