Zim Ngqawana

Zim Ngqawana [ ŋ ʱ awana! ] ( Born December 25, 1959 in Port Elizabeth, † 10 May, 2011 Johannesburg) ) was a South African jazz musicians (flute, tenor saxophone, percussion). He " delighted the audience with his timbre and a fascinating exchange between melodic vocals and energiegeladenem free jazz ", but thus replaced at the same time in South Africa controversy: Some suspected him of traditionalism, others to be elitist.

Life and work

Although Ngqawana was forced to leave school before graduation, he received the opportunity to study at Rhodes University. He received a diploma in jazz studies at the University of Natal. The International Association of Jazz Educators Convention allowed him to attend a workshop of Max Roach and Wynton Marsalis. He then received a scholarship to the University of Massachusetts, where he studied with Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef.

Upon his return to South Africa in the early 1990s he worked with Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim. He founded his own quartet Zimology, the octet Ingoma and the big formations Drums for Peace; This group first met in 1994 on the occasion of the inauguration of Nelson Mandela. In 1996, he worked in Norway Bjørn Ole Solburg and its San Ensemble ( CD San ​​Song). In addition, he completed tours in the United States (1995 ), Great Britain (1997), Switzerland (2007, 2008) and Germany (2008). He regularly came to Chicago, where he worked among others with Ernest Dawkins and Max Roach. In the documentary Giant Steps (2005) by Geoff Mphakati and Aryan Kaganof he can be heard in a duet with the poet Lefifi Tladi. He also composed music for the Free Flight Dance Company, Hotep Idris Galeta produced and worked as a percussionist for the Moving into Dance Company. He went further on with Paul van Kemenade, Max Roach, Keith Tippett and with Matthew Shipp and William Parker (Vision Festival 2009 ).

Ngqawana wore traditional South African music and dance grooves in his The Modern Creative pledged suites. In 2002 he received five South African Music Awards ( SAMA ). Most recently, he built the Zimology institutions for young jazz musicians on the model of similar institutions of Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp to near Johannesburg. He broke on May 10, 2011 in his home in Troyeville at a rehearsal together, suffered a stroke and died at a hospital in Johannesburg little later.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Zimology (1998, Haker with Andile Yenana, Ingebrigt Flaten, Paal Nilssen -Love )
• Ingoma (1999)
• Zimphonic Suites (2001)
• Vadzimu (2004, with Marcus Wyatt, Bheki Mbatha, Herbie Tsoaeli, Merle Thomson, Elizabeth Rennie, Andile Yenana, Lulu Gontsana, Kesivan Naidoo, Basi Mahlasela and others)
• Zimology - In Concert (2008, SAMA Award as "Best Traditional Jazz Album " )