Meet Nina Mkhize She is an arranger, composer, singer and keyboard player. Nina was born on the 13th of February 1980. She grew up in the Southern township of Umlazi in Durban. She was introduced to music by her mother who sang jazz, marabi, mbube and revolutionary songs around the house while growing up. Noticing her reaction and interest to her singing, her mother urged her to perform for family, friends and relatives at various gatherings. It is however when she started high school that she found courage to explore the art of performance as a full time career thus leading her to form a group SWV with friends imitating the American girl group of the same name. Together they sang music that stemmed from but was not limited to RnB, gospel and African music. Throughout her high school years, she spent her Saturdays at the UDW Music Project, an initiative by the Volkswagen Motor Company where she received formal instruction in music theory, aural perception, appreciation and performance. Affirmed by this experience, she further went on to pursue music studies at Natal Tech after high school, where she read for a National Diploma in Light Music. Her time at tech proved worthwhile and promised a future jazz maestro such that, in the year 2000 as a student she was invited to do leading and backing vocals for the internationally acclaimed ‘Shuttle Band’ which was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and saw a collaboration between South African and Scandinavian musicians namely Ray Phiri, Gito Baloi, Concord Nkabinde (SA) and Stien Casternsen, Bendik Hofseth, Ricard Nettermalm (Scandinavia). The year further saw her holding workshops with acclaimed pianist Bheki Mseleku which led her to work with Prince Kupi’s band ‘Bageshane’ and ‘Sagiya’ a youth band based in the city of Durban. She further explored work with band ‘The Stand’ which played a fusion of jazz and gospel which went on to tour in Port Elizabeth. In 2001, a young Nina performed in East London with jazz trumpeter Feya Faku and further went on to work with acclaimed Zulu singer Busi Mhlongo on a music production hosted by the Playhouse Company in Durban, ‘It’s Cooking Under the Melting Pot’ under the direction of Susan Barry. Her rich and soulful voice went on to the unsuspecting studios of the world where she started to session which led to collaborations with an array of artists such as Ian Henderson on his album ‘Free Falling’ , guitarist Nibs Van der Spuy’s ‘Flower In The Rain’ record and also as backing vocalist on Busi Mhlongo’s ‘Indiza’, an album by Meltz 2000 produced by Bryce Wassy. On invitation by Ian Henderson, in the year 2002 she made a debut at the Splashy Fan Festival in Underberg, Kwa Zulu Natal. Reaching even further from her well of talents, she together with Dr. Sazi Dlamini arranged, composed and scored music for the movie ‘The Sky In Her Eyes’ by Madoda Ncayiyana which scooped the Djibril Diop Mambety Prize for Best African Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics Choice Week in 2003. The year 2003 was an affirmation of Nina’s immense talent, such that she was invited to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival. After that, she went on to perform at the World Economic Forum Conference at the Durban ICC. She then went on to lead the Standard Bank Youth Jazz Band under the direction of acclaimed saxophonist Barney Rachabane at the Grahamstown Jazz Festival, to which she performed to raving applause. 2004 saw her again team up with Sazi Dlamini on another project, ‘Bhambayi’, a documentary film which explored the effect violence had in the Inanda and Phoenix areas and how it had affected the people & communities. During the 10th South African Freedom Celebrations, she went on to conduct workshops on South African Jazz and Township music in Brasilia and Sau Paulo, Brazil through an initiative organised by The Jazz Foundation and The South African Embassy. Returning from Brazil, she joined the musical show ‘Istorotoro’ which was shown at the Playhouse Company. The same year saw her again return to the stage with her hero Bheki Mseleku at the Melody International held at the Mmabatho ICC, in the North West province. She closed of her year on a high note when she dazzled audiences on her home ground at the MTN Jazz Festival, at the Hazelmere Dam. The year 2005 saw her returning to again work with composer Sazi Dlamini on music for another movie, ‘Izulu Lami’ which won the Cannes Pan-African Film Festival’s prestigious Dikalo award for Best Feature Film and best feature awards at festivals in Italy, Spain, India and Zanzibar. In between this time, she focused on her family and spiritual life but still worked, though on a lighter scale. In 2012 after her sabbatical, she returned to work, and saw her collaborate with Grammy award winning American songwriter and producer Kenny Young on his Rhythms Del Mundo project which sees a cross-culture collaboration between Cuban and African musicians, exploring a different take on contemporary ‘hits’ by western artists like Coldplay, Sting, Beyonce, Bruno Mars and many more. The proceeds from the album are given to NPO, Artists Project Earth which raises awareness and funds for environmental issues and disaster relief efforts. That same year saw her collaborate with another American composer Carl Stone who primarily works on the live electronic music circuit, at the Unyazi Electric Music Festival, hosted by the School Of Music, Howard College, UKZN. 2014 has seen her present a set of her original compositions at the Ugu Jazz Festival in Port Shepstone. Nina proves to be a gifted artist with unlimited abilities. Her talent is influenced by and is not limited to Busi Mhlongo, Mfaz’Omnyama, Joe Zawunil, Carmen McRae, Oumou Sangare, Herbie Hancock, Bheki Mseleku, Dianne Reeves, Salief Keita, Letta Mbulu, Susan Barry and Thelonius Monk. She offers a wide repertoire including her original compositions which range from Funk, Bossa Nova, Ballad, Swing, Gospel, RnB, Blues, Afro-Jazz, Jazz and Contemporary music. Awards Old Mutual Jazz Encounter’s Award – Afro Jazz Vocalist (National Winner - 2002) You can also listen to some of her music, recorded live some 12 years ago when she was a student. https://soundcloud/nina-mkhize-music
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:30:02 +0000
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