Youth Jazz Band Mekwano Take ‘First Steps’

Youth Jazz Band Mekwano Take ‘First Steps’ –  It’s easy to spot talent when a young child puts all their emotion into playing a musical instrument.

When you listen to the teenage band MEKWANO, you immediately feel the emotion smoothly demonstrated harmoniously by this three-piece band. The band’s drums, piano and trumpet combination is rich and, instantly fills the room.

Mekwano Release ‘First Steps’ Debut

Just a few months ago, on 27 October 2023, the band released their debut album entitled “First Steps”. The story of MEKWANO begins a few years before this, when Nomvelo, Nokwanda and Melusi started jamming in their father’s music room in the middle of 2015. Nomvelo, the band leader and eldest of the siblings, gravitated to the piano early.

About the Young Artists Known as Mekwano

Nomvelo

At the age of 8, Nomvelo composed her first family song titled “Daddy You’re the Best”, dedicated to her father. The song was so popular that every child in the Yende family starts singing along in unison at family gatherings. The song later developed into a modern jazz instrumental, re-titled “Big Dada’s Jam” as track number four on their album.

“’First Steps’, the title of this project, symbolises our long journey still to be accomplished in the music sphere,” Nomvelo beams, with the same smile you can see on the cover photo of the album.

While Nomvelo completed school in 2021, her sister Nokwana just matriculated, and younger brother Melusi is hot on their heels currently in his final school year. Nokwanda has been into music even before birth, having spoiled her mother’s vacation fun whilst attending a famous jazz festival in Montreux, Switzerland.

She just could not stop dancing to all the live music that was playing, and her mother was forced to leave and find peace at their hotel. This may have also been the reason that at the tender age of two she received a brand-new set of children drums as her birthday gift. Or perhaps the reason was because Nokwanda loved hitting anything in the house she came across when jamming to music.

Melusi

By far the quietest member of the band, Melusi “Buddy Luddy” Yende is also it’s pillar. So nicknamed by his father, Buddy Luddy was, at age two, the youngest invitee to the Capital Jazz festival in Washington DC, USA, where he mixed and mingled with all the artists backstage. His trumpet playing is calm, relaxed, cool… like his jazz heroes Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Chris Botti, Feya Faku, amongst others.

“I see myself playing for music lovers in small jazz clubs, at private events, concerts and at big jazz festivals around the world. I wish to share my music with all the people of the world,” Buddy Luddy says while explaining his soul satisfying sound, in the vein of his admitted jazz giants Freddie Hubbard, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, and the list goes on. The track “Do Ya Thang” is the first single from MEKWANO’s new album and demonstrates Buddy Luddy’s groovy side.

The limited edition double-disc CD is also available

CD One:
1.         Sweet Life 6:02
2.         Danny Boy (standard) 6:44
3.         First Steps 6:21
4.         Big Dada’s Jam 6:50
5.         Sapphire 7:43
6.         PA 7:02
7.         Fields of Joy 8:01

CD Two:
8.         We Just Funking 6.32
9.         Buddy Luddy’s Blues 5.46
10.       Hey, You There! 5.12
11.       Thursday 24th  6.35
12.       Do Ya Thang 6.46
13.       Empire Road 6.13

Find the album on your preferred digital music platform Below

Mekwano Management

The band was formed in July 2015 and is made up of teenage siblings who are under the guidance, mentorship, and management of Blue Globe Inc (BGI), an artist management and music recording company. MEKWANO is a jazz trio, highly influenced by a variety of musical genres like jazz, R&B and funk.