Today we’d like to introduce you to Lumanyano Mzi.
Lumanyano, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The middle child of three born in Nyanga East, in a township called Lusaka. It is one of the poorest and most dangerous parts of Cape Town. My parents were fruit and vegetable sellers who worked their way up to owning a spaza shop (corner store) near our local taxi rank. The music story comes from my Dad, who started a band called The Mighty Ethiopians, a reggae band with seven members. At a very young age, I was exposed to reggae music, and our small one-roomed shack resounded with rehearsal sessions a few times a week. I remember my Dad would play his cassettes every day when he got home from work: the sounds of Peter Tosh and Bob Marley. He would sit on the couch, strumming his guitar and singing the songs he had written for us.
Our family eventually got an RDP (government subsidy housing) house in Delft. This house was too small for any rehearsals, so the band relocated to another band member’s house in Philippi, a township 16km away from Delft. The band would busk around the taxi ranks in Cape Town, and my greatest love was to sit next to the drummer. I would watch him mesmerized by the sounds and his enjoyment of the playing. At that age, the beat was everything to me, as I had no concept of technique. The bass drum resonated with my heart and became a part of me. I remember one occasion when the band was going to a rehearsal, and they left me behind. I knew how to get there, so I decided to follow the car and walked the 16km to the rehearsal on my own.
I was six years old. I can vividly recall knowing I could not go back even though I was terrified. When I got to the rehearsal room, it was quiet. When I walked in, my father was furious, and he looked over at me, saying, “You go and sit on the drums and play. That is what you wanted.” The band was not playing because the drummer hadn’t arrived a the rehearsal. They started one of the songs, and I started playing. I knew what to play because I had watched the drummer and listened to this music for many years. This is how I made my debut in the band!! After that, they would give me one song in their repertoire, and I would play it.
It grew to two songs, three songs, and so on. I played my first concert with the band when I was seven years old in front of two thousand people. I was so sleepy and tired as we had a midnight slot at this festival. I was woken up to get ready for the stage, and I don’t remember being scared for the performance. My feet couldn’t touch the floor of the bass drum, and if the seat was lowered, I couldn’t reach the toms. But this short little guy knew this was where he “fitted” the best and would pursue this as a career. The band eventually became more of our family as my cousin-brother and my brother joined. We played many festivals.
A highlight was the Monwabisi Beach Reggae Festival, where I first met a British sound engineer and promoter; he really loved our band every year he mixed it. In primary school, there was never music offered as a subject, but at school fundraising concerts and student concerts, I was the guy who would play the guitar and sing. I was famous at school for that! In the staff room, I was on display in the Tattler (the local paper) for my playing.
My Dad bought me my first drum kit when I was 9 or 10, and I will never forget that day. He usually got home around 8 pm each evening, but on this day arrived in the afternoon. He was so happy, with a big smile on his face. “Come and see, come and see,” he said excitedly. In the “bakkie” (open-backed van), he had a drum kit for me. It was blue, and I was beyond excited.
Looking back, it was a very cheap entry-level set, but that did not matter. I played every day for hours and the poor neighbors must have wished I had chosen a quieter instrument. One of my Dad’s friends had been telling him to take us kids to a music school. This “uncle” had been taking music lessons in Langa with a missionary group who were doing outreach. They asked for a nominal fee, but we could not afford anything back then. As a Rastafarian, my Dad believed that if this was a gift, it could not be taught. I had heard this conversation before. Hence, I received no formal training until, walking home from a friend one afternoon, I walked past a church and heard music. I followed the sounds, and inside I saw the church band rehearsing.
The pastor had asked musicians from another church to teach his band, and I stood and watched for a while. When they noticed me, I said simply, “I can play.” When they tried to question me, I left hurriedly. I passed there a few weeks later, and they were practicing again. There was no drummer this time, and they asked me to join. I bravely decided I would just go and play.
They were astounded! The pastor drove me home to ask my Dad if I could play in church, and my Dad gave his permission. Now I was playing church and playing a new genre of music. Another world opened up, one of Urban Gospel and Traditional Gospel music that was very much influenced by the USA. We watched concerts that were so different from my Dad’s reggae cassettes. All I thought was that I could see and hear this band, and the drumming was so incredible. I was becoming so inspired by watching these DVDs, and I was playing more and more.
