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SHIYANI NGCOBO (article first published: 2000-03-27)
The School of Music at the University of Natalcontinues its regular series of free lunch-hourconcerts today with a recital of maskanda music by Shiyani Ngcobo starting at 12h15 in Howard College Theatre. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
Shiyani Ngcobo originally hails from the Umkomaas Valley in KZN and is now based in Kwamakutha outside Durban. He teaches maskanda part-time for the African Music Project at the UND's School of Music and taught at the music department at the University of Durban- Westvifle until its closure in February this year.
Those familiar with the fiercely contested maskanda competitions run by the UCD's School of Music will remember Shiyani as KZN winner in 1991 in the solo guitar category. He is a regular guest at theGuitars for Africa concerts and big festivals such asSplashyFen where he plays and conducts maskandaworkshops. Shiyani appeared as a guest artist on theGuitars for Africa stage at the international WOMADfestival held in South Africa for the first time in 1999.
Shiyani's performancesat theTurn of the Centuryfestival in Nantes, France in October 1997 were his first in the international arena.He has subsequently performed at the World Music Festival in Yaounde,Cameroon and in Modena, Italy. He is in the process of signing a new recording contract on the MELT2000 label.
Maskanda is neo-traditional music originallycomposedand played by Zulu migrant workers - the modem day folk-singers of KZN, whose songs are about social and political issues.Maskanda artistswear neo-traditional dress and usually accompany their songs with gUitars,mouth organs, Zulu gourd-bowsorconcertinas.Shiyaniplays several guitars- one of which he made himself.
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APPENDIX 3 : Nantes Festival
A) Internet Article (www.melt2000.com):
"Turn of the Century at Nantes, 1991."
3 pages
NANTES FESTlVAL, 17 - 25.10.97 Page 1 of3
The idea of the Festival du Fin de Siec1e is to invite to Nantes, in western France, all kinds of cultural representatives from three of the world's great cities, in order to illustrate the creativity of each of these places at the dawn of the third millennium. The festival began in October, 1997, with a celebration of Johannesburg, representing Africa, continent of roots.
Beautiful costumes and great visual performances made thefestival a unique event.
Around 380 diverse artists were selected from every creative field and months of
preparation was necessary to put this thing in place.Pascal Letellier travelled extensively through South Africa, looking for artists to participate in the festival and, naturally enough, several of the musicians he approached were associated with M.E.L.T.2000and
recommended that he should contact Robert Trunz.
The Festival proved to be a great success, although it was something of a logistical nightmare considering the scale of the event and the numerous venues involved, but all the shows were recorded and filmed for future release.We used a mobile
recording studio called The Van, operated by the two Flying Dutchman, Jan and Paul (right, receiving quiet words of encouragementfrom Mr Trunz). They did a fantastic job of
running from venue to venue in order to catch all the performances and worked at least sixteen hours a day for us. Thanks guys!
Amampondo played late night concerts at the largest venue, a former old biscuit factory - l'usine lu - which has been converted into a cultural centre. Unfortunately, even the privileged citizens ofNantes have to go work in the morning, so the place was cold and a bit lifeless during the week.
There was no acoustic treatment and the atmosphere was cold, so it didn't always do justice to the artists, although M.E.L.T.2000'S chief engineer, Chris Lewis, insured that they had the best possible sound under the circumstances and Amampondo never fail to warm up the area.
A group that formed out of Amampondo (left) -consisting ofMantombi, who plays umrhubhe (mouthbow), and Mangaleswa playing accordian, with Dizu playing uhadi
(berimbau) - appeared on a separate, smaller stage, to perform some traditional tunes before joining the rest of the group onstage for the main event.
NANTESFESTlVAL,17-25.1O.97 Page 2 of3
."c""iZiJll
Madala, centre left, and his band Busi Mhlongo, right, onstageat Nantes Madala Kunene and his band played the factory with Busi Mhlongo, as well as several concerts at l'Olympic and both shows were rapturously received. Madala has put together a terrific new band who it is hoped will be playing more live concerts in Europe before long.
Brice Wassy was also in effect, playing a couple of fantastic concerts with Busi, who is currently recording a new album with producer Will Mowatt.
Moses Molelekwa (left)arrived fresh from the studio in Johannesburg where Chris Lewis has been helping to put the finishing touches on his eagerly anticipated CD, played in different formations: with Zolani Mkiva, with Sibongile Khumalo, and solo at La Tour a Plomb, where he previewed songs from the new album and seduced audiences with songs . from his debut, Finding One's Self
Darius Brubeck, (right)themastermind of Gathering Forces II had written a couple of new songs especially for the festival, where he performed Gathering Forces Ill: '2000 Minus 3' together with his frequent collaborator, Deepak Ram, whose forthcoming solo . album on M.E.L.T.2000 is Flute For Thought (BW104). Deepak
also gave a one-off recital of Indian Classical flute while another great flautists, Zim Ngqawana played with his Quartet every evening from 10pm at the hotel Duchesse-Anne.
Also appearing at the Festival
was a new discovery, a maestro maskandi from the beautiful Umkomaas Valley in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Shiyani Ngcobo,(LEFT) who was playing his first gigs outside of SA Renowned for his purest approachto maskanda guitar style, plus his catchy story lines, Shiyani is a popular winner of the fiercely contested maskanda competitions and now teaches part time at the University of Natal-Durban.We used the NAGRA-D to record Shiyani in the bathroom of the hotel room and those tapes are being worked upon, with overdubs from Mabi Thobejane and some of the Amampondo guys.
In his own unique niche is Pops Mohamed, who had been playing gigs across Europe to promote his current album How Far Have We Come? Pops played a
showcase concert at l'Olympic with his touring band and also, together with Zena Edwards, performed with the Xhosa Singers of Lady Frere n the atmospheric church of St-Georges Des Batignolles. This choir from, Ngqoko Village are the last practitioners ofumngqokolo -
ambient trance music - which Pops describes as one of
the future sounds of Afrika.These concerts were very successful and Pops attracted several
NANT ESFESTIVAL, 17-25.10.97 Page 3 of3
The South African groups made great efforts to dress as colourfully as possible and they certainlybrightenedup the streets ofwhat is a rather drab industrial town bywandering around wearing great traditional costumesdespite the weather,which got pretty chilly towards the end of the week! We all had a great time and now have a lot of material, both video and audio,that will be forthcoming over the next few months.Stay tuned!
...
APPENDIX 4 : Madala Kunene.
A) Press Article:
"Illuminating the dark with music."
B) Article published in 'Drum' magazine:
"Madala's Musical Dreams."
C) Internet Article (www.melt2000.com):
"Madala Kunene Kon'Ko Man."
D) Internet Article (www.melt2000.com) :
"Madala Kunene - King ofZulu Guitar Live Vol.l."
E) Internet Article (www.melt2000.com) :
"Recording Project - Madala Kunene and Baba Mokeona in Durban, SA, 1999."
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