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The late Sipho was born
in Cato Manor, Durban, in the heart of KwaZulu/Natal, his earliest
memories were of playing the guitar and penny whistle as a member of a
street corner Kwela band. His first guitar was assembled from a five
gallon can and a length of wood, strung with fish gut. After school on
a farm near Umlazi, he would watch the cattle and practice guitar so
that by the age of 16 he was proficient enough to attract the attention
of the late, great jazz guitarist, Cyril Magubane, who introduced him to the music of Wes Montgomery
and the jazz world.
Albums:
- Down Freedom Avenue
- UBUNTU HUMANITY
Joining his first band, the Jazz Revellers, and
switching from guitar to electric bass, Sipho decided to take the plunge as a
professional muso. After moving to Joburg in 1970, his career
began to take off and he toured with many of the leading local
artists of the era. An encounter with another great jazz evangelist,
Bheki Mseleku, led to the foundation of a dynamic musical partnership
and the formation of Spirits Rejoice, a group which explored
many of the facets of jazz-fusion but took the sound further by
blending in the traditional African rhythms Sipho had garnered over his
years on the road. In 1981, Sipho joined Khaya Mhlangu and MabiThobejane to form Sakhile, which provided him with a broader palette on
which to mix the rich musical colors of his native Natal and which
instantly became central to the seminal Sounds Black series of
concerts. In 1985, Sipho Gumede's debut solo album, 'Faces and Places'
was an early indication of his commitment to writing passionately and
honestly about his African homeland. Since then Sipho has been
continuously creating new and challenging music mainly through a series
of inspired collaborations. In 1986, a group of musicians including
Sipho and Hugh Masekela produced the musical show,
Buwa, which told the story of South African music. He toured the States
with Harry Belafonte and toured the world with a re-formed Sakhile, who
found an international audience educated by Paul Simon's Graceland. At
Quincy Jones' invitation, Sipho performed alongside Hugh Masekela at
the Montreux Jazz Festival. Sipho's 1992 album, Despite a career history that reads like a roll call of classic
South African jazz recordings, with credits including work with Dollar
Brand, Timmy Thomas, Winston Mankunku Harare, Kippie Moeketsie, Mango
Groove and Vicky Sampson and many more, Sipho has moved back to live in
his home town, where he teaches music and performs for the young people
in the townships. Together with Pops Mohamed, Sipho Gumede organised
the Outernational Meltdown jams.
He appears on Free At Last(BW076) and
co-produced Healers Brew (BW077) and Jazzin' Universally (BW078).
Sipho's first solo album for MELT 2000 (then B&W Music), Down Freedom Avenue (BW051),
released in 1994, is infused with the pride, the passion and the hopes
of his native South Africa at the historic moment of its emergence from
political darkness into a new dawn of freedom an remains the best selling album. This was followed in
1995 by Ubuntu - Humanity(BW084), which features a number of other
M.E.L.T. artists, including Moses Molelekwa, Mabi Thobejane and Pops Mohamed.
Sipho died in 2004 from lung cancer shortly after re-uniting Sakhile
with Mabi Thobejane and Kaya Mahlangu. For more of Sipho's work and
recent releases of a DVD with his music videos please check this
website: www.sheer.co.za
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