Africa-Press – Eswatini. JAZZ Gallery Director, Nelisa Lawton is excited to be hosting the second edition of Yonela Mnana and Siphiwe Shiburi’s concept, ‘Jazz in the dark’ this month.
Lawton said they would also be joined by local bassist Mangaliso Kunene. She said the event would offer complimentary blindfolds for those who will attend the show scheduled for October 27 at Mountain View International Hotel.
Mnana, one of the acts on the night, stated the ‘Jazz In the dark’ was a concept they started with Shiburi, who has worked with him since 2009.
In the 14-years of working together, Mnana said had become good friends and played with many other people in different formats and setups. He narrated that after attending a couple of shows, they came up with the idea of playing without seeing each other and have had a couple of performances in South Africa and one in the country.
imagination
“The idea was ignited by the fact that we do not see each other. Also for Shiburi, it helps him not to be affected or distracted so that he could reach the place that I am at from the point of sound and imagination. So that was how we came up with jazz in the dark,” explained Mnana.
He stated that the concept was an unusual but a beautiful thing as it gave a creative room to be expressive in many ways.
He added that it sought to break the stereotype of what dark is.
“Darkness for me symbolises peace of fear. Where there is darkness, one gets to meditate, to intercede and pray, so I suppose the absence of light is able to bring a person to their very core.
‘Jazz in the dark’ symbolises darkness as a spiritual and peaceful position than a fearful and harmful one,” explained the artist.
He said he was excited to be coming back to perform in the country with Kunene. He further said they would have two sets for the night and in the spirit of ‘Jazz In The Dark’, there would be performances by three visually impaired gentlemen who are an alumni of St. Joseph’s School organised by Lawton.
“It has been a great experience to do ‘jazz in the dark’ in Eswatini in 2019.
We were able to play origins of my compositions and I remember there were vocalists; iYA and Bancomiwe. I like the idea of Pan-Africanism as I believe we must see ourselves as one and the more we collaborate, the more we find ourselves being one in song,” said the artist.
He further shared that the piano and the drum were part of the raising section in the jazz genre and normally the outstanding part was the bass’.
“So you need to have bass, the drums and the piano to have a classic jazz crew. We felt when we do the duo concept it would be nice to have a collaboration with someone from Eswatini and Mangaliso Kunene has been the guy who always stepped up to that. Mangaliso is very keen to explore with us in that way and we are happy,” he said.
Mnana said he had been in the country several times.
His first visit was in 2015 for the MTN Bush Fire Festival. his next visit was with an Argentinian friend based in the country.
solidify
“During my visit then I met Nelisa and her husband. The next visit was when I was on a tour with Mlangeni’s band and some Swiss artists and had a project recorded dubbed ‘When the wind blows’ in 2018.
I then came back to solidify our relationship with Nelisa and hosted the first ‘jazz in the dark’.
“We played at Bahle Gallery and my visits to Eswatini have always been nice. I think it is because Eswatini is much calmer than SA,” said the pianist.
Meanwhile, international drummer and artist Siphiwe Joseph Shiburi said he was mostly excited to collaborate with Eswatini creative.
“I am super excited for this edition and we looking forward to many more,” he said. He stated that after working so many years with Yonela, they would be bringing over 10 year’s worth of music creation to Emaswati.
“That amounts to a lot of fire. We just want them to feel calm and trust that it will be a lot of energy in the room,” said the artist. He added his last visit and performance in the country had been exquisite as he had a lot of fun.
“The hospitality was fabulous as back then it was a full house and we really enjoy preaching to masses.
I don’t know the experience we are going to get because it is definitely different all the time. So we also do not decide the experience, but from our side we put in 100 per cent and if the audience brings 100 per cent too, then we are safe to fly and we will have a soundless landing,” said Shiburi.
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