Todd Matshikiza

Todd Tozama Matshikiza (* 1921 in Queenstown (South Africa) , † March 4, 1968 in Lusaka , Zambia ) was a South African journalist , composer and jazz pianist .

Live and act

Matshikiza comes from a musical family; his father was an organist, his mother a singer. He graduated from St Peter's College in Rosettenville ( Johannesburg ), then studied music and trained as a teacher at Fort Hare University . Until 1947 he taught English and mathematics in Alice . During this time he was already composing songs and choral works; his song Hamba Kahle became a standard work in South Africa.

Matshikiza moved to Johannesburg in 1947, where he gave piano lessons at his Todd Matshikiza School of Music . His main interest at this time was jazz music ; to earn a steady income, he first had to take up other professions. He also worked as a bookseller and businessman. He gave piano lessons to his nephew Pat Matshikiza .

Between 1949 and 1954 he was active in the Syndicate of African Artists , which wanted to promote music in the townships through concerts by guest musicians. From 1952 he wrote as a journalist for Drum magazine ; He had a column there, among other things, in which reported on the township scene of the then jazz mecca Sophiatown , where musicians like Kippie Moeketsi and Hugh Masekela were active. He later wrote for The Golden City Post .

In addition, he wrote another choral piece in 1953, Makhaliphile , which he dedicated to Trevor Huddleston and in which he combined European-classical, South African and jazz themes. In 1956, on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of Johannesburg, he composed the piece Uxolo , which was performed by a mass choir . As a jazz pianist, he has now worked with well-known groups such as the Manhattan Brothers and the Harlem Swingsters , with whom he toured across the country and in Mozambique .

In 1958 he composed the music and some of the lyrics for his musical King Kong , which is a milestone in South African music due to its strong reception. In the following year he wrote another musical, Mkhumbane , largely influenced by a cappella choirs, in which he discussed the forced relocations from the township of Cato Manor near Durban .

Frustrated by the apartheid policy of the South African state, Matshikiza took the opportunity in 1960 to move to London for the English performance of his musical King Kong . However, he found no way to establish himself in the British music scene, occasionally played the piano in the nightclub scene, gave music lessons and worked as a journalist for British newspapers; he wrote the Todd column in London for Drum magazine . He also published a book with autobiographical stories in 1961.

In 1964 he found employment with the Zambian Broadcasting Corporation and returned to Africa with his family as a radio maker. In 1967 he became an ethnomusicologist for the Zambian Information Service .

Books

• Chocolates for My Wife . Hodder & Stoughton, 1961; 2nd edition by David Philip Publishers, 1982, ISBN 0-90-839683-X .
• With the Lid Off: South African insights from home and abroad 1959-2000 . M&G Books, ISBN 0-620-26244-3 , together with John Matshikiza.

Honors

• 1999 (posthumous): Order for Meritorious Service in silver

Lexigraphic entries

• Encyclopedia Britannica

Web links

• Portrait at South African History Online (English)
• Portrait at sacomposers.co.za (English)
• Todd Matshikiza at Allmusic (English)

Remarks

1. ^ Jürgen Schadeberg , Don Albert: Jazz, Blues and Swing . 2007, p. 146 give 1920 as the year of birth
2. ↑ It was performed in 1946 to welcome the future Queen Elizabeth in Bulawayo .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Todd Tozama Matshikiza (en) . Retrieved January 21, 2016. 
4. ↑ Matshikiza, Todd Thozamile . Retrieved January 21, 2016.
5. ↑ Elizabeth May Musics of Many Cultures: An Introduction . University of California Press, 1983, p. 197
6. ↑ He was able to record both works for the Gallo label.
7. ↑ List of recipients of the medal 1999 (English), accessed on August 25, 2018