Church on Wednesday night with the practices on Monday and Tuesday. Thursday night was practice for Friday night youth church and Saturday practice for Sunday church. I got to play every day. The church keyboard player is still a good friend. Papi came from Free State, and they knew traditional Sotho hymns. They got me into the local Gospel music genre. We played a lot together and learned.
My old friends that I played soccer with and got up to tricks with became so angry with me as I was at church every day of the week and the rest of the time at my house or Papi’s house playing music.
I went to a high school out of Delft, but my aunt approached my mother and told her that I needed to get out of Delft for school. My aunt proceeded to find me a high school out of the township and managed to get me into Salt River High School. I was super excited. One of my friends also managed to get into this school, and we were the only two friends from our group of friends that went to this school.
We were so very proud. In my school, the Arts and Culture teacher, Mr. O’Connell, loved music so much that it became his tool when teaching class. Mr. O’Connell never read music, but he played by ear. He was the first person I could relate to. His ear was brilliant; he could play and sing anything. I told Mr. O’Connell I could play multiple instruments with drums being my favorite. The first week at school, Mr. O’Connell and I hit it off, and we would spend hours playing music during the breaks. I got one year with Mr. O’Connell as he was retiring, but he introduced me to jazz, his love. Mr. Brown was the replacement, and he was a classically trained professional. Mr. Brown read music. I was 14, and I had never read music, but Mr. Brown taught us how to read. Wow. His favorite song was “What A Wonderful World,” and that was the first song I learned to play. He started a school choir, which I sang in for that year. Mr. Brown loved how much I loved music and made me the choir captain. He taught me to play the choir warm-up, and that was my start leading a “band.” Two years with Mr. Brown and I could read music. He invited another school’s jazz band to play at our school, and they arrived and set up. It was incredible seeing all the instruments, although the other kids were kind of bored.
Not me!! Mr. Brown did not know I could play drums, and I asked him if I could play a song. Their bandleader agreed and asked me if I could play “Pata Pata,” a traditional Miriam Makeba song. Of course, I could, and I played with them. I remembered the song from a DVD I got from a friend at church. I noticed that the band was all reading the music and playing but not really feeling it. I couldn’t understand why. The best part was because there was no music at our school, they had never heard me play drums. When I started playing, the whole school went berserk, cheering my name and dancing. What a feeling! The next day, the other school’s band teacher asked to see me, and Mr. Brown took me to the school. I went into the band room and was in awe of all the instruments, the notes on the board, the music on paper, and the facility. There was music everywhere! The band teacher offered to pay for me to take lessons. She then asked me to transfer schools. I was just saying yes to everything she suggested!
Back at my school, my head teacher didn’t think the timing was a good idea in Grade 11 as it is a pivotal year in SA schooling. They were concerned I would not cope academically. My parents were not involved in my education and did not come forward to assist me in any way, as they were always working. I stayed in my school and continued playing music with Mr. Brown. Once again, a new teacher arrived in the Arts and Culture department. Although I did not do Arts and Culture, I spent all of my free time in that room with whoever would play music or listen to music. The new teacher could read music and play it by ear, perfect for my further music education!! Mr. Stadler impressed me when he played me “Flight of the Bumblebee,” and that got me hooked! My mind went kaboom! I played him “What Wonderful World,” of course. He taught me scales and posture on the piano. He went to the staffroom and printed out almost 100 pages of scales. I still have them! He taught me all of these things in the same year that the school bought marimbas. We started a marimba band, and we practiced all the time. I was the bandleader. I was still playing in church outside of school and in my father’s band.
The British sound engineer who had mixed us at the festivals gave me a call and asked me to play in his band for a festival in Langa. I said yes, of course, and he dropped off the CD at my house. I learned this music by practicing it over and over. When I got onto the stage with the band, I realized I was playing with a band that had played internationally and were my heroes. The leader did not have much confidence in me, “he’s just a kid!” They were surprised when I played the first set. I played the $%#% out of that set! They came to pay me for the gig at school and gave me R7 000.
