Jazz Explodes at Shanti Lo and Ivan Mazuze’s Show

Jazz Explodes at Shanti Lo and Ivan Mazuze’s Show

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WEDNESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2010 12:59

Sample this Jazz Recipe: Take Botswana’s afro pop/jazz singer, Tumediso ‘Shanti Lo’ Kagiso Loeto on stage, mix him with Mozambiqan born Jazz player, Ivan Mazuze , thoroughly shake the mix. Result? The best jazz night you have attended in recent years. That is what guests were treated to last Thursday night, October 15th at Maitisong. Mazuze, 30, who is one of Mozambique’s best know jazz players but currently based in South Africa, was in town to promote his debut 11 song CD, Maganda which is named after his traditional name. The explosive show was set off at 8.00pm by Shanti Lo and his band consisting of Enock Mbewe on Drums, Dingala Mpoloise on Percussions, Andrew Chinganga on Saxophone and this time around, two new addtions to his band: Saki Nonong on Bass Guitar and Daniel Njoroge Njuguna on Keyboard. He had one vocalist, Lapologa Seetso who has also appeared on his show several times. Dressed in a dark brown body hugging outfit with a gold band on his waist and his dreads flowing, Shanti Lo set the stage for what proved to be a very exciting evening at the centre. He played eight songs non-stop before a break that ushered in award winning Mazuze. The songs he played, some of which will feature in his upcoming CD were,  Are Fofe, Be Butle, Ke a mo rata, Kgogomodumo, Lerato , Boloi, Ngwao and his ever popular, Ditshwanelo. After a short break, Mazuze took to the stage at about 9.45pm where he played his Saxophone  interchanging between a Soprano and Tenor Sax. Others in his five person band were vocalist, award winning Scholtz, the brilliant Khyle Shepherd on Keyboard, Frank Paco of the famous Tucan Band on Drums and Lucas Khumalo on Bass Guitar. Scholtz’s light and mellow voice was perfect for the mostly instrumental jazz music that Mazuze played for the night. Scholtz is a well known jazz singer in her own right. Coming from a musical background where her father played an alto saxophone in a seventies dance band, she studied Opera with the Eoan Group and later at UCT, graduating in 1997 with a distinction. In 2002, she was named Best Vocalist at the Old Mutual Jazz Awards where Mazuze also won Best Composer. Other awards include Standard Bank’s Young UCT Artist and three albums to her name: 2002’s Zillion Miles and more recently, Connected and Standards. One of the most exciting things about the Mazuze performance was the coordination between him and Scholtz. Dressed in bright purple shinny trousers with white and purple broad checked shirt and close cropped hair and Scholtz in a petite black evening dress the duo wowed the crowd as they sang looking at each other most of the evening. Speaking to Timeout after the show, Shanti Lo was all praises for Mazuze: “I enjoyed the training session with Ivan in the afternoon as he has studied music and understands much more than I do about the theory of music, the intricate things in instruments and jazz in general.” Of key importance to Shanti Lo was the confirmation that he did not have to have studied music to be a good jazz musician. “ After the show, Mazuze said the importance of goals and following up on them. “I had a clear vision of what I had to do in order to succeed in the music industry. I realized that educating myself and mastering my instruments was not enough, and while studying I set up my own production and publishing company to handle the administration and business side of my career. I always dreamed of recording my own music right from when I was very young and I did not wait for record companies to offer me a deal – I started my own company and did it my way. Speaking about two of his songs in particular – Felicidade and Papa Samora, Mazuze said, “Any of you who know the importance of a mum will understand why Felicidade is about my mum – powerful woman in her own humble way. What about Papa Samora? “Though I was young when he was killed, our former President Samora Machel used to preach and say, “Don’t cry and work but I did when he died, it was such a blow for Mozambique and I am asking him, “How can we not cry about your death?” Besides singing and teaching, Mazuze also writes for various magazines such as Talking Drums and ethno-musicological journals.  He plans to start on his Phd soon. BY WANJA NJUGUNA http://www.gazettebw.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7833:jazz-explodes-at-shanti-lo-and-ivan-mazudes-show&catid=20:timeout