Johnny Mbizo Dyani is a frontline liberation music composer, a sentimental African Xhosa folk music performer and an avant-garde flag-bearer of the improvisational, free Jazz expression.
Jazz Fought the struggle and won: the inspiring story of the jazz freedom fighters in exile lead by the magician of the ostinato – Johnny Mbizo Dyani.
The bassist and composer Johnny Mbizo Dyani, along with the drummer Makaya Ntshoko, were some of the first to go into exile in Europe and, with a strong commitment, embodied the struggle for South Africa’s cultural memory. Both of them, as representatives of others, taught us that the sources of jazz are African. And both…
Johnny Dyani’s compositional approach combined Eastern Cape Folk Music with international progressive jazz, and the musical call to freedom.