In the time of physical distancing, art is a connector

[ilanampiti]

#SBHomeStudio

In the time of physical distancing, art is a connector – a reminder that we’re still whole and still united regardless of what we face – and luckily digital channels allow us to bring our audience into the world of art.

Standard Bank has embarked on a journey to bring respite to many South Africans through art and entertainment during the times of COVID -19.

For the next few weeks fans will be able to livestream their favourite Standard Bank Young Artist as they perform in their studios, at their homes and on their stages as part of a new initiative, Home Studio.  #SBHomeStudio

Stay informed by connecting with Standard Bank Arts:

• Facebook: @StandardBankArts
• Twitter: @StandardBankArt
• Instagram:  Standard Bank Arts
• Live performances will be streamed on: Standard Bank Arts Facebook Live and Standard Bank South Africa You Tube at 8pm.

The artist line-up will include but is not limited to:

Shane Cooper – 16^th April

Shane Cooper

Shane Cooper is a bassist, composer and producer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.  He is part of the new wave of South African Jazz artists pushing the music forward, and is also known for his work in the electronic/dance music world, as well as commissioned works for films and theatre. In 2013 he was selected as the Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz in South Africa. In 2014 Oscillations won the South African Music Award (SAMA) for Best Jazz Album.  The projects he is currently involved in are MABUTA, the Kyle Shepherd Trio, the Reza Khota Quartet, Skyjack, a new quartet with Benedikt Reising, Thandi Ntuli and Paul Amereller, as well as his electronic music alias Card On Spokes.  In the past he has also performed and/or recorded with artists like Zim Ngqawana, Lionel Loueke, Shabaka Hutchings, Talvin Singh, Feya Faku, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Malcolm Braff, Nils Berg, Soweto Kinch, Afrika Mkhize, Spoek Mathambo, Nonku Phiri, Young Fathers, Ndabo Zulu’s album produced by Derrick Hodge, and Daedelus’ 2019 album released on Flying Lotus’ label Brainfeeder.  As a composer for film Shane has written music for the award-winning documentaries Forerunners by Simon Wood, Orbis by Simon Wood, Port Nolloth: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Felix Seuffert, and produced the recording of the score by Kyle Shepherd for the award winning feature film Noem My Skollie.

Thandi Ntuli – 23^rd April

Thandi Ntuli

Standard Bank Young Artist for 2018 was born in one of South Africa's largest townships, Soshanguve (Pretoria). She comes from a lineage of rich musical heritage, being the niece of guitarist, pianist and lead vocalist of 70's pop fusion band Harari (The Beaters), Selby Ntuli. At the tender age of 4, she started taking classical piano lessons under the tutelage of Ada Levkowitz. However, her keen interest for jazz was only kindled later in life, leading her to enrol and complete a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance at The University of Cape Town. Since the release of her debut jazz album, "The Offering" which she released independently, Thandi is fast making an imprint in the local jazz scene with her unique voice. Other projects she has worked in include those led by singer songwriter Neo Muyanga, American steel-pannist Andy Narell (USA), vocalist Thandiswa Mazwai, The Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, a collaboration with singer, rapper and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow (USA), LA rap duo “Harriett” (US) which consists of emcees/poets Damani Nkosi & IllCamille, Shabaka Hutchings (UK) with his latest project with The Ancestors “We Are Sent Here By History”, with DJ and producer QB Smith (UK), SirLSG and the collaborative band, Rebirth of Cool, which experiments with jazz and hip hop and features the renowned selector, Kenny "DJKenzhero" Nzama on the decks.

