Thokozani Mhlambi & Friends
music with collaborations
Performed by Thokozani N MHLAMBI | Featuring Edward FUNGAYI on violin and dancer Darion THORNE
Join renowned cellist and vocalist Thokozani Mhlambi for an unforgettable evening of music at Theatre Arts. Mhlambi plays a custom baroque cello and sings in isiZulu, creating a genre-bending performance that gives homage to tradition and anticipates the future.
The performance, which includes special guest collaborators Edward Fungayi on violin & Darion Thorn as dancer, blends the earthy, gusty timbres of African traditional procession anthems like indlamu and umtshotsho with the ethereal soundscapes of Afrofuturism.
The show uses Western classical instruments to tell a uniquely African story. Come for a musical journey unlike any other. It is more than a concert; it's an invitation to connect, to collaborate, and to witness a stunning exploration of sound, space, and a shared history.
THOKOZANI MHLAMBI
Thokozani Mhlambi (Phd) is a musician, performer, inventor and community builder whose work has a reverence for the past and the future. Playing on a custom-designed, handmade Baroque cello with gut strings, Mhlambi creates innovative work, both for himself as a solo musician and for ensembles. He regularly plays with ensembles in South Africa and North America.
He has held fellowships at the University of Bayreuth (Germany) and Cité International des Arts (France). Currently he is involved in the Microtonal Music Studios research and study program in Helsinki (Finland).
In his album Zulu Song Cycle (2019), Mhlambi explores the limits of creative expression by blurring the distinction between European early classical music and African ancient sounds, this is in ways that defy the orthodoxy of his own classical education. Contending with orthodoxies and the rules they impose is what Mhlambi does best, by inverting, subverting what (to some) might be the norm.
Mhlambi has dedicated his time to retrieving historical sounds from archives, based on collections in Africa and elsewhere. The result has been compositions that reflects different epochs, different time zones in human evolution
He has an interest in the relationship between art and technology, an interest he explores through his research on African traditions of metallurgy. This has allowed Mhlambi to think about the nature of artistic expertise in correlation with metallurgical expertise, in his musical compositions. Chief amongst Mhlambi’s theoretical concerns is about thinking beyond the colonial sound archive, in imagining a sonic past and future.
In 2023, Mhlambi was invited to be part of the Reimagining America Program 2023, where he worked with youth string-players from the city of Providence (Rhode Island).
He is an Honorary Member of the Vancouver Folk Song Society and has also been a visiting lecturer at Simon Fraser University also in Vancouver, where he performed at the World Arts Centre. He has performed at the venues such as Elastic Arts in Chicago, Prachtwerk in Berlin, Minneapolis, New Orleans (Tulane), São Paulo, Maputo (Mozambique) and New York (Performa).
EDWARD FUNGAYI
Edward Fungayi is a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Music from the South African College of Music, University of Cape Town. Fungayi has been an active member of several esteemed ensembles, including the Hugo Lambrechts Senior Strings (2017-2019), Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra (2017-2019), Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (2018-2020), and UCT Symphony Orchestra (2020-2024). He is an avid improviser and performer, regularly collaborating with local jazz and African music musicians in various recording and performance projects. Fungayi is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Hugo Lambrechts: Leon Trust Scholarship (2018) and the Humanities Faculty School Scholarship (2021).
DARION THORNE
Darion Adams is a multifaceted freelance artist, dancer, educator, choreographer, and project coordinator born and raised in Manenberg, Cape Town. They graduated Top Achiever for Dance at Alexander Sinton High School. Completed his Diploma in Dance Education at UCT Centre for Theatre Dance and Performance Studies and Professional Performance at Jazzart Dance Theatre. Adams has collaborated with various renowned companies, including Unmute Dance Company, Darkroom Contemporary, Figure of Eight Dance Theatre, Third World Bunfight, Sunshine Cinema, and Hear My Voice SA, to name a few. They were awarded the Pina Bausch Fellowship for 2025. In addition, Adams was nominated and selected by the US Consulate Cape Town for the Economic Development through the Arts Program in 2025 and travelled to Washington DC, Cincinatti Ohio, New Orleans and Minneapolis, Minnesota to engage with various arts organisations. They recently performed in the World Premiere of the production FAUSTX in Weimar, Germany.