Kesivan Dev Naidoo (born 25 June 1979) is a South African drummer, who plays predominantly

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

Musical studies

1979 – 1995

Born in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

, Kesivan was the first child in a family of two children. His parents, Dev and Vinodrie Naidoo, worked as a building constructor and Assistant Accountant/Human Resources Administrator respectively and sent Kesivan to St. Ann's Primary School at the age of 5. He later graduated from Hudson Park High School in 1996. His mother played the piano until her matric year. Kesivan first got into drumming in 1990, at the age of 11. While waiting to be let into his aunt's house, he heard his aunt's boyfriend (Reese Timothy) playing drums over the music. What he heard excited him, and this convinced him to become a drummer. Three years later, in 1993, Kesivan played his onstage debut at the Hogsback Arts Festival in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

. From age 16 and while still in High School he joined ''Eldon Swing and Jazz Band'' in East London, playing mainly Swing. In 1994 Kesivan was approached by Alan Webster, who invited him to join his Quintet. Shortly after he began to play for Hudson Park Jazz Band, as well as the Hudson Concert Band which later did a tour of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

.Absolute Cape Town 2006 When he was 15 Kesivan took some lessons with world-class drumming and jazz musician Lulu Gontsana at the Grahamstown Arts Festival. These lessons would continue for two years. In 1995, 1999 and 2000 Kesivan was chosen for the National Youth Big Band, with whom he later toured New York.

1996 – present

In 1996 Kesivan joined the Hotep Galeta Trio. Galeta, who had a big influence on Kesivan's musical style, convinced him to study at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

in 1997. Four years later he graduated with a Bachelor of Music, and with a First Class Honors in 2002. At the beginning of the millennium Kesivan became the youngest person to win the

Southern African Music Rights Organisation The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), is a copyright asset management society. It was established by the South African Copyright Act, and aims to protect the intellectual property of music creators by licensing music users, col ...

SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition. Given this opportunity to study abroad, he chose to study under Sitar guru, Professor Sanjay Bandophadyah in India. He later completed his master's degree in

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

and percussion. Since 2006, Kesivan collaborates with Swiss Drummer Lucas Niggli, and is a member of BEAT BAG BOHEMIA, a drum quartet with Rolando Lamussene, Peter Conradin Zumthor and Lucas Niggli. They performed over 30 concerts, in Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Mocambique and South Africa, played at Festivals such as Kraków, Cape Town and Zürich. Their debut album was released on INTAKT records.

Musical style

Kesivan has played a wide variety of genres over the years, and has played with many greats such as

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba ( , ; 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, ja ...

, Selelo Selota,

Feya Faku Fezile "Feya" Faku (6 June 1962 – 23 June 2025) was a South African trumpeter and flugelhornist. Recognized for his contributions to jazz, Faku built a significant international presence, collaborating with prominent musicians and participatin ...

Bheki Mseleku Bhekumuzi Hyacinth Mseleku, generally known as Bheki Mseleku (3 March 1955 – 9 September 2008), was a jazz musician from South Africa. He was a pianist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer and arranger who was entirely self-taught. John Fordham"B ...

, Jimmi Dlulu and Marcus Wyatt. He is current playing with Tribe, Babu, Restless Natives and Closet Snare, all of whom have been met with acclaim.

Tribe

Playing with Charles Lazar (bass), Mark Fransman (piano) and Buddy Wells (sax), Kesivan and Tribe have become known for their "instantly South African flavored, hard-edged, straight-ahead jazz sounds." In July 2002 they were invited to play in the original North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, and where the first unrecorded and unsigned band to play at the festival. They later recorded one CD – ''Our Language.''.

Closet Snare

Closet Snare is a 6 piece group with Mark Buchanan (Guitar/Samples), DJ Sibot (Machines/Decks), Lee Thomson (Trumpet), Sean Ou Tim (Bass) and Inka Kendzia – VJ Grrrl (Visuals). They perform what Tim describes as "free and improvised electronica music",GQ Magazine 2007 which draws a diverse crowd of indie, drum 'n bass, jazz, electronica, classical and punk lovers.Mayne, Jane 2007 They played at the North Sea Jazz Festival at Cape Town in 2007 and are due to release a CD.

Musical influences

Kesivan has been influenced by a wide variety and musicians and bands. Of the more contemporary artists, he cites Feya Faku, Hotep Galeta, Bheki Mseleku, Charles Lazar,

Jojo Mayer Sergé "Jojo" Mayer (born 18 January 1963) is a Swiss drummer born in Zürich and currently residing in New York City. Mayer is the son of touring musician and bass player Vali Mayer and the brother of actress Delia Mayer. He began his career a ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

and all the members of Tribe, Closet Snare and Babu. Other influences included drummers such as

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such albums as ''My Fa ...

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 ...

, Tony Williams and the drummers who have played for

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. Other musicians who have influenced his compositions include

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

and

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

Contemporary ventures

In 2006 Kesivan started a company with Thomson, and called it "Silent Revolution Productions". They are the new owners of the Armchair Theater in Observatory in Cape town, which has been an established music venue since 1999. Silent Revolution Productions hope to make more people aware of Art Music in South Africa through this venue.

Notes

References

* van Dyk, Gary (29 April 2006) "Build-up to a hot season" ''The Good Weekend'' * Keylock, Miles (20 July 2007) "Keeping nothing in the closet" ''Mail & Guardian'' * Milton, Even (18 July 2007) "Sounds straight out of a Closet" ''Cape Argus'', p. 7. * Mayne, Jane (20 July 2007) "Jazz heads who don't swing to the riff raff" ''Cape Times'' * Stent, Sebastian (29 April 2006) "Time for the real stars to stand up" ''The Good Weekend'', p. 3. * "Intense stage energy" (2 February 2005) ''The Daily Dispatch'' * "Priority – The Score" (June/July 2006) ''Absolute Cape Town'', p. 85. * "The Art of Improvisation" (May 2007) ''GQ Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Naidoo, Kesivan 1979 births Living people South African drummers 21st-century drummers