Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
jonas gwangwalatest news & developments
Eastern Cape bassist, composer and teacher Mlungisi Gegana has taken a decade to put out his third album My Time, My Space. Photo: Eddie Adams
ANDILE YENANA

Mlungisi Gegana: A page-turner of a career

The bassist and composer reflects on 40 years in music and his newly released album

  • Gwen Ansell
6 min read
Rich legacy: Trombonist, composer and cultural activist Jonas Gwangwa embodied the people’s struggle. Photo: Veli Nhlapo/Sowetan/Gallo Images
HUGH MASEKELA

Let’s find our peace before we rest: Sibongile Khumalo, Oliver Mtukudzi, Hugh Masekela and Jonas Gwangwa

I have come to realise that death is the ultimate rest. It is the “peace” part where the problems start

  • Lerato Tshabalala
5 min read
African trumpet player, singer and songwriter Hugh Masekela performs at North Sea Jazz festival, The Hague, Netherlands, 10th July 1994. (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns)
HUGH MASEKELA

Abadala, Baholo: A Tribute to The Elders

Tseliso Monaheng writes a paean to the jazz and African music torchbearers who have moved on to other worlds – Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo, Jonas Gwangw

  • Tseliso Monaheng
11 min read
Lockdown luck: Jazz musician Malcolm Jiyane was recording a new record at Sumo Sound when three-year-old Umdali was unearthed. (Andy Mkosi)
AFRICAN TIME

Malcolm Jiyane: A tale of two albums

The jazz musician’s album comes with a backstory as good as the music itself

  • Lloyd Gedye
9 min read
Jonas Gwangwa performs at the Joy of Jazz.
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

Jonas Gwangwa embodied South Africa’s struggle for a national culture

Gwangwa’s love for the struggle was genuine and deep, never cosmetic – and he couldn’t have written an unattractive tune if he tried

  • Gwen Ansell
6 min read
Dancing while we weep: A statue of former Democratic Republic of the Congo president Laurent-Désiré Kabila on the 18th anniversary of his assassination — January 16 2019 — in Kinshasa.
CHIMURENGA CHRONIC

Parsing Kabila through rumba

‘Chimurenga Chronic: Who Killed Kabila II’ sees memories of the past battle the future

  • Gwen Ansell
5 min read
Hugh Masekela: I’m the kind of person who goes on with life. I was one of the smallest benders of the era.
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM
Video

No more pain: Lala ngoxolo Bra Hugh Masekela

A raconteur par excellence and larger than life figure, Masekela takes to his grave a part of each and everyone of us.

  • Staff Reporter
2 min read
AMIRI BARAKA

And thus do I salute him

The poet fought injustice wherever he found it and became a key figure in the ANC-in-exile’s arts and culture department

  • Staff Reporter
9 min read
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM

Let the music speak

Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya meets legendary South African jazz drummer Makhaya Ntshoko and his quintet.

  • Fikile Ntsikelelo Moya
4 min read