Neo Muyanga
LISTEN: THE CHRONIC – DIPALO BY NEO MUYANGA
CHIMURENGA LIBRARY
In 2011 we invited the composer, sound artist and librettist Neo Muyanga to compose a mixtape to accompany the first edition of the Chimurenga Chronic – the publication was imagined as the once-off edition of a newspaper-as-time-travel-machine that transported readers back to the peak of the xenophobic attacks across SA in May 2008.
Muyanga responded with a 45mn suite titled “Dipalo – a mixtape for those who practice counting”. The mixtape includes the following 12 tracks:
a) 1+1= (a re-composition of a 5000-year-old offering to Lord Ganesha, an opener of sorts)
b) 4:7 (heaven’s on the ocean is a proportional refrain on reaching nirvana, the 7th grade, via the mundane material world)
c) 3sin= rθ (sino projection technology theme)
d) 3(x)n (illegal border crossing and migration theme. composed for dancers)
e) e=mcx \rightarrow \infty (a true story about an explosive riot day with SADF soldiers who attacked Soweto on June 16th, 1985. Composed for those who got hurt)
f) ƒ:X→Y (horizon heart aflame. Composed for a lover)
g) (a summing of random themes theme)
h) 4x+2 (the 2 or 4 step theme)
i) y~ 6/8 (a travelling theme in 6 parts over eight. Composed for puppets)
j) y\ge \!\, 6/8 (a running theme in 6 parts over 8 )
k) 1/4° (a kota bread theme. Composed for skolies and thieves)
l) (a perpetual circle. Composed for an apartheid-era multi-racial soccer club)
Join us to re-listen.
Wednesday, 15 April 2026 from 7pm
Live on the Pan African Space Station
Tune in!
EPISTROPHIES
We are pleased to present Epistrophies – groundings with Robin D.G. Kelley and Neo Muyanga – in praise and thanks for the melodious thunk of Thelonious Monk! We’ll also be screening Rewind & Play, Alain Gomis’ brilliant filmic take on Monk’s method. (Read more on the film here.) Saturday, 16 September 2023 from 6pm Chimurenga Factory (157 Victoria Rd, Woodstock)
Category: Live Events, News, Pass Blog
Tags: Neo Muyanga, Robin D.G. Kelley, Thelonious Monk
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LIBERATION RADIO: CAPE TOWN – 15 March 2022 – 3pm: South African Liberation Songs
In our opening session we present a conversation between contemporary musicians who actively draw on the archive to directly inform their music and artist practice, along with audio pieces from each participant. With: Neo Muyanga, Asher Gamedze, Masello Montana and Nhlanhla Ngqaqu (iPhupho L’ka Biko). Neo Muyanga is a composer, theorist and activist who is engaged in a multi-focal exploration of protest music that spans from how protest songs played a key role in South Africa’s liberation to the role …
LIBERATION RADIO: CAPE TOWN – 15th-18th March 2022, 3-6pm
Liberation Radio is part of Chimurenga’s ongoing query on knowledge production via African sound worlds. Through this program we explore the possibilities of radio as a research platform and the sonic archives of cultural struggles, and the role of city-studios such as Cairo, Accra, Conakry, Algiers, Dar es Salaam, Lusaka and more, as revolutionary capitals which hosted and disseminated liberatory work through their national infrastructure. This edition, live from our Cape Town studio on the 15th -18th of March from …
Category: Liberation Radio, News, Pass Blog, Pass Radio
Tags: Ali Hlongwane, Amandla Cultural Ensemble, Asher Gamedze, Athi Mongezeleli Joja, Bongiwe Dhlomo-Mautloa, Dashiki, Gwen Ansell, Judy Seidman, Kgomotso Ramushu, Lerato Kuzwayo, Liberation Radio, Mafube Arts Commune, Malopoets, Masello Montana, Medu Art Ensemble, Memory Biwa, Neo Muyanga, Nhlanhla Ngqaqu, Percy Mabandu, Pungwe, Rob Machiri, Sinazo Mtshemla, Steve Dyer, Uhuru Phalafala, Yasmina Reggad
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Neo Muyanga – a Revolting Mass
Composer and musician and a co-curator of the Pan African Space Station Neo Muyanga is back with more Revolting Tunes that engage the axis of black music and the aesthetics of protest. The performance lecture is part of Muyanga’s ongoing, multi-focal exploration of protest music. The project spans from how protest songs played a key role in South Africa’s liberation to the role of liberation music in Egypt, Brazil and Uruguay. He hosts discussions and performances to explore these themes …
Friday 13 November Runnings
Africa is a Country are in studio to get the weekend started with “Block The Road: The Sound of Afrosoca,” an exploration of the recent explosion of cross-Atlantic exchange between Caribbean and African musicians, with Rum N’ Lime Radio co-hosts – Queens-based writer and academic Rishi Nath, and DJ, producer, and Trinidadian Soca ambassador DLife. Next, composer and musician and a co-curator of the Pan African Space Station, Neo Muyanga is back with more Revolting Tunes that engage black music …
Category: Pass Blog
Tags: Coco Fusco, Giovanni Russonello, Neo Muyanga, Nontsikelelo Mutiti
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Neo Muyanga – Revolting Songs
Neo Muyanga‘s “Revolting Songs: Black Music and the Aesthetics of Protest” Here, the Cape Town based composer and PASS co-founder continues his multi-focal exploration of protest music that spans from how protest songs played a key role in South Africa’s liberation to the role of liberation music in Egypt, Brazil and Uruguay. Neo Muyanga is a composer and musician and a co-curator of the Pan African Space Station. He works across genres – from classical to hip-hop, jazz to pop, …
PASS in NY: Neo Muyanga
Cape Town-based composer and PASS co-founder Neo Muyanga is engaged in an ongoing, multi-focal exploration of protest music that spans from how protest songs played a key role in South Africa’s liberation to the role of liberation music in Egypt, Brazil and Uruguay. For PASS at the Performa Hub in New York, Neo will host discussions and performances to explore these themes with NYC based musicians. “This is ugly beautiful. One of the roles of music is to do …
PASS pop-up at Performa 15 Hub in New York
Through next week, we’ll occupy the Performa 15 Hub in New York with the Chimurenga Library. This multi-tiered programming platform takes the form of a library-of-people, bringing together a broad spectrum of collaborators and literal bodies of knowledge in an improvised, pop-up library which also functions as radio studio and market. The Chimurenga Library engages trade as both the process of buying, selling, or exchanging goods or services and the practice of exchanging ideas, imaginaries, perceptions, and vocabularies. Over five days, from …
Category: News
Tags: Harmony Holiday, Neo Muyanga, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, PASS New York
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Revolting Songs: Neo Muyanga
This installment of Stories about Music in Africa features South African musician and composer Neo Muyanga. Stories about Music in Africa is an ongoing project of the Pan African Space Station. Special thanks to Brundyn+ Gallery and Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism.
Category: Articles, Pass Blog, Video
Tags: Neo Muyanga, Stories About Music in Africa
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