Khaya Mahlangu 22/03

ABOUT

With a career spanning over four decades, jazz composer and saxophonist Khaya Mahlangu is a veteran

whose longevity in the music industry has earned him the respect of his peers and saw him achieve

great heights.

From unassuming beginnings in Soweto, where he was born and started his musical career, Mahlangu is

adept at playing diferent instruments, making him a go-to person for composers and musicians alike

when putng together sets.

The 64-year-old was introduced to music at an early age, with a pennywhistle being the frst instrument

he played when he was around seven years old, marking the beginning of his remarkable journey.

Growing up in Soweto during the heady days of apartheid, music proved to be a welcome escape for

Mahlangu, as formed part of various bands that shaped his early career and performed at venues

around the historic township.

He had a “brief spell” with The Beaters, a popular disco band formed in 1968, and later changed its

name to Harari. The band paved the way for numerous bands, notably Sakhile, a trailblazing group he

formed together with Don Laka and the late Sipho Gumede.

The band enjoyed huge success around the country, touring neighbouring countries and abroad at the

height of repression and politcal violence that gripped the country in the 1980s.

Sakhile undoubtedly elevated Mahlangu to prominence and the group contnued to tour overseas afer

it regrouped in 1987, following a hiatus.

Its success was a great achievement for the mult-talented artst who says he graduated from the school

of hard knocks and atributes his longevity in the music industry to “dedicaton to my craf and not

having anything to do with mediocrity.”

Not the one to be defned by one skill, Mahlangu plays the trumpet, fute and piano but the saxophone

is his primary instrument.

Sakhile was not the frst group for that he played in, prior to joining the band, he was part of a jazz-

fusion outit, Spirit Rejoice, which incorporated the late Bheki Mseleku and once again, Sipho Gumede.

He describes Spirit Rejoice as “one of the frst seminal bands to come out of this country”. They band

backed for Joy, a popular vocal group of Paradise Road fame.

Mahlangu’s own debut album, ‘To you, my dear’, fnally came in 1986, and it received some level of

appreciaton and airplay from local radio statons during an era which restricted the distributon of local

music. His second tape, The Streams, featuring, Don Laka followed in 1999.

Mahlangu has a total of three solo albums under his belt and says the reason why he took his tme with

his solo works is because he had been growing as a composer and arranger.

Given his long career, the sought-afer session artst, has no intenton of slowing down and he contnues

to play with other top artsts in the industry. When he is not on stage, he spends his tme at the

University of the Witwatersrand giving saxophone lessons to Music students.

“If I slow down, I am going to die. I have a zest for life,” he says.

He has also devoted his tme with the Gauteng Jazz Music Orchestra, where he was musical director

between 2009 and 2014.

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