(Kinsmen
at The Orbit. Photo: Natasha Laurent, 2017)
In association with Concerts SA, jazz trio
Kinsmen will present their debut album Window
to the Ashram on a national tour from Cape Town to Durban.
On the first weekend of November, Kinsmen
will travel to Cape Town performing at Alma Café (Rosebank) and Jazz in the
Native Yards (Gugulethu). The following weekend the trio will be in Durban,
with scheduled performances at Alliance Française and The Chairman.
Released on June 16 2017, Window to the Ashram is a collection of
narratives, poetically woven together with the creative use of space afforded
by their trio. The album has been presented at National Arts Festival Fringe
(Grahamstown) and continued to sold out performances in Johannesburg and
Pretoria at The Orbit, Afrikan Freedom Station, U-The Space and UNISA’s Miriam
Makeba Hall.
Kinsmen was founded by Dhruv Sodha (sitar),
Shailesh Pillay (tabla) and Muhammad Dawjee (tenor saxophone), all originally
from Laudium – an Indian Apartheid Group Area on the Western outskirts of
Pretoria. Their work explores the intersection of culture, tradition and
modernity through composition and improvised music.
The language of Kinsmen draws on influences
including: Indian Classical, Jazz /Avant-garde and South African Jazz. The
blend of instrumentation is an innovative leap away from traditional forms of
‘Indian’ music currently promoted and exhibited in South Africa.
“These themes run parallel to our lived
experience as (4th generation) South Africans of Indian descent in a country
that is intensely undergoing the realisation and unpacking of internalised
forms of racism and segregation. Our music expresses a desire for a meaningful
creative dialogue with this continent that is mostly inexistent in our
community,” says saxophonist and band leader and Muhammad Dawjee.
It is an experimental rebellion through a
sonic re-appropriation and reinterpretation of the music of a local
predominantly traditionalist Indian culture. Their work inspires possibilities
for extensions and re-readings of the role and relevance of cultural identity,
its limitations and the meaning of cultural artefacts for people of Indian
descent living within the country today.
Durban Events Listing:
November 10 at 18h30: Alliance Française, 22
Sutton Crescent, Morningside, Berea. Entrance R100. Bookings: 031 312 9582 /
culture.afdurban@alliance.org.za
November 11 at 23h00: The Chairman,146
Mahatma Gandhi Street, Durban. No cover charge. Bookings: 031 268 2133 /
admin@thechairmanlive.com
Kinsmen’s
"Window to the Ashram" National Tour is supported by Concerts SA through the
Music Mobility Fund, a funding mechanism which offers opportunities for South
African musicians to undertake live music tours.
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