From GinaJeanz to Card on Spokes and Indigo Reign, Stefanie Jason and Charles Leonard interviewed four musicians, who have given M&G readers a free download of their craft.
Despite racial and gender divides that persist in South Africa and its music industry, a number of young musicians are creating genre-defying sounds that add to a historically diverse culture of music.
The question is where is the most interesting and progressive music being made in the country at the moment? Some would say Jo’burg, others Cape Town, or maybe Pretoria.
And others Mafikeng or Durban, not to discount some university towns. For many, the answer is bedrooms and home studios. Charles Leonard and Stefanie Jason spoke to four local composers.
GINAJEANZ (24)
Gina Mwoombola, aka GinaJeanz, recalls being introduced by a cousin to the Fruity Loops music producing suite in grade nine and how it changed her perspective on creating music. Since then, the Windhoek-born and raised Gina, who comes from a musical family and played violin as a child, has gone on to produce music for herself and others, released an EP titled Initium and recently travelled to the United States to create work and meet fellow producers.
Having moved to Cape Town to study graphic design, Gina, who is currently a master’s student, also has a successful modelling career, which she balances with crafting alternative R&B sounds.
CARD ON SPOKES (30)
It’s not very often that celebrated electronica producers juggle playing blends of progressive hip-hop, chillwave and house music with award-winning jazz careers. But for bassist-composer Shane Cooper, who also goes by his producer moniker Card on Spokes, that’s exactly what he does. (See lead photo)
For Cooper, the 2013 Standard Bank Young Artist for jazz, who has been playing bass since adolescence, his role as a producer has slowly been creeping to the fore of the electronica scene, to match (if it has not already) his high ranking in the South African jazz community. In May this year, Card on Spokes’s EP Sunwalker was released, which incorporated his badass bass playing on tracks like Comet, showing the Port Elizabeth-born, Cape Town-based musician’s skills behind the decks and on the instrument he has been acclaimed for. Card on Spokes plays Oppikoppi this weekend.
INDIGO REIGN (20)
The rock singer/songwriter and lead guitarist says his name is a combination of meanings: his blues-tinged music “reigning” in people’s lives and the colour indigo representing intuition and insight. Playing a handmade guitar, made specially for him by Johan Meiring in Pretoria, with a Genz Benz amp, the musician leads his band comprising a drummer, rhythm guitarist and bass guitarist. To date, he has released a demo CD, Taste for Apathy, which is available on sale at his gigs – his next one is at Amuse Café in Linden, Jo’burg, on Friday August 21.
HEALER ORAN (25)
Andrei van Wyk, aka Healer Oran, plays within soundscapes of electronic noise – or “Afro-noise”, as he calls it. With the assistance of a guitar, whose sound is altered by effects pedals, the Johannesburg-based musician also uses his voice with electronics such as an MPD (Music Player Daemon) and keyboards to get his desired experimental sound.
With three releases out at the moment (all available for digital download), Healer Oran’s most recent collection of music is a mini-album titled Love is My Only Shield. His debut EP Jerk was released earlier this year, and his first single The Recognitions was released ahead of his debut show at Invisible Cities last year.
For the interviews with the musicians see Mail & Guardian
Stefanie Jason is a senior content producer for the Mail & Guardian Friday.
Twitter: @StefJason Twitter: @JCharlesLeonard
PHOTO CREDITS: David Harrison, Delwyn Verasamy
