MoAfrika wa Mokgathi on hosting the 7th Mzantsi Awards and love for jazz

Author and renowned poet MoAfrika wa Mokgathi has been named the host for the upcoming Mzantsi Jazz awards and it’s no secret who she’ll be rooting for as her husband, saxophonist and flutist Mthunzi Mvubu, is nominated in two categories.

The Mzantsi Jazz awards are being hosted at The Soweto Theatre later this month. This is the seventh edition of the awards which are solely dedicated to the genre in its entirety.

“I am rooting behind my husband yes,” MoAfrika tells The Citizen.

“But also, I like the fairness of the process and me not being involved in that regard, it gives it a really honest and a transparent process altogether. But I am rooting for him, he has put in a whole lot of work towards this album and for us as business partners it is exciting for him to be nominated after being in the business for quite a while, over 20 years and him releasing this album is a huge milestone,” said MoAfrika.

Mthunzi Mvubu released his critically acclaimed album The 1^st Gospel last year. The project is nominated in the Jazz album of the Year and in the Best Male category.

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Love for jazz

This is MoAfrika’s first time working with the awards ceremony. “My involvement with the Mzantsi Jazz Awards is a dream come true. I love jazz music, I live jazz music. My life revolves around poetry and music, but particularly jazz music and to be hosting the seventh of these awards is a great honour,” said MoAfrika.

The poet, who performed in various parts of the world, sees hosting the awards as a career highlight and admits to being a numerologist. She points out to the significance of hosting the seventh edition of the awards.

“Having seven as a number of completion is like ‘wow’. There’s a higher being in that regard that just aligns for me to be hosting these awards. I’m super excited, I’m just dreaming of concepts of how to add a MoAfrika twist to the awards, but I’m greatly honoured to be seen in this space as a jazz practitioner who uses the Kiba methodology within my poetry.”

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Celebrating Mzantsi jazz

Jazz artists aren’t often celebrated enough by award ceremonies, with genres that are the soundtrack of pop culture being placed at the forefront.

“South African jazz musicians are revered around the world as the best and it’s because we have this strong sense of purist jazz, if you like. That comes out in our music but still having an essence of playing as an African and having that feel that an African is playing.”

“These jazz awards are to affirm the work that these amazing musicians are doing. It is to celebrate them, celebrate their work and celebrate them within this timeline of the music being played out. That’s how I view awards generally, they are also a reminder of rubberstamping timelines in our society,” said the poet.

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