Benjamin Jephta – 07^th May

Benjamin Jephta

Bassist and composer Benjamin Jephta (26) has made a name for himself as one of South Africa’s premier double and electric bass players. A graduate of the jazz program at the University of Cape Town in 2013 he has performed both nationally and internationally since the age of 14 and he has worked with notable South African jazz musicians including Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo and many others. With two albums as a bandleader, multiple award nominations and wins, Jephta, the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans list recipient also received the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz award in 2017. Benjamin regularly sessions with various South African hip-hop and pop artists, as well as on TV programs including The Voice SA, Dancing with the Stars SA and musical directs the ‘late night’ show The Bantu Hour on SABC 2. He is now based in New York City after graduating from The Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston, USA, with a Masters degree. He has since performed with Danilo Perez, Terri-lyne Carrington, Jason Palmer and Dianne Reeves among others.

 The Young Artist Awards were established in 1981 by the National Arts Festival Committee to recognise and encourage exceptional talent amongst younger artists.  The awards has recognised over 160 artists and Standard Bank has been a sponsor of these awards for the last 36 years.

Mark Fransman – 14^th May

Mark Fransman

Mark is a multi-award winning, multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer and songwriter who hails from Cape Town, South Africa. As a performing artist, Mark has performed with the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Hubert Laws, François Jeanneau, Soweto Kinch, Tony Sedras, Louis Moholo, René MClean, Finley Quaye, Zim Nqgwana, Hein Van De Geyn, Winston Mankunku and Sibongile Khumalo to mention a few. He has produced South African artists such as Jimmy Dlu Dlu, Moreira Chonguisa, Kesivan Naidoo, Melanie Scholtz, Strait & Narro, Emily Bruce, Gavin Minter, Tribe, Tina Schouw and Bronwyn Reddy.

Mark has performed on stages in Europe such as the Euro De Afrique Festival; the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Holland; the Swedish Jazz Celebration in Sweden, Stockholm; the Leipzig Jazz Festival; the Edge of Wrong Festival for improvised music in Øslo, Norway and the Finnmark Jazz Festival in Norway.Back in South Africa, he has frequented the stages of the North Sea Jazz  Festival Cape Town/ Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festivals, National Arts festivals and Old Mutual Jazz festivals. Playing with artists such as Jimmy Dludlu, Zim Nqgwana, Musa Manzini, Gloria Bosman, Marcus Wyatt and Victor Masondo to mention a few.

He has recorded on albums with artists such as Tony Sedras, Errol Dyers, Steve Dyer,  McCoy Mrubata,  Tribe,  Marcus Wyatt, Gavin Minter,  Jimmy Dlu Dlu, Lisa Bauer, Amanda Tiffin, Bruce Muirhead, Gabi Leroux,  Melanie Scholtz,  Emily Bruce, Moreira Chonguisa, Ivan Mazuze and Kesivan Naidoo to name a few.

Mark was awarded the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 2008. Prior recipients of this award is the likes of Johnny Clegg and Sibongile Khumalo.

As a producer, Mark has been awarded two SAMA Awards South African Music Awards). This award is South Africa’s most covetedmusic award. In 2004, he won the Best Producer Award for Jimmy Dlu Dlu’s ‘Afrocentric’ and in 2007, he also won the Best Producer Award for Moreira Chonguisa’s ‘The Journey’. In recognition of Mark’s musicianship and talent, he was awarded  Johnnie Walker’s ‘Musician of the year for 2004’. Has also won the UCT Adcock Ingram (Jazz) competition of 2000 for Jazz. Mark also has three years of musical theatre experience in the musicals ‘Poison’ and ‘Kat and the Kings’ (Both being a David Kramer/Taliep Petersen production), and received the FNB Vita Award for most outstanding performer in musical theatre 1995/96) for the latter.

Nduduzo Makhathini - 21 May 2020

Nduduzo Makhathini

Nduduzo Makhathini was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for jazz in 2015.  He has produced 8 multi-award winning albums on 3 April he added his latest release Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds through Blue Note Records.

He has performed at renowned festivals including the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz and the Essence Festival (in both New Orleans and South Africa), and in 2019 he made his debut appearance at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, as well as at the Jazz at Lincoln Centre with Wynton Marsalis, where he was featured guest.

