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South African Jazz
South African jazz is the jazz of South Africa. History The jazz scene in South Africa grew much as it did in the United States. Through performances in nightclubs, dances, and other venues, musicians had the opportunity to play music often. Musicians such as singer Sathima Bea Benjamin learned by going to nightclubs and jam sessions and waiting for opportunities to offer their talents. One unique aspect of the South African jazz scene was the appearance of individuals imitating popular artists as closely as possible because the real musician wasn't there to perform in the area. For instance, one could find a "Cape Town Dizzy Gillespie" who would imitate not only the music, but the look and style of Dizzy. This practice created a strong environment to nurture some artists who would eventually leave South Africa and become legitimate contributors to the international jazz scene. One of the first major bebop groups in South Africa in the 1950s was the Jazz Epistles. This group cons ...
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Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ...
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Miriam Makeba
Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, jazz, and world music, she was an advocate against apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa. Born in Johannesburg to Swazi people, Swazi and Xhosa people, Xhosa parents, Makeba was forced to find employment as a child after the death of her father. She had a brief and allegedly abusive first marriage at the age of 17, gave birth to her only child in 1950, and survived breast cancer. Her vocal talent had been recognized when she was a child, and she began singing professionally in the 1950s, with the Cuban Brothers, the Manhattan Brothers, and an all-woman group, the Skylarks (South African vocal group), the Skylarks, performing a mixture of jazz, traditional African melodies, and Western popular music. In 1959, Makeba had a brief r ...
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Claude Deppa
Claude Deppa (born 10 May 1958) is a South African jazz trumpeter born in Cape Town, South Africa, probably best known for his work with the Brotherhood of Breath and Carla Bley. Early life Claude Deppa was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and moved with his family to England in 1974. Having learned drums as a child, he focused on trumpet and the flugahorn when at secondary school in the UK. Music career Deppa began his professional career as a member of Dave Holdsworth’s quartet and also played with a band led by Johnny Mbizo Dyani. He was a founding member of the Jazz Warriors in London. He joined Grand Union Orchestra in 1984 and has been a prominent member of the group led by Tony Haynes for over 30 years. Deppa has played and recorded with a wide variety of international jazz talent, including Art Blakey, Carla Bley’s big band, Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath, Miriam Makeba, Louis Moholo, Evan Parker, Courtney Pine’s Jazz Warriors, and Andy Sheppard ...
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Bokani Dyer
Bokani Dyer (born 21 January 1986), is a Motswana-South African pianist, composer and music producer. He creates jazz music containing elements of electronic, R&B, salsa and classical music. Early life and education Bokani Dyer was born in 1986 in Gaborone, Botswana. He moved to South Africa as a child in 1990. Dyer received piano lessons at the age of 14 and studied jazz at the University of Cape Town where he graduated in 2008. Following his graduation, he was awarded two international scholarships facilitating training and masterclasses with world-renowned musicians. Career During his studies in 2006, he was selected by Andre Peterson for a youth band that took part in a summer school in Sogne, Norway. He was also part of the Standard Band National Youth Jazz band in Grahamstown, which played in Johannesburg and Cape Town and toured Sweden. In 2007, he founded the experimental electronic music duo, Soul Housing Project, with the vocalist Sakhile Moleshe, which opened th ...
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Bheki Mseleku
Bhekumuzi Hyacinth Mseleku, generally known as Bheki Mseleku (3 March 1955 – 9 September 2008), was a jazz musician from South Africa. He was a pianist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer and arranger who was entirely self-taught.John Fordham"Bheki Mseleku" (obituary) ''The Guardian'', 15 September 2008. Biography Mseleku's father was a musician and teacher, and a Cambridge University music graduate, who had religious beliefs that prevented his children from ready access to the family's upright piano in case any of them should pursue something as "devilish" as music.Jon Lusk"Bheki Mseleku: South African jazz pianist" ''The Independent'', 16 September 2008. His mother gave him the keys while his father was away, but the piano ended up as firewood one winter's evening. During his childhood, Mseleku suffered the loss of the upper joints of two fingers in his right hand from a go-karting accident. He explained in a 1994 ''South Bank Show'' dedicated to him that this was wholly due to ...
