Jonas Gwangwa

Jonas Mosa Gwangwa (* 1941 in Orlando East, Johannesburg ) is a South African musician (trombone, arrangement ), the major influence on the international reception of the music of his homeland had.

Life and work

Gwangwa received his first trumpet by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston later; 1954 Gwangwa was part of Father Huddleston Jazz Band during his school days. National notoriety he achieved in 1959, the Jazz Epistles, which grossed the first South African LP with modern jazz. Subsequently he was a member of the band that played the music for the musical King Kong; with this ensemble he was on tour in England in 1961. At the end of the tour he went to the United States, where he had a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music. He has performed with Herb Alpert and was arranger and musical director of Harry Belafonte's band. In 1965 he was part of the concert " Sound Of Africa" ​​at Carnegie Hall, which was attended by Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Letta Mbulu. With Caiphus Semenya he conceived the musical Buwa. In the following years he played in the band of Masekela, for which he also arranged. Then he was ten years the musical director of the touring production of the ANC musicals Amandla.

In the late 1980s he wrote with George Fenton soundtrack for the movie Cry Freedom, which was nominated for a Grammy and an Oscar and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Film Music. In 1988, he performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium. Only after the end of apartheid in 1991, he returned to South Africa.

Gwangwa wrote more film scores and also the theme music for the Olympic bid in South Africa 1997.

Disco Graphical Notes

  • Jazz Epistles Verse 1 ( with Hugh Masekela, Kippie Moeketsi, Dollar Brand, Johnny Gertze and Makaya Ntshoko, 1959)
  • Jonas Gwangwa & The African Explosion Who? (1969)
  • Sounds from Exile (2001)
  • Flowers of the Nation (2008, produced by Koloi Lebonah )
  • Kekude: Lapho Sivela Khonoa (2009)

Filmography

  • Cry Freedom (1987, originally as Cry Freedom )
  • Screenplay (TV series, episode The Land of Dreams, 1990)
  • Ulibambe Lingashoni (1993 ) TV series
  • A South African Love Story - Walter and Albertina Sisulu (2004)

Lexigraphic entries

  • Schade & Berg Don Albert Jazz, Blues and Swing: Six Decades of Music in South Africa 2007
King Kong (Musical) African National Congress Grammy Award Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score Wembley Stadium (1923) Abdullah Ibrahim Integrated Authority File
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