Now, he’ll take us all on a bespoke musical journey from his home to yours in his #SBHomeStudio performance.

Kyle Shepherd - 28 May

Kyle Shepherd

 Kyle Shepherd will perform an intimate piano concert in his studio where he will talk about some of his music and also his work with arts luminaries such as Zim Ngqawana, Carlo Mombelli and William Kentridge among many others.   

The 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year Award winner for Jazz already has a well-established record of celebrated performances in South Africa, Europe, Asia and the USA.  This virtuoso pianist has already released five (5) critically acclaimed albums in his young career. In 2014, he released two (2) albums, namely Dream State, a 21-track double album of his Trio which has received nominations for both the 2015 South African Music Award [SAMA] and a 2015 Metro FM Music Award in the Jazz Category, as well as his debut solo piano offering Into Darkness, recorded in Japan, which was launched with a tour in the South-East Asian country in 2014 that included a performance at the prestigious Tokyo Jazz Festival. Previous releases include fineART, A Portrait of Home & South African History !X, all of which also earned SAMA nominations.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

Apart from South Africa, Shepherd has also performed in Japan, USA, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, France, Denmark, India, Malaysia, China, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe, with notable concert appearances, either as a solo pianist or trio, quartet and other formats at Carnegie Hall (USA), Klavierhaus (USA), The Bird’s Eye Jazz Club (Switzerland), Jazzwerkstatt Festival Bern (Switzerland), Reformierte Dorfkirche Kleinhüningen (Switzerland), Klubschule St. Gallen (Switzerland), Der Sendesaal, (Germany), Hallenbad Kultur Am Schactweg, (Germany), The Tokyo Jazz Festival (Japan), Body & Soul Jazz Club (Japan), Shikiori (Japan), Kaho Gekijo Kabuki Theatre (Japan), Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord and L’Onde Théâtre et Centre d’art as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris (France), The Aarhus Jazz Festival (Denmark), The Cape Town International Jazz Festival (South Africa), The Joy of Jazz Festival (South Africa), The National Arts Festival, Grahamstown (South Africa), Harare International Festival – HIFA (Zimbabwe),The Tianjin International Jazz Festival (China), No Black Tie (Malaysia), MICA (India), B-Flat (India) and The Gonsalves Mansion ‘Home of Jazz’ (India).

Melanie Scholtz / 4 June – Melanie currently resides in NYC and will be presenting her performance from there.

Melanie Scholtz is a South African born, award winning jazz singer and composer. Playing piano since the age of 5, she went on to study classical singing at the Eoan Group before completing an Opera Diploma  Cum Laude  at the University of Cape Town in 2000. Melanie has released 5 albums under her own name thus far as well as collaborating with many South African and international  jazz artists.

In 2012, Melanie won all three prizes in the prestigious Jazz Revelations competition as part of the Jazz a Juan Festival held in Nice, France. She was invited to be part of the festival programme in 2013.

Melanie tours regularly to the Czech Republic and has also performed in Norway, France, Germany,Slovakia, Holland, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. She has been involved in the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown for the past 6 years as a performer and teacher as well as with the Artscape Youth Jazz programme since 2006. Melanie has also lectured at the University of Cape Town from 2004-2005. In 2010, Melanie was named the Standard Bank Young Artist for jazz and continues to be involved in upcoming projects and recordings involving other Young Artist Award recipients. She has also shared an impromptu duet with Bobby McFerrin during his show at Anjazz jazz festival in May 2011 and  was also invited as part of the Joy of Jazz festival in Aug 2012, to guest with Kurt Elling.

In 2013, Melanie launched Freedom’s child. Freedom’s child is a collaborative project with iconic poet James Matthews marrying poetry and jazz. Also in 2013, Melanie released her full length solo offering, produced by Bokani Dyer called “Our Time”.

It has been said about Melanie Scholtz’s music that it is like a ‘best friend’ and listeners are always inspired by her musical honesty. This South African artist will continue to captivate listeners with her original and unique sound.