SFJAZZ celebrates 30 Years of South African freedom with concert series

South African jazz ,musician McCoy Mrubata will perform as part of a SFJAZZ series celebrating the anniversary of the fall of apartheid.

McCoy Mrubata was a musically inclined teenager in 1976 when the student-led Soweto uprising set South Africa alight and ended his formal education. He was 16 “and South Africa was on fire,” said the saxophonist on a recent video call from his home in Johannesburg. “Our lives revolved around rallies and protesting.”

The series opens April 25 with a solo performance by guitar virtuoso Derek Gripper, who’s created a gorgeous repertoire transcribing pieces by Mali’s Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko from the 21-string kora. “He’s a very important figure in South African music,” Mrubata said. Mrubata closes the celebration April 28 with a quartet with Maine-based American guitarist Gary Wittner, who co-produced his new album for Ropeadope, “Lullaby for Khayoyo.” Berkeley-raised New York bassist Noah Garabedian and East Bay drum great Deszon Claiborne round out the band.

In the decades of struggle against apartheid, artists like trumpeter Hugh Masakela, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, drummer Louis Moholo and bassist Johnny Dyani were on the front lines. At home, they provided a vision for a post-apartheid society in groups like the integrated Blue Notes . In exile they helped keep the fight in the headlines.

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