Siya Makuzeni

ABOUT

Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz 2016 recipient, British Council ConnectZA commissioned  composer/xJazz resident, Johnnie WalkerKWSA Ambassador,Siya Makuzeni s a professional South  African trombone player and vocalist who has collaborated with Themba Mkhize & SWR Big Band,  Khaya Mahlangu, Lionel Loueke, Sibongile Khumalo, Regina Carter, Ed Sarath, Gayelynn McKinney,  as well as featuring in Grammy artists David Murray, Jacky Terrasson, and Branford Marsalis'  performances between 2016-2017. She is also the band leader of her own rock band, IppYFuzE.  Makuzeni picked up the trombone in 1997 while attending Stirling High School in East London and  studied BMus/BMusJazz at Rhodes University & the Pretoria Technikon Music School. She has since  toured and performed around the globe, most notably the premiere of His Day Is Done at Makhanda  & Johannesburg (2022), UpRising : A Future Her-story at Ford Theatre in Los Angeles (2019) and in  Italy where she contributed as co-composer and lyric interpreter to the CAMScores -produced soundtrack of Forse Dio e Malato (Maybe God is ill). Music producer, session musician , arranger  and voice-over artist when not performing live, Makuzeni has lent her songwriting skills to a few  albums by various artists , including Language 12 albums "Language 12" and "Maji Maji - in the land  of Milk & Honey" , Mpemba Effect's "Ambient Afrique" and Rudeboy Paul's "Azanian Pulse Vol.2 " ;  as well as vocal features in Tlale Makhene's "The Ascension of Enlightenment" , Afrotraction's  "Soulfully Yours", Jack Hammer's “The Pilgrim” and Frank Opperman's "Let's Be Frank". Her  collaborations include performances and recordings with William Kentridge and Phillip Miller in  Dancing with Dada - featuring Dada Masilo (2011), Mac McKenzie & The Goema Captains, Hederoosjies, MAHUBE, SPAZA, to name a few. Siya’s most recent production features as  Composer/ Arranger are: Audible Originals' Nelson Mandela - The Lost Tapes, I Am All Girls, Joko Ya  Hao, (Phillip Noyce -directed) ROOTS and Book Of Negroes adapted productions ,and Additional  Music Producer for Mzansi Magic’s “ The Road “ drama series, which was aired in 2015. 

Background  

Throughout high school Siya attended the National Youth Jazz Festival, an annual program aimed at  allowing the country’s Jazz students to participate and audition for the festival’s topmost band  selections: the National School’s Big Band, National Youth Big Band, and ultimately the National  Youth Jazz Band. Siya was consecutively selected for all three categories and also recorded with the  National Youth Jazz Band in 2001. She is now this year’s recipient for the Standard Bank Young Artist  Award for Jazz (2016).She also featured in Zim Ngqawana’s Big Band tour to East London (1999), as  well as playing for the East Cape Big Band for a few years. 

After Siya’s matriculation she went to study a BMus degree at Rhodes University, where she also  took up Drama and Physical Theatre. A year later, she decided to transfer to a more specialised  study field and enrolled at the Pretoria Technikon Music School, studying a BMusJazz degree. It was  at this time that she also began applying for Jazz competitions, her most accomplished being the Old  Mutual Jazz Encounters, where she secured the Regional Finalist(Gauteng) category for Jazz Vocals  in 2002.In 2005, Siya then attended a scholarship in Treviso (Venice) ,Italy, at the multi-media /  creative arts base, Fabrica (Benetton); where she took part in a multi-media theatre concert which  took place in Brisbane, Australia, in 2006.Whilst in Italy, Siya was invited by the African, Latin and  Asian Film Awards Festival to perform at the premiere of the festival. She was also involved in the  Bologna Human Rights Film Festival, where there was a dedicated stage for South African  performers. When she completed her scholarship in 2006, Siya was invited to Switzerland where she  met and performed with Cape Town's The Goema Captains, as well as Feya Faku, who was an Artist  in Residence at the University of Basel Music department. She therefore was also involved in  workshops; which covered everything from Jazz to Indigenous African Music.  

Siya's body of work is a diverse, expressive and constantly growing accumulation of her myriad of  service in the music industry.