Durban: Tropical skies and enthusiastic crowds await South African pianist Sibusiso Mashiloane when he performs at the Sauti Za Busara Festival in Zanzibar this month.
The award-winning musician is the only South African artist to be booked at the festival.
“I’m getting a good reception in Africa, which is something I like the most,” said the artist.
Mashiloane and his band made an impression on the organisers of the music festival when they submitted music from the album Closer to Home.
“They listened and they loved the music and invited me. I remember when I said I wanted to bring a trio, this mash trio, they said no, they wanted me to come with my full band,” said the composer.
For their first performance at the festival, the pianist and his bandmates Dalisu Ndlazi, Riley Giandhari, Thabo Sikhakhane and Nolwazi Ydestral, have scored the prime slot and will have an hour-long set on the main stage, giving the group time to play tracks off Amanz’ Olwandle, Rotha, Closer to Home and Amanzi Nemifula - Umkhuleko.
“The guys are excited. It’s not about me. I’m always for the bigger picture and we are about the music, and the biggest picture now is South Africa; our communities that were for a long time suppressed,” said Mashiloane.
The UKZN lecturer will also sit on a panel at the festival for the music business. In it he hopes to impart practical knowledge about the industry to fellow performers.
He is no stranger to international recognition and has been nominated for the Urban Music Awards in the category Artist of the Year Africa in London on Valentine’s Day.
The independent artist’s international success can be credited to the inherent wanderlust that his love for music has encouraged, and travelling to perform across the globe became possible after the release of his first album, Amanz’ Olwandle.
“I’ve been travelling around the country, in the continent and outside the continent and playing the album Amanz’ Olwandle,” said Mashiloane.
In his latest album, Amanzi Nemifula - Umkhuleko, which is a revisit of Amanz’ Olwandle, the title of each song is named after a river to emphasise the notion of power, journeying and strength, and simultaneously reflects the artist’s recent travelling experiences, which he pleasantly recalls.
Despite his international fame, his “South African community experiences” continue to strongly tug at his heartstrings.
His sound draws from different backgrounds including Sepedi and Ndebele music, and it is a fusion of the variety of cultures and subcultures that he has been a part of not within just South Africa, but Africa as a whole.
While on the main stage in Zanzibar, the pianist hopes to let the rest of Africa know about his local experiences through his art form.
“Being there I will be thinking and reflecting on what makes South African music and sharing it with the guys from different continents.
‘I will be sharing who I am, sharing my communities, amaZulu, sharing all of these things,” said the musician.
His goals for 2020 are to do two public performances and work on a tribute to South African music heroes, many whom he believes are unrecognised and unappreciated.
The composer will appear at the 17th edition of the event alongside his band in Stone Town, Zanzibar, from February 13-16.