Encounter, Not Discovery, with Nduduzo Makhathini

The Myth We Chose, the entrancing new album by South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, foregrounds hope and healing, and a conviction in the redemptive power of connection. It’s a song-forward statement for Makhathini, who is also a composer, vocalist, philosopher, and ambassador for the Global South.

This summer, he brought his trio to Solar Myth ahead of an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. On the first of two nights, he joined Josh Jackson for an onstage conversation about ritual, responsibility, and why he prefers the term “encounter” to “discovery” when describing a person’s formative contact with improvised music.

Chapters

• 00:00 — Intro: South African jazz
• 05:00 — Zulu language, myth & musicality
• 11:30 — Music education, colonialism & Indigenous knowledge
• 15:30 — Growing up during apartheid
• 21:00 — Encountering John Coltrane & the roots of jazz
• 23:30 — The identity and sound of South African jazz
• 28:45 — Collective memory & the African diaspora
• 35:15 — Myth, ancestral memory & sonic creation
• 38:15 — Ndu cosmology, time & musical continuity
• 41:00 — Artificial intelligence, knowledge & human experience
• 45:15 — Nate and Josh on music, healing & ancestral knowledge
• 49:30 — “This I Dig”
• 53:15 — South African music, cultural boycotts & current debates
• 56:15 — Closing credits

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