This was almost three times as much as my parents made in a good month. I arrived home with the money, and my mother was astounded that this is what I had been paid for the gig. I gave them the money, and they gave me a small portion. I went to get a bus ticket for the month and treated myself to a set of sticks, a practice pad, headphones, and an MP3 player. I had never been able to buy anything like this in my life! After that gig, the band gave me a call and invited me to be a part of a Department of Education theatre initiative where kids from underprivileged areas were brought together to develop a theatre production. I would be paid to be part of the band – a professional!
The performance was amazing, and I used my pay to purchase a drum kit from one of the band members. It suddenly hit me that I could make money doing what I love. I could go and study music. But I had never had formal training. We would have conversations about kids from posh schools who had the facilities and funding and could get into university. I wanted to be a performer, but I didn’t know if I could get into the University Of Cape Town (UCT) to study music if I could not read music well enough. I remembered Mr. Stadler saying to me that I should apply anyway.
The reading music freaked me out, truth be told, so I decided not to apply for university. However, during my matric year, I was lucky enough to play with one of SA’s afro-pop superstars. I learned the music, but there was no practice as the artist was going to fly in, and then we would play. The band practiced briefly and went to Soundcheck. The artist realized the keyboard and Bass player were not confident, and he started stressing. The saxophone player called two of his friends, and we met at UCT to quickly practice before the concert. We had two hours!! I had never been on campus and could not stop staring. I was wearing a T-shirt with my school uniform!! I couldn’t believe these guys could learn the song so quickly just by reading the music. The keyboard player complimented me on my playing and said I should come and study at UCT like he had. I told him I couldn’t read music, and he explained he hadn’t been able to either.
He advised me to enquire about doing a foundation year, and I was so excited. I spent what was left of school taking library books out to teach myself how to read music. I could get what was going on but no practical side. I would get so bored because it wasn’t “music” and had no musical connection. But I kept going. I passed Matric and had not applied for university, so I decided on a gap year. I asked my father for money for jazz lessons because I realized that piano would be the best way to learn music theory. I registered for five lessons. I was playing guitar, piano, and singing, as well as accompanying spoken word poets. We used to have many concerts at a theatre close to UCT, and one of the poets one evening was a student at UCT and encouraged me to apply. I kept hearing and being encouraged to go to UCT.
All my idols and great SA artists had studied at UCT. The applications came out, and my poet friend brought me the forms. One of my anxieties is applications and forms!! I filled the forms in twice, one copy was usable. I submitted my application the year that I was taken “to the mountain,” my traditional rite of passage into manhood. I gave my friend Papi my logins for my emails to let me know if I had been accepted. I came down from the mountain with one thing on my mind, and it had nothing to do with being a man!! The first thing I did when I got my phone was to phone Papi. I got in!!! Orientation day…. residence…and I was now leaving home to study at UCT. The first year was really tough.
Especially jazz theory. Outside of university, I was a professional, and I was traveling Africa. Cote D’Ivoire, Malawi, Kenya. Mauritius and Reunion Island. I was playing on a lot of albums. My first trip to Senegal and Gambia was in my final year of school. In my final year of UCT, I started my own band, and we had three years together and recorded an album. We won a Mzansi Award for Best Newcomers in Jazz. I played in the iconic Broadway show King Kong where I met my wife. I got to play with all of the people I had looked up to, recording and traveling with them. I will end soon as I may write a book if I continue………….
Now I am currently furthering my studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and how I got here is another long story, but I am grateful and honored that I am here and getting to live my dreams. I would have never thought that music would do all of this for me.
If it wasn’t for music, I don’t know what I would be doing right now or where I would be. Music has been both an escape and a refuge. It is my safe haven, and I owe it my life.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a simple journey. Relocating to a new country during the pandemic in particular.
I was accepted to Berklee in 2017, but I was unable to enroll because the scholarship I received was insufficient to cover expenses. In 2020, however, my good friend Thomas Gamier, chairman of The Great Hospitality, provided me with the necessary funding, and I was able to enroll at Berklee beginning with the 2021 January Spring Semester. Mr. Gamier’s assistance allowed me to complete an entire academic year. In spite of this, he reluctantly informed me in November 2021 that, due to the pandemic’s devastating impact on his business, he was unable to continue sponsoring me. After numerous scholarship requests, the Berklee financial aid office agreed to assist me with only tuition.
