Ziza Muftic

ABOUT

Ziza Muftic  

Is a Johannesburg based musician with roots in Zagreb, Croatia. Her musical upbringing started as a  Western classical violin player, then a classical singer. Today, her main form of expression lies in jazz  vocals, composition and music education. 

Ziza’s vocal range stretches from Jazz to Western classical repertoire. Her sound is a unique blend of  Balkan and Eastern European folk songs with the American and South African Jazz styles. Ziza sings in  many different languages, English, Croatian, Hungarian, Portuguese, isiXhosa and isiZulu.  

Ziza has collaborated with some well- known names in the music industry, such as the SAMA winners  Peter Auret and Marcus Wyatt. Wyatt produced and played on Ziza’s first album release, ‘Ziza Muftic  Quartet: Silver moonbeams’ (2015). Auret (SumoSound recording studio in Johannesburg) had  recorded, engineered and played on all Ziza’s album releases to date.  

Her sophomore album ‘Ziza: Shining hour’, was released in May 2019 and was produced by  Theodora and Kevin Drummond (Hot Club d’Afrique).  

“Muftic is now feeling her shining hour. Shining Hour (2019) is her second album, entitled from  songwriter, Jonny Mercer’s ‘My Shining Hour’ song of hope and high expectations, and follows on  her first album, Silver Moonbeams (2015), with its Balkan rhythms, lyrics, and melodies. Her stories  shine in delightfully pleasing and thoughtful ways as she handpicks from known songs and her own  compositions.” Carol Martin (May 2019 ‘All Jazz Radio’)  

“As I noted when I reviewed Muftic’s debut  

(https://sisgwenjazz.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/community-of-song-tutu-puoane-nicky-schrire and-ziza-muftic-are-all-crafting-a-contemporary-idiom-for-the-sa-jazz-song/),  

She’s a storyteller /chanteuse rather than a predictable, by-the-numbers “jazz” singer. When she  employs a jazz technique, such as the scatting on Love is the Drug, it’s done deliberately and  judiciously, to complement what she calls Ferry’s “cheeky” lyrics, rather than as a default device.  Shining Hour takes that character forward with repertoire that’s both diverse and accessible – and  an increasingly distinctive approach as both composer and arranger. “Gwen Ansell  

“Jazz vocalist Ziza Muftic is a masterful song stylist. A South African raised in Croatia, Muftic  embodies a triple heritage vortex of energy. It is made up of Eastern European folk tune sensibilities,  touched by American and strengthened by South African jazz styles.” Percy Mabandu 4th July 2020 http://thecritter.co.za/?p=4245  

Ziza’s third studio album release titled ‘Ziza Muftic: Singing in tongues’, explores voice as an  instrument through many languages and rhythms.  

‘There’s plenty of jazz on Singing in Tongues, interpreted with subtlety and imagination. It’s not jazz  forced into a box; creativity, not market definitions, rules here.’ Gwen Ansell 23rd February 2024  https://mg.co.za/friday/2024-02-23-ziza-muftic-album-trips-off-the-tongue/ 

Awards: Mzantsi Jazz awards 2020 ‘Best female Jazz artist’