Bokani Dyer – Jazz Pianist as well as Composer of our Times


Bokani dyer is actually a Motswana-born, acclaimed pianist who has succeeded the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship and opened the Greater london Jazz music Event. He is actually also the innovator of a triad with bassist Romy Brauteseth and drummer Sphelelo Mazibuko.

Dyer’s music is actually a rich mix of effects and also concepts. It merges aspects of an assortment of categories without ever before ending up being eclectic or even turbulent.

His Life
Bokani Dyer is actually a prize-winning pianist as well as composer who merges standard African rhythms along with jazz music. His structures are characterized by complex arrangements and moving tunes which have actually spellbinded audiences worldwide. He has carried out along with international greats like Shabaka Hutchings as well as Jason Moran and also regional stalwarts like Feya Faku, Shane Cooper, Sisonke Xonti and Buddy Wells. Bokanidyer

Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Dyer increased up listening closely to the similarity Pat Metheny, Khadja Nin as well as Oliver Mtukudzi, whose popular music was actually played in his loved ones home. As he got older, he signed up with the revolutionary multi-disciplinary arts aggregate Medu in Botswana where he played and made films, organized gigs, positioned craft exhibitions and also performed artistic shops.

Complying With Medu, Dyer moved to Johannesburg where he made an undergraduate’s level in music coming from the Educational institution of Peninsula Community. In the course of his opportunity at the tertiary organization, he created withstanding hookups along with a hold of performers who are now partners along with him in one form or even one more consisting of bassist Shane Cooper and also vocalist Sakhile Moleshe.

After completing his researches, he introduced his initial self-released album in 2010, complied with through Emancipate The Tale in 2011. In 2015, he documented World Music along with a quintet featuring top South African musicians consisting of tenor saxophonist Feya Faku, pianist/composer Jonathan Jephta, drummer Colleague Wells and also bassist Shane Cooper. His triad album Neo Indigenous was actually discharged in 2019 and acquired a SAMA nomination for ideal jazz cd. He additionally released Kelenosi, an entirely single album created under pandemic conditions in 2020.

His Songs
The Motswana-South African pianist and also author Bokani dyer is actually a force to be actually considered in jazz. Technically trained beyond his years, he is actually also creative as well as creative in an assortment of jazz styles. His music draws from an extensive stable of influences and also is rooted in practice while accepting modern ideas and opportunities.

The proclaimed multi-hyphenate’s latest launch is a varied cd referred to as Globe Songs, his 1st for the prominent Gilles Peterson trace on Brownswood Records. The report observes up sophomore standout Liberate the Account, as well as constructs on it, mixing a set of extensive impacts to generate an anti-genre record with a distinctive identification of its very own.

With the cd, he takes with each other experienced superstars like drummer Hassan Khan and saxophonists Linda Sikhakhane, John Swanson as well as Robin Fassie-Kock, and also younger bloods such as trumpeter Sthembiso Bhengu and bassist Tendai Shoko. The outcome is a hypnotic blend of thought and soulful instrumentation.

In 2014, he was decided on for a Pro Helvetia cashed musician residency in Switzerland where he complied with entertainers Donat Fisch, Stephan Kurmann and also Norbert Pfammatter that joined him to form the Bokani Dyer Swiss Quintet. The ensemble took place to play at the position of the London Jazz music Festivity and explored South Africa with loaded receive King William’s Community, Johannesburg and also Maputo.

His Albums
For Bokani Dyer, a pianist as well as author, the popular music is at the centre of his planet. He produces jazz music along with elements of electronic, R&B, Afro-Latin as well as classic. His style goes to as soon as ingenious and also classy, as positive as it pries.

He has actually presently launched 5 albums – his launching, Mirrors, in 2010, complied with by Emancipate the Account in 2013, Oscillations in 2014 and 2015’s Globe Songs (which was recommended for ideal jazz music cd at the South African Popular Music Honors), and also a trio recording, Neo Native, which gained the honor in 2019.

The brand-new record, Radio Sechaba, was actually released on electronic, CD and also 12″ plastic layouts on the 12th of Might 2023 by Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings label. The album focuses on nation-building as well as uniformity– concepts that are actually close to his heart, offered his roots in a Botswanan neighborhood in expatriation from discrimination.

The 14-track offering functions spiritual meditative seconds, improving enthusiastic grooves and also an innovative mix of music types– stirring keys and vocals, jazz-funk and also Afrobeat collision, punchy horns and also additional. In add-on to his own playing, he hired an all-star cast for the sessions, featuring trumpeter Sthembiso Bhengu, saxophonists Linda Sikhakhane and also Steve Dyer, guitarists Alder du Toit and Keenan Ahrends, bassist Tendai Shoko as well as drummer Tinotenda Dambaneunga. Two innovation singles coming from the cd – Vibration of Honest Truth with its own West African groove as well as appeal to observe your honest truth, as well as Relocate On along with its phone call to cool down and also breathe– prepared the tone for this wonderful file.

His Tours
Bokani Dyer is actually one of South Africa’s most well-known jazz music pianists, as well as he routinely tours worldwide. His band includes a host of worldwide and also SA artists, including bassist Shane Cooper, saxophonist Sisonke Xonti and also singer Sakhile Moleshe. Having actually invested his early years in Botswana, where he complied with a variety of his present collaborators, it is actually no shock that his songs draws motivation coming from a wealthy and also assorted culture.

After finishing from UCT, he signed up with pressures with drummer Sphelelo Mazibuko to create a trio which debuted at the 2016 SA National Arts Festivity. The band likewise explored Switzerland in 2015, playing jam-packed shows in Basel, Zurich, Bern and also Wintethur.

In the exact same year, he was actually selected to execute at the reputable Jazzahead showcase in Bremen and took place to make saxophonist Sisonke’s launching album, Iyonde. He is actually also the creator of a frequent slot at The Orbit Jazz Music Nightclub in Johannesburg, the Jazzafrika Legacy Sessions, which celebrates the job of well established as well as arising SA jazz music authors.

The band is actually a tough pressure to be assumed with on stage as well as the exchange in between all of them goes over. It is actually to Bokani’s credit rating that he can easily team up the ensemble so well, yet also offer area for private participants to beam, as holds true when he opens his set with the ballad Vuvuzela or on the challenging bop song Key Notes.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *