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Eastern Cape bassist, composer and teacher Mlungisi Gegana has taken a decade to put out his third album My Time, My Space. Photo: Eddie Adams

Mlungisi Gegana: A page-turner of a career

The bassist and composer reflects on 40 years in music and his newly released album

Rich legacy: Trombonist, composer and cultural activist Jonas Gwangwa embodied the people’s struggle. Photo: Veli Nhlapo/Sowetan/Gallo Images

Let’s find our peace before we rest: Sibongile Khumalo, Oliver Mtukudzi, Hugh Masekela and Jonas Gwangwa

I have come to realise that death is the ultimate rest. It is the “peace” part where the problems start

African trumpet player, singer and songwriter Hugh Masekela performs at North Sea Jazz festival, The Hague, Netherlands, 10th July 1994. (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns)

Abadala, Baholo: A Tribute to The Elders

Tseliso Monaheng writes a paean to the jazz and African music torchbearers who have moved on to other worlds – Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo, Jonas Gwangw

Lockdown luck: Jazz musician Malcolm Jiyane was recording a new record at Sumo Sound when three-year-old Umdali was unearthed. (Andy Mkosi)

Malcolm Jiyane: A tale of two albums

The jazz musician’s album comes with a backstory as good as the music itself

Bheki Mseleku: An activist on his own terms

Steve Dyer reflects on jazz musician Bheki Mseleku’s contribution to the canon

Some albums Jonas Gwangwa either participated in or led through the years

Brass, class, steel and sorrow: Jonas Gwangwa cut close to the bone

The trombonist’s music-making was inextricably tied up with South Africa’s struggle for freedom

‘Amandla’ review: Blood, tears and music of the struggle

‘Amandla’s’ status as a cultural rallying point during apartheid is captured in this Sounds review, republished in Chimurenga’s book ‘Festac 77’

‘It was with much shock and absolute disbelief when one day back in 2000 while driving in Johannesburg, I heard Jonas Gwangwa using a SiNdebele phrase on his album A Temporary Inconvenience (Epic/Sony Records 2000).’

How Jonas Gwangwa used his music to preserve his mother tongue

Music giant Dr Jonas Gwangwa, who passed away on 23 January, used his influence to promote the language of his people MaNdebele ase Nyakatho, writes Lucas Ledwaba

Jonas Gwangwa often turns to the piano to drive a point home in South African Blues

Exile, exhilaration and Jonas Gwangwa’s case of the ‘South African Blues’

The 1990 documentary ‘South African Blues’ offers insight into the effects of exile on Jonas Gwangwa’s psyche

The Portfolio: Siphiwe Mhlambi on Jonas Gwanga, ‘a proper human being’

Siphiwe Mhlambi spent several years photographing his friend Jonas Gwangwa as he performed. Mhlambi spoke to the Mail & Guardian about their relationship

Jonas Gwangwa performs at the Joy of Jazz.

Jonas Gwangwa embodied South Africa’s struggle for a national culture

Gwangwa’s love for the struggle was genuine and deep, never cosmetic – and he couldn’t have written an unattractive tune if he tried

Violet Gwangwa: Natural class, nurturing brass

A builder of networks and a tactical freedom fighter, Violet Molebatsi Gwangwa nurtured not only the liberation movement, but also the creative spirit within her family

Dancing while we weep: A statue of former Democratic Republic of the Congo president Laurent-Désiré Kabila on the 18th anniversary of his assassination — January 16 2019 — in Kinshasa.

Parsing Kabila through rumba

‘Chimurenga Chronic: Who Killed Kabila II’ sees memories of the past battle the future

Hugh Masekela: I’m the kind of person who goes on with life. I was one of the smallest benders of the era.
Video

No more pain: Lala ngoxolo Bra Hugh Masekela

A raconteur par excellence and larger than life figure, Masekela takes to his grave a part of each and everyone of us.

And thus do I salute him

The poet fought injustice wherever he found it and became a key figure in the ANC-in-exile’s arts and culture department

Let the music speak

Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya meets legendary South African jazz drummer Makhaya Ntshoko and his quintet.