Johnny Dyani “Jazz against Apartheid”

Claude Deppa (tp), Allen Jacobson (tb, euphonium), Tobias Delius (sax, cl), Christopher Dell (vib), Jonas Westergaard (b), Christian Lillinger (dr)

The project attempts to revive the lost cultural memory of South Africa from the European side. For decades, South African exile musicians in Europe and Germany – including Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo and Chris McGregor – have left their deep mark on European improvised jazz, always in connection with the fight against the apartheid regime. In their home country, however, these life’s works have so far hardly been appreciated.
However, in 2022 and 2023, invitations from South Africa and “Jazz Against Apartheid – Homecoming from Exile” led to the first workshops and concert series in Johannesburg and the Eastern Cape, drawing attention to these “unsung heroes” of exile – and highlighting how enriching this cultural treasure has been and continues to be on both continents. The project has been so well received in South Africa that the government of the Eastern Cape province has decided to invite the workshops and concerts back in 2024 and to make the topic a permanent fixture.
The year 2024 is to be the highlight of the homecoming project “Jazz against Apartheid” in the context of the celebrations marking “30 years of democracy in South Africa”. Workshops and concerts will then also take place again in Frankfurt and Darmstadt. Six concerts will take place in October in Frankfurt at the Haus am Dom, Gallustheater, Brotfabrik, Wartburgkirche, main_forum and in Darmstadt at the Bessunger Knabenschule (26.10.).
The music of composer, bandleader and bassist Johnny Dyani, who died 38 years ago, is grandiose art, at the same time a testimony to the passionate fight against apartheid, the biography of a life in exile and a complete documentation of 25 years of exile history. After Dyani’s early death, we continued the project and later, after the fall of apartheid in South Africa, the work was resumed. Since then, we have organized about 100 concerts and workshops.
The ensemble brings together musicians from Germany, Europe, Canada and South Africa – including winners of prestigious jazz awards – such as Christopher Dell and Christian Lillinger.
[News 28.08.] The South African drummer Makaya Ntshoko, who played over 100 concerts with the Jazz Against Apartheid project, passed away on August 27 in Basel at the age of 84. We will miss him.