Jonas Gwangwa

Few jazz musicians have combined art and politics with as much entertaining efficacy as trombonist Jonas Gwangwa, who spent nearly 30 years in exile from South Africa's apartheid government. Born in the Johannesburg township of Orlando East in 1937, Gwangwa helped modernize South African jazz as a founding member (alongside Hugh Masekela and Dollar Brand) of the bebopping Jazz Epistles. He left the country in 1961 as a member of the landmark South African jazz musical King Kong and went into exile. He launched his mission to embody South Africa's national culture from abroad in the Medu Art Ensemble and, during the '80s, as leader of the African National Congress's cultural ensemble, Amandla. His score for Cry Freedom, Richard Attenborough’s 1987 film about South African revolutionary leader Steve Biko, earned him an Academy Award nomination. After releasing the exquisite Flowers of the Nation in 1990, Gwangwa returned to South Africa a hero. He continued to record albums blending jazz and traditional instrumentation until his death in 2021.