Nduduzo Makhathini : An ongoing rehearsal with Muneyi

This concert will mark the second rendition of what Makhathini refers to as An Ongoing Rehearsal. This is underpinned by his idea that life, in itself is a form of rehearsal and we as artists and performers are constantly mapping out an itinerary to being in the world.

While the first rendition, that took place in Cape Town with master Herbie Tsoaeli, was a way of paying respect to a generation before Makhathini’s one — this particular concert with Muneyi, pays tribute to the future and the generation that follows Makhathini’s.

Here, Makhathini and Muneyi will be exploring: what happens when we look into future sounds? While this will be anchored in Makhathini’s practice as a jazz musician, it will also be stretched ahead to future sounds that Muneyi is dealing with. The convergence in this will be that both artists are dealing with indigenous music systems that are being transposed and packaged for a ‘urban’ audience. In Muneyi’s case, he deals with Venda musical cultures while Makhathini deals with Zulu cultures, both of them draw from folks sounds (and indigenous sounds) of their own people.

By extension, this will be a culmination of what happens when these two cultural musics/musicalities meet in the future. In this sense the music is ‘speculative’ or even better, divinatory — it reveals potential future sounds.

The concert will fundamentally be a duet, featuring Nduduzo Makhathini on piano and vocals, and Muneyi on guitars and vocals.

They will also be joined by a special guest, who is a common friend between the two artists; Robin Fassie on trumpet/flugelhorn.

We might also get a chance to hear how Makhathini thinks of the future in terms of loop stations and snyth-keyboards amongst other elements that will be invoked in this concert.