Artist Bio:
Musa Manzini was born in Inanda, north of Durban, South Africa, in 1971 to Makhobane and Nomusa Manzini. He moved to Cape Town in 1986 for high school and university studies. It was later in his high school days that he first picked up the guitar just as a hobby, but was hooked ever since. "I was faced with having to choose between music as a full-time career or becoming a lawyer, which is the career my parents had carved for me. At one point, I thought I could be a lawyer who plays the bass."
After high school Musa enrolled at a MAPP institution that was a Swedish and Kagiso Trust initiative to assist musicians from previously disadvantaged communities of South Africa. This introduced him to the basic aspects of music theory and improvisation. In 1992, he enrolled at the University of Cape Town where he completed a Bachelor of Music degree, majoring in composition and arrangement. In 1995, while at UCT, he received the Prof. Peter Klatzow Award for composition and orchestration. "It was a big challenge coming from the township and being introduced to classical music at tertiary level, having to analyze the music of Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Debussy, Schonberg and other European composers."
After graduation, Musa spent three years as a part-time lecturer at UCT, instructing electric and acoustic basses, jazz theory and improvisation to bridging course students, while at the same time performing and recording as a session musician around the country with musicians like Rene' MacLean, Jimmy Dludlu, Jonathan Butler, Gavin Minter, Nhlanhla Magagula, Kevin Gibson, Mark Goliath, Judith Sephuma, Winston Ngozi, Sipho Mabuse, Menyatso Mathole, Selaelo Selota, Joe McBride, UCT Jazz Orchestra and many other musos of that period.
The multi-facetted Cape Town music scene has honed Manzini's style and sound, mostly the townships of Guguletu, Langa, Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha. In 2000 Musa released his debut recording entitled New Reflections through BMG Records Africa, and was at the same time introduced into the film and television industry by Mfundi Vundla, where he worked on daily drama series like "Backstage" and "Generations" as film scorer and musical director. In 2002, Musa released his second CD, Tributes and Memories, under his own label, Manzini Entertainment (Pty) Ltd with Gallo Jazz.
Musa has performed at North Sea, New Orleans, Joy of Jazz, Muscat, Jazzathon, Arts alive as well as many other club gigs, functions and musicians' workshops locally and abroad. The most successful producer of the South African TV soaps, Mfundi Vundla of Morula Pictures who appointed him as the Musical Director in the youth soapie "Backstage" in 2000, has recognized his talent and ability. He has in 2002 joined the very successful TV show "Generations." These appointments, particularly to Generations, the soap with largest viewership in South Africa, points once more to the versatility of his talent.
— Courtesy Calabash Music
