Whether or not by his recordings, reside in live performance or on the Tiny Desk, South African pianist and Zulu healer Nduduzo Makhathini has the flexibility to transfix an viewers along with his deeply meditative and interesting music. His work is lush with ancestral invocation, meditations on Blackness and religious exploration.
Right here, Makhathini presents a cross-section of his works that he has dubbed for the Tiny Desk because the Ntu Sonicities Devotion Suite in 5 Actions. His notes on the suite shared with the Tiny Desk workforce illuminate a considerate intentionality that may be a hallmark of Makhathini’s work.
Motion One: “Kuzodlula” is a meditation on stillness, an inward invitation in direction of vacancy and the flexibility to depart behind the denseness of life.
Motion Two: “Omnyama” is an invocation of “Blackness” by the incarnations of assorted African deities and divinities.
Motion Three: “Equidistant Passage” is a brief reflection on Black aesthetics by three methods: ritual, an ongoing rehearsal and research.
Motion 4: “Izinkonjana” is a tune of grace and transcendence. It launches into an area of “zero gravity” like birds fly effortlessly by the clouds.
Motion 5: “Imvunge” is a protest, a tune of victory, it celebrates conquest.
The efficiency from Makhathini, bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere and drummer Kabelo Mokhatla creates an immersive soundscape, interwoven with sung/spoken reflections in Zulu, sound design parts activated by a laptop computer and use of a vocoder. All of those parts invite the viewers to take part on this act of devotion.
SET LIST
Ntu Sonicities Devotion Suite in 5 Actions
- Motion One: “Kuzodlula”
- Motion Two: “Omnyama”
- Motion Three: “Equidistant Passage”
- Motion 4: “Izinkonjana”
- Motion 5: “Imvunge”
MUSICIANS
- Nduduzo Makhathini: piano, vocals
- Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere: bass
- Kabelo Mokhatla: drums
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Mitra I. Arthur
- Director: Kara Body
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Video Editor: Maia Stern
- Videographers: Kara Body, Joshua Bryant, Zayrha Rodriguez
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Audio Combine: Maggie Luthar
- Manufacturing Assistant: Dora Levite
- Sequence Editor: Lars Gotrich
- Photographer: Alanté Serene
- Government Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Sequence Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
