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Linda Sikhakhane

Linda Sikhakhane is a South African born saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was born in Umlazi Township near Durban where his love for music was triggered at an early age. This saw him attending music classes at the age of 10 in Junior Primary and later took up jazz lessons under the tutelage of Dr Brian Thusi at the Siyakhula Music Center in his neighborhood . He obtained a Diploma in Jazz /Popular Music at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal under Prof Mageshen Naidoo in 2012.

Sikhakhane has played and recorded with respected South African and international artists such as Brian Thusi,Barney Rachabane, Feya Faku, Marcus Wyatt, Herbie Tsoaeli, Andile Yenana, Nduduzo Makhathini, Afrika Mkhize, Sibongile Khumalo, Gregory Potter,Reggie Workman and many more.Sikhakhane won the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship in 2016 and in 2017 released his debut album titled 'Two Sides ,One Mirror' .

Linda re-located to New York in 2017 and enrolled at The New School University as a transfer student to complete his Bachelors degree in jazz ,he is studying with the great Billy Harper, David Schnitter & Reggie Workman.

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10
Album Review

Linda Sikhakhane: Iladi

Read "Iladi" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


The music of South African saxophonist Linda Sikhakhane does not so much originate from a particular point in time or space or history as much as it expands and accelerates forth from the sub-Sahara's heady mists. Billowing, charging. Seething, soothing. So ease back and let Iladi (a Zulu wisdom ritual) happen. Let the moves of diaspora move you. Let Iladi trace its heritage and bring all listeners home. Let it engulf the room like a fog. On his first ...

9
Album Review

Linda Sikhakhane: Iladi

Read "Iladi" reviewed by Chris May


It is beyond coincidence that the two most uplifting albums released by male saxophonists so far in 2024 were made by players who use their music, in part, to celebrate female wisdom. The albums are Linda Sikhakhane's Iladi and Oded Tzur's My Prophet (ECM). New York-based Tzur's My Prophet, like its immediate predecessor, Isabela (ECM, 2022), was inspired by Tzur's wife and is a semi-mystical portrait of her as, in Tzur's words, an all-powerful deity and the ...

13
Album Review

Nduduzo Makhathini: In The Spirit Of Ntu

Read "In The Spirit Of Ntu" reviewed by Chris May


There are strong links between London's alternative jazz scene and the parallel and burgeoning one in South Africa. A case in point is the connection between South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini and British tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings. Makhathini and Hutchings' similar ages and overlapping, cosmologically informed takes on jazz meant they were almost certain to meet on the international stage at some point, and having met, would take things further. Indeed, that happened, and serendipity brought ...

10
Album Review

Linda Sikhakhane: An Open Dialogue

Read "An Open Dialogue" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


When tenor saxophonist Linda Sikhakhane released Two Sides, One Mirror (Skay Music, 2017), it was a statement of arrival, marking his ascendancy within the jazz ranks in his native South Africa, and departure, signaling a move to the United States that would result in studies with tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, trumpeter Charles Tolliver, bassist Reggie Workman and a host of other greats at The New School. This eagerly awaited follow-up, recorded as part of his senior recital at that venerable ...

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Interview

Linda Sikhakhane: Two Sides, One Mirror

Read "Linda Sikhakhane: Two Sides, One Mirror" reviewed by Seton Hawkins


Though it has not received the level of press attention it warrants, South Africa's Jazz scene of the past decade has experienced an astonishing flourishing of artistry and development. While the scene lost some of its titans like Zim Ngqawana, Winston Mankunku Ngozi, and Bheki Mseleku, it has also found new paths through the efforts of a cavalcade of incredible young talents. These artists, born and/or raised in the post-apartheid era of South Africa, have navigated an amazing balance in ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Iladi

Blue Note Records
2024

buy

In The Spirit Of Ntu

Blue Note Africa
2022

buy

An Open Dialogue

Skay Music
2020

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Two Sides, One Mirror

Self Produced
2017

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