GIVING A VOICE TO THE MUSIC
Ziza Muftic’s third studio album, ‘Singing in Tongues’, is a tribute to the power and beauty of the human voice in all its permutations.
Croatian-born vocalist, pianist, composer and music teacher Ziza Muftic has recorded and performed with some of the best South African musicians around. Her music is a fusion of European (Balkan, Western and Eastern European musical traditions) and some South African musical styles. Muftic recently released her third studio album, Singing in Tongues. We spoke to her about her musical journey.
Born in Zagreb, Croatia, Muftic, who’s been based in Joburg for the last 30 years, became aware of the power and magic of music at the tender age of seven.
“Our class music teacher played us a track, Pictures at an Exhibition, by Modest Mussorgsky. She gave us colouring pencils and said, ‘Draw what you hear’. It was a mind-blowing moment for me as I discovered music was my passion.
“Neither of my parents is a musician, but there was always music in our home, whether it was singing at the dinner table or listening to vinyl records from my dad’s collection.”
Though music is a notable part of the Balkan tradition, Muftic’s mother didn’t enrol her children in a music school merely because of their talents in that area. “She simply didn’t want us hanging around on the streets. But I didn’t miss a single music class, and those years were crucial. Music gave me an identity, though I had no clue it would later be my career path.”
Muftic’s first instrument at primary school was the violin, but during her high school years she focused on Western classical singing. She studied classical voice technique with some of the best teachers in Zagreb.
After she migrated to Joburg, she continued classical singing with South African diva Emma Renzi, the first soprano to sing at La Scala, Milano. Under Renzi’s tutelage, she completed an undergraduate degree in music at Wits and then went back to finish a master’s degree in music at the same institution.
“My vocal studies were also guided by another legend, Eugenie Chopin, an American soprano who visited South Africa and stayed here.”
Her journey to jazz was seamless. “It found me,” she says. “The more music I played, danced to and listened to, the more open I became as a musician. I liked swing music the first time I listened to it while watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon. There was a scene in which Tom goes gaga for a beautiful white cat. His tongue drops, his eyes pop, and the whole scene is accompanied by the music of a swing band. I stored that experience somewhere, and it surfaced as my love for jazz music flourished in my 20s.”
The initial idea for the album was born out of a moment of soul-searching. “A few years back, during a jazz piano lesson, an idea came into my mind: What would I sound like today without the training?”
She adds: “My parents didn’t record our performances as kids — there were no smartphones then. I started searching within my own voice to find different ways of singing and expanding my sound. One of the first pieces I played with was a Hungarian folk song collected by composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók, which I sang in English on my first album, Silver Moonbeams.
“Now I wanted to perform it in the original Hungarian. Zsofia Borsanyi, a Hungarian living in Joburg, helped me achieve this. We started a vocal a cappella group with local musician Zarcia Zacheus. The three of us perform two songs on this album: my arrangements of a Bulgarian folk song Ergen dedo by Petar Lyondev, and the Hungarian song Ablakomba ablakomba, called Silver Moonbeams on my first album.”
Muftic “discovered” Ergen dedo while on a summer course at Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. “The arrangements you hear on the album were created from our weekly rehearsals during which we explored and experimented with the music and our own individual musicality.”
Borsanyi sings and plays the castanets on this album, Zarcia sings and uses body percussion, and Muftic sings and plays Zulu ankle rattles.
The other tracks on the album explore the voice as an instrument, not only through singing (in duo format or as part of a band) but also through using different languages and electronic effects.
The album is also inspired by the music and artistry of Bobby McFerrin. “I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with wonderful musicians eager to play with me. I get up every day and create something beautiful. This album is a testament to the power of voice.”
Muftic says one of her main influences is Ella Fitzgerald. “I’m currently devouring The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books (Verve 1956-1959). She embodies all I most admire in a vocalist: a balance between the musical detail and the words. No gimmicks — just great singing.”