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Trombonist, composer and arranger Siyasanga ‘Siya’ Charles is the Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Jazz.
US-based Siya Charles is performing at the National Arts Festival. Picture: Suplied
On a Thursday evening in April, some of the country’s foremost artists gathered in Bryanston, Johannesburg, as this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist Awards (SBYA) winners were announced.
Trombonist, composer and arranger Siyasanga ‘Siya’ Charles was named the SBYA for Jazz.
A prestigious award, considering that all six recipients from different disciplines — dance, jazz, theatre, visual art, poetry and music — receive national exposure, financial support for their work, and a cash prize.
However, there was some uncertainty when Charles’ name was announced as the recipient for jazz, because some in the room weren’t aware of her and her work.
However, those who know, knew who Charles is.
“There were some fellow members of the South African Jazz community who were also Standard Bank Artist alums, such as Sisonke Xonti, Thandi Ntuli and Dr Nduduzo Makhathini, who presented the award to me and who I’ve had the honour and pleasure of working with in the past,” Charles says to The Citizen.
“He [Makhatini] also produced my debut single, so there were a couple of people in the South African jazz fraternity who knew of me.”
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Siya Charles’ homecoming
With most of her career spent outside of South Africa, this is likely the reason why she is not widely known and celebrated in Mzansi. She has been a professional musician for over a decade.
Currently based in New York City, Charles enrolled for a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Trombone Performance at the University of Cape Town (UCT) which she finished in 2012 and then completed a Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree in Jazz Trombone Performance cum laude also at UCT the following year.
In 2022, she received the opportunity to study for her jazz master’s in music at The Juilliard School and graduated magna Cum Laude last year.
Charles has worked with many greats, including the late Hugh Masekela and Grammy Award-winning musicians Ulysses Owens Jr and Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers alum Geoffrey Keezer.
She spent a significant portion of her 20s travelling and forming connections worldwide, working with musicians in Europe and the US.
“I did receive a lot of welcoming [aboard]. I do believe in going where you are appreciated. I think that’s very important as an artist to be surrounded by a supportive community.
As much as I have experienced that in parts of Europe and New York, I am also excited to come back home and plant my roots in the South African jazz scene because it’s been a while since I’ve been away,” she shared.
Charles started attending the National Arts Festival in her teens.
“This year will be the 20-year mark of my time at the National Arts Festival and Youth Festival,” she said.
She has performed at the National Youth Jazz Festival, played in the Standard Bank Schools Big Band in 2006 and 2007, and has also been part of the national youth jazz band in 2010 and 2012.
This year’s National Arts Festival will be held from 26 June to 6 July in Makhanda.
Charles says it has sunk in that she’s a recipient of the award, describing the win as a ‘huge honour’, and says she didn’t expect the award since she’s a person who is comfortable being in the background.
“I didn’t think I’d be acknowledged in this manner, but I have to give a big thank you to Alan Webster who is the director of the national youth jazz festival, he has witnessed my growth over the last 20 years as a trombonist-he really advocated for me to win the award,” said the musician.
She wants to use the award to champion other musicians who are women.
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Missing home
She has performed on various stages, including the Arcevia Jazz Feast in Italy and Sweden’s Stockholm Jazz Festival.
Like most South African expats, Charles says she misses food from home the most.
“Nothing like South African home-cooked food, I definitely miss the food. I do miss Ubuntu, one thing that South Africans have is: we are so kind,” said Charles, speaking from the US.
She says in New York, everyone is focused on what they want to do.
Her goal is to be bi-continental, where she can work and collaborate with musicians from various parts of the world, while also giving back.
“My goal is to establish jazz education programs, which can also combine as feeding programs where kids can go to a couple of workshops, receive a warm cooked meal and learn some music.”
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Importance of education
Formal education is usually frowned upon in the creative space, with artists preferring to lean on the flow of their creative juices.
Charles, who admits to being a bit of a nerd, says she sees the value of formal education despite having interacted with legends who received no formal education.
“For me, I just wanted to develop certain skills that I may not have been able to have, had I not gone for formal training,” said the artist.
She began attending the National Youth Jazz Festival at the age of 15, where she participated in workshops that explored the intricacies of jazz.
“I learnt a lot of skills going to school, firstly at the University of Cape Town. I was able to learn composition and arranging skills, something that I enjoy doing very much,” the composer shares.
Through formal training, she has acquired skills in writing charts properly, being a band leader, and other elements that make up the ecosystem of music. All these teachings, she says, help one with longevity in the industry.
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Still very much an artist
She is both talented and has acquired formal training, a skill not many musicians possess. “It is a skill to balance the creative with the cerebral. I am quite a cerebral person,” says Charles.
In her performance at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival, just before performing one of her songs, Ascension, she mentioned that the song had come to her in a dream.
Formal education has not stifled her creativity.
“I enjoy the technicalities of it [music] but I think it’s amazing that I have this source that is outside of myself where I’m able to hear these melodies in my sleep,” shares Charles.
She says her musicianship is linked to her faith, especially her compositions. “A lot of the songs I hear them while I’m asleep, I see them as like musical downloads from the hereafter.”
The beauty of the balance she strikes between the creative and the intellectual allows her to create musical notations after ‘downloading’ them in her dreams.
“…cause sometimes you’ll hear a song, and you don’t write it down, it just disappears into the ether where it came from, so I’ve learnt how to balance the creative with the cerebral.”
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New music
There are snippets and fragments of Charles’ music online, particularly her live performances, but there’s only one song available on streaming platforms.
“I’ve been very much focused on my studies, and now that I’ve graduated, I’m set to record my debut album between sometime this year and next year.”
She says the music and the personnel are there; it’s just a matter of making time to go into the studio.
Charles’s grandfather was a self-taught musician, despite never recording music. Her only song on streaming platforms, KwaLanga, is an ode to him.
“There isn’t any documented work of his playing, but that song I dedicated to him, and there are a couple of songs that I’ve written, dedicated to family members that I love very much who are no longer with us,” she said.
She will perform some of these compositions when she takes the stage at the National Art Festival.
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