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ChefKD

@chefkd__

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documenting artistry, not just sound.
🪘music•yaps•archives
💌: [email protected]
📍Toronto

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@balimayaproject is my favourite collective on the scene rn 🎷 Formed in London in 2019, Balimaya Project are a 16-piece collective rooted in Mandé West African musical traditions and the energy of London’s contemporary jazz scene.

Their name comes from “bali,” meaning kinship, and “maya,” meaning humanity; together carrying ideas of family, belonging and shared responsibility.

Their sound brings together djembe, dounoun, kora, balafon, brass, bass and drums, creating music that feels both ceremonial and modern. Have you heard Balimaya Project before, and if yes, what track should everyone start with?
#jazz #africanjazz #afrojazz #highlife #balimayaproject by @chefkd__

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6 months ago

🪘1 • To fully appreciate mbira, we have to do more than hear it. We need to understand where it came from, why it was played, and who carried it forward.

With this series, I want to go beyond the sound itself and into the world around it. Through records, artists, histories, and close listening. I’ll be taking a deeper look at the hands lineages that have shaped mbira.

First stop: Mbira dzaVadzimu

#Mbira #musichistory #mbiradzavadzimu #africaninstruments #africanmusic by @chefkd__

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7 months ago

Part 2. of reviewing the Grammy nominated album from my country ZIMBABWE!! Please let me know your thoughts so far!
Thank you @analogafricarecords for this gem and Google them to make your purchases!

Sourced: @sonicboommusic

#vinyl #cratedigging #zimbabweanmusic #africanrock #analogafrica taken in Toronto, Ontario by @chefkd__

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a year ago

We’re halfway through the series, and I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been listening, liking, commenting and sharing these posts. From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate it 🥹🫶🏾

I lost my dad this year. He loved jazz, especially South African jazz, and growing up, he made sure that love was passed down to us. So this series has been personal for me. I’ve been revisiting music that has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and sharing some of mine and his favourites with you 💗

I’ve always believed that music is meant to be shared. That’s really what drives this series. I think there’s value not only enjoying a song, but learning something about it, connect with the artist behind it.

I didn’t expect the community that’s come from the series 🥹 Seeing people engage with these songs, share their own memories and introduce me to music in return has meant so much to me.

Thank you for being here and sharing this with me. We’ve got 15 more days of Jazzober to go!

Get into it! 🧑🏾‍🍳🎷

#afrojazz #southafricanjazz #jazz #africanjazz #sharing by @chefkd__

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33 minutes ago

Today we’re listening to Elegies in C minor: (Opus 1) Qula Kwedini by the late Zim Ngqawana.

Ngqawana was a remarkable composer and multi-instrumentalist whose music brought jazz into conversation with Xhosa musical traditions. He drew on his cultural heritage alongside his spiritual and philosophical interests. His work moved between intricate compositions and free improvisation.

Interestingly, Batsumi’s Itumeleng, released in 1974, is the original recording sampled in Ngqawana’s track. Decades later, The Brother Moves On returned to Batsumi’s music with Itumeleng Revisited, bringing it into conversation with a new generation of South African musicians.

Elegies in C minor: (Opus 1) Qula Kwedini draws on the traditional Xhosa song Kula kweDini, associated with important communal events surrounding initiation. As described in the National Museum’s account of Mzigojo’s solo exhibition, the sacred song is traditionally sung to herald events such as the return of young men from initiation school. Other accounts also connect it to stick-fighting traditions and the passage into manhood. Ngqawana’s interpretation brings this cultural heritage into a jazz setting.

Many of the artists I’ve already spoken about here were once members of his band!

16/31 Days of Jazzober! 🧑🏾‍🍳🎷

#jazz #southafricanjazz #africanjazz #afrojazz #zimngqawana by @chefkd__

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a day ago

Intlokomo by @xhanti_nokwali is from his 2022 debut album Umthombo, produced by Nduduzo Makhathini.

Xhanti is a storyteller whose music draws from his isiXhosa roots, traditional music and jazz. Intlokomo is particularly personal, shaped by his upbringing in the Eastern Cape and the influence of iintsomi, the folktales his mother told him growing up.

Xhanti has described the song as a call for each of us to recognise that liberation begins with our own journey. It’s a fitting introduction to Umthombo, an album that considers healing, identity and the injustices that continue to shape African life. The music draws on isingqi and jazz, bringing inherited musical knowledge into conversation with the world we live in today.

A hallmark of everything Southern Spirts stands for.

We’re halfway through Jazzober! 🧚🏽🎷

#jazz #southafricanjazz #africanjazz #afrojazz #xhantinokwali by @chefkd__

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2 days ago

Today’s serving is Iya Iyo by @judithsephuma from her 2001 debut album A Cry, A Smile, A Dance.

