Joy of Jazz Festival: Mandisi Dyantyis looking forward to introducing new audiences to his music
He told Eyewitness News that he’s excited whenever he plays at the Joy of Jazz Festival and wants to give the best performances.
Jazz musician Mandisi Dyantyis. Picture: Supplied.
JOHANNESBURG - A firm believer in writing what comes to him and using music to tell stories, jazz musician, Mandisi Dyantyis, was introduced to music at a young age and has since carried his sound.
Dyantyis will be performing at the Joy of Jazz Festival alongside Feya Faku, Keiko Matsui, and Sibongile Mngoma just to name a few artists.
"I'm looking forward to being introduced, to introducing new audiences to my music, to celebrate with my old audiences where we've come and to just celebrate the joy and the beauty that is South Africa, the joy and the beauty that it is to still be creating and making music in South Africa, so it's going to be a beautiful and creative performance."
He told Eyewitness News that he’s excited whenever he plays at the festival and wants to give the best performances.
"Joy of Jazz is one of, I always say, two of the most important jazz festivals that we have in South Africa because without it, we would not have been introduced to the international musicians that we've been introduced to over the years - a great calibre of music, but also it puts South African music on those stages, and in a way, makes the world realise that we are part of the international community as musicians."
The jazz musician said that when they (musicians) created music, they did not think about genres, instead they were constantly thinking of the truth and how to tell their stories.
"As long as there are experiences, and people are experiencing things, people are experiencing love, loss, happiness, despair and all of these things, there'll always be music, because when people are trying to find the meaning of how they feel, one of the ways that, especially artists, do is to do that through music," said Dyantyis.
Born in Port Elizabeth, the musician was introduced to music when he was very young. Growing up in a family of sisters and cousins who were involved in music, he naturally followed that path.
"The reception that the audiences have had on my music is my highlight, and will always be my highlight. All I want to do is to nurture our young minds and young people who are very talented, to know that there's a space for them. They should believe that they should create and share with their community, communities, their immediate communities, and then because that's the most important thing."
Dyantyis is an artist, composer and producer, known for merging African indigenous music with jazz and classical inflections.
In 2018, he released his first album Somandla, following it up with his second album, Cwaka, in December 2021.
"I don't have a creative process. I just write what comes to me. You know, what is important to me is what comes to me, what I hear, what I feel life, I guess, is my creative process. But I don't have a process about this performance, the Joy of Jazz."