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| Norway-based Mozambican saxophonist Ivan Mazuze greatly expands his sound palette with a new set of collaborators on the Penuka album. |
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Acclaimed Mozambican, Norway-based saxophonist and composer Ivan Mazuze breaks new ground with his latest album Penuka, where he delves into the profound influence of Arab and Indian cultures on African traditional music presented through a contemporary jazz lens. The music is a testament to the centuries-old cultural exchanges facilitated by trade routes across the African continent.
Mazuze’s deep dive into this historical tapestry forms the core of the album, showcasing how African musical traditions have absorbed and reinterpreted elements from Arab and Indian musical heritage over time.
“This album is a celebration of the enduring cultural connections between Africa, the Arab world, and India,” explains Mazuze. “Through Penuka I aim to offer a fresh perspective on how these influences have shaped African music, blending traditional rhythms with modern jazz improvisation.”
The rhythm section on Penuka features seasoned musicians with longstanding musical relationships with Mazuze. This includes artists with roots in Cuba, Norway, and Mali, all currently based in Norway. Their collaboration adds layers of rhythmic complexity and global flair to Mazuze’s compositions, enhancing the album’s dynamic fusion of styles; in addition, Mazuze collaborates with a diverse array of guest artists, each bringing their unique cultural backgrounds to the project; these include musicians from India, Pakistan, Morocco, Senegal, Gambia, and Zimbabwe, whose contributions enrich the album’s eclectic sound palette and introduce new musical expressions such as Gnawa and languages such as Shona, Urdu, Wolof, Rajasthani and Indian Sargam. Penuka is a collaborative effort that bridges continents and cultures. It reflects the diversity and vibrancy of our interconnected world, celebrating the richness of musical expression that emerges from cultural exchange, Mazuze emphasized.
Penuka is commissioned by Global Oslo Music in Oslo, Norway. Established in 2008, Global Oslo Music was started with the vision of becoming Oslo´s most active and current stage arena for live music with roots firmly based in, and reflective of the diverse number of world cultures found in Norway´s capital city and across the globe. Through club evening events and concerts, Global Oslo Music presents and exposes its audiences to the international music scene, with musicians from around the world, but who primarily live and work in Oslo. Global Oslo Music aimed to establish an open and creative arena for artists who wished to explore new forms of collaboration across all cultural genres, to cultivate new artistic forms and has provided opportunities for new artistic forms to meet and contend with more traditional ones. Check out a performance of the title track following the album credits below.
Ivan Mazuze – Penuka
Bongile (4:35)
Penuka (6:09)
Mamidje (5:20)
M & S (4:36)
Belonging (4:22)
Ayaan (6:00)
Adufo (4:50)
Kanawa (4:39)
Nhaka (4:57)
Yangulanu (5:48)
Musicians:
IVAN MAZUZE - Vocals (1, 2, 6, 7), Soprano saxophone (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), Alto saxophone (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10), Tenor saxophone (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10), Flute (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10), Mbira (3), Shakers (2)
SIKANDER LANGA - Vocal (1)
MINUDDIN KHAN - Malikpur vocal (1)
RAHIS BARTHI - Vocals (1), Tablas (1, 6)
MAXWELL VIDIMA - Vocals (3, 4)
RESHAIL MANSOOR - Vocal (6)
JAI SHANKAR - Vocals (7), Tablas (7, 9)
KHALEED LAAOUAM - Vocals (8), Guembri (8), Krakreb (8)
MARIAMA NDURE - Vocals (10)
OLAV TORGET - Guitar (all tracks), Ngoni (9, 10)
ROHINI SAHAJPAL - Sitar (6)
JØRN ØIEN - Keyboards, Synths (1, 2), Keyboards (3, 4, 5, 9, 10), Piano (6, 7, 8)
PER MATHISEN - Bass (all tracks)
PAPA ASANE SAMB - Sabar percussion (2, 3, 4, 5, 10)
MODOU MBAYE TAMA - Talking drums (2, 3, 4, 5, 10)
RACIEL TORRES - Drums (all tracks)
More about Ivan Mazuze
“Ivan Mazuze pushes the boundaries of contemporary jazz to include a variety of influences and sounds beyond its usual borders. Assured and virtuosic playing by Mazuze and his collaborators pull it all together into a kind of global musical language with an accessible and melodic appeal.” - Anya Wassenberg, All About Jazz, USA.
Piano was his first instrument and after seven years of classical piano training, he joined the woodwind section with a jazz study approach and a focus on improvisation. Mazuze continued his studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in the Department of Jazz and Musicology. He holds an honors degree in jazz and composition studies and is a master's graduate in ethnomusicology. He writes ethnomusicological articles about music and trance in ritual practices which have been released in the educational magazine The Talking Drum.
From the start, Mazuze had a clear vision of what he had to do to reveal himself as a solo artist in the music industry. In 2002 he won the Old Mutual Jazz Competition in the category of Composition in Cape Town, South Africa.
He realized that educating himself and mastering his instruments were not enough, so while studying he set up his own production and publishing company Imazuze Music to handle the business side of his career. As with all aspiring musicians at a young age, Mazuze dreamt of the day when he would record his own music.
