Music Mobility Fund moves SA music

SA artists are reaching and developing new audiences for live music in South Africa and neighbouring SADC countries. 

 

2014 ended with tours by Frank Paco’s Art Ensemble in Mozambique, Tumi Mogorosi’s Project Elo in Botswana, and Luna Paige, Josie Field and Laurie Levine throughout South Africa, and 2015 starts with national album launch tours by Madala Kunene and Benjamin Jephta. This Mobility Fund is aligned to other activities by Concerts SA to strengthen live music touring circuits in South Africa and the region.

 

Madala Kunene 

 

Known as the King of the Zulu guitar, Kunene will be performing material from his forthcoming album. This new release highlights the story of Madala’s family evictions at Umkhumbane in 1959, how he later met and made friends with the man who evicted his family. The album includes collaborations with Hugh Masekela, Steve Newman and Guy Buttery. Following this theme of forgiveness and reconciliation, Kunene will visit District 6 in Cape Town, where he will collaborate with Vivienne Simchovitz (fondly referred to as the Queen of Flute) and will perform at three different venues in Cape Town. From the Cape, Kunene will move on to Johannesburg, visit Sophiatown and collaborate with Thabo Lepere and Mabi Thobejane in two days of performances at the Afrikan Freedom Station.

 

 

Benjamin Jephta

 

A semi-finalist in the prestigious SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition 2012, Jephta has already become one of the premier double and electric bass players in South Africa at age 22. His album “Homecoming” marks his debut offering as a solo artist. Jephta says: "I want to give the listener a musical biography of my life by using the harmonies and melodies associated with my upbringing. As an artist, I believe one should create music that is significant to you. I have always been captivated by this kind of honesty in the musicians I look up to. It is exactly what I’m hoping to achieve with this album: to move and uplift the spirit. To welcome you, the listener, to my musical home.”

 

 

Jephta will be presenting “Homecoming” in Cape Town and Joburg with a virtuoso band comprised of Kyle Shepherd (piano), Sphelelo Mazibuko (drums), Marcus Wyatt (trumpet) and Sisonke Xonti (sax). "The musicians on this album are all artists in their own right! They interpreted the music in a way I could never have imagined and brought the compositions to life. I'm really looking forward to playing with this band again, as a lot of the music has already evolved since we recorded this album," Jephta says.