I think many of us can remember our first interactions with this song. At home, on the radio, or at family gatherings where the aunties knew every word. As an adult now, it holds a special place in my heart. It is the soundtrack of my childhood.

Born in Seshego and raised in Polokwane, Limpopo, Judith moved to Cape Town to study jazz at the University of Cape Town, graduating in 1997. After winning Best Jazz Vocalist at the Old Mutual Jazz Into the Future competition in 1999, she went on to release A Cry, A Smile, A Dance, the triple-platinum debut that introduced her to a much wider audience. Known as the Queen of Afro-Jazz, Judith has spent her career moving between jazz, Afro-soul and gospel, with a voice that has become part of the fabric of South African music.

Iya Iyo reminds us how South African jazz and Afro-soul have become inseparable from our everyday lives, soundtracking our childhoods, family gatherings and the memories we carry into adulthood. Sometimes, revisiting a song is a way of revisiting a part of ourselves.

Happy Jazzober! 🧑🏾‍🍳🎷

#jazz #southafricanjazz #africanjazz #afrojazz #judithsephuma by @chefkd__

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3 days ago

My goats came together to make something truly incredible. This is Xandibona Wena by @thandiswamazwai featuring @thandi_ntuli from the 2024 album Sankofa.

There’s a beautiful line in this song: “Intliziyo ayiphakelwa”, which speaks to the idea that the heart cannot be told whom to love. The song captures the feeling of being around someone who brings you joy, where the heart and spirit are in agreement.

The album’s title ‘Sankofa’ comes from a Ghanaian Twi word meaning to go back and fetch what has been left behind. Thandiswa built the album around archival recordings of Xhosa music she accessed through the International Library of African Music at Rhodes University, bringing those recordings into dialogue with jazz and West African music. The album was recorded across Johannesburg, Dakar and New York, the album connects musical memory and ancestral knowledge with the present.

Thandiswa’s voice and Thandi Ntuli’s piano are a combination I hope we get to hear on more projects!

We’re almost halfway through Jazzober! 🧑🏾‍🍳🎷

#jazz #southafricanjazz #africanjazz #afrojazz #thandiswamazwai by @chefkd__

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4 days ago

my goat @mutsamutsamutsa just dropped an album; Radio Mhere and I had to lock in! 🙂‍↕️

As always, MUTSA. delves into personal experiences, Zimbabwean history, politics, grief and questions about identity and belonging. Sonically, it’s been an incredible journey through spoken word, samples, history, rap and so many other elements.

I know it’s early but RADIO MHERE is definitely a late creeper in my 2026 top 10. I have been exploring Zimbabwean history, sounds and instruments throughout the year, I am very impressed by his exploration of these in this album. Just genius!

If you haven’t listened, you know what to do 🙂‍↕️. And if you have, what caught your ear? 🧐

#zimbabwe #zimhiphop #hiphop #albumreview #mutsa by @chefkd__

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We’ve made it to the part where I gloat about my GOAT @thandi_ntuli This is New Way by Thandi Ntuli, from her 2018 album Exiled.

The song is about pain, healing and the need to be given space to work through what you’ve experienced, rather than being told to move on. Thandi has spoken about writing it as a song with a message and using her voice to draw out the emotions behind it.

Healing takes time.

Thandi’s catalogue moves through jazz, electronic music and spoken word, often blurring the lines between them. What I admire most about her artistry is how grounded, present and honest her arrangements always are.

19 more days of Jazzober to go! 🧑🏾‍🍳🎷

#jazz #southafricanjazz #africanjazz #afrojazz #thandintuli by @chefkd__

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5 days ago

Super excited to be curating the listening Lounge for @cafetecaworld in 30 minutes! I’ll be warming the set for @thakzin01 headlining at 10pm 💃🏾💃🏾
As always, I’m bringing African goodness and I’ve got two dance floor bangers to put you on to:
@bantuspaceship - electro sungura
@penny_penny_shaka_bundu - disco shangaan

Can’t wait to see you on the dancefloor 😉
#todotoronto #africanmusic by @chefkd__

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This is Ngelosi by @zoemodiga from her 2024 album nomthandazo.

Ngelosi means “angel” and is a lullaby Zoë wrote for her inner child. It’s a message to her younger self about self-worth, healing and learning to recognise her own value.

The intimacy of its delivery makes this song especially moving. It’s delicate, gentle and laced with affirmations.

So far, the songs I’ve shared have drawn from traditions of prayer, spirituality and personal testimony. Zoë’s music carries these same themes, often bringing spirituality and personal reflection together in a way that feels deeply personal.

Jazzober! 🧑🏾‍🍳🎷

#jazz #southafricanjazz #africanjazz #afrojazz #zoemodiga by @chefkd__

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6 days ago