As the audience settles in their seats at the Rosies stage of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, the MC says, "Please give a warm round of applause to TRC".
You don’t have to be South African to feel the weight of the abbreviation signalling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. What has this postapartheid attempt to reconcile SA have to do with a jazz festival? TRC band leader Mandla Mlangeni has an interesting answer.
The trumpeter founded Tune Recreation Committee (TRC) with a conscious and somewhat humorous wink to history. "The name of the band is based on my experience of living through the TRC, which was traumatic in many ways," he says.
His grandmother testified at the commission how her son Bhekisizwe died when he opened a parcel with a tape player that turned out to be a bomb. Mlangeni was four years old when it happened and the assassination has become a guiding line in his path as a musician. "Establishing the Tune Recreation Committee was an answer to that, creating a way to express what I feel musically," he says.
On Saturday night he stepped on the stage accompanied by six musicians, all young, gifted and black. Their music was soft, hugging the souls of audience members instead of hitting the ears in an attempt to impress.
At one key point, pianist Yonela Mnana plays a solo while the others stand still and listen; guitarist Keenan Ahrends merges in; Nicholas Williams goes in next with the bass, joined by Claude Cozens on the drums, and percussionist Matchume Zango. Mlangeni steps into this musical conference call last, blowing his trumpet while vocalist Zoe Modiga sings along. The members of this committee demonstrate the art of listening to each other and speaking together harmoniously through different voices.
"We bring different stories together, our personal truths. As like-minded musicians, we re-negotiate the musical landscape and develop our own sound," says Mlangeni. "We are eclectic; we borrow from everyone and assimilate sound harmonic interventions, swing and groove. Music is our canvas into which we bring many colours to say what we want to say.
"We want to talk about us being proactive, being our own imagined saviours. We can make our voices count and be heard. Through organisation and collectivisation, we can make our vision a reality".
The band launched its first album at the festival, with a title track Voices of Our Vision. It is celebrative, spiritual, diverse, harmonious and positive, even in its sad moments. The so-called born-free generation is building on SA’s history, while heading forward.
To seal the poetic closure with the past, Mlangeni recruited law firm Cheadle Thompson and Haysom to support the production of the album — his father worked there as a human rights lawyer at the time of his death. Together with his band members, he grew up in the small jazz club Tagore’s in Observatory in Cape Town — the home of free jazz. It closed its doors in 2016.
"The festival is generating the income to keep going for the 18th time. Those are the mechanisms that sustain such an endeavour," Mlangeni says.
"I applaud the organisers for making it possible and to be open enough to allow a younger pool of musicians to partake in that glorious ring."
We want to talk about us being proactive, being our own imagined saviours. We can make our voices count and be heard. Through organisation and collectivisation, we can make our vision a reality
Mlangeni admits that he misses Tagore’s, but is optimistic about the future. "Tagore’s played a very big part in my development as a performer. It was a labour of love, one of the many dues I had to pay to get where I still need to be.
"There has always been a cycle of venues in SA. When one door closes, a window opens. We must adjust to the economic reality," he says.
"[Fewer] people are going to concerts. It is the age of
streaming online.
"We need to find pockets of opportunities, in collaboration with other stakeholders."
He has moved back to Johannesburg, where he focuses most of his production work.
"Joburg is the financial capital of SA — there are corporates, jingle writing and a nightlife economy. It’s always about moving ahead. My next step would be to tour internationally and to work more closely with my African counterparts. That’s a narrative that is very much neglected and often told from a European gaze. I look towards more musical and social connections between us as Africans, finding ways to share our stories."
In one of the most memorable moments of their festival performance, TRC sang iAfrica Mayibuye, with audience members joining in enthusiastically.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.