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"Music is a multitask"  
31.07.2008

“Classical theory and jazz theory are totally different things,” says Dhlamini, whose understanding of music first took root at the famous Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School. These days the place is known for producing top musicians such as Zwai Bala of TKZee fame instead of the Afrikaans crooners of old.

Dhlamini, like Bala and his younger brother Loyiso, initially received vocal training. He started playing his first instrument, the piano, after he was told he would not crack it in the vocal arena.

To show that he could succeed, and to keep motivated, Dhlamini switched to piano in grade 11. At that stage he was attending the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. He has taught himself to play more than 10 instruments since then.

“I am on 13 instruments,” he says. “I try to learn a new instrument every month.”

Dhlamini was born in the Soweto township of Zola, the place first brought into the nation’s consciousness by kwaito heroes Mandoza and Zola (who named himself after the place). He now lives in the East Rand township of Katlehong.

His mother, Teddy Nkutha, was part of an all-female group called Mthunzi Girls and at one stage sang with the famous Mahotella Queens. His uncle, John Mothopeng, is a pianist.

At the age of 21 Dhlamini has managed to release an album that can be described only as accomplished and mature for his age. In the process he also featured some old hands such as Zulu, Victor Masondo, Dave Klaasen, Andile Yenana and Carlo Mombelli.

“I am the only unknown on my album,” Dhlamini says.

The album is an eclectic fusion of jazz styles. Dhlamini composed and arranged the songs and plays various instruments throughout.

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27-year-old gives jazz a modern twistBONGIWE SITHOLE
21.02.2014

Mpumi Dhlamini, an all rounder talented multi-instrumentalist has an interesting trick up his sleeve as he introduces a new experience for jazz lovers to his second album titled 'The Cultural Express' soon to hit the shelves of music stores.

Very different to a studio created album, Dhlamini takes you on his musical journey with a concept of listening to a radio show from inside a train featuring Azania Mosaka as the radio host.

“It’s a full-on radio station produced album. I came up with a concept where I used Azania in studio as a host of The Cultural Express to give it a radio show feel from inside a train,” he says.

The 27 year old chats about urban jazz fused with hip-hop, bebop up-tempo and neo soul.

“My new album is a way of me defining the different genres of the album.

With this not being his first album, he says whilst compiling the tracks and being hands on the second time around, had helped discover who he is in music.

“It’s very different to my first album 'Combined Elements' because on this one I found myself and the kind of music I want.

“I am trying to commercialize jazz, to reach a young market. Often people think Jazz is for the oldies but music has no age, it can be made to fit all markets,” Dhlamini says.

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"Old Soul Gives Jazz Fresh Sound - GWEN ANSELL"  
01.09.2008

JAZZMAN Mpumi Dhlamini worries about the music scene. "I'm tired of people saying, we're getting there. That complacency is the main reason we'll never get there! And I'm tired of the way we keep comparing ourselves to Americans."

Harsh judgments such as this are to be expected from bruised and wrinkled veterans of the scene — but this player is only 21. It's just one of the ways the multi-instru­mentalist subverts expectations. With his diffident, slightly goofy, stage manner and fresh-faced good looks, it would be easy to pigeonhole Dhlamini as another young pawn of the commercial music business.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Dhlamini's first album, Combined Elements (Sony/BMG), has been out for only a few months. Any on-stage shyness is clearly the result of the novelty, and it won't last long.

During our interview, he's almost frighteningly focused and articulate, especially when dis­cussing what he describes as his "obsession": not playing, but producing and arranging. "The first thing I research when I buy an album is who the producer is."

Dhlamini's musical jour­ney resembles what he describes as "a tree with endless branches. I heard Khaya Mahlangu at Kippies. His influ­ences were (Winston) Mankunku and (John) Coltrane, so I explored them. 'Trane led to McCoy Tyner, McCoy led to Herbie Hancock, and so it goes on."

That exploratory approach also shaped his album — in this case, as arranger seeking to expand the tonal palette for his compositions.

"I was looking for a different kind of trumpet sound to Miles, and that led me to Arturo Sandoval, and so into the Cuban feel that several of my tracks have. I was listening to too many sad ballads, and I needed that upbeat, happy feel."

Mahlangu and pianists Andile Yenana and Themba Mkhize are among the mentors Dhlamini credits. Yenana ("my big brother") and the late Moses Molelekwa get tribute tracks on the album, and he also admires the pianism of Mark Fransman and the arrange­ments of guitarist Jimmy Dludlu.

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