Johannesburg - Celebrated South African guitarist Billy Monama is set to join luminaries such as Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, Judith Sephuma, and Titi Luzipho for this year’s leg of the Mayibuye iAfrika Concert as part of Heritage Month celebrations.
This one-night-only music experience will take place at Joburg’s Market Theatre stage on September 9, 2023.
The concert will take place as part of Mayibuye iAfrika: The Freedom Songs, where Monama is set to present a musical journey and conversation between two generations of ancestral artists, with the final leg of the concert culminating in a reminder of what makes South African music resonate deeply with Africans and the rest of the world.
According to Monama, the concert will also feature scholarly discussions, allowing celebratory participants’ “re-visioning of heritage music for modern ears”.
In two parts, the event will pay homage to a first exile generation of indomitable composers and a second exile generation of musicians.
Monama added that the first part will comprise choral freedom songs from the earliest compositions recorded by ANC exiles in what was called Tanganyika, now Tanzania, with a fresh arrangement made up of works by Vuyisile Mini, Zinakele Nkaba, and Wilson Khayingo.
Under the direction of Monama and led by The Grazroots Project Orkestra, the second segment will pay tribute to the anti-apartheid stalwarts and towering figures in the local and international music landscape: Letta Mbulu, Miriam Makeba, Jonas Gwangwa, and Hugh Masekela.
The musical spectacular will also feature contemporary artists who specialise in different South African music genres and across a range of historical time frames.
The pieces will showcase legendary drummer, saxophonist, composer, and activist Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse, award-winning afro-funk, jazz and gospel singer Judith Sephuma, and a household name in the afro-jazz and soul genres, Titi Luzipo, as well as a surprise guest artist.
It is set to be a musical feast for music scholars, aspiring and current musicians, as well as Maskandi, Kwela, Mbaqanga, and African jazz connoisseurs and fans alike.
“This is a journey created to heal through song and reawaken consciousness as we revisit South African classics that celebrate past South African composers and musicians,” adds Monama.
“Mayibuye iAfrika: The Freedom Songs will be remembered as vital to documenting and disseminating South Africa’s generational music knowledge and a source of musical inspiration,” Monama said.
The Star