In association with Concerts SA, legendary jazz drummer Bernice Boikanyo will be touring Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa, while collaborating with local A-list musicians and imparting workshops.
Better known as ‘The Groove Master’ in music circles, Boikanyo will start his musical tour on the 2nd November, when he will be jetting off to Tanzania for rehearsals with his local band, to perform and do workshops at Karibu Music Festival.
The Afro Groove Master Tour 2017 will continue when he comes back home to perform at The Orbit. An all-female band will back him at The Orbit.: Siya Makuzeni (trombone), Tessa Lily (guitar), Lindi Ngonelo (piano) and Tebogo Sedumedi (bass).
The last leg of the tour will see him go to Zambia with workshops scheduled for 1st Dec and an exciting collaboration with top recording musicians Zambian singer/songwriters Mumba Yachi and James Sakala at Tecla Lodge on the 2nd Dec 2017.
Boikanyo’s complex sound as a drummer has established him as a very strong jazz influence in the South African music industry and he is best known for his accompaniment to many great musicians. His reach has been both local and international as he has shared stages with the likes of Stimela, Vusi Khumalo, Gito Baloyi, McCoy Mrubata and Papa Wemba, amongst many others. Boikanyo has also been fortunate enough to grace stages at festivals like the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.
A living testament that hard work and perseverance pays off, ‘The Groove Master’ has become a successful artist who has blended his own rhythms and given meaning and shape to melodies that are illustrated in his self-funded debut album My Soul. Lately, Boikanyo has been working with an array of artists including Caiphus Semenya and Letta Mbulu, Jimmy Dludlu, Pops Mohamed and Roy Hargrove.
Boikanyo refuses to be seen as just a drummer sitting behind the band. His journey has been an inspiration to many young Gauteng (South Africa) artists who look to him on a weekly basis, for either drum lessons or music advice when he is not touring. With his musical background steeped in jazz, Boikanyo still does not believe in the singular definition of his sound, but instead insists that soul and isicathamiya are also part of the mix.
Coordinated by BakTu Musik, Bernice Boikanyo’s Afro Groove Master Tour 2017 is supported by Concerts SA through the Music Mobility Fund, a funding mechanism which offers opportunities for South African musicians to undertake live music tours.
What a name!
@Naomi, yaa, yours.