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Pianist hosts live performance after two years

NONJABULO BHENGU nonjabulo.bhengu@inl.co.za

IF JAZZ is your jam, then get your ears ready for the soothing sounds of pianist Burton Naidoo alongside poet Luleka Mhlanzi.

Naidoo, who was raised in Lotus Park, Isipingo, started piano lessons when he was 6 years old.

“My dad was possibly my biggest inspiration. He was a really good drummer and he played in a few bands on the dance circuit in Durban. I recall going to band rehearsals with him, and I fell in love with the music. He is my hero,” said Naidoo, a father of two from eManzimtoti.

Naidoo enrolled with UKZN’S jazz programme in 2001. He then spent four years under the guidance of Darius Brubeck – an American jazz musician and educator.

In 2004, Naidoo was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Artisten in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he took lessons with jazz musicians Anders Perrson and Peter Burman.

With 22 years on the music scene, Naidoo said he took a liking to all kinds of improvised music, especially jazz.

“The more time I spend investigating this art form, the more I realise how little I know. It becomes exciting, almost edgy, when you realise that the music is bigger than you are. So every performance becomes a walk into the unknown. It’s quite scary.”

Naidoo, 41, the head of high school music at St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls, said he wrote works that ranged from funky to wildly explorative.

He said he had worked with many incredible musicians including Sonny Pillay and Hugh Masekela, and performed locally and internationally.

“In 2005, I won the Samro Piano Competition and received funding for further international study. I performed at the Rendezvous de L’erdre Festival in Nantes, France; the International Association for Jazz Educators Conference in Los Angeles; the Nefertiti Jazz Club in Sweden, and festivals in Mozambique, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Morocco. Locally, I played at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Oppikoppi, Splashy Fen, Woodstock and the Emerentia Festival, to name a few.”

Naidoo is currently working on a concert in collaboration with UKZN’s Centre for Creative Arts and the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music.

The show will feature his new music titled Sometime Before. It is also in collaboration with published and performing poet Mhlanzi, who will recite her work. She wrote, read and performed poetry at many national and international festivals and events.

“Sometime Before is new music that I initially composed during the first hard lockdown. The uncertainty and the mysterious nature of Covid-19 had my heart longing for a life sometime before the pandemic.

“I started thinking about family, friends, travelling, basically all the things we took for granted. I put these emotions into song, and the concept was born. The music is simple. It’s groovy, nostalgic, and hopefully, moving. I am joined by a dream team of musicians: Trevor Donjeany on bass, Riley Giandhari on drums and Martin Sigamoney on saxophone.”

Having been a student at the UKZN’s Centre for Jazz before becoming an established musician, Naidoo said: “I am honestly grateful to be performing on Thursday. The Centre for Jazz has been the backbone of the Durban music scene for a number of years. They have nurtured some of the best talents on the South African scene.

“I have not performed publicly, let alone my original music, for almost two years. A huge thank you to all at UKZN’s Centre for Creative Arts, to Thuli Zama and Neil Gonsalves for the opportunity, and to Marlyn from iSupport for the wonderful marketing. It's good to feel like a musician again.”

◆ The concert will take place at Alliance Francaise in Durban on January 27. The doors open at 6pm and tickets are available on Webtickets at R60.

ENTERTAINMENT

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2022-01-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://thepostza.pressreader.com/article/281934546332369

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