Gideon "Mgibe" Nxumalo [] (15 June 1929 in Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley, Cape Province – 24 December 1970) was a South African jazz pianist and marimba player, acclaimed also as a composer and arranger.Jazz fantasies from South Africa
(Goethe-Institut) Nxumalo has been hailed as "perhaps one of South Africa's greatest unsung musical and cultural heroes."

Life

Nxumalo graduated from university with training in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

, playing the clarinet, viola, guitar, and drums. He specialized in swing, helping to pioneer this new direction in music. Both his mother and father played the piano, his father taught him how to play SABC Radio jingles as a young boy. He received formal training in classical music at the University of Roma in Lesotho.De Waal, S. "Revisiting Jazz Fantasia". Mail and Guardian, 2005. Accessed: 20 October 2018
/ref> Under the name "Mgibe", as he was known by admirers, Nxumalo was, from the early 1950s, host to a radio programme ''This is Bantu Jazz'' for the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

(SABC). Nxumalo secured the job at SABC as the presenter of the show was looking for a young intern that was able to write and type.Ansell, G (Pg. 88). "Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa". Bloomsbury. Accessed: 20 October 2018
/ref> Rising up the ranks to become an announcer on This is Bantu Jazz, Nxumalo popularised local indigenous music on the radio, most notably Mbaqanga.
/ref> Nxumalo was also key to the orchestration of the legendary productions ‘King Kong’ and later ‘Sponono’. In the wake of the Sharpeville massacre, his declared political commitment was to lose him his position at the SABC. At Dorkay House in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, Nxumalo taught piano and music theory. He was also active as a writer, inter alia for the stage, as visual artist and as actor. In 1958-59 he was a member of the

Philip Tabane Philip Tabane (25 March 1934 – 18 May 2018) was a South African musician, vocalist, jazz guitarist and band leader. He was born in rural Ga Ramotshegoa northeast of Pretoria into a family of guitarists. His mother was a spiritual healer. ...

Quartet; also appearing with

Dorothy Masuka Dorothy Masuka (3 September 1935 – 23 February 2019) was a Zimbabwe-born South African jazz singer. Music career Masuka's music was popular in South Africa throughout the 1950s, but when her songs became more serious, the government began que ...

and the

Manhattan Brothers The Manhattan Brothers was a popular South African singing group in the 1940s and 1950s, during the Apartheid era. Their sound drew on American ragtime, jive, swing, doo-wop, and several other jazz strains, as well as African choral and Zulu harmo ...

. Producing two jazz records, Nxumalo's compositions brought together diverse musical styles including swing, Big Band and elements of indigenous African song and rhythm. Nxumalo also composed a String Quartet, works for Chamber Orchestra, musicals, jingles and musical themes. He arranged African songs for the musical ''Sponono'' (script by

Alan Paton Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels '' Cry, the Beloved Country'' (1948), '' Too Late the Phalarope'' (1953), and the short story ''The Wa ...

and

Krishna Shah Krishna Shah (10 May 1938 – 13 October 2013) was an Indian-American/Gujarati people, Gujarati film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, and Filmmaking#Production, production/Film distribution, distribution executive. Shah ...

), produced at the

Cort Theatre The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 48th Street (Manhattan), West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in 1964.Cort Theatre production of Sponono, 1964
/ref> Sponono was the first South African production to play on Broadway. A jazz score composed by Gideon Nxumalo with

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

featured in the film ''Dilemma'' which was shot secretly by

Henning Carlsen Henning Carlsen (4 June 1927 – 30 May 2014) was a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer most noted for his documentaries and his contributions to the style of cinéma vérité. Carlsen's 1966 social-realistic drama ''Hunger'' (''Su ...

in 1962 in South Africa under

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. Nxumalo's celebrated ''Jazz Fantasia'', in an arrangement by Denzil Weale for symphony orchestra and big band, and commissioned by Music is a great investment - MIAGI, was performed in 2009 by the MIAGI Youth Orchestra in concerts in South Africa and on tour in Germany.

Jazz Fantasia

Along with Chris McGregor, Gideon Nxumalo helped pioneer the pre-exile South African jazz sound. His 1962 album ‘Jazz Fantasia’ is widely regarded as a seminal South African jazz record. In 1963 he followed this album up with ‘Jazz: the African Sound’. The album fused indigenous African instruments into its sound, such as the Chopi timbila (today known as the marimba). This gave way to a new and elaborate post-bepop jazz sound. The record featured legendary jazz altoists Kippie Moeketsi and Dudu Pukwana. Moeketsi was a colossal South African jazz figure during this time, and ‘Jazz Fantasia’ signalled Moeketsi's last commercial success before his struggles with alcohol and depression took their toll. The album was recorded at the Great Hall at Wits University in September 1962. It was commissioned by the university as part of an arts festival. With a limited pressing at the time, the album has become a revered foundation of modern South African jazz music, even though it is a rare album to find. Archivist Rob Allingham found an original at Gallo Music, and re-released a limited edition in 1991. The album is only a half-hour long work split into three acts. The acts are prefaced by the tracks Isinto, Chopi Chopsticks and Split Soul respectively.

Works

* ''Jazz Fantasia'' with Martin Mgjima,

Kippie Moeketsi Jeremiah "Kippie" Morolong Moeketsi (27 July 1925 – 27 April 1983) was a South African jazz musician, notable as an alto saxophonist. He is sometimes referred to as "the father of South African jazz" and as "South Africa's Charlie Parker".Jürg ...

Dudu Pukwana Mthutuzeli Dudu Pukwana (18 July 1938 – 30 June 1990) was a South African saxophonist and composer. Early years in South Africa Dudu Pukwana was born in Walmer, Port Elizabeth, Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He grew up studyin ...

Makaya Ntshoko Makaya Ntshoko (29 September 1939 – 27 August 2024) was a South African drummer. Biography Makaya Ntshoko was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on 29 October 1939. He grew up in Langa, South Africa, Langa. He played with Dollar Brand's trio i ...

(1962) * ''Gideon Plays'' with

Mackay Davashe Makwenkwe "Mackay" Davashe (1920–1972) was a South African musician. He achieved success as a saxophonist and composer with the Manhattan Brothers and later the Jazz Epistles. Biography Davashe was born in 1920 in the South African city of E ...

, Denny Nene, Gordon Mjandu, Maurice NTO Mgudlwa (1968)

References

*Gwen Ansell, ''Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa''. Continuum, 2005,

External links

Biographical portraitentry in the South African Audio Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nxumalo, Gideon 1929 births 1970 deaths South African jazz pianists Marimbists South African composers South African male composers People from Kimberley, Northern Cape 20th-century pianists 20th-century South African composers 20th-century South African male musicians

Life

Jazz Fantasia

Works

See also

References

External links