(Skokiana.
Pic by Maria Cristina Giampietri)
Skokiana's highly anticipated self-titled
album will be launching at two events this month: March 26 at The Rainbow and
on March 29 at the Centre for Jazz.
Skokiana will perform songs from the album,
composed and arranged by Sazi Dlamini, recorded in Durban in 2011. The CD will
be available for purchase at the events for R100, and will also soon be
available online at iTunes, Google Play and other online streaming services
like Deezer and Spotify.
Founded in 1991 as a quartet, playing in
the jazz-influenced township tradition, the group’s original members were Sazi
Dlamini on guitar, the late Leonard Rachabane on tenor saxophone, Bongani
Sokhela on bass and Jabu Dube on drums. At the time they were all music
students at the then University of Natal, Durban.
Over more than two decades Skokiana’s
line-up has included outstanding musicians, among them: Maynard Mabatle,
Geoffrey Tracey, Carlos di Stasi and Sithembiso Hlela (percussionists); Chris
Mashiane, Dumisani Hlela, Nkanyezi Cele, Lebohang Mothabeng and Bonga Mzimela
(drummers); Thami Mtshali, Phiwe Solomon, Njeza Dlamini, Mandla Zikalala and
Sandile Cele (bassists); Mfana Mlambo and Dick Hathorn (saxophonists); Fezile
Faku (trumpet and fluegelhorn); Dumisani Nxumalo (trombone) and Siphelele
Dlamini (pennywhistle and flute).
Over the years the longevity of Skokiana
has been sustained by student talent selected into UKZN’s music studies
programmes. At the end of their studies, members invariably depart for
Johannesburg’s musical horizons, thus making way for younger players of
promise. Since 1996, Skokiana has fielded variably-sized groups (from trios up
to17-piece big-band). Many such appearances have been documented.
Sazi Dlamini, who holds a PhD degree in
musicology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was born in 1960. He began
school in 1967 at Dududu Bantu Community School and Magabheni Primary,
matriculating from Amanzimtoti Zulu Training School, formerly known as Adams College,
in 1979. A science degree undergraduate at the University of Fort Hare in 1980,
his studies were disrupted as a result of student protests (and subsequent
closure of the university by the army). From 1981 until 1987 he was registered
for MBChB at the University of Natal’s Black Section (UNB), envisaging a
possible medical career from which he was diverted as a result of his passion
for music. His formal musical training include a Diploma in Musical Performance
(Jazz) from the then University of Natal (1991), followed by a Bachelor of
Music (1995) and Master of Music degree in Ethnomusicology (1997).
Sazi is ethno-musicologist, composer and
unique performer in the jazz-influenced style of South African music whose
initial recording, composing and performance career is documented in, among
other albums, Zanusi (1989) and African Tributes (1992). To support a
protracted student career (and fatherhood since 1991), Sazi simultaneously
free-lanced as composer for children’s educational radio and television
programmes including Takalani Sesame
[1999]. He has recorded many original musical pieces that employ indigenous
Nguni instruments such as bows, drums and flutes, which he has manufactured
himself; as well as other African musical instruments. He is a versatile
performer and mediator across a regional diversity of musical performance, with
a long-standing involvement in the creative contextualisation of indigenous,
popular and formal musical performance across cultures and genres of
music.
In 2016 he accepted the eThekwini
Municipality’s Living Legends Award, in recognition of his contributions to
arts and culture, for his work in the preservation and promotion of indigenous
KZN music genres such as maskandi, mbaqanga, isicathamiya and children’s musical
performance, as well as theatre and dance, and his critical role in musical
performance, education and social transformation.
Performances take place at 14h00 on March
26 at The Rainbow at 23 Stanfield Lane, Pinetown, and on March 29 at the Centre
for Jazz at 18h00.
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