Queen Nandi: The African Suite (Mageba Music)
Ndabo Zulu
Released June 30, 2020
Stereogum 10 Best Jazz Albums Of 2020
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About:
While trumpeter Ndabo Zulu was studying at the Norwegian Academy of Music (from 2017 to 2019) and building on the idea that would become his opus, Queen Nandi The African Symphony, he followed a train of thought that led him on a quest that is gestured at, as opposed to concluded, by his album.
In writing and performing the material as part of two sextets, one Norwegian and the other South African, Zulu noticed distinct differences in approach, intensity and accuracy — differences that, once acknowledged, meant that he had to centre Nguni musical orchestration, thereby enabling it to have a deeper conversation with the idiom of jazz.
Zulu considered the influence of colonialism: how it promoted staff notation and the tonic sofa methods, thereby annulling and subsuming indigenous musical approaches.
“So, I wanted to start an ensemble that could potentially be an orchestra — with instruments like the piano, the trumpet, and the saxophone — which would include instruments from the Nguni culture,” says Zulu when we meet on a balmy Thursday afternoon in Pretoria, alluding to the fact that his mission is far from complete. “With every research [project] you have a timeline and with every timeline you have to bite as much as you can chew.”
The ensemble that recorded the opulent Queen Nandi, therefore, should be seen as the foundational steps of a project that ultimately seeks to wrestle jazz from its oft-touted association with Western classical music.
Recorded with a group that twins drummers (Ayanda Sikade and Sphelelo Mazibuko), pianists (Nduduzo Makhathini and Afrika Mkhize), horn players (Zulu and Linda Sikhakhane) and percussionists (Njabulo Shabalala and El Hadj Ngari Ndong), Queen Nandi is as celebratory as it is excavatory. In this ambitious project, co-produced by Derrick Hodge and Nduduzo Makhathini (who also directs the project), there are other, significant role players as well, including vocalist Zoë Modiga, bassist Shane Cooper and trombone player Siya Charles.
In the album, Zulu’s debut, he aims at a form of musical storytelling that incorporates Nguni ritualistic drumming within primarily jazz compositions, while simultaneously honouring oral storytelling.
“All of that 1-4-5 stuff came with the missionaries,” he says. “It’s a cadence that comes from the West. So the music we are playing now has to move with the times already. We were not gonna start from scratch. So the influences that I come with right now — they come from everywhere”. Through the employment of amahubo, praise singing and idioms (precisely, izaga), Mbuso Khoza imbues a historicity to the proceedings. “We need the vocal and the linguistic part of things for people to understand what we were trying to bring to the table,” says Zulu.
All these role players, guided by Zulu’s intricate compositions, create a dramatic atmosphere to the project, where each part propels the narrative premise.
“The musicians know how to complement the music,” says Zulu. “We all know our strengths and weaknesses because we treat the bandstand as a communal space. So when I write the music, I can immediately hear how each musician should be playing on which section of the album. I’m not gonna force it now because it is my album.”
Although Zulu plays on seven of the 13 tracks, the unity with which the album unfolds neither stifles nor foregrounds his role as band leader.
As to why he chose to tell the story of Queen Nandi, Zulu says, “I’ve never heard of someone, at least in the Nguni culture, who was called a queen because her son was called a king. And Shaka took a lot of advice from his mom, and she took her son and ran with him to exile, wahamba wayohlala naye ekudingisweni, and came back with him when he rose up
“And when Queen Nandi passed on, Shaka was so devastated. Some, if not all, of his strength came from his mother,” Zulu says. “For me, Queen Nandi is ukhokho wami [my ancestor] because nami ngowakwaZulu, so I thought what better way to commemorate her. Everybody knows about Shaka but not everyone can speak of his mom.”
Track Listing:
1. Nandi’s Suite (1st Mov) 17:09
2. Ucu olum’nyama (Introduction) 07:28
3. Isgekle (3rd mov) 10:29
4. Nandi’s Suite (Interlude I) 02:12
5. Abansundu Nabamhlophe 06:27
6. Wawuyaphi!! 00:16
7. Umgidi (4th Mov) 17:12
8. Nandi’s Suite (Interlude II) 01:48
9. Ngovivi 09:02
10. Ucu Olum’nyama (2nd Mov conclusion) 12:03
11. Nandi’s suite (Interlude III) 01:29
12. Abalimi (Finale) 11:13
13. Nandi (Ukukhothama) 04:15
Personnel:
Ndabo Zulu: trumpet
Linda Sikhakhane: saxophone
Ayanda Sikade: drums
Sphelelo Mazibuko: drums
Nduduzo Makhathini: piano/Rhodes
Afrika Mkhize: piano/Rhodes
Njabulo Shabalala: percussion
El Hadj Ngari Ndong: percussion
Zoë Modiga: vocals
Shane Cooper: bass
Siya Charles: trombone
Produced by Derrick Hodge and Nduduzo Makhathini
Review:
This is an extremely ambitious album from trumpeter Ndabo Zulu, created with help from pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, who also played on it. As its title indicates, it’s a tribute to Nandi, a Zulu queen and mother of the famous Shaka. Mbuso Khoza, a South African historian and performer who aims to reclaim African history through traditional performances, sings improvised, poetic praise songs throughout the nearly two-hour piece. The music combines conventional jazz orchestration — though there are two bassists, two drummers, and two percussionists on many tracks — with South African rhythm, in particular incorporating Zulu drumming on some tracks. It has moments of drama, passages of lush beauty, and explosive drum barrages. It’s a long ride, but one well worth taking.
Phil Freeman (Stereogum)
