U presents AZAH

ABOUT

U - THE SPACE is a multi-disciplinary Art venue that prides itself in supporting the Arts and Artists both locally and internationally. We excel in showcasing Artists that are doing great work in the Arts sector.

The deep rooted AZAH is coming to U on the 01 January 2023, R150 at the door and R130 presale tickets, from 5pm (band performance form 6pm) - late , venue Botaki ba Afrika.

U - THE SPACE Live Music Program is in collaborating with Concerts SA is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and SAMRO, administered by IKS Cultural Consulting , with digital partner, Music in Africa 

ABOUT AZAH;

Tinyiko Given Mphago also professionally known as Azah (meaning complete or satisfied) is a Pan Africanist expert

percussionist, vocalist, conservationist and sonic healer whose music uses trans-disciplinary creative practices of

ritual performance, clinical improvisation, pedagogy, activism, theatre movement and multimedia. Azah is a versatile and eclectic musician said to be one of South Africa's finest percussionists of our generation – and for a good reason. Born in South Africa's jazz capital, a township called Mamelodi (meaning mother of melodies) in Pretoria, the masterful singer/song writer formed a decidedly passionate bond with drums when he was eight years old, drumming for Sangoma (diviner) initiates who were in a trance state at

his family home which was always packed with patients who had come for spiritual consultation. He would later use these drumming modalities for healing and creation of distict ancestral sound.

Azah is a culminating side man to the legendary exponent of Malombo(ancestral spirit) music ensemble, Dr Philip Tabane – a moment he cites as his proudest. He is a scholar of African history and Indigenous knowledge systems, universal alternative alchemic practices and modes of communication around sound healing and social development. Azah pursued Musical Theatre studies at the Tshwane University of Technology and has travelled at home and abroad Performing in Europe, Asia, South America and other parts of Africa. He has shared his creative abilities with many creative alumnae within the African continent and world over such as, Omar Sosa,

Kuniyuki Takahashi, Akua Naru, Pops Muhammed, Dr Vusi Mahlasela, Lefifi TladI, Eric Paliani and many others.

His solo career sought the genius virtuosity of a Pan African ensemble of the continents finest musicians including the diaspora, from places such as Zimbabwe, Congo, Nigeria, America, Togo, Ghana. His music has gained a cult like following over the years preforming around the world. The music infuses the use of classical and indigenous instruments from various cultures with a meticulous envisaged outcome and objective. From his childhood Azah considered music to be a weapon and a voice, an extension to put across spiritual message and was very particular about the frequencies that comes with making music. The onto-epistemological and cosmological trajectory and

preservation of a such counter- imperialistic esthetic and narrative that is black consciousness

and afro-centric. His therapeutic and spiritually engaging sound permeate a mixture of genres such as Malombo, Spiritual Jazz, Avant-Garde, Highlife, Afro-beat, Dinaka and Epic Poetry.

Azah is a culminating side man to the legendary exponent of Malombo(ancestral spirit) music ensemble, Dr Philip Tabane – a moment he cites as his proudest. He is a scholar of African history and Indigenous knowledge systems, universal alternative alchemic practices and modes of communication around sound healing and social development. Azah pursued Musical Theatre studies at the Tshwane University of Technology and has travelled at home and abroad Performing in Europe, Asia, South America and other parts of Africa. He has shared his creative abilities with many creative alumnae within the African continent and world over such as, Omar Sosa,

Kuniyuki Takahashi, Akua Naru, Pops Muhammed, Dr Vusi Mahlasela, Lefifi TladI, Eric Paliani

and many others. Picture below: Azah and Saqlin, ritual perfomance and sufism lecture at Ambedkar University Delhi. Picture on the left: Azah speaking to Lahanti woman farmers about family preservation and land healing.

Amongst other things Azah has been involved in local and international collaborations, leadership

programmes, activations, environmental awareness campaigns, workshops, lectures at various universities, symposiums, social development projects, webinars, seminars, outreach programmes, writing and directing musicals for stage, writing music scores for film and documentary, child and youth care work, family preservation, mentorship for youth first time offenders in the restorative justice system. Although Azah has been in the music scene for a long time as a sideman on various bandstands and has appeared on many stages, his debut album Batswadi with hits like Marikana was released in 2017. In the recording of Batswadi, he involved musicians from across the continent and brought to the fore common histories, cultures, struggles and spiritual traditions, the album went on to receive the SATMA award for best African Jazz album. Azah has advanced his talents to some of the best-selling Afro pop/Jazz albums, more notably Thandiswa Mazwai’s Ibokwe and Simphiwe Dana’s Kulture Noir, Nono Nkoane's True Call, Indwe's self-titled album Indwe and several unreleased works with Lefifi Tladi. He also continues to be booked out for musical and theatre shows and major festivals across the country. Azah was headhunted as the Musical Director for one of the most important stories in the landscape of South Africa’s social narrative. Khwezi – Say My Name is a stage adaptation of the remarkable story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, a book by Redi Tlabi. He composed beautiful, soul-stirring music that chronicled her journey of loss, pain, rejection, victory and emancipation which set the spiritual backdrop to this critically acclaimed, moving play which previewed at the South African State Theatre to a packed audience. For this, he has been nominated for the 2019 Naledi Award for the Best Original Score. He has produced and directed a well-received play called Mma-Melodi: The Spirit of Malombo, a multi-disciplinary musical production celebrating Mamelodi’s rich cultural tapestry and socio-political heritage. The showcasing of the production for Mzansi Fela Festival was coincided with the renaming of the Rendezvous theatre to Malombo theatre. Azah participated in the creation of two wildlife, climate and environmental awareness productions wherein he composed sonic scores for an illustration/film and a documentary about saving the elephants from captivity and the Musina Makhado special zone project which

