Bokani dyer is a Motswana-born, acclaimed pianist that has actually succeeded the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship and also opened the Greater london Jazz music Event. He is likewise the leader of a trio with bassist Romy Brauteseth as well as drummer Sphelelo Mazibuko.
Dyer’s music is actually a rich mix of influences and ideas. It merges components of a wide array of styles without ever before ending up being contemporary or turbulent.
His Life
Bokani Dyer is an award-winning pianist as well as author who merges conventional African rhythms along with jazz music. His compositions are characterized through ornate blendings and also emotional melodies which have actually spellbinded target markets worldwide. He has actually conducted along with international greats like Shabaka Hutchings as well as Jason Moran and regional stalwarts such as Feya Faku, Shane Cooper, Sisonke Xonti and Pal Wells. Bokani dyer
Birthed in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Dyer matured listening to the similarity Pat Metheny, Khadja Nin and also Oliver Mtukudzi, whose popular music was actually played in his loved ones home. As he expanded older, he participated in the revolutionary multi-disciplinary arts aggregate Medu in Botswana where he played and made films, organized performances, positioned fine art events and administered creative workshops.
Following Medu, Dyer transferred to Johannesburg where he made an undergraduate’s degree in music coming from the College of Peninsula Community. During his time at the tertiary institution, he formed sustaining connections with a range of performers that are now collaborators with him in one type or even one more featuring bassist Shane Cooper and singer Sakhile Moleshe.
After finishing his studies, he introduced his first self-released cd in 2010, observed by Emancipate The Story in 2011. In 2015, he tape-recorded Planet Popular music with a quintet featuring best South African performers featuring tone saxophonist Feya Faku, pianist/composer Jonathan Jephta, drummer Friend Wells and also bassist Shane Cooper. His triad album Neo Indigenous was actually released in 2019 and also received a SAMA nomination for absolute best jazz cd. He additionally launched Kelenosi, an entirely single cd made under astronomical disorders in 2020.
His Music
The Motswana-South Black pianist as well as composer Bokani dyer is actually a power to be actually assumed with in jazz. Technically trained past his years, he is likewise creative and also innovative in a wide array of jazz music genres. His songs reasons a wide variety of effects and is rooted in tradition while taking advantage of modern ideas and also opportunities.
The heralded multi-hyphenate’s most up-to-date release is actually a comprehensive cd named Planet Popular music, his first for the distinguished Gilles Peterson imprint on Brownswood Records. The file observes up sophomore standout Emancipate the Story, as well as constructs on it, combining a collection of wide impacts to make an anti-genre record with a specific identification of its personal.
Along with the cd, he combines professional celebrities like drummer Hassan Khan and saxophonists Linda Sikhakhane, John Swanson and Robin Fassie-Kock, in addition to much younger blood streams like trumpeter Sthembiso Bhengu and bassist Tendai Shoko. The end result is actually a hypnotic fusion of thought and feelings and moving machinery.
In 2014, he was actually chosen for a Pro Helvetia financed performer residency in Switzerland where he satisfied entertainers Donat Fisch, Stephan Kurmann and also Norbert Pfammatter that joined him to develop the Bokani Dyer Swiss Quintet. The ensemble went on to participate in at the position of the Greater london Jazz music Festivity and also explored South Africa with loaded shows in Master William’s City, Johannesburg as well as Maputo.
His Albums
For Bokani Dyer, a pianist as well as composer, the music goes to the center of his world. He makes jazz popular music with factors of electronic, R&B, Afro-Latin and classic. His style is at as soon as ingenious and classy, as affirmative as it pries.
He has actually discharged five albums – his debut, Mirrors, in 2010, adhered to by Emancipate the Story in 2013, Oscillations in 2014 and 2015’s Planet Popular music (which was actually chosen for greatest jazz music album at the South African Popular Music Honors), and a triad audio, Neo Indigenous, which won the honor in 2019.
The new report, Broadcast Sechaba, was issued on electronic, CD as well as 12″ vinyl styles on the 12th of May 2023 through Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings label. The cd pays attention to nation-building and also oneness– concepts that join his heart, given his origins in a Botswanan neighborhood in exile coming from racism.
The 14-track offering attributes metaphysical meditative moments, improving lively grooves and also an ingenious mix of music designs– stirring tricks as well as vocals, jazz-funk and also Afrobeat collision, punchy horns and additional. Besides his personal playing, he recruited an all-star hue for the treatments, including trumpeter Sthembiso Bhengu, saxophonists Linda Sikhakhane and Steve Dyer, guitarists Alder du Toit and also Keenan Ahrends, bassist Tendai Shoko and drummer Tinotenda Dambaneunga. Pair of innovation single people from the album – Resonance of Honest Truth with its West African groove as well as appeal to follow your truth, and also Proceed along with its own contact us to chill out as well as breathe– prepared the tone for this exceptional document.
His Tours
Bokani Dyer is just one of South Africa’s most reputable jazz music pianists, and he on a regular basis travels around the globe. Atrioventricular bundle features a host of international and SA entertainers, including bassist Shane Cooper, saxophonist Sisonke Xonti and also vocalist Sakhile Moleshe. Having invested his very early years in Botswana, where he complied with a lot of his present partners, it’s no shock that his music draws ideas coming from a rich as well as unique culture.
After finishing coming from UCT, he participated in forces with drummer Sphelelo Mazibuko to create a triad which debuted at the 2016 SA National Arts Festival. The band also travelled Switzerland in 2015, playing loaded series in Basel, Zurich, Bern and Wintethur.
In the same year, he was chosen to carry out at the distinguished Jazzahead display in Bremen and also took place to generate saxophonist Sisonke’s debut album, Iyonde. He is actually likewise the producer of a frequent slot at The Orbit Jazz Music Club in Johannesburg, the Jazzafrika Tradition Procedure, which commemorates the job of established and surfacing SA jazz composers.
The band is an awesome force to become considered on phase and also the exchange in between them is actually exceptional. It’s to Bokani’s credit that he can team up the get-up therefore well, however additionally provide room for personal members to shine, as holds true when he opens his collection with the ballad Vuvuzela or even on the challenging bop tune Key Notes.