Post-apartheid jazz pianism: a biographic profile of Matshawandile Yenana
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Date
2019
Authors
Dlamini, Sibusiso
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Abstract
Jazz studies in South Africa is a growing field. Its main areas of focus have included
outlining the history of South African jazz stylistically and politically. The field is rich in its
theoretical nuances, following and adding to the ‘new jazz studies’ that gained prominence in
the early 1990s in the United States of America. South African jazz studies does not have a
similar body of literature and academic work that could form a common foundation for future
critique and theorisation. This is the case particularly for musicians’ biographies or, as I call
it here, biographic profile. Our musicians’ biographic details remain diffuse and scattered
across various media. This contributes to their marginalization, particularly for the purposes
of teaching in undergraduate courses and for emerging researchers. This thesis aims to
contribute to the need for consolidated profiles of South Africa’s jazz musicians by sketching
such a profile of the pianist Matshawandile ‘Andile’ Yenana. It highlights glimpses of the
South African jazz genre through Yenana, exploring his artistic capacity and multifaceted
specialities which include music production, lecturing, mentorship, talent scouting, filmscoring,
ensemble performance and solo album recording. Lastly, the research includes an
appendix that displays a chronologically quantitative discographic database which lists the
finer detail of his role in contributing intellectual property to South African jazz pianism
through recorded material. Rather than aim to completeness of a life that is still being lived
and that is still creating, the thesis aims to contribute one layer to the foundation, to
encourage and speed up future research, analysis and critique.
Description
Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Wits
School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities,
University of the Witwatersrand
2019
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Citation
Dlamini, Sibusiso (2019) Post-apartheid jazz pianism :a biographic profile of Matshawandile Yenana, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/28386>