South African Jazz luminary Khumalo coming to town
OVER the last years, Kampala has established itself as one of the leading destinations for the world’s finest musicians. Now, one of the leading lights of South African music and one of the finest Jazz musicians today, Sibongile Khumalo, is set to perform in Kampala next week.
By Joseph Ssemutooke
OVER the last years, Kampala has established itself as one of the leading destinations for the world’s finest musicians. Now, one of the leading lights of South African music and one of the finest Jazz musicians today, Sibongile Khumalo, is set to perform in Kampala next week.
Together with her band, Khumalo will stage a single VIP show at the Sheraton Hotel on April 28. Tickets will cost sh120,000.
The show is part of Khumalo’s East African tour. Her other performance will be in Dar-es-Salaam.
Flair Magazine, Vision Group’s monthly publication for the Ugandan corporate woman, is the concert’s headline sponsor.
“The show is scheduled to be a theatre style/cocktail event of about 400 revellers,†says Susan Nsibirwa, Vision Group’s head of marketing.
“Khumalo has over the last two decades established herself as an extraordinary South African jazz singer, rising all the way to be regarded as South Africa’s first lady of song. She is the direct successor of the likes of Miria Makeba, the late Brenda Fassie and Yvonne Chaka Chaka,†Nsibirwa adds.
One of the most telling reviews of her in the UK’s Guardian newspaper says she could have been the star of any major European or American operatic stage if she had not felt so strongly about living and making a career in South Africa.
Another review of her in a South African magazine sums up her ability; “Sibongile’s voice is, quite simply, one of the greatest natural instruments on display anywhere in the world. Visceral in its presence and sheer size, splendid in its timbral richness, expressive in every nuance of register and emotion, a voice immediately recognisable and always unique.â€
So far, she has released six jazz albums: Ancient Evenings (1996), Sibongile Khumalo Live at the Market Theatre (1998), Immortal Secrets (2000), Quest (2002) and Kibongile Khumalo (2006). All the albums sold volumes and garnered her performances across the world, earning her innumerable awards.
In 1993, Khumalo won the Standard Bank Young Artiste Award at the Grahamstown Festival in South Africa. In 1994, she became the first person to sing the title role of Princess Magogo in the first African opera, Princess Magogo ka Dinuzulu.
In 2008, she was awarded the National Order of Ikhamanga - Silver. She has also received several honorary awards from universities across the world, among them two doctorates from Rhodes University and another from the University of South Africa.
Khumalo was born in Soweto on September 24, 1957. From a young age, she was guided by her father, a professor of music, into her current vocation. She studied the violin, singing, drama and dance at school. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Zululand and another BA degree from the University of Witwatersrand.
OVER the last years, Kampala has established itself as one of the leading destinations for the world’s finest musicians. Now, one of the leading lights of South African music and one of the finest Jazz musicians today, Sibongile Khumalo, is set to perform in Kampala next week.
Together with her band, Khumalo will stage a single VIP show at the Sheraton Hotel on April 28. Tickets will cost sh120,000.
The show is part of Khumalo’s East African tour. Her other performance will be in Dar-es-Salaam.
Flair Magazine, Vision Group’s monthly publication for the Ugandan corporate woman, is the concert’s headline sponsor.
“The show is scheduled to be a theatre style/cocktail event of about 400 revellers,†says Susan Nsibirwa, Vision Group’s head of marketing.
“Khumalo has over the last two decades established herself as an extraordinary South African jazz singer, rising all the way to be regarded as South Africa’s first lady of song. She is the direct successor of the likes of Miria Makeba, the late Brenda Fassie and Yvonne Chaka Chaka,†Nsibirwa adds.
One of the most telling reviews of her in the UK’s Guardian newspaper says she could have been the star of any major European or American operatic stage if she had not felt so strongly about living and making a career in South Africa.
Another review of her in a South African magazine sums up her ability; “Sibongile’s voice is, quite simply, one of the greatest natural instruments on display anywhere in the world. Visceral in its presence and sheer size, splendid in its timbral richness, expressive in every nuance of register and emotion, a voice immediately recognisable and always unique.â€
So far, she has released six jazz albums: Ancient Evenings (1996), Sibongile Khumalo Live at the Market Theatre (1998), Immortal Secrets (2000), Quest (2002) and Kibongile Khumalo (2006). All the albums sold volumes and garnered her performances across the world, earning her innumerable awards.
In 1993, Khumalo won the Standard Bank Young Artiste Award at the Grahamstown Festival in South Africa. In 1994, she became the first person to sing the title role of Princess Magogo in the first African opera, Princess Magogo ka Dinuzulu.
In 2008, she was awarded the National Order of Ikhamanga - Silver. She has also received several honorary awards from universities across the world, among them two doctorates from Rhodes University and another from the University of South Africa.
Khumalo was born in Soweto on September 24, 1957. From a young age, she was guided by her father, a professor of music, into her current vocation. She studied the violin, singing, drama and dance at school. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Zululand and another BA degree from the University of Witwatersrand.