“This is how I tell my story” – jazz artist Mandisi Dyantyis

Mandisi Dyantyis is a South African jazz artist born in Gqeberha, set to take South African jazz music to another level. Dyantyis is one of the South Africans featured in the MultiChoice Origins docuseries, with an episode called Mandisi Dyantyis: The Sounds of Our People.

Strengths and influences that make Mandisi a great artist

Mandisi tries you get out of the way of music so that he can be informed by the art that he creates and somehow have people relate to the beauty of the art.

African music is what influenced him to create his own form of a musical masterpiece. “My art form is there to heal people. It’s there to connect with people. It’s there to mirror people’s lives. It’s there to get people seen and heard. Therefore, I need to see myself, I need to hear my thoughts. I need to hear the thoughts of my people and people around me.”

Inspirations behind telling his story

His life and the lives of the people in his community as well as his family are what inspire him to create music.

“There’s a great power that even me as a musician, sometimes I cannot comprehend the power of this art form”.

Growing up, all the people around him shared stories with him, and that made him realise how simple yet so profound their lives were.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch-O6FAjDOT/

The best piece of advice he’s received and who he’d like to collaborate with

“Bra Zim Ngqawana told me to always tell my own story how I want it to be told. I work with young people all the time and they inspire me as much as I inspire them,” Mandisi says.

He believes that everyone is equal, and everyone knows something so instead of being a mentor, he guides others and allows others to guide him.

Sanaa Mothabisa and Tony are the artists that Mandisi would love to work with because he loves to see creative things through their eyes.