By Adesoba Toluwalope
South Africa jazz musician, producer and record composer, Jonas Gwangwa, has died aged 83.
The powerful figure in the music industry died on Saturday, January 23, 2021.
Born October 10 1937 in Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa, Jonas mastered the trombone in his youth, and in the late ’50s was a founding member of the pivotal South African group the Jazz Epistles.
The Jazz musician had a booming career for 40 years before he passed on.
South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, had paid tributes to the legendary musician, a nominee for Oscar for the theme song of the 1987 film “Cry Freedom”.
“A giant of our revolutionary cultural movement and our democratic creative industries has been called to rest,” Ramaphosa said.
“The trombone that boomed with boldness and bravery, and equally warmed our hearts with a mellow melody has lost its life force,” the president added.
In the early ’70s, Gwangwa began living in exile, but continued to employ his music as a form of resistance. From 1980 to 1990, he was the leader of Amandla, the cultural ensemble of the African National Congress.
He also co-composed the theme song for the 1987 movie ‘Cry Freedom’, about the anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, for which he got nominated for in the Oscar awards.
The jazz wizard has passed away on the third anniversary of the death of the “father of South African jazz” Hugh Masekela and the second anniversary of the death of Zimbabwean musical legend Oliver Mtukudzi. January 23 had become “the day the music died,” the South African and other media outlets said.
In a statement and a continuation by the president, he said, “He delighted audiences in Sophiatown until it became illegal for black people to congregate and South African musicians were jailed merely for practising their craft.”
Jonas was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga, South Africa’s highest national award presented for achievements in art and culture, in 2010.
The award recognised his work as composer, arranger and musical director of the Amandla Cultural Ensemble, a cultural group formed by activists from the African National Congress in the 1970s.
No report has been given yet on how and where he died.
