Experience

SAMRO

• South Africa
• Musicians
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Music Archive Specialist

  • Oct 2020 - Present



Mnandi Blue Jazz Band

• Lead Singer

  • 2008 - Present

  Mnandi Blue is a South African band that plays popular Western jazz and African jazz standards, as well as their own brand of music, based on South African sounds. We can sing the blues, play funk as good as it should be, but we are at heart Jazz fanatics. The band plays a wide spectrum of popular standards and the most popular African Songs. Their own compositions are up-tempo songs influenced by South African music. Formed in 2006, Mnandi Blue is fronted by singer Nandie Mnyani who studied jazz at University of Cape Town, and has moved up to the Johannesburg music scene. Nandie has a BMus (Hons) in peformance, I specialize in jazz and African music, and have performed with the resident band at Mannenburgs Jazz Cafe, at the Green Dolphin, and at the Cape Town Jazzathon, and in many other engagements in South Africa. I have also done voiceover work on radio, had minor roles in the SABC1 mini-series Society and After 9, and appeared in a number of commercials and stage plays. Other jobs I have taken include an assistant trainee music compiler for UCT Radio, a judge on the SABC Radio Voice of Choice talent search 2004 and a production assistant on the Shoprite Checkers/SABC 2 Woman of the Year 2005, among others. Worked at the Centre for Indigenous Instrumental Music & Dance Africa as the Ensemble Instructor for projects the organization conducts throughout the SADC Countries.



SAMRO Foundation

• Johannesburg Area, South Africa

• Archive Project Officer

  • Aug 2018 - Oct 2020

  Mandate of the IAM (Indigenous African Music) archiving project is to collate, promote and preserve Indigenous African Music that is at risk of disappearing or being lost in the collective memory. The aim is to transcribe these IAM works into notated sheet music that will be housed at SAMRO Archives through an online portal that will be accessible to students, researchers and people interested in performing IAM works around the world. Mandate of the IAM (Indigenous African Music) archiving project is to collate, promote and preserve Indigenous African Music that is at risk of disappearing or being lost in the collective memory. The aim is to transcribe these IAM works into notated sheet music that will be housed at SAMRO Archives through an online portal that will be accessible to students, researchers and people interested in performing IAM works around the world.



Gauteng Department of Education

• Soweto

• Music Educator

  • Apr 2012 - Jul 2018

  Teaching music and facilitating Schools Classical African Drumming project to school children under the Magnet Music programme. The drumming project is aimed at helping learners form indigenous instrumental music groups. The groups are intended to perform at schools concerts, festivals, community events etc. Teaching music and facilitating Schools Classical African Drumming project to school children under the Magnet Music programme. The drumming project is aimed at helping learners form indigenous instrumental music groups. The groups are intended to perform at schools concerts, festivals, community events etc.



CIIMDA

• Ensemble Concert Instructor

  • Oct 2009 - Mar 2012

  The Centre for Indigenous Instrumental Music and Dance Practices of Africa, or CIIMDA for short, aims to promote and advance the learning of the philosophy, theory and human meaning of African instrumental music and dance practices in classroom music education in SADC countries. Such a critical knowledge base will enhance the human integrity and cultural pride of the average African person anywhere in the world. CIIMDA researches, promotes and advances Africa's indigenous cultural heritage in which the musical arts is a most important knowledge area. This project, that offers skill in indigenous musical arts knowledge and practice started in 2004 in partnership with Concert Norway, Rikskonsertene, and is funded by the Norwegian Foreign Office. There are currently six countries involved: Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zambia.