Whaling the sounds of the ancestors

through a western instrument: a brief

If only his father knew that playing him those jazz, soul and funk records would
shape Andile’s ear; if only his brother knew that sharing the piano sit with his
brother when he was getting his piano lessons would contribute a great ordeal
in the South African jazz culture. “CULTURE” is going to be a word I refer to in
most of this essay.
On August 10th, 1968, Matshawandile Yenana was born in King William’s
Town KuZwelitsha township, Eastern Cape and that is where most of his
musical upbringing memories began, from joining the local choir where him
and his brother played all sorts of melodica (Soprano, Alto melodica etc.), to
his first piano lesson (which were intended for his older brother, but the
universe will always appoint the “called”.). And their early experiences of
transcribing by ear were from listening to music from the radio and trying to
figure out what’s happing with the songs.
After completing his education degree, he went on to study his BMus at the
University of Natal under Darius Brubeck where he developed a friendship
with Zim Ngqawana, Feya Faku, Steve Dyer and more from the Durban gigging
scene. Based on these experiences I was fortunate that we were engaged in a
Q&A where he claimed on high regards that most of the people he has played
with/ for are his influences as he has learnt a lot from Zim from their 11-year
gig moving in and out of the country hitting big stages.
But with all said, what is this unique texture from his sounds that sends you in
a trance when you hear the piano vamp on ‘Qula Kwedini’?
He says that in his varsity days even though he was doing gigs with the greats,
they could hear that something was missing and that they could hear that his
solos were fumbled in a way, but they appreciated the fact that he was trying
to come up with new and original ideas as he claims to have never checked out
any jazz patterns or transcribed any jazz piano solo. He never forsook his place
of birth, culture and society as the biggest influence in his playing hence he
was on his personal path to seek a sound that would depict that.
Even though he has never checked out any piano transcriptions, he claims to
have loved the sounds of Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell etc.
Your get to hear some of those influences from his tune ‘Pedal Point’ which
Sibusiso Dlamini had done a transcription of the ‘A ‘section.

Pedal Point
• Key signature: Eb minor mode
• Time signature: 4/4
• Instrumentation: Piano, acoustic double bass, drums, saxophone &
trumpet
• Musical style: Modal swing
• Form: ABAB
• Year of publication: 2005
• Chord progression
(Quick disclaimer, I have not done the analysis by myself but have used an
analysis based on the work by Sibusiso PhD Dlamini)
Mood: Yenana introduces the song with an Eb pedal point solo piano which
lasts for four bars (or sixteen crotchets) and then the rest of the ensemble
steps in with a rhythmic, percussive beat with the horn section and the piano
emphasizing and harmonizing the melodic lines – this lasts throughout the A
section. On the B section the song modulates into a swinging phase where the
piano plays the melody in a percussive and McCoy Tyner modal style without
the horn section and then ultimately ends the section with the Eb minor pedal
point like the A section. The A and B section repeat once more and then the
tune moves to an improvisation section which is initiated with a thoughtful,
spacious and sparse piano solo which plays throughout the entire form of the
composition avoiding improvisational clichés. Yenana’s solo is followed by
Jimmy Mngwandi’s brief acoustic double bass solo which leads the song back
to the head or melody of the song. The song ends on a gradually fading pedal
point which is accompanied by collective yet different improvisational phrases
by the horn section.
And we also find that church and gospel music have found a way in the
inspiration of his playing from his solo piano piece ‘The Finale’ also transcribed
by Sibusiso Dlamini.

The first 8 bars of ‘The Finale’

The Finale
• Key signature: F major
 • Time signature: 4/4 – A section & Freely – B section
• Instrumentation: Solo piano
• Musical style: Ballad
• Form: AAB
• Year of publication: 2002

Mood: Yenana opens the song with an anticipated melody on the last quarter
note of the previous pick-up bar and he generally uses the voice-leading piano
method and poly-chords in his harmonic approach. The song is meditative with
a very calming warm texture and timbre in the opening section. The dynamics
of the composition employs crescendo effectively on the B section when
playing a descending whole tone harmonic sequence of pivot chords that
finally modulate to the parent key which is F major, but the coda ultimately
concludes the piece on C major. This composition essentially (successfully so)
marries diatonic and atonal principles which ultimately enhance the aesthetics
of the broader musical canvas.

