South African pianist, composer and academic Dr Sibusiso “Mash” Mashiloane has released 60 original compositions as a free digital collection, opening his music to musicians and educators.
Sounds of Home: Compositions Book One brings together music that has largely existed through performance and memory and places it into written notation for the first time.
The publication is the first in a planned series and spans compositions from different stages of Mashiloane’s career, including works connected to his acclaimed ISIGQI project.
Each composition is accompanied by Mashiloane’s programme notes explaining the people, places and experiences behind the music.
The collection includes tributes to family members and mentors, reflections on township life and South African identity, and compositions exploring isigqi — the organising pulse central to Mashiloane’s musical and academic work.
Mashiloane said making the collection freely available was an important part of ensuring that other musicians could engage with and continue developing the music.
“This music has always lived in performance and in memory. I wanted it to also live on the page, where other musicians could pick it up, learn from it, and carry it forward,” he said.
“That is why the book is free, the music was shaped by community, and it belongs back with that community.”
The complete 60-composition collection is available as a free PDF through Mashiloane’s website, while printed copies can also be pre-ordered.
The project creates a resource that can be used beyond performance, particularly by music students, educators and musicians interested in studying contemporary South African jazz composition.
Mashiloane holds a PhD in Music from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and lectures at its Centre for Jazz and Popular Music.
He has released eight albums, with his most recent, Isigqi: Live at the bird’s eye, recorded in Basel with Swiss musicians.
In 2024, he composed the ISIGQI Suite for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Carnegie Hall. His work has also received recognition through the NIHSS Awards, AFRIMA and the Mzantsi Jazz Awards.
Sounds of Home: Compositions Book One was edited by jazz writer Gwen Ansell, with music formatting by Pascal Haas and Mashiloane. Brandon Ryan handled the book design and layout, while Sanele Balintaba designed the cover.
The project was managed by Marlyn Ntsele of iSupport Creative Business.
The collection also includes a foreword by pianist, scholar and Mashiloane’s former lecturer Neil Gonsalves and an afterword by pianist Darius Brubeck, who established Africa’s first Jazz Studies degree programme at the University of Natal, now UKZN.
By making the collection freely accessible, Mashiloane is creating a written record of his work while giving a new generation of musicians an opportunity to study, perform and reinterpret South African jazz.
