Based: Cape Town
ABAVUKI are a powerful African Jazz outfit from Langa, Cape Town and have been playing their infectious afro-beat grooves since 2001. The eight members in the group, all multi-instrumentalists, are influenced by kwaito, samba, jazz and traditional rhythms, which they translate within a more modern format, using marimbas, percussion and brass instruments.
The Xhosa name “abavuki” means ‘Wake up, early birds!’ and this attitude is palpable in Abavuki’s high-energy, uplifting music that not only reflects their youth, but their optimistic outlook on life and their approach to music-making.
Their vibrant reinterpretation of marimba music, with overlaid brass instruments, is a funky addition to the genre, and resounds because it is testimony to the resilience of South Africans and the redemption the country has found in music in its path to reconciliation.