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Basil Coetzee
Basil "Manenberg" Coetzee (2 February 1944 – 11 March 1998) was a South African musician, perhaps best known as a saxophone, saxophonist. Biography Coetzee was born in District Six, Cape Town, South Africa. Mountain Records describes Coetzee thus: His distinctive raunchy tenor sound and the untiring commitment to his cultural roots made him one of the best known jazzmen to come out of South Africa. He earned the nickname "Manenberg" after the hugely successful collaboration with Dollar Brand in the late seventies. Basil toured and recorded extensively with Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim). Together with Robbie Jansen they created the unique brass sound of the group The Pacific Express inspiring many younger cape jazz musicians in Cape Town. He is probably best known for his recording work with Abdullah Ibrahim (previously known as Dollar Brand). Ibrahim recorded his composition "Mannenberg" with Coetzee – it became an enormous hit in the townships and impressed musicians as the recor ...
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Barney Rachabane
Barney may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barney (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Barney (surname), a list of people Film and television * the title character of ''Barney & Friends'', an American live action TV series for children * ''Barney'' (film), a 1976 Australian film for children * ''Barney'' (British TV series), a BBC children's television program Places United States * Barney, Alabama, an unincorporated community in Walker County, Alabama * Barney, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Barney, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Barney, Iowa, an unincorporated community * Barney, North Dakota, a city * Barney Creek (Lorain County, Ohio) Elsewhere * Barney, Norfolk, an English village * Mount Barney (Queensland), Queensland, Australia * Barney Island, in the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea- see List of Torres Strait Islands * 5655 Barney, an asteroid Other uses * Barney (dog), a pet of former U.S. President G ...
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Andile Yenana
Andile Yenana is a South African pianist. He made an indelible mark by switching from teaching to studying jazz. He has produced and worked with many South African as well as international artists. Early years Born in 1968 in King William's Town, Andile's love for music was triggered at an early age. He grew up in a household where music was really loved. His father, Felix Thamsanqa Yenana, had a huge collection of music, ranging from jazz to Motown, and other forms of urban black music
music.org.za and this had a huge influence in Andile's life. Andile took up music studies under at the

Allen Kwela
Allen Kwela (September 10, 1936 in Chesterville, Durban – July 1, 2003) was a kwela and jazz guitarist from South Africa. He was raised around Durban where he herded cattle and learned music after making a tin guitar. He began in Kwela with Spokes Mashiyane, but later branched into jazz. His 2002 work ''The Broken Strings of Allen Kwela'' received award nominations for jazz. He has been said to have become a "revered figure" and "legendary" in South African jazz South African jazz is the jazz of South Africa. History The jazz scene in South Africa grew much as it did in the United States. Through performances in nightclubs, dances, and other venues, musicians had the opportunity to play music often. Music .... He died in Johannesburg on 30 June 2003 and left a wife and four children. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwela, Allen South African jazz guitarists Musicians from Durban 1939 births 2003 deaths Deaths from asthma 20th-century guitarists ...
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Marabi
Marabi is a style of music that evolved in South Africa over the last century. The early part of the 20th century saw the increasing urbanisation of black South Africans in mining centres such as the gold mining area around Johannesburg - the Witwatersrand. This led to the development of township slums or ghettos, and out of this hardship came forth new forms of music, marabi and kwela amongst others. Marabi was the name given to a keyboard style (often using cheap pedal organs) that had a musical link to American jazz, ragtime and blues, with roots deep in the African tradition. Early marabi musicians were part of an underground musical culture and were typically not recorded. Indeed, as with early jazz in the USA, the music incurred the displeasure of the establishment. Nonetheless, as with early jazz, the lilting melodies and catchy rhythms of marabi found their way into the sounds of popular dance bands with a distinctively South African style. The sound of marabi was inten ...
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Svend Asmussen
Svend Asmussen (28 February 1916 – 7 February 2017) was a Danish jazz violinist, known as "The Fiddling Viking". A Swing style virtuoso, he played and recorded with many of the other jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Stephane Grappelli. He played publicly until 2010 when he had a blood clot, his career having spanned eight decades. Life and career Asmussen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, was raised in a musical family, and started taking violin lessons at the age of seven. Aged 16 he first heard recordings by jazz violinist Joe Venuti and began to emulate his style. He started working professionally as a violinist, vibraphonist, and singer at age 17, leaving his formal training behind for good. Early in his career he worked in Denmark and on cruise ships, with artists such as Josephine Baker and Fats Waller. Asmussen later was greatly influenced by Stuff Smith, whom he met in Denmark. Asmussen played with Valdemar Eiberg and Kjeld Bonfils during Wor ...
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