Repairing the Vandalism

“Vandalism as a crime has been allowed to exist by the system so that the attention may be diverted away from the real vandalism of the soul,” states Zim Ngqawana quietly in a moving documentary recorded in the badly damaged Zimology Institute following a break in.

Raised in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, Zim Ngqawana continues a lineage of great South African horn players that reaches back to such giants as Winston ‘Mankunku’ Ngozi and Dudu Pukwana. Schooled in jazz at the University of Natal, he went on to study with Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp in the States before returning home in the early nineties. It was during the breakdown of apartheid that his musical spirit was really set free. Working alongside Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela, he went on to lead his own ensemble Ingoma as well as directing the huge ‘Drum For Peace Orchestra’ at Mandela’s inauguration. Following collaborations with the Norwegian San Ensemble, in 1996 Zim debuted with the acclaimed album Zimology heralding the arrival of a titan of the South African new wave. While indebted to US heavyweights like Arthur Blythe and Archie Shepp, Zimology drew heavily on Ngqawana’s Xhosa roots, combining folk melodies with an avant-garde militancy. This freeform ancestral music reached its zenith with the 2004 masterpiece Vadzimu.

Zim Ngqawana - Qula Kwedini

While the messages in Ngqawana’s recordings have always been socially conscious, it is through education that he has made his biggest contribution to his community, setting up the Zimology Institute on a farm outside Johannesburg in 2001. Entering into his own quest for “knowledge of the self” he asked his students or “fellow travellers” to free themselves from the shackles of conformity and towards the liberating path of improvisation. Comparing the improvisations of jazz to the daily quest for survival in the townships, Zim’s study of free sound has been an inspiration to all those around him. One of those who opened his ears and his mind, was a young Cape Town born pianist named Kyle Shepherd who has become one of Zim’s brightest alumni, and one of the featured players in Aryan Kaganof’s incredibly poignant film Vandalizm.

“My concern now is about universal consciousness, a move away from the self, and music is the best vehicle towards realisation and freedom.”

Moving shaman-like around the dancing flames of a ceremonial bonfire, Zim Ngqawana wards off the flames with the power of his horn. This introduction to Vandalizm is a powerful analogy for how the teacher has channelled his rage at the actions of those who broke in to his beloved Institute. What follows is a healing ceremony of improvisation. A grand piano lies on its side, its keys played furiously by Shepherd while in another room Zim picks up a broken water pump and blows - creating a deep resonating tone. Into another part of the house and a toilet cistern is transferred into a horn. The images are both sombre and inspiring. It’s a while before the master speaks. “Improvisation is a willingness to move into the unknown,” he whispers thoughtfully. As the film progresses we hear more from the man who put so much into this community resource, addressing the post-apartheid issues that resulted in such actions, and in particular the chains of poverty that continue to hold the people back.

“Entertainment has its place, but our music is more about inner-attainment.”

Back in the Spring, I was fortunate to catch a screening of ‘Vandalizm’ at Cape Town’s City Hall prior to an intense duo performance by Zim and Kyle, promoted by the excellent black arts magazine Chimurenga based a short walk away in Long Street. As with mighty pairings like John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner, the saxophonist and pianist exhibit an intuitive flow where individuality and duality are given equal space. From the first note, the hip artsy crowd that have gathered for this event are transfixed. While Zim’s horn exudes both a fury and tenderness that seems to echo with the story of his nation, Shepherd’s piano is both meditative and probing, recalling Abdullah Ibrahim but not in awe of him. It’s a sound that was captured well by the journalist Miles Keylock of Johannesburg’s Mail & Guardian: “An impressionistic collage of South African jazz sounds, from slam poetic minimalist re-imaginings of Afrikaans Volksliedjies and Muslim calls to prayer, to goema groove deconstructions.” Or as Kyle himself puts it “my music is a direct representation of my traditions and the lineage of artists that came before me, and I am merely a portrait of their mastery.” With the night’s proceedings part of the slow process of fund-raising for the rebuilding of the Zimology Institute, we can only hope that other young musicians are given the chance to shine under the guidance of Zim Ngqawana.

The Anthology Of Zimology Volume One is out on Zimology Records

The Best of Zim Ngqawana is out on Sheer Sound

Photo by Alex Kaganof

Andy Thomas

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