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After more than 50 years in music, Louis Mhlanga has learned as much from people as he has from music. Born in South Africa and raised in Zimbabwe, Mhlanga’s musical journey has taken him across Africa, working alongside icons like Hugh Masekela, Ray Phiri, Busi Mhlongo and Miriam Makeba. His music transcends continental constraints as he has also collaborated with Al Jarreau (USA), Julian Sartorius (Switzerland) and Eric van der Western (Netherlands).
On Saturday 22 August, Mhlanga joins Jozi Gold Brewing Company’s intimate jazz series for an evening of live music. The session will showcase the musical education obtained through collaboration, where he’s picked up new rhythms, ideas and traditions.
Travelling across the world has broadened Mhlanga’s perspective, giving him a deeper sense of how music can reflect a place and its people. He says he’s still learning and doesn’t see that changing anytime soon.
“It’s been a learning process and it never stops,” he says.
His respect for that ongoing learning is evidenced by how he talks about the musicians who came before him. For Mhlanga, those collaborations were about far more than performing side by side. He took lessons from more than just their music, picking up the importance of humility and respect from the way they lived and worked.
Along the way, he grew more interested in the traditions behind Southern African music. The mbira and kora, as well as the rhythms and melodies handed down through generations, continue to hold a place in his musical world. For him, keeping those traditions alive isn’t about looking backwards but giving younger musicians something to build on.
Mhlanga has also watched Southern African music evolve over the course of his career. He sees music as reflective of what is happening in society, with the realities people live with, the politics they navigate and the changes in their communities all finding their way into the music.
For him, the best songs take something from everyday life and return it in a form that listeners can see themselves in. The city is still full of musicians pushing that energy forward. He’s encouraged by the younger musicians who are emerging, particularly the different styles and sounds they’re bringing to the scene. For Mhlanga, that experimentation is simply part of how South African music keeps evolving.
ALSO READ: Groove fatigue: Why Gen Z is reclaiming Johannesburg’s live jazz scene
This weekend’s performance will introduce some of his new material. The set will feature songs from Living for the Living, his latest double album which brings jazz and soul together with traditional African sounds and reflections from his own life. The musicians featured on the album will also join him on stage at Jozi Gold.
The venue’s smaller, more intimate setting should play to Mhlanga’s strengths as a performer. While he arrives with a set prepared, he leaves room for things to unfold naturally. He promises to keep an eye on the room as he plays, picking up on the audience’s energy and letting it steer the set.
“I can make changes as I go along, as I feel the vibration of the people who are enjoying what I’m doing,” he says.
It’s the kind of connection you only get when the audience and musician are in the same room. The crowd’s response becomes part of the music, shaping the performance as it unfolds. For anyone discovering Mhlanga’s music for the first time on Saturday, there’ll be something to take home after the show. He will have copies of Living for the Living available too for listeners who still enjoy owning an album they can return to.
Decades into his career, Mhlanga is still listening, collaborating and drawing on the traditions that shaped him, turning what he sees around him into music. On Saturday night, Jozi Gold will get to hear where all those influences have led.
Details on his performance
- Saturday, 22 August, 8pm
- Location: Jozi Gold Brewing Company, 81 De Korte St, Braamfontein
- Cost: R350 via Quicket
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