10/01/20
OFFICIAL
BIOGRAPHY
DIZU PLAATJIES, NEO TRADITIONAL BUT TRUE TO HIS ROOTS
Dizu
Plaatjies was born in 1960, the son of a Xhosa traditional healer and
grew up in the Cape Town township of Langa in South Africa. Behind
his warm smile is a serious and spiritual person. He is the founder
and former leader of South Africa’s internationally celebrated
marimba group, Amampondo.
The
group took their name from the Xhosa tribe that Dizu is a member of.
Dizu´s
compositions and arrangements of traditional songs appear on seven
albums by his former group. After fifteen years of touring with
Amampondo he recorded his first solo album in 2005, titled, Ibuyambo.
The CD was released together with a stage show. This production
featured Dizu with most of the players with whom he recorded the
album, performing in their hallmark body paint and featuring dance
and costumes inspired by traditional outfits of different peoples of
the southern African region.
On
this first solo album Dizu has liberally mixed various traditional
African instruments and songs with his own original lyrics and
melodies. For example on the title track, Ibuyambo,
he has arranged a melody from Zimbabwe for marimbas associated with
Mozambique and placed a Congolese choir over the instruments. On
Equonce,
he applies percussion elements of Hip-Hop music and the tongue clicks
of the San people, to the rural chant from children’s game. In this
way he has created a unique neo-traditional blend of sounds.
Since going solo he has
done several international tours including shows in Canada, France,
Germany, Algeria, Morocco, Oman, Holland, USA, and more. More
recently he played the prestigious WOMAD in the UK, Sauti za Busara
in Zanzibar and the Rainforest WMF in Borneo and his own headline
concert at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York.
His
second solo recording, African
Kings
is a project using traditional instruments (Mbira, Uhadi, Umrhube,
Akadinda – to name a few) and the maskandi style acoustic guitar.
The production approach is more contemporary than his previous
neo-traditional recordings. The album won a coveted SAMA award in May
2009 as the Best
Alternative African Album.
His
latest album features a combination of African and western
instruments. Featured are his Ibuyambo band members but also guest
artists, guitarists Derek Gripper and Allou April from Cape Town, The
French/Chillian duo, Sueno en la Fabrica and also from France the
jazz ensemble L'Arbe Canapas, and from Holland star drummer Lucas van
Merwijk. The album is a mixture of contemporary jazz-rock and
traditional African compositions performed with the polish of a
completely up to date production. It was recorded in South Africa and
France and mixed in Germany. The record, as with the previous two albums was produced by Patrick Lee-Thorp, garnered a SAMA Award in May
2016 for the Best African Adult Album of the year.
As
teacher and he has recently visited the USA, Australia, and Norway
and Finland to lead workshops. He has performed in the Czech
Republic, where his collaboration with local folk artist Jiri Pavlica
has made Dizu a major attraction in that country being awarded a gold
record for their recordings together.
His
concerts are as a solo performer, duo or with his own band (known as
Dizu Plaatjies and the Ibuyambo Ensemble) of percussionists and
multi-instrumentalists covering repertoire from his work of over 25
years. There is singing, dancing and playing using many wonderful
African instruments he has collected in his career.
When
not touring he spends his time teaching at the University of Cape
Town’s Music College.
Issued by Mountain
Records, PO Box 70, Observatory, 7935, South Africa.
Kindly
credit this source if you use any part hereof.
