Lumanyano Mzi: From Cape Town to the world

Mail & Guardian

3 days ago

Talking in tongues: Cape Town musician Lumanyano Mzi will be touring in South Africa after a spell in the US. Photo: Henry Schulz
Lumanyano Mzi's life in music started almost as soon as he could hold a drumstick. Born in Cape Town in 1995, he grew up in Nyanga East and later Delft, surrounded by rhythm and melody.
His father, a spaza shop owner by day and a founding member of the reggae band Mighty Ethiopians by night, established a template for communal music-making that would shape Mzi's life and career.
'My father's band ended up being one of those things where all my aunts would take all the kids to the band,' Mzi recalls with a warm chuckle. 'So, at some point, it became a family band.
'It was a really fun and incredible experience for us to actually be able to be under the leadership of my dad and learn so many things about music and performance.'
Mzi was only six years old when he started playing drums in the Mighty Ethiopians. His first performance came at the Paarl Annual Reggae Festival, where he took the stage at the tender age of seven.
'I just remember that night I was sleepy and I had this one song to play. I couldn't reach the drum pedals,' he says, laughing. 'I hid behind different drums. But, you know, I made it work. It was really beautiful. I still remember that.'
Those early experiences planted a seed that grew into a lifelong love affair with music.
'It's definitely something that developed later in life. So, I loved music for what it was to me,' he says.
'Everything about it, you know, just brought me joy. I immersed myself fully in the art form of every music, despite what my parents were playing at home, which was either reggae or gospel.'
Music was his ticket to the world. At 14, he joined the band Azania and had the opportunity to travel across Africa to perform in places such as Gambia, Senegal, Mauritius, Côte d'Ivoire and Réunion Island.
'Yeah, I just finished primary and I was getting into high school. And also, can you imagine what high schooler is getting paid four grand a gig?' he remembers.
'Even though that was the case, you know, in my head, I was like, 'Oh, wow. I can actually then get to, you know, give some of that money to my parents, and I can get myself my own drum set as well.'
It wasn't just the money or the admiration of his peers that drove him, though he'll admit the feeling of coming back from an international tour as a high school pupil was unbeatable. It was the thrill of playing, of creating something new in the moment, of connecting with others through rhythm.
'I'm, like, I'm getting my first passport in high school, you know, can you imagine? Can you imagine that street cred when you come back from a whole international tour?' he says, grinning.
After high school, Mzi took a gap year, founding the Unity Band with three of his friends: 'I was just, like, 'Oh, yeah, call it the Unity Band.' Unity is the translation of my name.'
That year, he enrolled at the University of Cape Town's South African College of Music, where his education broadened his horizons and deepened his love for jazz.
At UCT, Mzi balanced two worlds: student and professional.
'Two things are happening during this time. I'm at university now. And at the same time I'm, I'm kind of a working professional,' he explains. 'I've got all these projects and things happening outside … Getting into UCT expanded my network of people I was playing with.'
He found himself surrounded by musicians who were deeply interested in traditional jazz and he soaked up everything like a sponge.
'I love learning; I just love absorbing things,' he says. 'As much as I did not know the techniques or this or that, you know, to me, yes, imposter syndrome.
But, at the same time, I'm just, like, 'I don't have an expectation of what it's like in a music school. So I'm just gonna take whatever they give me.''
He grew Unity Band from a trio into an eight-piece ensemble. Their debut album Fabric won Best Newcomer in Jazz at the Mzantsi Jazz Awards in 2019.
Their second album Breaking Bread was written and recorded in just seven days during the pandemic in 2020 and released in 2022. The album's title spoke to Mzi's philosophy — music as a shared meal, a communion of souls.
In 2017, Mzi landed a gig in the revival of the legendary King Kong musical in Cape Town. It was during this period that he was introduced to his future wife Namisa Mdlalose — a playwright and singer who was also working on the play.
'I met Namisa when I was working for her sister, Spha Mdlalose, on her tour in Cape Town,' he says. 'She booked me for a gig and I kind of booked her sister for life.'
By 2018, Mzi had set his sights on Berklee College of Music in Boston in the US. Several of his UCT lecturers, including his drum teacher Frank Miller, had encouraged him to apply.
'They were all saying this phrase to me for some reason. You know, it's like, 'Man, I think you'd be great at Berklee, you know. Do you know Berklee?'' he says. At first, he didn't. But he quickly learned.
Although he was accepted in 2018, he couldn't secure enough funding — $7 000 a year wasn't enough to cover the $24 000 he needed for tuition and living expenses. So, he put it aside. It wasn't until 2021, with support from private companies, friends, family and Berklee itself, that he finally made the move to Boston.
'It happened so quick,' he says.
'Friends, family, Berklee — people showed up and supported, you know, it's definitely straight out of a dream. It's just a miracle, you know. And, yeah, definitely God was with us in this journey.'
He and Namisa moved to Boston together, and Mzi blazed through the four-year programme in record time.
Last year, they relocated to New York, where he's been working as a session musician, while refining the music for his debut solo album.
In early November, Mzi recorded that debut album over two days in New York — a culmination of years of work and exploration. Now 30, he's finally bringing it home.
Next month, Mzi will return to South Africa to tour the album, performing in Makhanda for the National Youth Jazz Festival, then in Cape Town at the Young Blood Africa Gallery and at Untitled Basement in Johannesburg.
'I have Ciara Moser on bass from Vienna, Austria, and I have Isaac Romagosa on guitar from Spain.
'And I have my brothers from home, Simon Manana from Johannesburg on alto saxophone and Jean Strauss from Cape Town on tenor saxophone and Kevin Harris from the United States on piano.
'I also have some incredible guests who are going to be sharing the stage with us,' he says, his voice alive with excitement.
'Some members from the Unity Band. My lovely wife will be joining me in Johannesburg.'
Music, for Mzi, has always been a family affair, whether by blood or by spirit. 'The greatest joy is to actually play music with family,' he says. 'Because also what ends up happening, all the musicians we play with become family, you know?'
From the boy who couldn't reach the pedals at the age of seven to the man about to launch his first solo album at 30, Lumanyano Mzi's journey has been one of joyful dedication.
He returns home not just as a celebrated drummer, but as a keeper of the rhythms that have carried him from Cape Town to the world stage — and back again.