Muhammad Dawjee is a Johannesburg-based saxophonist and composer from the Indian apartheid group-area, Laudium, on the western outskirts of Pretoria. A largely self-taught arranger and performer, Muhammad is a rising star of South Africa’s evolving jazz scene. He sees improvisation as a research process and takes a particular interest in the identity of the Indian diaspora living in South Africa by using music to unearth complex stories of colonial subjugation, migration and a pursuit of liberation through dialogue. He is currently a resident member of the pan-Afrikan septet iPhupho L’ka Biko, the indo-jazz trio Kinsmen and tours regularly with the experimental performance-art ensemble The Brother Moves On. In Johannesburg, he performs regularly with his working group – Dawjee Trio. He is also co-leading a research initiative with Kinsmen and Zimbabwean percussionist and ethnomusicologist Othnell Mangoma Moyo – the output of which is an album and an archive. His solo EP Otherness features Keenan Ahrends, Romy Brauteseth, Nickholas Bjorkman and Lwanda Gogwana and is due for release in 2022.
Muhammad Dawjee