For this disciplined musician, the dream became a goal, the goal became part of his ambition and the result was his debut album Maganda in 2009. Maganda is a reflection of Mazuze’s musical journey and experiences in jazz and African "worlds" of music. Maganda was nominated for the following categories and awards: Best Afro World Group, Oslo World Music Festival 2009; Best Contemporary Jazz Album, SAMA Awards 2010 (South African Music Awards); Best Afro Jazz Album and Jazz/Instrumental Album, Mozambique Music Awards 2010; Recommended Best Newcomer and Saxophonist of 2010, African Jazz Network.
In 2012 Mazuze released the album Ndzuti (2012) which means “shadow” in the ancient language of Xichangana of southern Mozambique. The music on Ndzuti has elements from both southern and West African traditions with jazz-based structures.
Ndzuti was chosen as a recommended album at African Jazz Network 2012 and as one of the key albums of 2012 by Music Information Center Norway (MIC) in 2012. Ndzuti was one of the 10 Best Albums of 2012 in Songlines Magazine.
Mazuze released his third album Ubuntu (2015), a highly acclaimed album among the Nordic media critics. The album features Norwegian and South African-based musicians. In 2018 Mazuze released the album Moya - the word "MOYA" translates as ‘spirit/soul’ is an album rich with melodic and rhythmic delights that have been lovingly selected and sculpted from African and Indian traditional music, in an all-embracing way, soul music. Moya was partly funded by the Arts Council Norway.
Amongst other awards and recognitions, Mazuze received a specialisation scholarship from the Norwegian Jazz Forum for 2015 and 2020. This scholarship has been granted to various jazz bands and musicians in Norway based on their artistic merit. Its purpose is to contribute to professional jazz musicians the freedom to immerse themselves in their art form. Mazuze has received various work-related composition grants for his albums Ndzuti, Ubuntu and Moya. Grants include Oslo Municipality (2011) and Norwegian Composer’s Association (2011/2014). He is the recipient of scholarships within composition work-related from NOPA (2017), Norwegian Composer’s Association (2017) and TONO (2016). He received composers grants from the Norwegian Composer's Association (2020), NOPA (2020) and TONO (2021).
As a Norway-based artist since 2009, Mazuze has been representing "world jazz" coming out of Norway at numerous music events and festivals in many parts of the world. This is in collaboration with Norwegian-based cultural institutions such as Arts Council Norway and Music Norway.
He has performed at music venues and festivals such as the Oslo Jazz Festival, Seoul Music Week, Amersfoort Jazz Festival, Nasjonal Jazzscene, Cosmopolite Scene, Pisa Jazz Festival, Jazztage Gorlitz Festival, Jazz no Franco, Peperoncino Jazz Festival, International Academy of Music Festival, DiVino Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Havana International Jazz Festival, Musica Sulle Bocche Jazz Festival, Grahamstown Jazz Festival, Joy of Jazz Festival, Locomotive Jazz Festival, Nick la Rocca Jazz Festival, Mela Festival, Cape Town International Jazz Festival, WOMEX in Copenhagen, by'Larm, Musicastrada Festival and many more.
As a Mozambique-born and educated saxophonist and composer, Ivan Mazuze emerges from a long tradition of jazz musicians in southern Africa and is continually an important representation of this genre. Since 2013 he has been a contributing artistic mentor for the International Jazz Day celebrations in Oslo and Drammen in Norway. Additionally, he is the initiator for the implementation of the International Jazz Day in his home country Mozambique. Its first edition was in 2015.
Since starting his artistic career, Ivan Mazuze has been active on a variety of artistic and cultural and advisory boards, committees and venues including the National and International folk music, joikand folk dance representation in Norway, Riksscenen, 2015-2021, the Norwegian Jazz Forum 2021-2023, Samspill International Music Network in Norway in 2021, Buskerud Theatre 2021-2023, musical leader together with Unni Løvlid for the Talent Program at the Førdefestivalen in Norway, 2016/2017, a member of the Jury for Talent program Jazzintro2022, a launch program for young Norwegian jazz musicians that showcase at the country's largest jazz festivals. Since its inception in 1998, Jazzintro has been very important in highlighting and highlighting the talents of Norwegian jazz. Many of today's big jazz names have participated in Jazzintro early in their careers. He is currently a board member for Cosmopolite Scene in Oslo, part of the advisory committee for Arts Council Norway. He is a cultural consultant for Interkultur at Drammen municipality in Norway where he is responsible for presenting international profiled cultural expressions to the Drammen region as well as developing exciting new concepts.
In 2023, Mazuze wrote Penuka (album), a commissioned work for Global Oslo Music and presented during winter of 2024. It is financed by the Arts Council Norway. This work has led to the release of his latest album Penuka: A Contemporary Jazz Exploration of Arab and Indian Influences on African Traditions Blending Traditional Rhythms with Modern Jazz Improvisation. “Mazuze now expands the battle zone with an artistically ambitious record”- AudunVinger, Jazznytt Norway. Penuka was released on CD via Global Sonics on October 11, 2024. Get a copy using the link below. Watch a 2018 performance by Ivan Mazuze's Quartet right here.
LINKS
Ivan Mazuze: https://imazuzemusic.com/
Get a copy of the Penuka CD right here: https://imazuzemusic.com/my-store
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