JAZZ
Sit Back to a Soothing Sunday Remembering Late Jazz Singer Sylvia Mdunyelwa
I’m so proud of our huge pool of musical talent in South Africa
As the years pass, so do our South African vocalists. Their loss reminds us to pause and reflect on their imprint on our souls.
We hailed Miriam Makeba as the vocalist of her generation who shaped global music sounds, showcasing the tantalizing flavour of South African music and language.
Now Ncediwe Sylvia Mdunyelwa, an accomplished vocal classicist, leaves her own generational legacy as she passed away on 25 August at 74.
Affectionately known as “Mama Kaap” in her home city of Cape Town, where she grew up in Langa township, the community known as a mecca for South African jazz.
“At the core of her music was a fierce insistence on respect for the tradition of the great American jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, as well as the traditional music of her isiXhosa-speaking community; and for the song.” — Gwen Ansell, The Conversation, 28 August 2023.
She grew up immersed in those traditions in the 50's and 60's, when music was an outlet for expressing emotions. During this time, the apartheid regime was clamping down on black political…