This has been an emotional rollercoaster in itself, but some of the challenges I’ve faced throughout my career have been a lack of access to resources and exposure to the education required to thrive as a musician, particularly when I was still living in Delft.
Nonetheless, the support, community, and institutions that I attended helped me overcome many obstacles. They have facilitated my journey of learning and discovery.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am mostly known as a drummer, whether I am a sideman or leading my own projects, this is what I am mostly known for. I have a long list of works that I am proud of including:
The Unity Band – Fabric 2019 & Breaking Bread 2023 (I am the bandleader in this project)
Mandisi Dyantyis – Somandla
Micheal Bester – Not Yet
Mighty Ethiopians – Solution
The Fugard Theatre – King Kong The Legend of The Boxer and Kinky Boots
A Chrismas Chorus Movie (Drummer & Acting Debut)
To name a few, there’s more on my website. I also specialize in composition, arranging, and production. This led me to pursue Contemporary Writing and Production major at Berklee College of Music.
Works include:
Lingua Franca – Izityilelo Zobuze (Arts Cape Theatre)
Alunamda – (Arts Cape Theatre)
EVplus chargers commercial
to name a few.
I’d say what sets me apart is that besides the 20+ years of experience, I have in Touring, Recording, Session Musician, Musical Theatre, Movies, Ads, Music Directing, Teaching, Band-Leading, Events Organiser, and Artistic Director.
I am a versatile musician with knowledge and experience in many genres, I am from a country with many different tribes/cultures and languages. The joy, humility, and resilience in my country I believe are evident in my work and the kind of person I am.
Another thing that sets me apart in the professional world is that I can always be counted on. I know how important it is to be reliable, so I always try my hardest to keep the promises I make. I also have the rare ability to listen without judging, which makes it easy for others to speak their minds without fear of being judged. Along with this, I have a deep understanding of basic to advanced music technology, which helps me adapt to and do well in different musical situations, improving the quality of the projects I work on as a whole.
I’m also different because I’m always looking for ways to solve problems. I think about problems in a proactive way, looking for solutions and using my knowledge and skills to overcome any problems that come up. I also keep a positive attitude all the time, which makes the people around me feel encouraged and supported. I care a lot about the success and happiness of my peers, and I’m always ready to lend a hand or give advice when it’s needed.
I always do my best to stay in the moment. It’s one of my most important traits. During rehearsals and performances, I am fully involved and pay attention to make sure I am actively contributing and making the most of every chance. I know that no matter how big or small a stage is, it deserves my full attention and professionalism. I also know how to act at rehearsals and performances in a way that shows respect for everyone’s time and work and makes the environment more pleasant and productive.
Lastly, I’m proud of being on time and being ready. I think that showing up on time and ready to work is not only a sign of respect but also a sign of how much I care about the task at hand. By always showing these qualities, I hope to stand out and make a positive contribution to any musical project I work on with other people.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was very friendly, curious, ambitious, and creative, I assumed leadership when it was necessary. Although a middle child, I wouldn’t say I suffered middle-child syndrome. I just never gave my parents any reason to worry.
All I wanted to do if not outside playing soccer, I’d be inside playing music or watching movies. I Loved bringing people together, whether it was rallying up my friends on a hot day to go to the swimming pool or not asking permission from my father to take some equipment to play some music at my school. I just loved hustling and being involved in positive things that got me off the streets and being involved with a bad crowd.
I was respectful of my elders, obeyed, and did not talk back, when I did “I wished I had not talked back”. I was an overall calm and collected kid that loved sports, music, and being involved in anything that brought about happiness and changes in my community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.unitymzi.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lumanyano_mzi/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lumanyanomzi/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lumanyano-mzi-19068479/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXjqjCzz1148kSzGG2v7yQ
Image Credits
Bewild Production Daniel Rutland Manners Sithembele Jnr