was a protest in solidarity to the community against a Chinese company which sought to destroy large forest and natural habitat of wild life and indigenous plants to create a nuclear power plant. He has composed music for Tsodio, a film by Rangoato Hlasane that takes a kwaito classic, Tsodio, as a song-being that narrates movements and biographies; conquests and namings; defeats and reclamations; returns and ancestries. Moreover, Azah also composed sonic scores for dance/movement pieces Ketima by Gregory Maqoma, which was performed before

many audiences across the world and won many international awards and during the Covid 19 lockdown he created a clinical improvised score for Mamela Nyamza's Pest Control, which premiered at the National Arts Festival as a virtual showcase. At the Moshito music conference, Azah headlined the event with a collaboration performance with the Chinese Guodong Music & Art orchestra conducted by Li fubin.

Azah has worked as a facilitator (workshops on different aspects of Indigenous Knowledge Systems) and as researcher (African diasporic studies, Cultural anthropology and Kemetic Science) at the Theosophical Society. He co-founded an art community organization in Pretoria called Capital Arts Revolution with local artists from all corners of South Africa, the continent and the world who are currently living and working in the capital city, Pretoria. The collective consists of musicians, photographers, graphic designers, set designers, film makers, poets and fine artists. The organization creates events that showcase art, outreach programmes in schools, com

munity workshops and also forge networks and collaborations amongst people of all color, race and gender. It was followed by Sechaba Sa Rantsho which creates outdoor programmes and camps which connect arts in nature and uses the environment as a reminder of identity and to hold space for exploring cultural issues. This inspired a collaboration with Mayibuye, an international organisation through Michigan University comprising of members of the diaspora (mainly from USA, Kenya, Ethiopia and SA). Their aim was to create a cultural exchange of vocational

studies. Azah has toured the kingdom of Eswatini with the assistance of Concert SA and collaborated with a local duo called Tendzaba Temdzalo and other creatives. He attended the annual sacred harvest festival of Incwala emersion and facilitated workshops with village children.Social development and spiritual.

Azah was invited by the Ambedkar University Delhi for a cultural exchange programme which was a collaboration

between Wits University School of the Arts and Ambedkar University. It was an initiative by the Center

for Developmental Practice (NCDHR) with Dr Mayer Taub and Dr Manola Gayatri. He conducted a series of

lectures with MPhil Developmental Practice researchers on the notion of ritual performance and healing

which was part of developing a module. The process looked at modes of communication via sonic texts, chants and movement as bridges for propelling catharsis. He performed and collaborated with a Sufi master musician and a master Odissi classical dance choreographer at the fireflies Ashram in Bangalore. He also performed with the Lehanti performance troupe and delivered talks and activations with the Delit community of the caste marginalized organization focusing on decolonial pedagogy. The tour provided opportunities to integrate Azah’s cultural activism with his musical therapy facilitation work with community outreach as a foundation.

Azah was a guest lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Drama department focusing on performance art and embodied work (body resonance and art as a ritual) and also at the Tshwane University of Technology focusing on African music. He was a youth educator and mentor for YMCA, SOS homes and has managed the adolescent development programme at the Tshwane Leadership Foundation. One of his biggest achievements there was being responsible for opening the School of Creative Arts, a reformative music school which dealt with skills development, self-awareness and identity through music and art. He has taught music and theatre therapy for a group of schools for the disabled in Europe (mainly in Sweden and Germany), using creative arts as a rehabilitation tool. Part of Azah’s philanthropy work is based on the philosophy of ‘Ithate’ (love thyself) where he visits elderly homes as a way of giving back an energy of love and appreciation to those who have raised communities and villages through musical performances and creative expression. He has conducted drumming circles, kemetic yoga and meditation workshops for children and families. His art philanthropy involvement in social campaigns such as the #midnighttraintobeira, a movement created to raise awareness and support for the victims of the cyclone and floods in Mozambique, is a true testament to an artist who truly embodies his philosophies and values.

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