But culture would always stand out in his unique style of playing. In a
conversation I had with Mlungisi Gegana and Dumza Maswana the had some
things in common to say, like Dumza says Andile dances on the piano and as
someone observing from a distance you may find it hard containing yourself
from dance to that percussiveness but still subtle movements over the piano,
and Dumza refers to Yenana’s playing as ‘Umxhentso’ (a traditional Xhosa
form of dance that requires a lot of outlining polyrhythmic movements using
different parts of your body).
Whilst Gegana has had Yenana produce his first album and gig with him
through the course of the years, he says that Yenana also dances when he
plays on the piano and his comping rhythms and harmonic improvisations
resemble ‘Intlombe’ (a gathering of Xhosa traditional healers) and I went on to
reference the Amampondo dance style called ‘Imfene’ in which the dancer’s
foot moves in a sort of an inverted swing rhythm.
Sakhile Simani has also had some beautiful words to say about Bra Yenana, as
he was the first trumpet for the ‘Azania Dreaming Big Band’ (Andile’s latest
project with the big band); Sakhile outlines the hardbop or postbop influence
on Yenana basing deep in his compositional style, and the choice of harmonic
structures are not any contrafactions that we have heard before in the jazz
idiom. Andile once told Sakhile that the reason why he does not have any
marabi or mbhaqanga composition is because he is obsessed with the
narrative of sounding his ancestors. He went on to comment on the fact that
Andile is opening more to the idea of appealing more to the nature of Xhosa
Sounds in his music as a movement that Zim Ngqawana was preaching.
We hear ‘Tembisa, The People’ which is a tune that he along with Sydney
Mnisi have composed for his debut album ‘We Used to Dance’ shaking
grounds on an international level when it was sampled by US hip hop producer
Joey Bad@$$ on a song titled ‘Legendary’ which also features US rapper J
Cole. (https://youtu.be/7AQOOiaeFcbc).
In his latest work, Yenana includes a concept of singing and rearranging
iiNgoma Zolwaluko (songs of initiation) and we find him singing more on this
album and it relates to the better nature of one who wishes to find solace in
the South African Jazz diaspora.
The last thing id want to comment on about his playing is that he has discipline
to observe and allow other musicians to take stands and gaps, with his solos
being simple and soulful when he sometimes wants to and burst out into
beautiful melodic lines when he wants to which are intrinsic to the soul of the
listener.
Matshawandile is currently residing in Port Shepstone where he runs a music
institution and continues this preaching about the observation of Xhosa
traditional music through and is merging along the sounds of KZN in this
project of his. He is also in the process of producing Dumza Maswana’s
upcoming album which is also about the presentation of African Song through
the Xhosa language.

Compiling this priceless information has been a fruitful and patience test
experience; and I would do it all over again without any hesitation. It has made
me aware of some aspects that make me see myself in some practices by Bra
Andile and have been very much interested in the sound that he is presenting
to the people which therefore makes me one who would love to indulge
deeper the making of this sound with deep resonance to our cultural group.
In conclusion I want to say “Ah Mdange kaKhawute, inene Amatshawandile
ngawe ntoyesizwe sika Palo!”

References
Ansell, G. (2008). Retrieved from music.org.za: www.music.org.za

Dlamini, S. P. (2019). Post-Apartheid Jazz Pianism: A Biographical Profile of Matshawandile Yenana.

Sepuru, P. (2019). Eploring elements of musical style in South African jazz pianists. Petoria: Faculty of
Humanities, University of Pretoria.